River City 2020 meets

The River City 2020 group, organized by The News Virginian, held its first meeting Wednesday at the newspaper’s office in an effort to create an economic vision for downtown.

In the next 12 months, the 11 members of the committee will meet and develop a white paper outlining city strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and strategies for growth and will also explain what current and future businesses will need to succeed in Waynesboro.

The News Virginian Managing Editor Lee Wolverton divided the members into two-person subcommittees on the following topics: industry and transportation; technology and services; tourism and recreation; education and environment; housing and health care; and business outreach.

Each subcommittee will come back to the next meeting Jan. 29 and identify each area’s major growth sectors, sales volume tracking over the past five years and geographic trends to identify where new businesses are locating.

Wolverton, the chairman of the committee, said it was his hope that the exercise would be “apolitical” in nature and that it would do something “genuinely useful” for the city.

Jim Nichols, a retired school principal and the driving force behind Waynesboro rejuvenated farmer’s market, said he wants to see the committee develop an overall mission statement.

“I’d like to be able to convey exactly what we’re talking about,” Nichols said.

Jeff Fife, the director of the Waynesboro YMCA, suggested adding another voice to the committee from downtown, and suggested adding more people with expertise on the subcommittees.

Planning Commissioner Greg Bruno, meanwhile, noted the lack of women on the committee; just one, Kimberly Watters, executive director of Waynesboro Downtown Development, Inc., sits on the committee.

Bruno also suggested taking an inventory of the city’s infrastructure to see what kinds of businesses would be best suited for Waynesboro given its resources.

Reo Hatfield, owner of Reo Distribution, said the city should take advantage of its geographical location.

“It’s not just beautiful,” Hatfield said. “It’s positioned perfectly.”

The committee will likely hear from guest speakers on best practices in other areas at future meetings.