The work session will develop ideas for redeveloping East Street.economy and business

Some people want East Street to be more like Market Street, while still maintaining a distinct atmosphere that separates it from the rest of downtown, said Jonathan Bydlak when presenting the group’s idea.

“This area is not Market Street,” he said.

A second meeting will be held on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at the Municipal Annex at 140 West Patrick Street to bring together ideas from various groups, said Joe Adkins, deputy director for planning. increase.

Outside the main room, people view a wall of photographs of different urban environments and participate in a visual preference exercise by marking images they like with green dots and those they dislike with red dots. I was able to.

Susan Redford, a resident of the Monocacy Meadows neighborhood, looked at the paintings on the walls and said the area needed better pedestrian access.

“East Street sidewalks don’t exist from around Fifth Avenue north,” Redford said.

Redford, a retired postal worker, said she lives where she is because almost everything she needs is within walking distance.

Vanessa McKinney, who lives on East 2nd Street, wants to make the area more walkable and bicyclable, as well as more outdoor spaces for people to gather.

McKinney said it would be nice to have a grocery store downtown as well.

One of the main focuses of the redesign project is to make corridors safer and more comfortable for cyclists and pedestrians by adding or extending sidewalks, increasing crosswalks and adding common walkways.

The plan also provides opportunities for walkers and hikers who want to do more than just tour individual neighborhoods.

The long-term vision for redesigning East Street includes pedestrians and cyclists extending from near the MARC station near downtown, past the interchange of US 15 and Maryland 26, past the Clemson Corner shopping center. including the road of

The trail joins a 1.79-mile asphalt trail that runs along the right side of the Walkersville Southern Railroad to the Fountain Rock Nature Center near Walkersville and finally to Walkersville’s Heritage Farm Park.

Saturday’s event was a chance to be a part of the beginning of an effort to improve parts of the city, Redford said.

Getting the views of businesses and residents will help the city grow the way residents want it, she said.

“This seemed very positive,” she said.

Geoffrey Ferrell, an urban scientist at Geoffrey Ferrell Associates in Washington, D.C., who is working as a sub-consultant on the redesign project, said planners will begin to frame common themes from what they heard Saturday to inform future work. rice field.

The East Street area focuses on factors such as bringing buildings closer to the street, creating pedestrian-friendly areas, and providing connectivity between neighborhoods with a zoning process focused on creating specific zones. This is Frederick’s introduction to form-based code. The type of location or environment rather than how the property is used.

The foam-based code controls building heights and features, tree locations, walkability, and other things many residents care about, he said.

They will take cues from Saturday’s session and create a code that matches people’s vision for the region, he said.