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Nashua Downtown Master Plan

views, focus groups meetings, public
meetings and open houses, culminating

ina public design charrette.

The UDA team began the planning
process with a two-day data gathering
trip to Nashua in August 2002. During
this visit, the team conducted focus
group meetings and interviews. In addi-
tion, the UDA team photographed the
Downtown, and conducted site recon-
naissance in order to become familiar
with the region, Nashua, and especially
its Downtown. At the same time, data
was collected on land use, zoning, market
research, and transportation. Addition-
ally, the team documented precedents
from similar Merrimack Valley river
towns. (Lowell, Lawrence, and Haver-
hill.)

In September 2002, the UDA team
traveled to Nashua for additional meet-
ings. The purpose of this trip was to con-
duct a public meeting and additional
focus group meetings.

The data gathering phase resulted in

an extensive set of UDA X-Ray drawings
and precedent drawings that proved

instrumental throughout the process.

The second phase of the project began
with a work session in UDA’ office in
Pittsburgh. The UDA team and the City
staff met to prepare for the design
charette. One result of the work session
was a set of design principles.

The majority of Phase Two occurred
during a week-long design charrette con-
ducted on Main Street in Nashua at the
former Goodale’s Bike Shop. During the
week, the focus groups reconvened, the
Steering Committee met twice, and open
houses were held. Concurrent with these
meetings, the UDA team developed
plans, tested ideas, and continuously
revised and refined designs according to
ongoing stakeholder and citizen input.

Phase Two of the process culminated
in a public meeting on Thursday night at
which the design for Downtown Nashua
were presented and additional citizen

input was collected.

Based upon feedback from the public
meeting and the Steering Committee,
and the city staff, the UDA team pre-
pared a draft plan for review and com-
ment. This plan, upon adoption by the
City, will become the blueprint for
Downtown Nashua’s development over

the next ten years.

UR EAN DESIGN assocrates Nashua Downtown Master Plan

11 Summary of Interviews

and Focus Groups

THROUGHOUT THE FALL OF 2002, the UDA team conducted ar

interviews and focus group meetings. Focus groups included:

City Planning Staff
Nashua Historical Society
Nashua Police Department
Nashua Fire Rescue

Aldermanic Planning & Economic Development

Committee

Nashua Regional Planning Commission
Nashua Public Works Division

The Great American Downtown
Greater Nashua Chamber of Commerce
Downtown Ward Aldermen

Nashua Board of Aldermen

The UDA team also conducted individual interviews with:

Mayor Bernard A. Streeter

George Crombie, Director of the Public Works Division
Pastor Paul Berube, Grace Fellowship Church

Reverend Evans, First Congregational Church

Anne Barnett, French Hill Resident and Member of
Inner City Voice

Grace Grogan-Hicks, Executive Director of Nashua Hous-
ing Authority

Klaas Nijhuis, Interim Director of Community Services
Division

Angelo Marino, Manager of City Assessing Department

Design Charette
The Master Plan team
worked closely with
residents, stakeholders,
and City staf

Nashua Downtown Master Plan

At each focus group meeting, inter-
view and public meeting, participants
were asked the same three questions:

1 What are the strengths of Down-

town Nashua?

2 What are the weaknesses of Down-

town Nashua?

3 What is your vision for the future?

The Downtown assets considered
strongest and cited most frequently
related to its character character and its
sense of place created by the pedestrian-
friendly environment on Main Street
North.

The liabilities most often identified
included the confusing, local one-way
street system, the disconnect between the
Downtown neighborhoods and Main
Street, and the development along Main
Street, south of Hollis Street.

Visions included a “complete”
Downtown in which neighborhoods
were connected to and interwoven with
Downtown retail and institutions, the
development of an expanded, connective
riverfront park system, the addition of
cultural and entertainment facilities, and
an improved public transportation sys-
tem.

The strengths, weaknesses, and
visions are listed in more detail on this

page and the following two pages.

History

Heritage of Nashua as one of the
first planned industrial cities in the
Northeast

The preserved and rehabilitated
buildings along Main Street of his-

toric and/or local character

Main Street

The walkable, vibrant, and safe envi-
ronment between the Nashua River
and City Hall

New investments and restaurants
creating an active sidewalk and street
Variety of uses along this spine
Strong sense of place rooted in tradi-
tional streetscape standards

Locally owned and operated busi-

nesses — no national franchises

Main Street North is
depicted in green,
representing the
Downtown’ historic
core and its strength.
Shown in red, the
Downtowns main
weaknesses are its
underutilized
riverfront and the
vacuous feel and
uncoordinated planning
of Main Street South.

