LEWISTON — A long-awaited master plan and development study of the 77 acres between the Androscoggin River and the city’s canal will kick off this week.

Representatives from Boston-based urban planning and architecture firm Goody Clancy will meet with Lewiston’s Riverfront Island Advisory Committee at 5 p.m. Tuesday at the Lewiston Public Library.

The consultants, who include planners, architects and business marketing specialists, will take a public tour of the riverfront area, from Island Point to Cedar Street, beginning at 11:15 a.m. Wednesday.

“The express goal here is for them to see the area and to talk with the people that live and work there,” City Planner David Hediger said. The walking tour starts at the Bates Mill No. 5 parking lot on Main Street. Everyone is invited to attend.

The city has been contemplating a full study of the area since it was named as one of the top priorities in the city’s 2009 strategic plan. 

“It’s got lots of waterfront along canals or the river, a fair amount of public lands, a fair amount of green space and mill properties,” Lincoln Jeffers, interim director of economic development, said. “There is a tremendous amount of potential and very good bones for development in this area. And it’s a very attractive area, with access to water, and we have not really been capitalizing on that.”

Councilors this year named a 17-member advisory committee, made up of city councilors and Planning Board volunteers, local business owners and managers, property owners and downtown advocates.

“The goal of Goody Clancy is to look at how this land can be best used to maximize the potential,” Jeffers said. “Where should there be trails, can we make it a place where people want to come, to visit and to live there. All the pieces are there. We just need a good idea of how to capitalize on them.”

Hediger said the city hired the Boston firm this summer. They’ve been going over previous planning studies, detailing parking, traffic flow, recreation and culture, since then.

“Public input will be the biggest part of this,” Hediger said. “There have been more than a dozen studies done over the last 10 years. They’ve been trying to familiarize themselves with that as best they can. Now they begin meeting with stakeholders and stakeholder groups, property owners, those with a financial interest and people that are involved with the community in some way.”

A public meeting is scheduled for November to update the group’s progress.

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