By Michael Lafleur, mlafleur@lowellsun.com
LOWELL -- The city of Lowell and Trinity Financial, the Boston-based firm selected to carry out plans for the Hamilton Canal District, have scheduled three more community meetings on the endeavor.
The first such meeting, which will be held next Thursday from 6 to 9 p.m. in the mayor's reception room at City Hall, will be a discussion by the form-based code-working group, which focuses on the project design and layout.
On Wednesday, May 7, the traffic-working group will meet in the mayor's reception room from 6 to 9 p.m.
The form-based code-working group will hold a followup meeting on Thursday, May 8, in the city Division of Planning and Development's Arthur Hammar Conference Room, located on the second floor of the JFK Civic Center.
From 6 to 9 p.m., on May 29 at a location to be determined, the city and Trinity Financial will host the fourth in a series of what they are dubbing "vision sessions" -- which are comprehensive community meetings about the project.
All the sessions are open to the public. Anyone interested in attending is asked to RSVP with Trinity Financial by calling (617) 720-8400 or e-mailing reception@trinityfinancial.com.
Project officials already have hosted vision sessions in December, January and March. Each such meeting has been interspersed with discussions of the project's various "working groups," which focus on specific areas of the project.
Now a 15-acre swath of dilapidated buildings and vacant lots on the fringe of downtown, the Hamilton Canal District is envisioned as the future site of a $125 million state judicial center and a privately funded, $500 million commercial and residential development.
City officials have been in negotiations with Trinity over a disposition agreement for the land since last fall. In the interim, both parties have pushed forward with the community meetings that ultimately are expected to result in a detailed project plan sometime this summer.
For more information, visit www.hamiltoncanal.com.
This story appeared in the Lowell Sun on Friday, April 25, 2008