By Chris Comer

Long term planning has been the success of our town from its inception. As lately as 1996, the Kernersville 2020 plan was initiated by the Economic Development Advisory Council, led by Arnold G. King, of the Kernersville Chamber of Commerce. When the process was completed in 1997, the community had identified twenty-seven major issues and developed 104 strategies to address those issues.

We are now moving “Onward” to develop an updated plan that looks further into the future. Before we do so, let’s review some of the accomplished goals from the original Kernersville 2020 plan and celebrate the continued growth and success of our great town.

Listed below is a snapshot of the improvements from the Kernersville 2020 plan:

Downtown: Streetscape improvements, landscape improvements, widening of sidewalks and improvements at the intersection of Main and Mountain; establishing a Farmers Market in the downtown area and the renovation of The Factory. Tourism in Kernersville has also increased significantly since the inception of the Kernersville 2020 plan due to continued physical improvements and marketing of Korner’s Folly, continued development of Paul J. Ciener Botanical Garden and the establishment of the Kernersville Museum.

Major Highways: The completion of the Macy Grove Interchange was the major item in the original Kernersville 2020 plan. That project is now completed. The next segment of the Kernersville Loop from Piney Grove Road to Hwy 150 is scheduled to begin construction in June 2022 and will provide significant congestion relief in the Downtown area.

Local Traffic: The current road improvements on South Main Street and Old Winston Road along with the completed improvements on Bodenhamer Street, Dobson Street, East Mountain Street, Salisbury Street, Union Cross Road, Piney Grove Road, Smith Edwards Road, Whicker Road, Shields Road, Old Winston Road and Hopkins Road have been accomplished through a close working relationship with NCDOT. 

Sidewalks and Greenways: The expansion of sidewalks and greenways throughout the community to improve overall health and quality of life for your citizens.

Parks and Recreation: Major improvements at Harmon Park, Fourth of July Park (including the creation of the skateboard park and the dog park), Century Lake Park, Bagley Field at Cash Elementary, the Swaim Complex and Ivey M. Redmon Park.

Public Library: A goal of the original Kernersville 2020 plan was to have a new public library.

Economic Development: The community has benefitted from several major expansions and new builds.  

The original Kernersville 2020 plan adopted a mission “to involve citizens in the creation of a framework for growth with specific goals that yields economic stability, a better quality of life and a mechanism to manage our community’s future and identity.” 

With the work done in the past 12 years we want to continue to look into the future and what the needs for our community will be.

The next visioning project is titled, Onward Kernersville. Planning began in 2018. In 2019, the establishment of the steering committee and involvement of the citizens of Kernersville will assist in making the next plan a workable, sustainable vision for the future of our community. We want to hear from you to make sure our citizens are involved and heard in considering the future growth needs in Kernersville. We hope everyone can join us on November 7 from 3PM-7:30PM at the Walt Summerville Fire Station 42 located on NC Hwy 66. This is a drop-in opportunity to fill out a survey, ask questions and speak to our facilitators, the Piedmont Triad Regional Council. Please contact the Kernersville Chamber of Commerce at 336-993-4521 with any questions.