VERGENNES — Vergennes will be the site of a May 22 public forum that will explore several issues key to the future of the city’s downtown and parks.
Mayor Bill Benton this week said the forum, to which all are invited and which will be held in the Vergennes Opera House at 7 p.m. that Wednesday, is being jointly organized by officials from the city, the Vergennes Partnership and the opera house.
Benton said the gathering will take a look at ideas for a toddler park proposed for an area next to the city pool, a park that is now in the design stage; the future of publicly owned areas along both sides of Otter Creek below the falls; ways to make downtown more pedestrian-friendly, including through traffic-calming measures such as crosswalks and bulb-outs; and ways to make Vergennes a more inviting community to bicycles and bike tourism.
After a half-hour of socializing, Benton said the plan is for the meeting to break into four groups to brainstorm for about 45 minutes about each of the issues, and then to reconvene to hear brief summaries from each group.
The results could be used, among other things, Benton said, “to give the city council some idea of what the priorities should be for the next couple years.”
Andy Kirkaldy may be reached at andyk@addisonindependent.com.