Residents can share their ideas for future use of the now vacant 1.5-acre Shoetown Park on Norton Street at an interactive display at the Community Center from 9 to 4 through Tuesday, May 27.
“We’re in the preplanning stage for development of the park,” said DeCarlo Brown, town planner and economic community director. “The first thing we need to do is get community input before we even develop a plan.”
Citizens can select their preferences or express disapproval of about 10 choices, including a splash pad, covered picnic area, pickle ball and bocce ball courts, a bandstand and other activities and amenities displayed on large posters in the front hallway of the center. Besides the possibilities listed on the posters, residents can suggest their own ideas on sticky notes.
The display, set up Tuesday evening with planning and recreation staff on hand to answer questions from the public, encourages residents to indicate their top three preferences with green dots. A splash pad appeared to be a popular choice among the 20 to 25 families who stopped by Tuesday, and by the end of the week pickleball had by far the most thumbs-down red dots.
According to Brown, any plan that is developed will go through the usual approval processes, including public hearings.
“However, we are nowhere near that stage yet,” he said.
The town’s Economic Development and Recreation departments are collaborating on the park development effort.
