During the second half of a community workshop Thursday night, Jaffrey residents identified aspects of their downtown they want to keep, and those they wanted to see change or grow, as the town nears the start of a roadwork project downtown.
Jaffrey partnered with NH Listens to hold a roundtable workshop, where more than 40 residents submitted photos of aspects of downtown they liked, or aspects of other downtowns they wanted to see incorporated into Jaffrey.
The town is holding the conversations ahead of a state roadwork project that will include putting a roundabout in the downtown center and another on River Street, and connecting the two by a bridge over the Contoocook River.
When NH Listens fellow Steve Brown asked participants, working in small groups, to identify the most-important features of downtown, the answers were nearly identical.
“What’s one thing you want to keep?” Brown asked. “That if you’ve lost in 10 years, this revitalization will have failed.”
Over and over, groups cited the town’s existing natural resources – existing green space, including the common, and views of Mount Monadnock and the Contoocook River. Another aspect brought up several times was the historic facades that make up some of the buildings on Main Street.
“The character of downtown is important to a lot of people,” said resident Peter Maki.
“There seems to be a consensus,” Brown said, after hearing from all the groups.
Earlier in the evening, those groups had taken on the personas of different stakeholder groups, discussing changes downtown if they were a young family, a downtown resident, a senior or a tourist, pinning down what they would like to see in Jaffrey and what obstacles were in place for them.
Dominique Caissie, speaking for the group representing young people, said the town should have career opportunities, a walkable downtown with places for families to go and shops, including places to get fresh foods.
Bill Schofield, speaking for the group that looked at the downtown from the perspective of business owners, said better signage, an active community, places to draw in tourists and pedestrian areas to walk and shop would be ideal.
Places to socialize, certain shops, including a cafe and grocery; and maintaining an attractive, homey downtown were themes that were repeated multiple times by different groups.
The town will be compiling feedback both from Thursday’s session and the previous workshop, and making it available to the public through the town’s website, townofjaffrey.com.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.