In 1999 and 2000, Peter
Johnston & Associates, LLC (formerly Redman/Johnston Associates, Ltd.) was contracted to assist Leonardtown, Maryland in the development of a Downtown
Revitalization Plan and Development Design Manual. Leonardtown was beginning to see the
effects of sprawl development around the town in the growing rise of new strip malls,
housing developments, roads, schools, and other rapidly developing facilities. The
Revitalization Plan and Development Manual were prepared to protect and enhance the
character and quality of the downtown area in order to foster and support a sound market
and business climate. Both were recipients of the Maryland 2002 Smart Growth Award.
Over the past 50 years, the creation
of interstate highway systems and the growth of suburban communities have transformed the
role of the downtown in small towns throughout the country. Roads that once connected
neighborhoods to downtown now carry residents to outlying shopping strips and regional
malls. Once thriving downtowns gave way to neglected buildings, boarded up storefronts and
empty streets that gradually reinforced the notion that nothing was happening downtown,
that nothing was worth saving there. People forgot how important their downtown and its
historic structures were in reflecting their community’s unique heritage.
A healthy, viable downtown is crucial to the heritage, economic health, and civic
pride of the entire Town and surrounding County. Our
firm assisted Leonardtown in developing a
vision for economic development and preservation of character in the downtown that is
beginning to be seen in the revitalization of buildings, the growth of business, and the
overwhelming community support for saving the downtown. A healthy and vital downtown is a
symbol of community caring and a high quality of life, factors that will help Leonardtown
preserve both its unique heritage and its economic future.
