Neighbors Envision Wooster Square 2.0

If pizza-heavy Wooster Street were laid with cobblestone and lined with a mix of Italian and non-Italian-Amiercan businesses — would it attract more pedestrians?

Maybe, according to some Wooster Square neighbors who showed up to a Monday evening meeting at Conte/West Hills School library on Chapel Street to plan the neighborhood’s transit and development future.

They pitched Wooster Street upgrades and other potential improvements as part of the first public meeting of a planning study years in the making, intended to make the neighborhood an attractive part of the city in years to come.

The city has received $125,000 from the state for planning transit-oriented development — to figure out how to promote walking and biking and redevelop properties in limited use, as more than 1,500 new apartments are eventually expected to come to the neighborhood.

The focus originally was the area mainly outlined by Chapel Street, Olive Street, Water Street and State Street. The study area has been expanded to include the stretch between Olive and State Streets up to Grand Avenue.

In the past year a steering committee drafted a request for qualifications and searched for a consultant to draft a ​“planning study” for the neighborhood. The committee finally settled on Boston-based Utile Architecture and Planning for urban design, and Nelson/Nygaard Consulting Associates for transportation planning. The final study is expected in November.

First step for the new consultants: meeting with an advisory committee of Wooster Square community leaders for a walking tour a few weeks ago, to survey problem sites and start brainstorming how to move forward.

A couple dozen members of the public showed up to continue that planning process Monday evening over pizza and soda, getting a little closer to creating the final report and plan that will go back to the city in November. The plan will advise the city on potential ways to redesign the streets to make the neighborhood more accessible, and to connect with neighboring plans in progress such as the extension of the Farmington Canal Trail and development of Long Wharf, said Utile founding principal Tim Love.

Utile, in conjunction with the advisory committee, will look carefully at key sites such the empty C. Cowles building on Water Street, and key intersections and streets, Love said. The consultants will develop three-dimensional guidelines that city officials can use as a tool to figure out what future development could look and feel like.

The planning study ultimately ​“becomes a plan with information that the city would use to apply to different grants,” he said. ​“The idea is to get a grant out of it.”

Love and Utile project manager Drew Kane gave a brief presentation about their research so far. They then divided the crowd into smaller groups to get further suggestions on how to make the neighborhood better. They listed Wooster Square’s expansive tree canopy and close connection to downtown as assets of the area. Challenges (or ​“opportunities”) include difficult pedestrian crossings, like the dangerous State Street intersections, the long crossing length at Grand Avenue and Olive Street, the lack of a stop sign at Olive and Greene Streets, and the lack of connection between State Street’s train station and the Strouse Adler building.

They suggested adding curb extensions or crossing islands on State Street to decrease the perceived distance, creating more pedestrian connections along the perimeter of now-enclosed Wooster Square park, and thinking about how to build around future residential hubs including 87 Union St, 630 Chapel St., and 673 Chapel St.

Click here to read the full presentation.

Neighbors then divided into groups to figure out exactly what changes they would make to their home. Many agreed with consultants’ plans; others got a bit more creative.

Elsie Chapman, who heads the local historic neighborhood association, pitched a Wooster Street with cobblestones to emphasize a pedestrian-friendly road.

Love led a group that agreed with the need to redevelop Wooster Street. The heart of the neighborhood’s Italian culture, Wooster Street could incorporate more diverse commercial interests while keeping the culture and history that makes it special, he said.

Britton Rogers, who is on the steering committee, said his group had agreed the committee should include the Italian-American merchants and business owners in the process.

Many named the path from Wooster Square to Union Station as a problem. Union Street — which connects with Chapel Street before turning into Union Avenue — feels safe until it gets dark, Chapman said. She would walk along Union Street until around 9 p.m., but not later, she said.

Rogers agreed. He would bike the route late at night, but not walk, he said.

“No matter which way you go down Union, you take chances,” said Anstress Farwell, who heads the local Urban Design League.

Others mentioned revamping the neighborhood’s layout to reconnect streets that were cutoff during urban renewal, such as Chestnut Street, which is cut into three pieces. Similarly, Love said, the city should consider updating parking regulations to reflect the current demand.

Certain proposals could have unintended negative consequences on traffic in Wooster Square, he warned. For example, consultants did not think about traffic before proposing reconnecting Fair Street to Olive Street. The reconnection could allow people to use Fair Street as a shortcut to get to Interstate 95, meaning even more traffic on Wooster Street.

Mike Piscitelli, the city deputy economic director, encouraged neighbors to continue to recommend community groups that the consultants should meet with at the front end of the process.