The one-two punch of spring flooding in 2011 followed by Tropical Storm Irene was devastating to many of Vermont's downtowns.
In response, the state of Vermont Downtown Program assembled a team of architects, planners, landscape architects, engineers, branding professionals and recovery funding and organizational experts to help. They're called the Vermont Downtown Action Team (V-DAT), and they are tasked with focusing on flood-damaged neighborhoods and downtowns, one community at a time, to come up with long-term recovery solutions.
Part of the team's work involves visiting with the people in a target community to gather local input, crafting a vision for the future, and finding ways to make it happen. They'll be doing just that in Northfield April 7-9. The team will be working on two fronts in Northfield, addressing issues in both the Village and the Water Street neighborhood.
The first event will be a public input meeting that is open to all of Northfield. The Northfield Community Input Meeting will be held Monday, April 7, at 5 p.m. in the Library Community Room.
A poster about the V-DAT visit, aimed at Water Street residents, states:
Many factors including the storm have brought recent and dramatic change to the Water Street neighborhood. The team wants to here your vision for YOUR neighborhood. Please join us for the breakfast meeting on Tuesday, April 8.
The next day V-DAT will hold a series of meetings on the two separate projects.
Water Street meetings are as follows:
- Water Street Neighborhood Breakfast Meeting, 7:30 a.m., Library Community Room
- Water Street River Park “Placemaking” Workshop 10 a.m., River Park Site, Water Street
- Water Street River Park “Placemaking” Workshop 11 a.m., Library Community Room
And Village meetings also happen on Tuesday:
- Merchants Meeting 9 a.m., Library Community Room
- Economic Development Meeting, 10:30 a.m., Library Community Room
The V-DAT visit will conclude with a Public Presentation Meeting on Wednesday, at 5:30 p.m. in the Library Community Room.
