NORTHBOROUGH – What would you like to see in downtown Northborough?
That was the topic of a community meeting held by the Master Plan Implementation Committee on Jan. 26.
Northborough completed a new master plan for the town prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2020, the Board of Selectmen established a Master Plan Implementation Committee. According to Chair Rick Leif, in the master plan, the one item that received the most attention was residents’ interest in examining downtown Northborough and efforts to, in general, make it a wonderful meeting place for the town.
The committee recommended that the selectmen move forward with a study of the downtown. The board agreed, and the firm Weston & Sampson was hired.
“The goal of this first meeting is to get your ideas,” said Weston & Sampson’s Johnathan Law. “We’re not coming to you with any designs because we want to find out what you want for your town.”
This marked the first of several community meetings planned by the committee to solicit input as to what residents think about the existing downtown and how it could be improved.
As part of the meeting, residents were asked to place stickers on maps of four specific study areas where they would like to see a variety of commercial or residential developments or other amenities.
Each sticker represented multifamily housing, mixed-use housing, adaptive reuse housing, food trucks, outdoor dining, restaurants, bars, retail, flexible gathering space, green infrastructure, car charging, trails, on-street parking, parking lots, pedestrian street, accessibility, fitness and art.
Residents could also place stickers next to what they would like to see downtown.
According to Law, the committee and Weston & Sampson will take the information from the community meetings and develop it into concepts. Once they have concepts, the committee and consultants will present them to the community for discussion before returning with a preferred downtown master plan.
