Old Lyme – Halls Road, the half-mile commercial stretch that begins with a modern intersection at Route 156 and ends at the historic district at Lyme Street, is dotted with restaurants, stores and offices – which landscape architect Sarah Wood McCracken describes as a series of seven distinct physical identities.

They range from a cluster of 1960s-style commercial buildings to marshes near the Lieutenant River, and they occupy a space near the center of town.

“How can these seven identities ever become assimilated to represent the unique identity of Old Lyme and the cultural, historic and business communities here?” asked McCracken, a local landscape architect, at a Wednesday business breakfast organized by the town and the Lyme-Old Lyme Chamber of Commerce.

About 30 people attended the event at the Old Lyme Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library to hear about possibly developing a master plan for Halls Road.

The town wants to enhance the road, which is a stretch of federal Route 1, to ensure long-term economic development by encouraging passersby to linger and patronize shops and keeping the road attractive for businesses. At the same time, it aims to create more opportunities for residents to enjoy the area and unite the road with Lyme Street, tapping into the history of arts palpable on its main street, said First Selectwoman Bonnie Reemsnyder.

“This is a lot about what place-making is about,” she said. “Rather than getting people passing through, we want this to be an inviting stretch where people will stop and patronize our businesses.”

Possibilities include a town-owned open space area with benches for people to enjoy views of the nearby Lieutenant River. The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection recently agreed to give the town a triangular parcel of land near a town-owned parcel, which could aid in creating such a space, said Reemsnyder.

Installing a bike lane and adding more landscaping were ideas that emerged after the Mentoring Corps for Community Development first approached her and the town about exploring ways to beautify the road, McCracken said. It could even become an outdoor arts gallery, she said.

The mentoring corps is a group of volunteers from Old Lyme that works on economic and community development.

McCracken said enhancing Halls Road could encourage customers to stay longer in the area, which would in turn help stores remain in business and attract new shops. The redesign could also “engender a feeling of pride in Old Lyme” and turn the area into a greater destination for eateries or other shops.

Attendees asked questions ranging from the project’s benefits to how to alleviate traffic congestion when drivers use Halls Road to avoid a traffic jam on Interstate 95.

Reemsnyder said the master plan will take traffic into account but added that if those drivers were to stop and patronize local businesses, the inevitable traffic could become less of a drawback. She stressed improving the area to make it attractive for businesses to stay. She said she would never want to see vacant storefronts along Halls Road.

“I think the economic benefit to the town and the residents is that we maintain the businesses that we do have,” she said. She added that while the town wants to maintain its character and doesn’t want big box stores or huge complexes, it should be creative about its economic development. She said the town originally began holding the breakfasts – the first one was in September – as a way to find solutions to comments tossed about that the town was “unfriendly to business.”

The town is aiming to acquire some grants for the project, which could be a phased-in process that could take up to 10 years to complete. The town envisions the project as a “collaborative effort” with local and regional groups, according to the presentation.

A yet-to-be-formed committee with local stakeholders will study ideas for enhancing Halls Road and building a greater sense of place there for business owners, residents and visitors.

Ultimately, an architectural firm could then develop a long-term master plan for the road. The firm’s tasks will include surveying the area’s topography, identifying rights of way, becoming familiar with local zoning laws and transportation regulations, and designing the area, said McCracken.

k.drelich@theday.com

GUILFORD Nearly two weeks after residents of the community adjacent to the site of the new Guilford High School expressed their concerns about the ongoing construction, the Board of Selectmen spent more than an hour Tuesday discussing possible solutions to the issues.

On April 17, the selectmen met with Long Hill Farm residents who were “frustrated and upset” with what they called a loss of privacy, scenery and peace and quiet as a result of the construction associated with Guilford’s new $92 million high school, according to meeting minutes.

Tuesday’s meeting served to explore how the town could address concerns from the residents and representatives from the Guilford High School Building Committee ultimately decided to take the lead in meeting with the project’s landscape architect and Long Hill Farm residents to discuss solutions to restore a landscaping buffer between the school and development.

“We’re happy the selectmen came out to our community and felt what we felt and they responded,” said Roy Smith, president of the Long Hill Farm Association. “We couldn’t ask for more support.”

“We want to work with them and not against them,” Smith added.

Mary Beeman of the Guilford High School Building Committee said she would bring the concerns of the residents to the rest of the committee and the project’s landscape architect.

“They’re essential to the process,” Beeman said of the residents.

Smith said the community’s major concern is the disruption of the “wooded barrier between the school and the community” and added that they would like their privacy restored.

Long Hill Farm residents said at the April 17 meeting that they were concerned about a drop in real estate values as a result of the construction as well as the loss of landscaping between the community and the school.