UREAN

Strength: The
Nashua Public
Library

Nashua’ Library is an
excellent resource;
however, it suffers from
poor visibility and

access.

DESIGN ASSOCIATES

Strengths (continued)

Amenities

* Riverfront park investments

+ Library is a well-organized resource
center for the City

* Multitude of churches and institu-
tions

+ Transit center

* Rail trail and other developing trail

connections

+ Low taxes
Weaknesses

Main Street
* Brick sidewalks showing signs of
wear and disrepair

* South of Hollis Street is not pedes-
trian-friendly

* No major entertainment, perform-

ance, or educational uses

* No hotel or meeting conference

spaces

Nashua Downtown Master Plan

* No central park or gathering space 23

+ A lack of modestly priced goods and

services

Streets and Parking

+ One-way streets are confusing and
detrimental to retail development

* Parking is not well managed; excess
parking on west side; shortage on
east side of Main Street

* Only one river crossing

General

+ Downtown neighborhoods are
detached from the retail district

* Parking along the river is a blight to
this natural amenity.

* Spring and Elm Streets act as service
roads for Downtown parking lots

* Spring and Elm Streets separate the
adjacent neighborhoods from Main

Street

Weakness: Parking
behind Main Street
The areas behind Main
Street suffer fiom blight
caused by poorly
designed parking lots,

The Master Plan
establishes strategic
locations in Downtown
Nashua where design
efforts will lead to
Surther cultural and

economic development.

Nashua Downtown Master Plan

A central park or gathering place
A major riverfront park

Diversity of uses Downtown - edu-
cational, arts, performance and cul-

tural

Further diversify Main Street with

housing above retail buildings
A coordinated parking strategy

Continued support for local busi-

nesses versus national franchises

“Downtown to extend south to

Main Street Marketplace and

Salmon Brook

Develop gateways to Downtown and

a greater sense of arrival

Retail for all incomes
Commuter rail to Boston
Extensive bike and trail system

New housing: both affordable and

market rate
Improved public transportation

Improved and revitalized Railroad

Square

Several opportunity areas emerged after
mapping Downtown’s strengths and
weaknesses. These strategic areas are the
parts of Downtown where planning and
taking action is most important and
where benefits will be greatest. Gener-
ally, opportunity areas offer the chance to
to bolster the identified strengths, eradi-
cate identified weaknesses, and to imple-
ment citizen visions.

The primary strategic opportunity
areas were identified as: (see map below
left)

1. The corner of Main Street and Hol-
lis Street

2 The Riverfront

3 Main Street South between Hollis
Street and Allds Street

4 Spring and Elm Streets
5 The Millyard

Many of the
opportunity areas are
owned by just afew
parties. The City of
Nashua is a primary
owner of parcels in the
Downtown, as depicted

in blue.

URBAN DESIGN ASSOCIATES

ui Urban Design Principles

Nashua Downtown Master Plan

THE UDA TEAM, in conjunction with city staff, developed sev- 25

eral urban design principles prior to the design charrette. These

principles acted as a compass for the direction of the Master

Plan development. Design exploration at the charrette was

pursued under the guidance of the following principles:

1
2

MO um Ff

9

Preserve and celebrate the history of Nashua.
Reconnect Downtown to the surrounding neighborhoods.

Create a gathering place, a common, or a village green as

the center of Downtown.

Connect to the regional open space system.
Calm and clarify traffic.

Develop a parking strategy for Downtown.

Develop urban design alternatives for the transitional areas
behind Main Street.

Diversify Main Street to become a mixed-use corridor -
including retail, offices, government, cultural experiences,
housing, medical resources, hospitality centers, and enter-

tainment uses.

Create an interconnected pedestrian friendly network.

10 Develop guidelines for appropriate massing and height.

es Nashua Downtown Master Plan

Market Strategies

UR EAN DESIGN assocrates Nashua Downtown Master Plan

I Econo mic Development GREAT DOWNTOWNS ARE Diverse. They center a region by 27
Strategies serving a substantial list of needs for a variety of residents.
With a stable and established Main Street North, Downtown
Nashua must now diversify and expand its economic base by
increasing investor confidence and by serving the needs of a
broader cross-section of City residents.

