A New Direction for Natchez

By Philip Walker, FAICP, and Keith Covington, AICP, AIA

On May 22, 2018, something extraordinary occurred in Natchez, Mississippi. After decades without an update to the downtown master plan, city leaders approved a brand-new one. It was the first plan in the city's 300-plus-year history that vigorously engaged the public, particularly the city's African-American community members, who account for 60 percent of the population of 15,000. The plan was unanimously approved, and its $106,000 price tag was funded entirely by individual citizens and a local nonprofit — remarkable in a community with a struggling economy, declining population, and a municipal government in which votes often follow racial lines.

---

In many ways, history is both a blessing and a curse for Natchez. At more than 300 years old, the city's rich stock of architecture, including some of the country's finest antebellum mansions, draws up to 300,000 visitors annually who generate an estimated $49.7 million in retail expenditures per year. But that architecture also serves as evidence of a history of oppression. Natchez was once one of the country's largest slave markets and its legacy of segregation and racial tensions continued into the 20th century.

The civil rights movement brought some progress to Natchez, but it did not come easily. In October 1965, some 700 black Natchez citizens, including teenagers and young adults, marched in protest of voter disenfranchisement. They were transported by local law enforcement officials to the city auditorium, where they were arrested for lack of a parade permit. About 150 were sent to the state prison at Parchman, notorious for its inhumane conditions and abuse, without appearing before a judge.

Today, African Americans make up 60 percent of Natchez's population, and about 40 percent live below the poverty line. The community's overall population has been shrinking for decades, and the area struggles economically because of a lack of major employers beyond its heritage tourism industry, which is limited by the lack of nearby interstate access.

Natchez has also lacked a visionary downtown plan, and specifically one that represents the needs and wishes of the entire community. The first and only plan in recent history focusing specifically on downtown Natchez and the riverfront occurred in 1991, triggered by the legalization of casino gambling. Other achievements took place in the 1990s — notably the adoption of a historic preservation ordinance — but until recently, there was no downtown plan inspired by local stakeholders and residents to achieve sustained physical and economic revitalization.

Catalyst for change

Things began to change for the community in the early 2000s, when native Natchezian Chesney Doyle moved back after being away for several years. A documentary filmmaker, Doyle established a nonprofit entity called Friends of the Riverfront Natchez in 2007 and secured a small amount of money to initiate a planning process. However, the effort failed to get the city government support it needed to move forward.

In 2015, Doyle revived her efforts for Natchez. She worked with Natchez's former city planning director, Phil Walker, FAICP (coauthor of this article), to convince key community leaders via the Rotary Club, the chamber of commerce, and the Historic Natchez Foundation, about the merits of downtown planning.

While the city leadership officially endorsed the concept of a downtown plan this time around, it couldn't supply the funding because of its longstanding fiscal struggles.

Doyle managed to raise more than $100,000 for the plan's preparation from relatively small donations. In fact, no donor contributed more than $5,000, except for the nonprofit Historic Natchez Foundation, which gave $10,000. In all, more than 300 residents wrote checks in support of a new plan for their downtown.

Among the highlights of this grassroots fundraising was the Fat Mama's Tamales restaurant celebrity 5K road race that brought in $8,000.

"Fat Mama's is one of the strongest brands downtown. Their support not only helps raise money, but it engages the younger people in town and helps bring awareness to the overall project," said Doyle in an interview with a local newspaper about the event.

"It's rare and gracious for citizens who already pay taxes to make contributions out [of] their own pockets for this plan," Mayor Darryl Grennell said in the same article. "It is an indicator that the citizens of Natchez want to see Downtown reach its fullest potential."

The plan

The Downtown Natchez Master Plan was unanimously adopted by the city's board of aldermen in May 2018. It provides downtown-wide recommendations, as well as additional recommendations specific to three focus areas: the Bluff District, the MLK Triangle District, and the Arts District.

With a market analysis and community vision as foundations, a framework plan was developed that identified different "character areas" and associated concepts for land use, mobility, public space, and physical form. Not only does this approach reinforce the downtown's focus districts, but it also allows the community to prioritize implementation efforts. The plan also includes an economic strategy for the revitalization and sustainability of the downtown as the heart of the region. It forecasts a business mix centered around tourism as a gateway to broader long-term economic growth. Finally, the plan identifies market drivers, as well as economic development and financing strategies, to guide implementation.

ARTS DISTRICT

The restoration of the Ritz Theatre is the anchor of this one-block stretch of Commerce Street that connects downtown's two "Main Streets" — Main and Franklin. Darrell White, director of cultural heritage tourism for Visit Natchez, says, "It is so important to recognize our local arts Community and to give them a place to call home. This creates energy for elevating the arts."

THE BLUFF DISTRICT

High above the Mississippi River, the Bluff District is home to the city's signature public space, the former Spanish Parade Ground, which Frederick Law Olmsted described in 1852 as "most solemnly beautiful." Among the recommendations for this district is an adaptive reuse of the historic train station that would turn it into a satellite visitors center with a cafe and outdoor dining leveraging river views. Another option is an open-air performance pavilion along the bluff.

Months testing the concept plan presented at that charrette with a wide range of stakeholder groups, including young black entrepreneurs, to solicit their feedback. The active involvement and leadership from a few well-known African-American citizens also ensured success with engaging this long-neglected segment of Natchez's population. Darrell White with Visit Natchez helped Doyle spearhead the project.

