AMHERST — Memo to residents — town officials want you to paint a vision of downtown. And they’re hosting the first of three forums Thursday to hear what you have to say.
As projects are built in Amherst center — the completed Boltwood Place and Kendrick Place, the under-construction One East Pleasant and a planned mixed-use building on Spring Street — town officials have not taken the pulse of the public or gotten residents’ views on the future of Amherst center.
This will change this week when a meeting takes place with residents, visitors, business owners and landlords aimed at getting opinions on what they would like to see in downtown so it can be an attractive place to live, work, shop and play.
A forum titled “A Conversation about our Town Center,” sponsored by the Select Board and Planning Board, begins at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Woodbury Room in the Jones Library, 43 Amity St.
“We’re hoping to get a general sense of what most people want to see in downtown,” Planning Director Christine Brestrup said.
The town has had success meeting many of the goal’s spelled out in its master plan, including preserving rural landscapes and agricultural properties and promoting in-fill development downtown.
This week’s forum, however, will be the start of a type of listening tour about downtown from a broad perspective.
Brestrup said the forum will be similar to a series of downtown parking forums held between 2014 and 2015 that brought people together with various perspectives on the needs for public parking. In that case, people who were convinced there is sufficient space for vehicles and others adamant that a second parking garage is needed were able to hash out their views.
“This will be an opportunity, like with the downtown parking forums, where people could hear one another talking about an issue,” Brestrup said.
While Planning Board hearings have focused on specific projects that affect the downtown, as well as possible zoning changes, the forum can get broader feedback about what needs improving or changing.
Brestrup said parking could be one element, but people might also talk about the conditions of sidewalks and crosswalks, whether there are enough trees and plants, whether the look and height of new buildings is appropriate, the level of satisfaction with the Town Common, and even whether the Jones Library needs to be expanded or whether it should be preserved as it is.
Brestrup said the forum will be facilitated by members of the Planning Board and Select Board, with Town Manager Paul Bockelman serving as moderator.
The forum will be the first of at least three, Brestrup said. She expects officials could schedule a more focused topic specific to downtown in September and then conclude with one in December, following the sessions of fall Town Meeting.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.