By Rachel Goff
Starting next year, drivers backing out of parking spaces in front of The Warren Store won't have to just hope there are no other cars coming.
Last month, the town of Warren was awarded a Vermont Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) in the amount of $275,000 to implement the Warren Village Main Street Improvement Project, which consists of the final design, engineering and construction of streetscape and sidewalk improvements on Main Street, between its intersection with Brook Road and Freeman Brook Bridge.
The Mad River Valley Planning District (MRVPD) asked for state funding on behalf of Warren to pay for streetscape improvements such as visually "narrowing" Main Street with different pavement surfaces, improving sidewalks and parallel parking, installing crosswalks and movable planters and adding signage to improve safety and accessibility for walkers, bicyclists and other multi-modal users in the village.
The Warren Village Main Street Improvement Project's conceptual design was developed by members of the Vermont Downtown Action Team (V-DAT) after a public forum they held in the fall of 2013, but the project builds upon previous sidewalk and traffic calming studies dating back as far as 1996, MRVPD director Joshua Schwartz said. "This project has a long history," he said, "and it's great to see it come to fruition."
Moving forward, Warren Select Board will oversee the process to come up with the project's final design and engineering during their bimonthly meetings, which members of the public are encouraged to attend. Actual implementation of the improvements is expected to take place through 2015.
Meanwhile, the MRVPD is working on submitting an application on behalf of the town of Waitsfield for a CDBG in the amount of $181,162 to develop a pocket park at 50 Bridge Street, on land the town purchased from the owners of Birke Photography Studio after the studio was destroyed due to flooding from Tropical Storm Irene in August of 2011.
Because the proposed pocket park will be located within the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) designated floodplain and the flood hazard zone, it will include floodable features, accent river and riparian areas and guide access to those resources in an environmentally sound manner, as well as enhance the visual quality of the area and integrate it with the Waitsfield covered bridge and the street.
The MRVPD plans to submit the application for the CDBG by the end of January so that it will be reviewed in February and Waitsfield could know whether it has received funding for the pocket park by February or March.
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