Westminster “vision” meeting draws large crowd

Westminster is losing population. It’s a city with an increasing rate of empty houses. And some of those who care the most about the city fear that, in 20 years, Oconee’s third largest town could become a ghost town. Twenty years into the future was key last night as all seats filled in the Westminster Depot for a visioning event tied to the need to update the city’s comprehensive plan. Tamy Sanford, the new code compliance and development director, said the Westminster Comprehensive Plan has not been updated since 1998. For an hour and a half last night, she prodded and cajoled several of city and area residents to put on their thinking caps to come up with their vision for how Westminster should or might look in the year 2035. Some of the thoughts include the rail line thru town could become a high-speed line, a former school building could become a campus of Tri-County Technical College, and there could be a bike trail connecting Westminster and the Chattooga River. One of the expressed concerns last night is that, as the cost of housing rises, more and more of Westminster’s residents will be forced into crowded conditions.