Finley Perry from the Hopkinton Chamber of Commerce gave a presentation with Dave Hamacher from Hopkinton 2020 during the Planning Board meeting on December 3 to discuss planning a Main Street Corridor. Perry had also made a presentation to the Zoning Advisory Committee during their meeting on October 22.
To start the presentation, Perry cited downtowns in other towns that Hopkinton can use as an example, such as Concord or Chatham. He also stated areas where planning ahead was beneficial to the community, such as Central Park in Manhattan.
When the presentation was over, Board Member Mark Abate stated the need for input from residents, developers, and business owners when developing the overall master plan. However, Board member Richard MacDonald was unsure if the plan could be successful.
"It takes very few people to derail what is a good plan for the good of the town," said MacDonald.
Board Member Deb Thomas was in agreement with MacDonald, but Perry stated that with input, he felt the plan could be successful. Board member Claire Wright stated that community members want to be addressed and felt that they are being listened to during a planning process. Planning Board Vice-Chair John Coutinho was not sure if there would be enough people in town to back the plan. Chairman Ken Weismantel felt that planning did need to happen, but the vision for the corridor did need to be put together and good political will would need to be generated before any planning was done.
The Main Street Planning Corridor will be discussed again during the Planning Board meeting on January 7.
