Audience on the second day of the charette. (Photo by Andrew Sylvia/Manchester Ink Link)
Sidewalks among other ideas, concepts and discussion points on how to improve the heart of Manchester’s downtown area took place in a charette at the Palace Theatre’s Spotlight Room.
The charette, a process often found in architecture and land-use planning where stakeholders work through a structured series of workshops to generate and refine ideas and solutions for a project or problem, was organized over a two-day period by Plan NH. The charette was one of two charettes this year moderated by the organization, which helps communities in New Hampshire develop sustainability and maintain local character.
While this was not the first time Plan NH hosted a charette in Manchester, with earlier Plan NH Manchester charettes coming in 2019 and 2023, this was the first one requested by the city itself, with representatives from the Department of Public Works and the Manchester Economic Development Office helping guide the conversation. A total of $1.9 million in Congressionally directed spending for sidewalks and other related improvements in the city’s designated “Arts and Culture District.”
Plan NH Executive Director Tiffany Tononi McNamara was thrilled with how the event proceeded.
“I thought it was wonderful. We had a lot of really energetic residents and business owners that came out and obviously care so much about Manchester, even though they want to also see improvements,” said McNamara. “They gave us such great feedback and then our team worked really hard to try and bring some of that to life.”
Although the Arts and Culture District in Manchester had been created in the past to organize efforts for grant funding, this new federal funding provided an opportunity on what infrastructural improvements could enhance downtown appeal and draw new customers to downtown businesses, as the $1.9 million would only be enough to renovate sidewalks on one square block, and the city felt that there may be better allowed uses for that money to draw customers into the area to explore the 46 restaurants, 14 arts organizations and 16 shops in the roughly eight-acre chunk of Manchester’s inner city.
The charette focused on this Arts and Culture District, which centered around Hanover Street’s Theatre Block, expanding to Concord Street in the north, Manchester Street in the south, Elm Street in the west and Chestnut Street in the east. There was also talk of potentially expanding this district to Central Street in the future, allowing the incorporation of events occurring at Veterans’ Park. However, the proposals crafted by the members of Plan NH and other affiliated groups gathering feedback from local residents focused on the current district boundaries for now.
On Manchester Street, there was a proposal to transform the current site of the Citizens Bank drive-thru into a two- to three-story apartment building with a café, restaurant or another retail use on the first floor.
Sidewalks with colors slightly different than nearby streets were proposed to give the area a unique character with raised alleyway entry points to slow vehicular traffic cutting through.
The area near the corner of Manchester and Chestnut Streets. (Photo by Andrew Sylvia/Manchester Ink Link)
A few hundred feet north in the Theatre Block on Hanover Street, the primary idea was to remove parking spaces from the southern side of the street and expand sidewalks on the northern side of the street to allow more walking space for pedestrians.
There was also the idea to make Hanover Street go one-way going west from Chestnut Street and one-way going east from Elm Street until they converged, with traffic then travelling toward the small street connecting Manchester and Hanover Streets with the one-way streets going outward on Manchester Street toward Elm and Chestnut. This concept may be too complicated to put into practice, but it was felt that it would eliminate cut-through traffic in the Palace Theatre area and replace it with traffic intending to come into that area as a destination in itself.
One idea proposed turning the parking spaces 90 degrees behind the Rex Theatre and City Courthouse on Amherst Street, indicating that this would give more room for parking with the same space.
Another idea proposed additional trees and artwork outside the Victory Garage to reduce its drab and uninviting nature.
These were just a few of the ideas provided, with participants asking for more light, repaired sidewalks, pop-up incubator shops, more signs and traffic calming measures throughout the district.
For Manchester Economic Development Office Director Jodi Nazaka, the charette was clearly a success.
“I think it was a really great turnout. It was exciting to bring in some people from around the state to check out the conditions of Manchester’s sidewalks and show them some of our other challenges and some our wins and see where we can improve,” she said. “The arts can definitely bring in a lot of money into the city, so the more we support the art scene, especially in the downtown, the better.”
“Those people are likely coming to the area and going out to dinner and maybe getting a cocktail and an appetizer and dessert (after the show). They’re spending money in our city and we want to give them a great time in our city,” she said. “A lot of those people aren’t from here and if we give them a good experience, they’ll want to come back.”
This article is being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.
