The lot has long been an eyesore, said architect Will Melcher, one of the leaders of the drive to revitalize Main Street, and its transformation into a park could be exactly what the downtown needs to turn around its economic decline, provide a draw to Wilton and provide a place for entertainment, such as Saturday night summer concerts, bands, and farmers' markets. Melcher also said there is a misconception that the empty lot currently provides downtown parking for shoppers. Not many people realize it is not a public parking lot and the parking spaces are rented to local merchants and town hall employees, he said. We're really mending the old Main Street. Part of the purpose of this is also to bring people to downtown, which brings business to downtown Wilton.
People bring business.
Business doesn't bring people. In the spring, Melcher, a Main Street Association design committee member, and Anne Colby-Hines, another committee member and the project's landscape architect, asked Wilton residents and downtown merchants to fill out blank plans and draw their vision for the lot. Responses were collected and questionnaires handed out about the perceived parking problem, and according to Melcher, the results show residents think there is no parking problem, especially in light of the town's purchase of the Wilton Falls parking lot on the west end of Main Street, which has a 74-space capacity. There would be a pathway up the middle to the rear of the park, with each side edged with shade trees and berms of grass. A circular stage shows the entry to the back portion of the park.