Hill Neighbors Dream Up Their Ideal Neighborhood

More green space. Biking routes. Additional street-level retail. A Dunkin’ Donuts — not a Starbucks.

These are some of the changes Hill neighbors Thursday night said they envision as the city redevelops parts of their neighborhood for the ​“Hill-to-Downtown” project.

The project involves putting together a long-term plan to build back up a stretch of the Hill leveled by mid-1900s urban renewal, stitching the medical area with the train station in conjunction with filling in of the Route 34 Connector and the rebuilding of the old Coliseum site.

At Thursday night’s community meeting, held as Hill Central School, consultants with the urban planning firm Goody Clancy presented three potential ​“scenarios” for the future of an area that includes the medical district south of Route 34, Union Station, the Church Street South housing complex and many surface parking lots.

Then the consultants handed out maps of each possibility and asked the 40 or so residents in attendance: How do you see the neighborhood’s future?

Livable City Initiative head Erik Johnson explained to the audience that this meeting was both a ​“look-back moment,” to see how suggestions given in previous meetings would change the area; as well as an opportunity to discuss ​“deal breakers” that would cause residents to not support a plan.

In the end the city will draw up a comprehensive plan for development in the neighborhood, to be brought before neighbors again in August before heading to the Board of Aldermen for approval later in the year.

Before any discussion began, Leslie Radcliffe of City Point had a question for Johnson: What kind of ideas would cause the Board to vote against a plan?

Johnson replied that while he could not speak to specific concerns, the final plan will need a certain level of affordable housing, land uses that generate tax revenue, dense redevelopment, and sufficient parking to support commuters.

“We’re setting the stage for how growth will happen for the next 10 years,” he said.

David Spillane, Goody Clancy’s director of planning & urban design, described the three scenarios to those in attendance. Each plan featured new retail, rejuvenated parks and a healthy dose of residential, commercial and medical mixed-use development. The main difference between the three options, Spillane said, was where the ​“center of activity” would be: Across from Union Station as a sort of ​“urban square”? Along a block of Church Street that would serve as a main boulevard for the redeveloped neighborhood? Or somewhere in between?

Neighbors did not spend much time debating the three options, though. Instead they opted to spend half an hour discussing at each table the additional changes they want to see as well as their own deal-breakers Johnson mentioned.

When called back together, each group was asked to share the three items they found most important. The inclusion of a pharmacy and grocery store in the area received the most nods and murmurs of approval from participants. And they don’t want to see any new homeless shelters, rehabilitation centers, or high-rises.

Afterward, Goody Clancy’s Reese Fayde told neighbors they had been ​“really, really helpful,” although she warned that some aspects of the plan might have to ​“fall away” to make room for others.

Before the meeting ended, Johnson had one final set of recommendations to present: Those dreamed up by the kids present, who had been ushered away to another part of the school to talk about what they would like to see in the Hill. The kids’ preferences, illustrated with markers on a poster: More parks, pools and recycling bins, no drugs or alcohol, and ​“love and care for all non-dangerous cute creatures.”