Consistent with the project's housing market analysis, architecturally compatible development is encouraged, as is a public parking structure lined with mixed use development on the site of a surface parking lot. Leaders hope that project, across from the Natchez Convention Center, will help catalyze expansion of the center and activate adjacent streets. Another strategy includes relocating the post office to an alternative downtown site to better leverage its economic potential, and allow for development of more public space, including permanent structures for the existing downtown farmers market.

THE MLK DISTRICT

This district gets its name from Dr. Martin Luther King Street, which is the area's main thoroughfare. Historically named Pine Street, it was renamed in the early-1990s in honor of the civil rights leader, although he never visited the community. Historically the cultural and economic hub for the African-American community, the MLK District suffers from neglect that threatens its very existence. Many of the surviving buildings are on the edge of physical collapse, and in recent years some actually have collapsed. Zion Chapel AME Church, the church once led by Hiram Revels — who would later become the first black U.S. senator — anchors a triangular shaped space in the heart of the district known simply as "the Triangle." A small museum on another side of the Triangle memorializes the 1940 Rhythm Nightclub Fire, which killed 209 African Americans.

A key recommendation is to stabilize and rehabilitate the area's surviving historic fabric through partnerships with the building owners and the identification of funding sources. Another strategy is to convert the Triangle space from a barren, makeshift parking lot into a public space, Revels Plaza, to tell the district's story and create a gathering space lined with active uses. "It is crucial for members of the community to embrace their history," White says, "this effort was a positive, progressive move to look at the possibilities for MLK and all of downtown."

A recipe for success

The planning process for the Downtown Natchez Master Plan followed a basic planning recipe: engage stakeholders with diverse interests in a range of efforts to maximize public input.

While that might sound like old news to many planners, Doyle says it was a first for Natchez: "This was really the first public planning effort that anyone can recall in which an extraordinary effort was made to gather in-depth community input and to engage our largest stakeholder group — African Americans." Mayor Grennell credits the plan's unanimous approval by the city's board of aldermen to the robust public engagement undertaken in the planning process.

In addition to several small, focused stakeholder meetings, that engagement included a six-day public charrette held in July 2017 that brought hundreds of people together. Doyle then spent the next few months testing the concept plan presented at that charrette with a wide range of stakeholder groups, including young black entrepreneurs, to solicit their feedback.

The active involvement and leadership from a few well-known African-American citizens also ensured success with engaging this long-neglected segment of Natchez's population. Darrell White with Visit Natchez helped Doyle spearhead the project. The hard-won support of Joyce Arceneaux-Mathis, a city alderman who frequently influences the voting of the board's other African-American members, was also critical. Many of the black citizens most enthusiastically involved in the planning effort were relatively young, including Jeremy Houston, who operates Miss-Lou Heritage Group and Tours, which offers visitors a historically African-American perspective of Natchez.

"I started Miss-Lou Heritage Group to make sure the other side of Natchez is told. We are giving people a part of Natchez that has never been given before, has been watered down or has just been plain forgotten," Houston told the Natchez Democrat in February 2017.

The meaningful involvement of these Natchezians made sure that the overall Downtown Natchez Master Plan gave as much attention to the MLK area as it did to the other parts of downtown more typically embraced by the white community, such as the Bluff District.

Since the plan

Since adopting the plan in March 2018, there have already been strides toward implementation. Natchez, Inc., the community's economic development arm, is using the commercial market analysis and recommendations to target candidates for recruitment. Natchez planning director Riccardo Giani has succeeded in getting the plan's recommended zoning revisions adopted, including several traditional downtown uses such as bars, apartments, townhouses, governmental buildings, cultural facilities, and parks that had been misguidedly eliminated during a 2013 rewrite of the zoning code.

"Wayfinding and downtown signage are likely next," says Giani.

Negotiations to purchase a parking lot adjacent to the historic train depot on the Bluff are also under way. Once concluded, the city will issue a request for proposals for the restoration and adaptive reuse of the station. Also in the works is the restoration of the Eola Hotel, a 1920s grand hotel that has been vacant since 2014. The owner had proposed affordable senior housing but received negative community pushback. He recently proposed reopening it as a hotel again. According to Chesney Doyle of Friends of the Riverfront Natchez, "Over and over, the banker said, 'This is what we need' [patting the Downtown Natchez Master Plan] to show that the Eola is part of a larger initiative."

Doyle also emphasizes the broad endorsement of the plan's market analysis by the business community, noting that the Chamber of Commerce, the Downtown Merchants Association, and real estate industry leaders are now using its findings. She adds, "Because of the master plan project, downtown is now acknowledged as a distinct industry with over 900 jobs, making it the largest industry in Natchez."

It's challenging to keep momentum going, says Mayor Gennell, "but this effort will be helped by having the downtown development director on board, as called for in the plan, to help downtown businesses organize, to promote downtown, and to help create incentive packages for recruitment and development." Funding has now been set aside for that position.

"The recipe is laid out and we're gathering the ingredients," says White. "It's time to make the batter and bake the cake."

Philip Walker is the principal of The Walker Collaborative, a planning consulting firm based in Nashville, Tennessee. Keith Covington is an architect, urban designer, and planner, and is a principal with Common Ground Urban Design + Planning in Franklin, Tennessee.