AMHERST — A project to update downtown design standards for both public and private properties, as well as determine what the streetscape will look like, is continuing with both an in-person workshop set for Monday evening and an online survey available for most of December.
Representatives with Dodson & Flinker Landscape Architecture & Planning of Northampton, working with the town’s Planning Department, will meet with the public for the streetscape workshop starting at 6:30 p.m. at Town Room at Town Hall.
During this interactive session, people will be presented with design alternatives for public spaces, including sidewalk paving, benches, bicycle racks, lighting, signs, outdoor dining areas and parklets.
The latest workshop follows a walking tour of downtown in September where people could offer comments to Dodson & Flinker’s team, including at a three-hour visioning workshop the day after the tour. That workshop focused on building design preferences.
Amherst officials are trying to ensure the downtown design standards, encompassing an area stretching from the Amherst College campus to the south to past Kendrick Park in the north, reflect “the needs and aspirations of everyone who lives, works and spends time downtown.”
Town Manager Paul Bockelman said the idea is to get input from people about topics including the width of sidewalks and a preference for parallel or angle-in parking.
The streetscape survey relies on visual preferences, with participants asked to rate examples of streetscapes and indicate which they like better.
The survey, which takes three to five minutes to complete, is available at bit.ly/AmherstStreetscapeSurvey through Dec. 22.
More about the downtown design standards is at amherstma.gov/downtowndesign.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
