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Date: 9/26/2023
LUDLOW — Lindsey Abbott and Brandon Kunkel from Weston and Sampson met with the Board of Selectmen at its Sept. 19 meeting to discuss East St. conceptual designs.
The presentation covered the highlights, opportunities and potential improvements for East Street.
Kunkel said the goal is the work towards making a revitalization master plan for the overlay district and has been working with Ludlow since the spring.
“The goal is to return pedestrians to the street. We want to get them out of their cars, onto the sidewalks, activate the streets and ultimately, we really want to get them into the businesses that are there,” Kunkel added. Some potential improvements included expanding the width and length of certain sidewalks, additional parking, more crosswalks, traffic signs, art sculptures and murals, trees for shade, sidewalk furniture and outdoor dining areas.
Ludlow residents and business owners were also asked to take part in a survey update the East Street Revitalization District Zoning Bylaw, which aims to create a more welcoming environment to attract visitors and potential patrons to the area.
The survey looked for the public’s opinion on several topics including availability of parking, ways to improve pedestrian safety, addition/improvement of green spaces, benches, bike racks, banners, seasonal decorations and consistent signage, economic opportunities including temporary outdoor dining spaces, art installations and mini-pocket parks.
Kunkel shared the results during his presentation and said most responses dealt with the lack of parking especially during events, weekly business hours and on Friday and Saturday during peak dinner hours.
According to Kunkel, the next steps will be to continue to work with Ludlow to find an attainable and agreed upon plan to work toward.
He said, “From here, we are going to start to synthesize down to really a preferred option or two and then ultimately a preferred option to really emphasize what could be done along this corridor to encourage this energy and revitalization.”
Westmass Area Development Corporation Community Development and Planning Coordinator Sean O’ Donnell hosted a community information meeting on Sept. 21 to discuss Ludlow Mills/State Street district improvements.
Those improvements included to mill, pave and replace manholes on East Street from Stevens St. to State St. along with reclaim and pave Stevens Street and State Street.
Most of the presentation talked about District Improvement Financing which the town is currently trying to expand.
O’Donnell said DIF enables communities to pledge future tax revenues from a designated area to planned public projects and makes new infrastructures affordable in the short term through better borrowing terms.
“It is a financial tool that uses new development to pay for public investments in the same district and is a signal that the community is serious about investing in this district and in economic development,” he added.
Ludlow approved its current DIF district in 2020 but currently has two articles on the Oct.2 Town Meeting warrant to expand the district.
Town Administrator Marc Strange said, “There is a DIF district right now, but it only encompasses the [Ludlow] Mills property. The thought is to expand the district, down State Street, up Stevens Street to East Street, over to Sewall to Center and all the way basically encompassing the whole downtown area because once this money comes in from Mill 8, Mill 11, whatever other developments come from Riverside drive, the town can use those funds to pay for bonding for infrastructure.”
Westmass Area Development Corporation is currently working on developing Mill 8 into a 55 and over apartment complex and has begun discussion on designing a plan for Mill 11.
If the articles are approved, O’Donnell said the next steps would be to establish baseline assessments for fiscal year 2023 and identify preliminary projects and costs for inclusion in a financing plan.
After that either by this winter or by the spring of next year, Westmass and Ludlow will finalize public projects, the estimate costs and the financing plan.
Strange said, “By expanding the district we can look at the intersection coming over bridge where East Street and Center Street split. Whatever projects that get done with in that district we can use the DIF funds without having to tax the taxpayers.”
Both presentations will be made available soon for residents.