Downtown Nashua must also carefully market and position
itself in the region. Downtown Nashua will never out-compete
other market areas, such as Daniel Webster Highway and
Route 101A for large-scale, discount retailers and rapid hous-
ing production. Instead of competing with these market areas,
Downtown Nashua should create a lasting and unique identity
for itself - an identity that cannot be replicated elsewhere in
the region. Diversifying the Downtown economy by creating a
“24-hour Downtown” and establishing unique markets based

on sustainable strategies — not short term market trends — will

be the key ingredients to a vital Downtown for years to come.

Downtown Retail
The continued, strategic
revitalization of Main
Street in its entirety,
both north and south of
Hollis Street, must be
coordinated and is vital
to the further growth of

the Downtown.

UR EAN DESIGN assocrates Nashua Downtown Master Plan

1 Residential Strategies

Bronstein
Apartments

The revitalization of
this public housing area
located near the heart
of Downtown into a
mixed-income
community is a great
great opportunity for
urban residential

development.

RESIDENTIAL DEMAND WILL LIKELY CONTINUE to be strongin —-28
the upcoming five to ten years. The City’s population has dou-
bled in forty years and grown approximately fifteen percent
over the past ten years. Most of the residential growth has con-
sisted of typical suburban single family housing on undevel-
oped land west of Everett Turnpike. The growth has served
traditional suburban households (primarily married parents
with school age children.) Ironically, despite the fact most of
the new housing products in Nashua have catered to “tradi-
tional households”, this household type represents only one
quarter of the region’s households. The other three quarters
consist of mostly single persons living alone, single head of
household with children or other dependents, or married cou-
ples with no children. These underserved markets are the
household types that can be targeted for Downtown Nashua’s
housing.

Like many regions across the country that have funnelled
their new housing construction to suburban areas, the demand
for new construction housing in urban areas is very strong and
relatively untapped. Thus there is strong market support for

new housing in Downtown Nashua, targeted to a large market

of “non-traditional” households.

Nashua Downtown Master Plan

First, there is an immediate demand
for affordable housing. Downtown
Nashua is the historic center of a fast-
growing and affluent sub-region (con-
sisting of Amherst, Brookline, Hollis,
Hudson, Litchfield, etc.) With its plenti-
ful supply of smaller and older homes,
Downtown Nashua has experienced sig-
nificant growth in the low and moderate
income populations.

Second, there is an immediate
demand for multi-family condominium
housing in Downtown Nashua. Most of
the region’s low-income rental housing is
in Downtown Nashua; as a result,owner-
occupied housing is at a lower percentage
than the rest of Nashua. The introduc-
tion of market rate condominium hous-
ing would bring stability to Downtown's
housing stock and broaden the range of
housing options.

The Master Plan identifies locations
for affordable and market rate housing.
The redevelopment of the publicly-
owned Bronstein Apartments is a perfect
opportunity for a mixed-income, urban
development. Physically obsolete, Bron-
stein Apartments inefficiently and inef-
fectively occupies a key site in
Downtown Nashua. The Master Plan
proposes a redevelopment program of
approximately 100 units (1/3 market-rate
rental housing, 1/3 public housing, and

1/3 low income tax-credit housing). The

new development would be economically 29
and physically integrated with the Tree

Streets neighborhood and with Down-

town Nashua. [f the redevelopment site

includes the County Health and Human

Services Building, the new development

can be built in phases without relocation

of any of the current Bronstein Apart-

ments’ residents.

In addition the the Bronstien Homes
there are other potential sites for afford-
able housing in Downtown Nashua.
Apartment units atop first floor retail on
Main Street as well as selected housing
sites along Main Street South provide
aditional opprotunities for affordable
housing.

New market rate condominium
housing is also proposed in several loca-
tions. Riverfront West presents the
strongest site for new housing. With
ClockTower Place’s conversion to hous-
ing in 1989, the first wave of “pioneers”
settled in Downtown. Buildings in the
Millyard and several Nashua Corpora-
tion buildings can be renovated to create
unique housing opportunities in a unique
urban setting. Overall, the Millyard and
the Nashua Corporation buildings have
the capacity to add up to 500 new units

to Downtown Nashua.