Charles B. Aycock

 

The Charles B. Aycock neighborhood is located less than a mile northeast of downtown Greensboro along Summit Avenue. The area holds two levels of historic district designation, both as a National Register Historic District designated in 1993 and a Locally Zoned Historic District designated in 1984. Historically, the area was home to many of Greensboro’s middle and upper class residents and this can be seen through the variety of residential architecture in the area.  The majority of the neighborhood was developed in the late 19th and early 20th century and is named for North Carolina Governor Charles Brantley Aycock (1900-1905), whose name first christened the public middle school located along Cypress Street within the neighborhood. The Aycock neighborhood is also home to the World War Memorial Stadium, one of the nation’s oldest surviving minor league stadiums, and the Greensboro Farmer’s Market. 

Because of its designation as a locally zoned historic district, state legislation has allowed the area to become a "Municipal Service District." This designation provides for an additional property tax on properties within the district. This property tax is set aside and placed in a fund managed by the City of Greensboro for use on projects in the public right-of-way. Projects like decorative historic street lighting and the restoration and landscaping of the Hendrix Street pedestrian bridge are examples of how this additional tax has been used to improve the neighborhood. 

In the summer of 2002, a grass-roots neighborhood effort brought a design firm to Greensboro to develop the Aycock Traditional Neighborhood District Plan. This plan, which holds many conceptual ideas for the future of the neighborhood, was then used as the basis for the neighborhood’s next effort. The neighborhood has partnered with the City to develop the Strategic Plan for the Aycock Neighborhood. The Strategic Plan was developed as part of a comprehensive public input effort and identifies 10 objectives for improving the neighborhood.  These objectives are further broken down into 12 priority actions and the neighborhood association is currently working with City staff to implement these priorities. The Strategic Plan for the Aycock Neighborhood was adopted by the Greensboro City Council on November 5, 2003.

Since the adoption of the Strategic Plan for the Aycock Neighborhood, efforts have been underway to implement several of the priority actions. The Summit Avenue Corridor Study is assessing land use, market conditions and infrastructure needs for the section of Summit Avenue between Murrow Boulevard and Bessemer Avenue, and the area on Yanceyville Street that includes the Farmer’s Market and War Memorial Stadium. The draft Summit Avenue Corridor Plan is in the formal review and adoption phases with presentation to the Greensboro City Council scheduled for mid to late summer 2006.