Seniors want walkable cities, too

What: Pop-up public marketplace.

When: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. May 16; ribbon cutting will be at 9:50 a.m.

Location: The Towne Center @ Snellville site, on the corner of Wisteria Drive and Clower Street in Snellville.

What to expect: Locally owned and operated businesses set up under tents selling their products, including food and drinks; art demonstrations; live music; free yoga lessons on the lawn; other demonstrations from community groups; formal, reservations-only white tablecloth dinner at the day's end with chef-prepared farm-to-table menu. Trolleys will carry people of all ages to and from the event. Makeshift lanes for biking and walking. Parking available at City Hall and Wisteria Place.

Turns out, today’s senior adults are not so different from their grandchildren when it comes to daily living.

Both generations want places to shop, dine and socialize, but neither is keen about getting in a car and driving to these destinations.

“Ironically, baby boomers have the same interests and wants as millennials,” observes Eric Van Otteren, economic development manager for the city of Snellville. “They both want places where they can walk. They don’t want to have to drive. And they want interesting things to do.”

Van Otteren has spent plenty of time listening to their vision for the city’s future, much of which has been incorporated into a blueprint for The Towne Center @ Snellville, which will become a mixed-use pedestrian-friendly development where people can live, shop and play.

The city has the property and the plan, and is now trying to decide the next steps to take. To help get ideas flowing, residents are invited to shop and socialize at the Wisteria City Market, a pop-up public marketplace at the Towne Center site, on May 16.

The Downtown Development Authority of Snellville received a $15,000 Lifelong Tactical Urbanism Demonstration Project grant from the Atlanta Regional Commission to pay for the event.

At the Wisteria City Market, locally owned and operated businesses will set up tents and sell their wares, including food and drinks, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. There will be plenty of activities, demonstrations and entertainment. The 10-acre property is at the corner of Wisteria Drive and Clower Street, across from the Snellville Police Department.

Seniors, in particular, benefit greatly from this type of event, says Roz Tucker, senior programmer for the ARC’s Area Agency on Aging. It brings the community together and promotes activity and mobility, she said.

Planters will line Wisteria Drive to form a lane for pedestrians, strollers and bicyclists. Intergenerational activities are planned. Teens from nearby high schools will give informal technology help-sessions for older adults. And the the elders in turn will give art lessons and show off other activities available at the Snellville Senior Center, said Kathi Gargiulo, senior program supervisor for the Snellville Parks and Recreation Department.

Gargiulo said seniors have been involved in the pop-up market planning from the beginning. The event is within a walkable distance of three blocks from the senior center. Those who don’t want to walk can ride the trolley.

The pop-up market will be a test to see if the community is interested in supporting such a gathering area and to see which way the property should be developed, Van Otteren said.

As is, Snellville is not a walkable city, he said. There was never a town square; U.S. 78, a busy multilane highway, is also Main Street. The city, which was a poster child for suburbanization in the ’70s and ’80s, now has an aging population with the average age at 38.5, Van Otteren said.

“There are more four-bedroom, two-bath homes on three-quarter-acre lots than you can shake a stick at,” he said. “Lots of older folks are now asking, ‘What do I do with my house now that my kids are grown?’ ”

Other older adults are transplants who moved into the city to live with their adult children. Because the children work during the day, their elderly parents lack transportation, Gargiulo said. Once the Towne Center is developed, participants at the senior center could walk to shops and restaurants.

“We’ve very excited because it will give our seniors another place to shop and gather in our community,” Gargiulo said.

Tucker said when the ARC polled older adults across the metro area, their No. 1 concern was transportation. They also want affordable housing and access to services.

“They really want to get all this within walking distance,” she said, “and the beauty is that if we make it work for older adults, we make it work for millennials, too.”