Steps toward downtown revitalization - Conway School report for Hopkinton

Hopkinton now has a documented plan for downtown revitalization, incorporating ideas for economic development, walkability and street scape improvements, traffic calming measures, stormwater management, strategies for creating shared community spaces.

The plan was developed by students from the Conway Graduate School of Landscape Design, who led public input sessions and completed the plan as part of a professional planning curriculum at the school, under the direction of faculty advisors and Hopkinton's Downtown Revitalization Committee.

The professional quality document was created for less than $7,000, with funds contributed by Hopkinton Parks and Recreation Department, the Hopkinton Chamber of Commerce and local businesses. It will serve as an important reference point as the town moves to the next phase in downtown revitalization: 2010 town meeting approved $400,000 for development of a detailed design plan, which will advance Hopkinton toward state and federal grants to fund infrastructure improvements for the downtown.

Hopkinton to Participate in NStar Smart Grid Initiative

The Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU) today announced it has approved the first of four smart grid pilot projects submitted for its review last yearunder the Green Communities Act.This approval gives the green light to NSTAR's proposal to deploy in-home smart grid technologies to approximately 2,800 residential customers in Newton, Hopkinton and Jamaica Plain.

W.Main Street between Lumber Street and Wood Street

Running is a great way to become familiar with your town or any place you visit. When I travel, I wake up early to go running, and the morning jog orients me to the new surroundings.

When I run here at home, I often end up checking out properties that are on the agenda of upcoming planning board meetings, or just noticing architecture, sidewalks, traffic, crosswalks and other things related to planning.

For example, over the past few years, every time I run from the center of town headed west down West Main Street, I notice how great the sidewalks are, but how they suddenly discontinue without explanation, only to pick up again further down. Specifically:

• Heading West on West Main Street, down the hill between Wood Street and Whalen Road, there is a modest but practical paved pedestrian path on both sides of the road, right up until Whalen Road, a residential neighborhood.
• After Whalen Road, continuing west on the South side of West Main Street, the sidewalk is discontinued from Whalen Road all the way to the small office building past Berry Acres.
• After Whalen Road, continuing west on the North side of West Main Street, the paved pedestrian path continues a little further but then also discontinues and picks up again only past the Golden Pond facility
• Moreover, for most of the section of West Main Street where the sidewalk or paved pedestrian path is missing, the road shoulder is also narrow and deteriorated, so getting from the place where the sidewalk ends to where it picks up again a quarter mile later is pretty treacherous; you wouldn't want your children walking it.

Since both Ice House Pond on the North, and Berry Acres on the South, include trails for walking, it has always struck me as odd that the sidewalk does not continue to the point where the walking trails begin. From a planning point of view, completing the missing pieces of sidewalk would offer several benefits:

• The residents of Whalen Road and West Main Street would have a way to walk from their residences to Berry Acres, to Ice House Pond, to each others' homes, or to the 77 W.Main shopping center;
• The businesses and their clientele along West Main Street could get from the sidewalk in front of the business to the sidewalk beyond;
• Pedestrians walking from anywhere in town on the sidewalks could actually access by foot the pedestrian uses at both Ice House Pond and Berry Acres;
• Walkers, runners and cyclists along the Main and West Main corridor would have a safer time (the paved paths and sidewalks between town center and Whalen Road set an expectation which is left unfulfilled between Whalen and the sidewalk's continuation after Berry Acres and Golden Pond).

The Town Master Plan calls for pedestrian connectivity all the way along West Main Street, so the missing sidewalk sections do not appear to be from lack of planning. In fact, after inquiring about this, I found out that long ago, before the DPW was DPW, making W.Main Street accessible for pedestrians was a priority and that's how we got at least the portion of pedestrian path that exists today.

I know I'll continue to notice this whenever I run down West Main Street, and I'll continue to advance pedestrian safety issues on the Planning Board. Wouldn't it be great too if runners, walkers, residents, and businesses in the area - and all of us - could make completion of that pedestrian connection a priority, fulfilling our master plan and connecting the various uses along West Main?

Hidden suburban castle draws attention of UK zoning officials

This is amusing, but has overtones relevant to property owners and zoning officials everywhere, even Hopkinton, MA:

UK man's castle won't be his home, court says

"Fidler, who has had disagreements with planning authorities before, anticipated that his request for permission to build the castle would be denied, so he tried to take advantage of a rule that allows a structure to be legalized if it has been lived in for four years."

This Saturday 10-noon at High School caf: downtown planning

Stop by the high school cafeteria this Saturday, January 30, 2010 from 10-12.

Forum to get your input on pragmatic design improvements for Hopkinton's downtown

The Downtown Revitalization Committee (DRC), with the assistance of the team from the Conway School of Design, will be conducting a public forum at the Middle School Lecture Room on Thursday, January 28th at 7 PM. The purpose of the forum is to gather input from town committees, boards, and departments on issues, concerns, and ideas, which will assist in the development of a practical design plan for the downtown area. Topics will include pedestrian flow, safety, infrastructure improvements, and current and future uses of our downtown.

The town and local business and property owners have hired the Conway School of Landscape Design to formulate a practical design plan for the downtown taking into consideration current and future needs. The Conway School of Landscape Design is a graduate school, located in western Massachusetts that is renowned for practical landscape designs that are ecologically and socially sustainable. Some of their past projects have included a Revitalization Guide for Centennial Business Park in Peabody, Massachusetts, and a study of Gardner Hamlet in New York to help that community establish a downtown area.

