By Michael Gorman
THE VANGUARD
NovaNewsNow.com
Although it’s in the very early stages, representatives with the Waterfront Development Corporation (WDC) say people could start seeing real action on the downtown revitalization plan as early as next spring.
Yarmouth town council tasked the WDC to implement the downtown revitalization project and Jim Corning, executive director of the WDC, said things are in the very preliminary stages.
Last week was the first meeting for the board with its five new members from the Yarmouth Development Corporation. Corning said in the coming weeks they would be going through the revitalization plan, setting priorities and also meeting with the authors of the plan.
Having already studied the plan, Corning said that although it’s designed to span as many as 20 years, there are things that could happen as soon as next spring and those will be some of the first things they set their sights on.
One of the first issues to address will be that of a farmers market.
Corning and Deputy Mayor Byron Boudreau, chairman of the board for the WDC, have met with officials from the farmers market and they are looking at five or six possible sites for a permanent, year-round market that would include vendors at the present market as well as possibly adding a fish market and members of the group responsible for the food vendors at the multicultural festival, a group that’s expressed interest to the town to stage a more regular offering of the popular international food tables.
It’s a contentious issue right now and Corning said the important thing is that it’s done right and nothing is done to compromise the success already achieved by the market on Starrs Road.
“I see our role there, if we can convince that group to move downtown, that my group is there to facilitate a move that will be a benefit to (the farmers) as well as the downtown core,” he said. “We don’t want to . . . spoil a market that they’ve already established.”
Other short-term projects Corning believes can happen in the near future include the greening of the downtown, the possible establishment of outdoor cafe or patio spaces and the expansion of a mural program originally intended for the waterfront.
“I would hope that we would show some murals and streetscape improvements and have those in place by the spring of next year for Yarmouth’s 250th (anniversary).”
Mayor Phil Mooney said the benefit of the smaller scale work for streetscape improvement is the money is already in the town’s budget.
Mooney said it made sense to turn the project over to the WDC gives its track record through the years of turning around Water Street and, specifically, the waterfront. He believes the group has the ability to bridge the disconnect between Main Street and Water Street.
“We want to connect the two streets,” said Mooney. “You can see the work they’ve done over the last 10 to 15 years, what they’ve done on Water Street, and we wanted to just move it one street up and see that happen on Main Street. Right from the start they were interested in taking on the task.”
