Planning Board Public Meeting Notice – Tuesday December 16, 2008 at 7:00pm
The UMass-Amherst Bolton Village Center Design team will be returning to Bolton to present their final results on Tuesday, December 16, 2008 at 7:00 pm at the First Parish of Bolton 673 Main Street (located next door to the Town Hall 663 Main Street). Bolton residents are invited to join the last of three public meetings regarding the design and implementation strategies for a Village Center.
One of the goals identified in Bolton's 2006 Master Plan was to develop tools that will guide and control future development in Bolton that benefit or enhance the community and retain the historic village character of Main Street and its small town and rural character. The Town is interested in ideas for small-scale economic development that centers new commercial and residential growth around and within the existing village center and other already developed areas.
To help accomplish this goal, the Planning Board has partnered with a team of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning graduate students from the University of Massachusetts Amherst to examine the possible establishment of a village center district within Bolton.
Professor Robert Ryan and his students learned about Bolton through the town’s planning documents, meeting with members of the community, Geographic Information Systems, and direct assessments of the town. Based on their findings, students made design and policy recommendations to develop a Village Center.
This project has assessed existing development patterns, parcels, building types and uses, utilities and environmental features such as topography and view sheds to determine a logical boundary for a proposed village center zone. Research into other village center bylaws is another product of this project.
Graduate students in Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning will present visual representations of a Village Center. The presentation will illustrate and explain recommendations regarding the extent of the village center, pathways, transportation and walkability, village character and land use.
For more information on this public meeting or about the project in general, please contact Jennifer Atwood Burney, Town Planner at 978-779-3308 or Robert Ryan, Faculty Project Advisor, 413-545-6633. Information about this project can also be obtained from the Town’s website www.townofbolton.com.
| 