As an early step in the process of reviewing our downtown, the Conway School of Design Team is looking for input. Meetings are being held to encourage participation from downtown business and property owners, downtown residents, people who work in town, as well residents who use the downtown as a community gathering place. Town boards, committees and departments have given particular attention to details of change in town, and your input is therefore of critical importance to the Conway team.

In addition to the Thursday meetings the Downtown Revitalization Committee is holding a public forum on Saturday, January 30, 2010 from 10-12 at the High School cafeteria to solicit thoughts from residents.

For more information please contact Peter LaGoy at 508.435.5937 or Tim Kilduff 508.509.3484. Also feel free to send your input via email to: Peter_LaGoy@msn.com.

Downtown planning project starting

Kicked off downtown planning project with Planning Board discussion on Monday. Kicking off the project with Conway Graduate School of Landscape Design next week with initial scoping meeting with Town Manager, and plan public input sessions and interviews.

I'm hoping our engagement with the Conway School will give Hopkinton ideas for

• improving pedestrian safety
• knowledge of process costs and funding for burying utility lines
• planning for traffic impacts of future growth
• future uses of town and non-profit owned buildings in the downtown
• maintaining and enhancing the downtown's role as a hub of business, civic and community activity

What do you hope to get from the Hopkinton downtown planning efforts?

Hopkintonians making news

Hopkinton resident Jane Moran, active in zoning decisions affecting her Hopkinton neighborhood, has been appointed police chief in Southborough. And Chairman of Hopkinton's Board of Selectmen, Brian Herr, considers running for State Treasurer.

Planning for downtown improvements

The Hopkinton Downtown Revitalization Committee identified this as the year to pursue a long sought after town goal of documenting a plan for the downtown. Recognizing the importance of having the full support of local businesses and the community at large in development of the plan, the downtown committee reached out to the Hopkinton Chamber of Commerce for help raising half of the funds needed for development of the plan. The other half will come from Town Hall through the Parks and Recreation Commission budget.

With funds now in place, the Downtown Revitalization Committee will be able to begin engaging with the Conway School of Landscape Design, who will document a plan as part of the graduate school curriculum in landscape design and planning. The committee's preparation will include outreach to the broader community, likely in cooperation with the Planning Board, through which I had the privilege of spearheading this effort as the Planning Board's liaison to the Downtown Revitalization Committee. The actual plan development will occur between January and April of 2010. The MetroWest Daily News writes about the fundraising effort which ensure the town can now pursue this long sought after goal.

Town Hall gets improvements - Hopkinton, MA - Hopkinton Crier

Town Hall gets improvements - Hopkinton, MA - Hopkinton Crier

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Downtown Improvements

The Downtown Revitalization Committee is a volunteer committee focused on identifying and advancing opportunities to improve the downtown. In July, I joined this committee as the Planning Board's representative. Since then, we've been reinvigorating the committee's focus on documenting a plan for the town center, which could be used as an impetus and guide for future improvements.

In the process, we've acknowledged that many individual improvements, which all add up to some significant progress, have already been achieved thanks to the initiative of property owners, businesses, town and civic groups involved in the downtown area. These changes point to the great commitment of individual property owners, businesses, town and volunteer groups to a vision for the downtown as a hub of business, civic and community activity. To name a few of these improvements:

• Benches and matching trash receptacles installed by Laborers Training Center and DPW at several locations along Main Street .
• Potted plants decorate several areas, including near the benches and a major planting at the Grove and Main intersection, thanks to the regular contributions of the Hopkinton Garden Club.
• The DPW recently performed repairs to deteriorated portions of sidewalk along the south side of Main Street between the Respite Center and Route 85.
• A new Gazebo and walkway was constructed on the Common this year, thanks to Friends of the Common, under the direction of Parks and Recreation and the Historic District Commission.
• Pruning, loaming and seeding on the Common was recently performed by Scott's Landscaping. Hopkinton Drug in 2007 completed significant improvements to its exterior facade as part of a building redesign
• A new fence alongside the historic cemetery across from the Common now calls out the historic nature of that space
• Bill's Pizza plans to begin construction this year of a redesigned building at the same location, which will also include repairs to nearby sidewalks.
• The Cumberland Farms (Gulf) at the corner of Main and Cedar completed landscaping improvements along Main Street
• Main Street Ventures completed upgrades to the building at the corner of Church and Main , which will be the new home of Zio's restaurant
• The Trails Club has opened up a new pedestrian trail that connects to the sidewalks on Main Street near Hopkinton Lumber
• The DPW has enhanced cross-walk painting at Main Street crosswalks, including those near Church Street , Hayden Rowe, and others
• Landscaping improvements to the Town Hall are well underway
• The Planning Department has initiated a study of parking in the downtown area
• The Police Department has been investing resources in crosswalk enforcement and traffic enforcement in the downtown
• A Walkable Communities Workshop delivered by the Metropolitan Planning Organization identified several potential enhancements to sidewalks and crossings

To build upon this momentum and ensure a cohesive effort moving forward, the Planning Board has set a goal this year to work with the Downtown Revitalization Committee and others to document a plan for the downtown. As work on that plan progresses, we look forward to open dialog with those who have constructive ideas or interests in the downtown, and will provide additional updates.

Do you have ideas or feedback on our downtown? Post your comment here or send me a note.