BLYTHEWOOD – Just days into his new role as Blythewood’s town manager, Doug Polen stood before the Blythewood Chamber of Commerce and made one thing clear: before developing a vision for the town’s future, he wants to hear from the people who live and work here.
“It’s my job to know where we are today, where we want to be in 20 years, and how to get there,” Polen told the audience Tuesday morning during the Chamber’s monthly breakfast meeting. “And the way we do that is by talking, and listening, and learning.”
Rather than delivering a lengthy presentation about his own plans, Polen turned the discussion over to those gathered in the room, asking them what they like about Blythewood and what they believe needs improvement.
A native of Sumter, Polen said he spent two decades working in communities in Iowa and Missouri before returning to South Carolina about 12 years ago. Since then, he has worked in Moncks Corner and Irmo before accepting the Blythewood position.
One of the first priorities he identified is updating the town’s comprehensive plan.
State law requires municipalities to update their comprehensive plans every five years and rewrite them every 10 years. Blythewood’s update is due this year, but Polen said the town’s rapid growth warrants more than a simple update.
“What I’m proposing to do is a full comprehensive plan rewrite because our town has changed so much since that plan was written five years ago,” he said. “We need a real, actionable plan for the next decade. We need to know where we are, where we want to be, and how we’re going to get there.”
Former Blythewood Mayor Mike Ross raised concerns about parking, particularly during large community events such as the Chamber’s annual Rib Fest, which draws thousands of visitors to Doko Meadows Park.
“We built this wonderful facility, but we really don’t have any parking for it,” Ross said. He suggested converting town-owned property across from the park into a parking area, noting that portions of the property are wetlands and unsuitable for development.
Others asked about plans for creating a true downtown district.
Polen said beautification has emerged as one of the Town Council’s highest priorities. During a recent strategic planning retreat, he said council members identified hiring a town manager, long-term planning, improving efficiency at Town Hall, but that beautification of the town was the top priority.
As evidence of that commitment, Polen noted that during the budget workshop held the previous night, council included $1.25 million for beautification projects.
“I can tell you right now, I cannot envision a world where we can spend that kind of money in one year,” he said. “But it’s more of a point to say this is the most important thing that council wants right now.”
Polen said he wants the town to develop a comprehensive beautification strategy rather than spending money randomly on projects.
“I don’t want to just spend money willy-nilly on trees and banners,” he said. “I want to find out what is the best use of our money in order to make Blythewood as beautiful as you all want it to be.”
Among the ideas he mentioned were landscaping, trees, flowers, shrubs, decorative banners, improved wayfinding signs and replacing aging utility wraps.
“This is a quaint, little town that lots of people want to live in,” he said. “But it should be more beautiful.”
Audience members also discussed the need for a genuine downtown commercial district rather than simply improving existing streetscapes.
Polen acknowledged that Blythewood lacks the traditional historic downtown found in many South Carolina communities but said the town can create an environment that encourages private investment.
“We need to thread that needle between making it easy to build here, but not easy to build garbage,” he said. “We can’t make anyone come in and build a $2 million building. We can be an inviting place where people want to invest their money.”
He described downtown development as a long-term process that may take decades but said Blythewood has advantages many communities lack.
“We have real growth,” Polen said. “I’ve been in towns where growth meant five years ago we got a Dollar General. I’ve been in towns where growth is a dream because everyone’s leaving. That’s obviously not the problem here.”
Traffic was another concern raised by residents. Polen said he has already noticed congestion around town and stressed the importance of maintaining strong relationships with Richland County and the South Carolina Department of Transportation, which control most local roads.
“Towns don’t own the roads in South Carolina. Counties and the state do,” he said. “By creating partnerships and creating real strong relationships with our county council and with the engineers and professionals there in the county and state, that’s how we can make things happen.”
Several residents also expressed a desire for more sit-down restaurants.
Polen said that request is one he hears frequently.
He noted that Blythewood’s explosive growth has occurred relatively recently. When he researched the town before accepting the position, he discovered that Blythewood’s population was only about 180 residents in 1980 and roughly 1,500 residents about 15 years ago.
“Blythewood sprang from nowhere just in the last 20 years,” he said.
One the most pointed comments centered on growth associated with Scout Motors and the surrounding development boom.
One audience member said many residents felt they had little opportunity to weigh in before major changes began transforming the area.
“We never had a chance to have a say in Scout coming,” the resident said. “People here are angry, and they have every right to be angry.”
The speaker urged town officials to improve communication and create opportunities for residents to feel heard as growth continues.
Polen said he understands those concerns because he has heard similar frustrations in other fast-growing communities.
“People move where they go because it’s a place they like,” he said. “And then it becomes a different place after they got there. It’s not what they signed up for.”
He added that even without Scout Motors, growth pressures would still be coming to Blythewood because of its location in one of South Carolina’s fastest-growing regions.
“If growth is not what you want, growth is going to come anyway,” Polen said. “There is no answer in terms of making it better. It’s a question of what can we do to make it as good as possible.”
For now, Polen said his focus is simple: listen, learn and work with residents, council members, county officials, and state agencies to guide Blythewood through a period of unprecedented change.
“We need to know where we are, where we want to be, and how we’re going to get there,” he said.