Brewster Trustees Talk Urban Renewal, Wells Park
With more questions than answers surrounding the Urban Renewal Plan in Brewster, the village board announced a date for an educational session for residents seeking feedback on the proposal.
During a village board meeting Wednesday night, Deputy Mayor Christie Piccini confirmed there would be a session on Feb. 24 at 7 p.m. at St. Lawrence O’Toole Church with a snow date pegged for Feb. 27 at 10 a.m. Planners from VHB planning and designing would do a presentation and answer questions from residents for a cost of $1,214. The informal meeting is the result of village residents coming out in droves frustrated and confused by the plan some trustees are hoping to pass to boost Brewster.
“It’s not a decision making meeting for us,” Piccini said. “It is strictly an informational meeting and hearing questions and providing answers that should be more available through (the planning professionals) than through us.”
Piccini said before any action goes further at the village board, it still needs to receive comments from the planning board once its public hearing is closed. She predicted those comments wouldn’t be sent until Feb. 16. At the village board’s regular meeting on Feb. 17, the board might be able to set an official public hearing that would be held March 9 at St. Lawrence O’Toole church.
Only a handful of residents were on hand for the meeting and no one spoke.
Wells Park Operations
With renovations to Wells Park in the village completed, the village board discussed plans for the park this summer.
Trustee Tom Boissonnault suggested opening the park Memorial Day weekend and stopping activity around Labor Day with a grand opening in early May. The hours of the park would be around 10 a.m. until dusk.
As for special events at the park, the village board is hoping to set up at least four concerts–once a month–in order to drive traffic to the park from residents in and out of the village borders. The concerts would be held either Friday or Saturday nights.
One question that came up was whether the village would pay bands to perform.
Trustee Erin Meagher said when the village puts on Founder’s Day in September it doesn’t need to pay performers because there are many local bands in the area that play for free. Boissonnault responded by noting bigger bands would bring in a larger audience.
“Not to say some smaller bands aren’t terrific, but I think more bands that are established will bring more people to the area,” Boissonnault said. “That’s our goal.”
Movie nights are also being planned, Boissonnault said, and he’s nailed down three sponsors so far. As for the concerts, Boissonnault is seeking larger businesses in the area that could sponsor the concerts.
“I think this is all getting very excited,” Trustee Mary Bryde said.
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