By GLYNIS HART
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CLAREMONT – Citizens of Claremont showed up twice for “Rethinking Pleasant Street” meetings Wednesday, a project to revitalize the city’s once-vibrant downtown retail strip. The two meetings — at noon and 6 p.m. — were to gather public input on how Pleasant Street could look in the future.
Engineers Brian Colburn and Scott Ozana of McFarland Johnson and Jonathan Law, a landscape architect with CRJN, presented examples of other such revitalization projects and solicited questions from the audience. McFarland Johnson has a contract with the city to produce the initial designs to revamp Pleasant Street between the roundabout in Opera House Square and School Street/Glidden Street.
“We are on step one; public involvement is a big part of this project,” said Colburn. The architects intend to have at least two more public meetings before a final design is ready at the end of April. After collecting information at these two meetings and through the website — rethinkpleasantstreet.com — they will come up with ideas and present them to the public. They’ll consult with the property owners to see what they want before deciding on a design to best meet the community’s needs and wishes.
Colburn said the firm recently worked in Concord, changing the main street from a four-lane “vehicle dominated” route to a place where pedestrians shop and hang out. The sidewalks were widened to 15 feet, street trees were added, and lots of lighting made it feel safer at night.
“What this project did was encourage businesses there,” said Ozana. “It also was a catalyst for bringing apartments down there.”
The idea of a pedestrian mall was aired and discussed, with various examples — Burlington, Ithaca, the main street of Disneyland — that people had seen and liked. Several people said for a pedestrian mall to work, the downtown has to already be a destination.
“When Lebanon first did their pedestrian mall they hated it,” said one man.
In the end the consensus seemed to be more toward making it a one-way street with wider sidewalks and diagonal parking.
In order to make Pleasant Street more pleasant, several people said reducing heavy truck traffic would be necessary. Many said slowing down traffic would be good. Others said improving the lighting would help.
Several downtown business owners spoke up, including the owners of Bearse Bakery and Remix. They and others said it’s important to make the street more business-friendly.
“We’re controlled by a shell lease, so even if the ceilings fall we have to repair them,” said Patience Bearse. “And in the winter it costs $1,000 a month to heat it.”
Jim Neilsen of Remix said setting up his business ran into a lot of restrictions from the Claremont Historic Commission. To that, city Economic Development Director Nancy Merrill replied that the state historic commission has an interest in a mix of building fronts and styles, as the more modern ones, by contrast, emphasize historic buildings in their midst.
Merrill said this is a good time to work on redesigning the street because the infrastructure of sewer and water lines is going to have to be replaced soon.
Other things people suggested: better lighting, public art, more trees and decorative plantings. Claire Lessard, having owned a Pleasant Street business for many years, said planning for trees should remember the exigencies of snow removal. Colburn said that Concord added workers to clear snow after the redesign, and some businesses paid for heated sidewalks.
“We have to work on community pride before we work on buildings,” said Allen Damren, city councilor. “We have to work on our image and our pride.”
Meg Hurley asked whether there were women on the design team. “Women bring a different perspective,” she said. “Safety’s a big issue for them.”
Colburn said they do have women on the design team although none were present at the meeting.
Wrapping it up, Colburn said, “No one wants to keep it as it is? Two traffic lanes, two sidewalks?”
No one did.
“We’ll be back in late March to present our ideas to the public,” said Colburn. “In early April we’ll refine the alternatives, and in late April we’ll present the alternative designs. There will be at least two more meetings like this.”
Colburn encouraged people who couldn’t make it to either of the meetings to comment on the website: rethinkpleasantstreet.com.
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