Confessions of an Urban Planning Junkie

There's a meeting at City Hall tonight that I'm pretty excited about (and I'm not talking about the budget cross-examination in the council chambers.)

It's the presentation and discussion of the Downtown Gateway Study up in Room 208 at 5 pm, which takes place during a special meeting of the Redevelopment Agency (full disclosure: I'm the acting chair of the agency.)

Now don't drowse off, please. If you're one of those people who has ever said "when did THEY decide to do THAT in town," then you owe it to yourself to follow this project. The decisions made at these meetings are often the first step to projects that come to fruition years later - and it's usually too late to have your opinions considered at that stage. But tonight, they're throwing the door open to hear what you think. Don't say I didn't warn you.

So what's the Downtown Gateway Study? Here's what you need to know (with as little jargon as I can manage):

It started with the Brownfields Assessment. The planning office has been studying what to do with old, contaminated properties that might find new life if we could figure out exactly how contaminated they are (the feds have been footing the bill). This study has been under the wing of the Redevelopment Agency, and for many months (or maybe it's been years) the consultants at VHB, Inc. have been assessing our brownfields -- those properties that have a history of industrial or commercial use that gets in the way of new owners and productive business ventures because of fears of liability and environmental risks.

Eventually, the Redevelopment Agency decided to focus on two areas - the north tip of Main Street and the area of Main Street Extension, just south of Middlesex Hospital and Route 17. Each of these is an important gateway to our Main Street, and has brownfield properties.

If we play our cards right, we might be able to put some grant money into cleaning up these properties and getting them ready for redevelopment.

Once we decided to focus on these two areas, VHB (and their friends at Milone & MacBroom) began to study what kinds of new development might be appropriate - hence the "Downtown Gateway Study".

Tonight is the meeting for public review and input on the findings of the study.

In addition to lots of cool maps, there will be presentations about what kinds of businesses (retail, etc.) might be suitable on these properties, with data (and more maps) about what kinds of shops appeal to people who live in our region. In other words, if people really love to buy towels, but we don't have lots of towel shops in town, well then maybe a towel shop would fly. Without this information, towel shop developers and the banks who loan them money wouldn't know if Middletown is a good risk. A towel shop is just an example, of course. Maybe you have other ideas about what you would like to see in town?!

If you've never been to one of these meetings, they're actually fun. This is the brainstorming stage where everyone considers what kinds of projects might work. Would a developer want to do it? Would it be good for town? Would it generate new tax revenue or would it create a drain on services? Would it complement our historic Main Street, or would it make us look like everyone else?

All kidding aside, this is participatory government at its best. If you want to shape the development of our downtown, then join us at tonight's Redevelopment meeting. See you there.