Robert Berkowitz, Long Hill Farm Association’s liaison to the building committee, indicated that residents aren’t looking to completely black out the school from the view of residents, but nonetheless would like a buffer between the school and the development.

“We’re not looking for high-end landscaping,” Berkowitz said. “I don’t think residents will mind a partial view of the building.”

Toward the end of the meeting, First Selectman Joseph Mazza urged the building committee to keep the residents informed and asked members of the committee to look into and address their concerns.

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The first £15million stage of the redevelopment of Aylesbury town centre will focus on new restaurants, homes and open spaces – but not new shops.

Phase One of the masterplan, which is made public today, will see the area opposite the Odeon Cinema become a Mecca for restaurants, bars and flats facing a ‘new town square’.

Artists’ impressions show a grand, cloisters-style building housing eateries on the ground floor and flats above.

This is the third time plans for Exchange Street have been put forward over more than a decade, with the credit crunch shelving many of the previous proposals.

Neil Blake, who as leader of Aylesbury Vale District Council is jointly responsible for spearheading the project said: “It is quite fortunate in many ways that we didn’t go ahead with the plans when they were put forward a few years ago.

“This was when we were going to bring in an anchor department store in the redevelopment of the town centre. I think we were very lucky with the way that the economy has gone. The vision then was retail, the vision now is for less retail.

“The market has changed and people’s ideas have changed and the market for shops is not as strong.”

He added: “The success of the new Wagmama and Nandos is generating interest.

“Success breeds success and if restaurateurs see what is already going on they will want to come here.”

A planning application, which will be submitted in June this year will include around 2,250 square metres of food and beverage facilities, 3,950 square metres of residential space, 4,750 square metres of public open space and 350 square metres of community space.

The plans for phase one also include new pedestrian routes to Exchange Street and Walton Street from the town centre and enhanced landscaping around Judges Lodgings.If the application is successful the councils say that works could begin as early as spring 2015.

Martin Tett, leader of Bucks County Council, which is also responsible for the scheme together with Aylesbury Vale Advantage, said: “By utilising the assets of Aylesbury Vale District Council and Bucks County Council we can do so much.

“If more people come to live in the town centre they will use these bars and cafes, and the retail will thrive as well.

Bucks County Council has already submitted a planning application to complete the £2million groundworks for the phase one scheme.

This includes the demolition of the rear of the old county office buildings and one of the former police station buildings so that a temporary surface car park can be built. If approved the new car park will be open in late 2014. As a result of the proposed phase one project 95 parking spaces will be lost in Exchange Street surface car park.

To read other stories on the redevelopment plans, click on the links below.

Exchange Street to become boulevard with extra crossings and Hampden House to be redeveloped.

New masterplan doesn’t include any new shops for now.

How will we pay for this grand scheme?

Learn more about the blueprints here – and have your say.

The Levee Park Committee, in charge of revitalizing Winona’s underused riverside park, wants to make sure the plans don’t end up forgotten on a shelf.

The committee worried that if the Winona City Council, which will make the final decision on any plans for the park, got one large recommendation for what to do with the park, it would be too grand a concept — with too big a price tag — for the council to jump on board. That’s why the committee spent Tuesday’s meeting hashing out how to strategically present the plan to the council — which they plan to do in June.

“If we send just one item and say it’s what we want, there’s a real chance that we end up on the back shelf like many plans have,” Committee Chairman Frank Pomeroy said.

The group decided to break down each section of the plan — submitted by hired consultants — and make recommendations on each piece of the plan so it’s manageable, both in concept and for the purpose of prioritizing actions.

One member suggest hiring a professional to sort through the pieces price them before going to the city council.

“I do think we need a facilitating process,” committee member Natalie Siderius said. “A couple planners, an engineer, come up with those long and short term plans, what those dollar amounts might look like. Then we can make better recommendations. I think we should have that roadmap.”

Pomeroy said hiring someone else this late in the process could mean more delay and could detract from the value, talent and expertise already at the table. A number of committee members are city and county staff or former staff.

Other members agreed with Pomeroy, but a few stated that at some point a professional will need to be hired to help look at pricing and feasibility.

“We won’t know what it’ll cost until we have somebody look at,” Anderson said.

The committee was also a bit worried that if the plans weren’t moving forward fast enough the public would lose interest.

To ensure the momentum and energy continues, some committee members wanted to concentrate first on short-term goals that could be easily accomplished. It would let the public know work is in process and would give the city council small bites of the project that could be easily managed. Others cautioned that concentrating on small goals could delay the larger plan.

“There’s a fear of getting bogged down and having nothing happening,” committee member Owen Warneke said. “

“I would just caution that we don’t recommend a bunch of temporary fixes,” committee member Tina Anderson said.