Housing wants drive prospective Freeport facelift
Soon after many years of nurturing a developing retail footprint, the city of Freeport is eyeing a transformation of its downtown spot, with a shift to new household developments and a far more pedestrian-pleasant environment.
Nearby officials and a lengthy-time business operator are inspired by the new ideas.
“Most of the strategies I have viewed are fairly fantastic,” stated Phil Wagner, owner of Derosier’s pizza and sandwich store at 120 Most important St.
Wagner has been functioning his downtown business enterprise for 20 several years, and is the fifth era of his spouse and children to dwell in town. He explained he can keep in mind when improvements to start with arrived to Freeport, in the mid-1980s, with the emergence of purchasing shops, like the retail huge L.L. Bean. At the time, he stated, Freeport’s downtown shed a ton of residential assets that experienced as soon as accommodated manufacturing unit employees.
“We tore down a ton of apartment properties in town to construct parking a lot, and now the pressure’s likely the other way, and which is a fantastic factor,” he said.
The ongoing transformation, according to Keith McBride, govt director of the Freeport Financial Progress Corp., can be summed up in two distinctive objectives: To deliver back again more household property to Freeport’s downtown, and to make the location a lot more walkable for inhabitants, readers and shoppers.
Aspect of the impetus for Freeport’s formidable undertaking can be traced to 2017. City councilor Tawni Whitney said a single of the most common concerns she fielded from people through her marketing campaign was, “What are you going to do about downtown?”
Whitney said that issue led to Freeport hiring the Principle Team, a Boston-primarily based city design and enhancement fim, that aided the city study citizens, company entrepreneurs, readers and even neighborhood children to discover out what people today wanted to see.
In accordance to the outcomes of the study, released as component of a progress proposal by FEDC, far more downtown-dependent housing of all economic degrees topped the list of what the 582 respondents needed to see over the future 10 decades. Enhanced going for walks and biking accessibility to downtown also ranked higher in the survey effects.
“It became genuinely clear that we essential to concentrate on the downtown,” reported FEDC President Mary Davis.
McBride mentioned that variations to endorse far more household improvement have previously occurred. The town council permitted a series of improvements to zoning restrictions in April to enable for larger-density housing, taller utmost developing heights and combined-use growth assignments downtown.
“We’ve designed some excellent strides with that,” McBride mentioned.
Whitney observed that extra housing downtown will also really encourage people to patronize nearby companies.
“You want someone going to get espresso in the morning, and going to get a beer at night time,” she reported.
McBride explained he expects the housing that is built downtown to range from economical rental models to possibly higher-finish housing, these as condos or townhouses. He mentioned there are several tasks in the functions, but declined to talk about them due to the fact no one has used for approval yet. He expects that will transpire in the subsequent couple of months.
Meanwhile, other adjustments are much more visible nowadays, with numerous “parklets,” or platforms extending into underutilized Freeport roadways, visible about town. The platforms allow for extended outside seating and little trees in planters. Whitney said more simple adjustments these types of as the parklets are on a demo run this summer. Above the coming months, she stated, the town is going to evaluate community curiosity in the proposed alterations, culminating in October with a weeklong downtown preparing workshop coordinated by Theory and town officers.
Whitney stated she wished general public guidance for any concept, no make any difference how smaller, prior to officers would even consider about earning it lasting.
“If it doesn’t get the job done, it’s going away,” she explained.
To get more area information, things to do and weather in Maine, download the Spectrum News application
