AUBURN — The first stage in making the downtown more walkable is figuring out where people want to go, according to city Economic Development Specialist Alan Manoian.

“Then, you can start coming up with building development standards,” Manoian said. “Then you can see on this street, we want this kind of building and frontage types. And then you can come up with standards for building development.”

Manoian will kick off a series of use and planning reviews of the area next week. The goal is to create a form-based zoning code, one that encourages developers to make their buildings and sidewalks more inviting to foot traffic.

Manoian said he hopes to schedule a series of downtown urban planning discussions on Tuesday nights through the summer.

The first meeting, set for 5:30 p.m. July 1 in Auburn Hall, bring a group of residents together to discuss and figure out where the city’s true urban center is.

Manoian said that once they determine what part of the city can be considered the urban core, they can begin plotting what to do to make that are more attractive and useable and decide how to best link it with other areas.

“Now we need to boil it down to one or two choices,” he said. “It may be Great Falls Plaza, the intersection of Hampshire Street and Turner Street. That may be the area of most intense development. Or it could be the intersection of Court and Main.”

Finding that core lets the city direct efforts to change it and make it more friendly, replacing a utilitarian “intersection” with a friendly and walkable square.

“I say it very plainly: If someone asks you to go take a romantic stroll around the square, that sounds very pleasant,” Manoian said. “If someone invites you out for a romantic stroll around the intersection, that doesn’t sound very nice.”

It’s part of a longer goal towards of shifting the city’s zoning codes in favor of walkable development.

“For all intents and purposes, it’s a unified site plan for the whole downtown,” Manoian said. “Instead of each building developer doing their own site plan, we say ‘No. It needs to be unified.'”

The effort began earlier this month with a short walking tour of the downtown followed by a planning and design session. Residents were asked to draw on maps to show how they thought the downtown could be made more inviting.

“We had a very good first meeting, now I want people to get into the mode and thinking, ‘Oh, it’s Tuesday night. It’s form-based code night,'” Manoian said.

staylor@sunjournal.com

Copy the Story Link