In a feisty place like Manchester it's not easy to please everybody, but the Planning Board has tried to get the elements on the table so people can make considered choices. The Master Plan response indicated clearly that people wanted to address traffic, accessibility and character, and to keep the downtown vital and well-maintained. The design drawings were displayed in Town Hall this summer. Over the fall and winter, presentations have been made to the Selectmen, the Historic District Commission, the Council on Aging, the ADA, the Manchester Club, the Friends of Trees, the Masconomo Park Committee and the Manchester Garden Club. Board members met three times with the Chamber of Commerce and cohosted a well-attended presentation at the Community Center for downtown merchants and interested parties.
Comment is ongoing and welcome.
Another possibility is replacing chain link with iron rail fencing at the channel, along lower Beach Street and at the generating station. A town center is, by definition, a bottleneck of activity from 8 to 6, when probably a thousand people work, walk, shop, or park daily. Most of them pass through the four major intersections from Pine and Central to Summer and Beach. The physical changes proposed to accommodate these activities are complex as they involve adjustments in curbing, parking or just helping pedestrians and vehicles to coexist safely. They affect shoppers, cyclists mothers with strollers, trucks making turns and deliveries, and merchants who are concerned that a change may affect their businesses.