MONTAGUE — A plan to guide future development in Millers Falls has been formally endorsed by the Selectboard, making it easier to achieve the plan’s simpler projects this coming year.
The plan, which the Planning Department calls “Millers on the Move,” is based on community forums and surveys in Millers Falls over the summer and fall. The full 39-page document is available on the town’s website, montague-ma.gov.
It outlines goals and concerns addressed in the forums and surveys by locals. Most of these have to do with creating an inviting atmosphere, increasing access to public outdoor recreation, better coordination of community events and drawing more businesses to Millers Falls.
When asked what uses residents would like to see more of in the village center, “healthy food options” was the most popular response from the 71 surveys collected. Library services, cultural and social activities, and restaurants and entertainment options followed.
The community forums and surveys identified both strengths and weaknesses of the village, with strengths including its compact layout and walkability, historic buildings, proximity to the river, and artists and eateries. Weaknesses include its run-down appearance, a perceived lack of parking, concentration of low-income housing, lacking space for children, poor signage, limited bus service and a lack of identity as a village.
Based on the strengths and weaknesses, goals include everything from installing benches, establishing a community center facility and launching a farmers market, to starting a community garden, creating a small playground downtown and repairing potholes.
Town Planner Walter Ramsey compared the plan to the Turners Falls Livability Plan, which the town developed in 2013.
“We felt like we learned a lot of lessons with Turners Falls, and we felt we could deploy them in Millers Falls,” Ramsey said.
The Turners Falls plan is still referenced regularly, said Ramsey and Town Administrator Steve Ellis.
“I really like the way you’re applying what we’ve learned elsewhere to this part of the community,” Ellis said.
The Selectboard’s endorsement of the plan does not commit the town to anything, but will likely make it easier to get grant funding for projects identified in the plan, Ramsey explained.
The board’s most immediate interest, said Chair Rich Kuklewicz, was in what projects would be able to happen soonest.
Some of the plan’s simpler projects are already in progress, Ramsey mentioned. A river access trail in Millers Falls is slated for improvement and expansion this spring. The grant funding for that project precedes “Millers on the Move,” but it coincides with the plan’s stated goal of improving access to the river, Ramsey pointed out.
A petition to repair the stairs to Highland Park was recently received by the Planning Department, Ramsey said. Such a project would also fit with goals of the development plan.
Cultural projects are also in the works. Montague Libraries Director Linda Hickman said she is working on a booklet of historical sites and information in Millers Falls, and maybe future walking tours with the local historian Ed Gregory, who is a member of the Historical Commission and Historical Society.
Reach Max Marcus at mmarcus@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 261.