Last night, the committee held another public hearing at the Library's X Room. It was well attended and a lot of interesting ideas were thrown out, including:
-A cycling destination, with a velodrome & mountain bike trails
-Waterfront development, including residential real estate
-Trees, with the addition of adequate soil levels
-Cell tower
-Shrubbery that spells "HARTFORD"
-Plant nursery
-Public Art
-Not a big box store
-Solar power (incorporating Connecticut Light & Power as well as selling "testing space" for new solar technologies)
-Sportsplex on ash area
-Employment opportunities for homeless
-Educational space for youth
-Youth activities (rollerskating, cycling)
-A commercial center with businesses that will turn a profit
-Revenue-creating regional park
-Grow food for parties, shelters, etc.
Attendees at the public hearing also urged the committee to keep these things in mind when deliberating:
-Connect with the Connecticut River
-Connect with Riverfront Recapture/Riverside Park
-Create new jobs/revenue and if growing things, look at Urban Oaks in New Britain as a model
-Remember that this is a high profile location, so put something big there, a destination
-Take time and don't jump on the first flashy idea
-Get rid of I-91 & I-84 through Hartford
-Create collaborations with private, non-profit and public entities
-Different things at once on the site
-Keep the cost to maintain in mind
-Use parts of the site to economically sustain other parts
-Keep the site public and expand public access to the river
-Don't disregard the thought of nature, "as much green space as we can get"
-Don't get to comfortable and let the site sit idle
-Have simple short-term uses before the long-term large-scale uses begin
-Connect to the other side of the river
-Think of the site in the large context the North Meadows neighborhood and Hartford as a whole
It's a lot for the committee to think about, huh?
Special thanks to Richard Frieder and the library for the space, as well as Peter Egan at CRRA for underwriting the spread in the Hartford News, it seems that really spread the information well.
For another take on the meeting, check Real Hartford's blog post.
