Mayor Michael Bishop wants you to do more than just slow down in Springdale. He wants you to stop.

“There are 17,000 cars a day coming through Springdale,” Bishop said. “We need to give them a reason to stop.”

Bishop, and Springdale Town Administrator Jeff Stillweell spoke at the Greater Cayce-West Columbia Chamber Breakfast, Tuesday. There are about 1,000 homes in Springdale, with about 3,000 residents. About 50 new houses are being built.

To help develop a plan for those travelers to pull over and stay a while, the Town of Springdale enlisted the services of The Landplan Group South, The Boudreaux Group and Toole Design Group

“We wanted to find out who Springdale is, and what we want,” said Bishop. “Every town has their own identity.”

What Springdale found out is that it is considered a bedroom community; a well-kept secret; a history-heritage center, and a cone-back-home town. Bishop, who lives in the house he grew up in, drew laughter when he said some even think Springdale is a “speed-trap.”

But to make it a destination there are specific kinds of businesses that town leaders will court. Among those are a a boutique, hotel, coffee shop and a grocery store, with a pharmacy. An art gallery and a gathering place are other types of businesses the town want to lure.

“We need money to come to Springdale,” said Stillwell. He also said the town is inviting investors, and pairing them with property owners who are ready to sell land for development.

Springdale officials are also planning to upgrade the entrance to the town on the West Columbia side and to the west, on the Columbia Metropolitan Airport side.

“We want to make Springdale a little more welcoming,” Stillwell said.

Those intersections will be remodeled to include traffic calming features, with mast arm traffic lights and brick signs, with a pedestrian crossing.

Bishop said the hope is that the changes to Springdale can come in the next five-to-ten years. He said town leaders are meeting with venture capitalists as early as next week to discuss a plan to convert the old Harland Check building on Platt Springs Road into a large meeting facility that would draw use at  a regional level.