Town Center Development Plan

Town Center Community Conversations, January 2011

Winchester has a compact and successful town center that functions as the heart of the community and is consistently identified as one of Winchester’s most important assets. However, the Master Plan Phase I Report and the Fall 2009 Town Center Community Conversations identified limited parking, inadequate pedestrian circulation paths, weak business recruitment and marketing, small lots, fragmented ownership, out-of-date zoning and building codes, and flooding as problems threatening the vibrancy and economic health of the center. The Planning Board and the Board of Selectmen sponsored a series of Town Center community conversations at the Jenks Center on January 19 and 22, 2011 to discuss Town Center development concepts and build consensus on a plan for the future of the town center that addresses these problems. The preliminary development concepts are sketched out in “Winchester Town Center Initiative: Development Concepts."

Development Concepts

The development concepts are an initial step toward addressing the issues and opportunities voiced during the first community conversations, but the development concepts outlined in the document are for discussion only. They do not represent adopted town policies or approved plans. The Planning Board and the Board of Selectmen intend to revise and refine the concepts over the next months, and then to bring initial recommendations for a Town Center development plan and related zoning bylaw changes before Town Meeting in 2011 and 2012.

Town Center Community Conversations, Fall 2009

The Winchester Board of Selectmen and the Winchester Planning Board hosted a series of Community Conversations in the fall of 2009 to discuss the future of the Town Center. Access the following documents for more information:

  1. Bluestone Downtown Site Options June 29, 2009 (PDF)
  2. Town Center Conversations Meeting 1 - Commercial Markets (PDF)
  3. Town Center Conversations Meeting 2 - Cultural Resources (PDF)
  4. Town Center Conversations Meeting 3 - Built Form Discussion (PDF)
  5. Town Center Conversations Meeting 4 - Natural Environment (PDF)
  6. Town Center Conversations Schedule (PDF)
  7. Town Center Discussions Fall 2009 Invitation Letter (PDF)
  8. Town Center Map June 25, 2009 (PDF)
  9. Town Center Maps Version 1 (PDF)