CAYCE, S.C. — Council members have approved a second reading of the City of Cayce's comprehensive master plan for 2020-2030.
In the plan, local leaders are focusing on culture, arts, the river, affordable housing, local business and road maintenance, to name a few.
"We have so many natural resources. We have our great Riverwalk and so many wonderful parks and trees," Cayce mayor Elise Partin said. "How do we want to take care of those? How do we want to expand on those?"
The plan is to preserve fragile land, critical habitats and water resources throughout the city.
Community driven, the efforts to create this plan included input from Cayce residents.
"We would meet at area businesses, and everybody got sticky notes, and they got to write down what do they want to keep and preserve in the City of Cayce, what do they want to continue and what do they want to change," Partin said.
Residents had the opportunity to weigh in back in 2019 when the city hosted in-person meetings starting in August. They could also fill out a form online or attend a planning commission meeting.
Residents said they want a focus on the arts community and making sure that area contributes to the tourism economy.
"I think it's very important to preserve the area and the culture of Cayce to have these kind of venues to go to, especially with USC being so close," Cayce resident Deanna Barfield said. "It gives the college kids something to do. It attracts the college kids to our community.
"We have a whole lot more resilience focus in this plan than we did 10 years ago because we know we're getting saddled with more flooding, with more storms," Partin said. "So, how do we make sure that we are creating structures of resilient community?"
The city wants a flooding plan in place in conjunction with surrounding cities and entities like Columbia, West Columbia and the Joint Municipal Water Sewer Commission, so that they can foster a community of support.
Cayce also intends to focus on new modes of transportation to get around, and they want governmental and business policies with a focus on equality.
You can read the city's full master plan here.