The ideas of about 350 people for revitalizing downtown South Berwick will be presented at a public workshop at 6 p.m. Thursday, May 16, in the Town Hall auditorium.
Citizens will be able to see how their suggestions have been incorporated into the draft plan developed by the Downtown Revitalization Plan Advisory Committee. Attendees will be invited to make recommendations in smaller breakout sessions.
About 75 residents provided input to the draft plan at the first public workshop held by the committee in January, and some 275 indicated their priorities in a survey last year.
Many of the recommendations included in the draft plan address traffic improvements as well as sidewalk upgrades to meet the Americans with Disabilities Act requirements.
The plan also recommends the town standardize infrastructure and streetscape elements such as trees, period lighting, benches, and trash receptacles.
The draft plan is available on the town’s Downtown Revitalization Project webpage here.
Adopting a revitalization plan is critical to obtaining state and federal grants for the project, according to Town Manager Tim Pellerin and Jeff Preble of Wright-Pierce Engineering, the company hired by the town to guide the project.
At the May 6 committee meeting, Pellerin advised members to continue meeting after the final plan is presented to the Town Council in September. He recommended they select two or three priority projects for 2025 to present to the council in November for consideration during the next budget process.
The Town Council will then decide whether to include the projects in the Annual Town Meeting warrant for voter approval in the event outside funding isn’t available or is insufficient.
The group could continue as a permanent committee but select a smaller operations subcommittee, Pellerin said. The operations group would track the progress of the approved projects and prioritize projects in future years with input from the whole committee.
“The committee should continue in some form to provide oversight,” he said. “I’m just offering some ideas for how you will do that.”
