LEWISTON — Consultants studying downtown Lewiston for a new master plan moved out of the books and into the streets Wednesday.

Consultants from Goody Clancy and W-Zha Inc. walked around Lewiston’s riverfront Wednesday, from the Bates Mill through Simard-Payne Memorial Park and past the Franco-American Heritage Center.

Along the way, they were joined by a group of about 18 residents and neighbors each hoping to put in their 2 cents about the area.

“I’m excited about all of this,” said Planning Board member Eric Potvin, a downtown resident. “It’s why I moved back home in the first place. I’ve been back for five years, and I’ve seen a lot happen since then. It’s good to see this just continue.”

The city hired Boston-based Goody Clancy, an urban planning company, earlier this year to lead the effort and to help draft a development plan for the city’s Riverfront Island, defined as the area between the Androscoggin River and the canals.

The group has spent the past few months poring over previous studies of the downtown. Members met with volunteers from an advisory committee Tuesday but kicked off the bulk of their work Wednesday, meeting with residents and property owners all day, breaking only for their lunchtime walking tour.

“We’ve met a lot of people and learned about the area’s history,” said David Spillane, principal partner in Goody Clancy.

Sarah Woodworth, an economist and market specialist for Maryland-based development advisers W-Zha Inc., said the work was just getting started.

“It’s too soon to make any assumptions just yet,” she said. “We have a lot more people to meet with.”

Consultants will continue their meetings through Friday.

“We’ve booked them solid for two days,” City Planner David Hediger said. “We have them going from 8 a.m. until 6:45 p.m.”

They’ll meet with residents, property owners and officials from both Lewiston and Auburn.

“We recognize that we need Auburn’s thoughts, too,” Hediger said. “There’s some discussion about inviting their Planning Board and their elected officials to the public hearing.”

The consultants have set up a website, www.riverfrontislandmasterplan.com, to take other comments. They’ll be back in Lewiston in November for a public hearing and hope to present a draft of their plan next spring.

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