Smithfield planning board launches comprehensive-plan update with Strong Towns workshop

Smithfield — The Smithfield Planning Board opened a public workshop to begin its comprehensive-plan update, hosting Edward, chief technical advisor at Strong Towns, who presented research advocating incremental, downtown-focused development as more fiscally resilient than expansive suburban growth.

Curly, Smithfield's director of planning and economic development, told attendees the meeting was the first step in the plan update and that "there will be no votes" tonight; he urged participants to focus on shared values to inform future choices.

Edward framed towns and cities as "complex adaptive systems" and contrasted that pattern with more rigid production-driven development. He cited value-per-acre analyses and municipal 'productivity' maps used by Urban 3, arguing that many historic downtowns generate more tax value relative to public-service costs than sprawling new subdivisions. "This is where the value is—the core downtown," he said, summarizing the findings he presented.

During a roughly 45-minute presentation, Edward walked through historical financing changes after World War II that encouraged outward growth, then described case studies—examples of small, low-cost civic experiments, property-improvement matching grants, incubator retail 'shalets,' and accessory dwelling units—that he said helped communities test ideas and build local capacity without large upfront investment.

In the Q&A, residents asked whether condos, schools and small-town contexts change the analysis. Edward said condominiums and apartments function as financing forms rather than identical building types, noted that school governance often lies outside municipal control, and said Strong Towns' approaches can apply at multiple scales, from villages to large cities. He recommended using local assessment data as a practical baseline for value-per-acre mapping and urged communities to try low-risk pilot projects before committing major capital.

The workshop shifted participants into a table-based exercise to identify local values and next smaller steps; the board collected worksheets and offered a QR-linked survey for additional input. The transcript records a voice motion and an affirmative voice vote late in the session, but it does not identify who moved or seconded the motion or provide a roll-call tally. The board said it will summarize tonight's findings and bring them forward in subsequent meetings as part of the comprehensive-plan process.

What happens next: participants were asked to return worksheets and can complete an online survey; the planning board will incorporate the input into future draft plan language and will provide opportunities for public review and comment as the process continues.