Took notes at today's meeting. It is still
very early in the development cycle. There are all kinds of studies that need to be done -- particularly stormwater and traffic (two of my concerns) as well as a zillion environmental considerations and some economic stuff. So probably a ton of this is subject to at least a certain degree of change. But some of the notes I took down include:
- Has to meet state law for urban redevelopment, and get input from public, stakeholders, council and more
- 18-20 future meetings including planning commission, council hearing, board of redevelopment
- property will be sold to the developers (was previously state land, relinquished to the town for this purpose)
- development team is local (and the speaker sounded like he knew a fair bit about the area)
- the 2 extra bits of commerce are probably fast food or something like (I'm skeptical about this working out)
- the "industrial" section is for small offices for local businesses, however this section is also up for reconsideration and subject to whatever will best suit the community's needs
- Meant to be open and welcome to all, including current residents outside the area. Strong emphasis on the need to connect to rest of neighborhood.
- Architectual considerations to fit within local designs and keep the big wrought iron fence surrounding the property
- Grocery store was one of the big priorities for the community and would likely be part of the first phase of development.
- No taxes for residents, and would generate X dollars of revenue locally for the tax base.
- Intend to have an abundance of parking (I'm not sold on this point)
- Starting point is general infrastructure with power, stormwater, and sewer. Master plan by summer next year, and hopefully start on this infrastructure by fall.
There's probably more I left off. The meeting itself was a reasonable back and forth until a couple ladies at the end hijacked it with their multipart lecture-oriented questions. Lasted about 2 hours.