‘Where’s Trinity? I know where the high school is, but where’s the town?’ This is what NASCAR legend Richard Petty asked City Manager Ann Bailie when the two were first introduced. For Petty and others, however, finding the town will become easier once a portion of N.C. 62 through Trinity is renamed Main Street.

Trinity does not have a Main Street or a physical downtown, but the city will eventually have both — one will just materialize sooner than the other. Renaming N.C. 62 is one of the more easily accomplished parts of the Center City plan, which was unanimously approved by City Council at their Oct. 20 meeting.

“The first two immediate steps are adopting the new (zoning) codes and changing the name of N.C. 62 to Main Street,” Bailie told the NEWS. “I’m not sure what the process involves, but both will very likely be done simultaneously.”

The city has already acted on the plan’s recommendation to build a public park, Bailie added, by applying for a $500,000 grant from the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund to help finance the construction of a park on the city’s property.

“Trinity is a place without a place,” Craig Lewis, the principal for The Lawrence Group, the firm of urban designers, planners and architects that designed the Center City plan, told the audience at the meeting. “But thankfully (Trinity’s) forefathers did not give the name Main Street to another road.”

The overhaul could take years to implement, he continued, depending on which projects the city chooses to put first and how well the city is promoted to potential business owners.

“However, once it begins it will likely go quickly,” he cautioned. “I’ve seen similar towns reach build-out (maximum development) within 10 years.”

“What happens if this ends up like (N.C.) 109 in Thomasville?” asked Trinity resident Chester Ayres. “What happens to the tax base?”

Mayor Fran Andrews shook her head. “Chester, if I had a crystal ball I’d look and tell you, but I don’t. Anyway, the developers will be the ones (doing the investing).”

Lewis then noted that the city was blessed to have a pre-existing industrial center along Surrett Drive. With sewer in the Old Town area set to be complete by 2011, he added, Trinity was in the perfect position to maximize that investment.

“You don’t want to tuck that under your mattress,” Lewis quipped.

Other Trinity residents at the meeting agreed.

“I have been here since 1970, and I support the Center City plan,” said Paul Guthrie, a member of the Randolph County Board of Education and a former member of the Council. “Trinity College was here and education remains important here. I’m proud of what this city has accomplished, and what it may continue to accomplish. Let’s not do this for us, let’s do it for our children and grandchildren — they’re the ones who will benefit the most.”

Kevin Varner, who recently returned to the area to raise his family, agreed with Guthrie.

“I grew up in Archdale and went to Trinity High, but came home to raise my kids,” Varner explained. “I support this plan, the only place you see Trinity folks is in Archdale. I didn’t see many people at the car show, I guess because we’re not used to coming together (as a city).”

Varner, whose wife Kristin is running for the vacant Ward 1 Council seat formerly held by Barbara Ewings, said that he would not have bought a house on N.C. 62 if he wasn’t convinced the city is doing a good job.

“Trinity is getting an opportunity that Archdale did not,” he added.

Jorge Laguerela, owner of Trinity Furniture, also approved of the plan.

“I applaud you all for doing this,” Laguerela told the Council. “The city seal says yesterday, today, tomorrow ... but there is no guarantee of tomorrow. The city is doing the best it can to create a map for the future. We may not be here to enjoy it, but our children will.”

The Center City plan can be viewed online at trinity-nc.blogspot.com.