Grant pg 1 2-11-10



Grants
would
polish up
crystal ball
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM --- Two new grants heading for Putnam  involve a crystal ball --- pulling together to decide what Putnam's future would look like.
The Main Street Center, through the state Commission on Culture and Tourism, awarded Putnam $12,000 for downtown "visioning," said Putnam's  Economic and Community Development Director Delpha Very.
Very said the grant will be used to bring in professional planners that will help community members determine what Putnam's downtown will be like. And the definition of "downtown" is much wider than the classic Main Street downtown. She considers "downtown" to be the "walkable community" that's connected to downtown. It would include South Main Street, Providence Street, and more, as well as the traditional downtown area in Putnam.
The planners would convene several "visioning" conferences and move toward two goals, Very said.
The first goal would be to come up with a "unified and shared vision" for development, redevelopment and enhancements to the expanded downtown district. This would involve land use, parking, traffic flow, pedestrian pathways, signage, building facade help, business promotion and more.
Secondly, she said, that vision would then be translated into a "concrete action plan" to make that vision happen and it would involve many aspects of the community from town boards, police and land and business owners.
Professional planners' strength is that they are experienced in "bringing a community together," Very added.
She believes a "summary for sharing" will be completed in June.
In addition coming up with a view of an expanded downtown's future, the town also recently received a $20,000 grant from the state Office of Policy and Management to assess whether an Incentive Housing Zone, which would mix dense housing with residential/commercial uses, would make sense in Putnam. The town already has an Industrial Heritage Overlay District that encompasses six mills in the downtown area. The grant would be used to review the regulations of the Overlay District and see if it might be suitable for an Incentive Housing Zone. This involves looking at sewer, water and utility infrastructure and much more. The grant would be used to study the housing needs in the area and whether it is feasible to bring density housing here.

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