Wilkes Square redevelopment open house

Do you favor some form of parking structure where the former Nantucket Electric Company used to generate all of the island's electricity?

How about multiuse buildings that promote year-round activities downtown, more in-town green space, access to the waterfront or a mixture of all these and other uses?

Redevelopment of the 5.6-acre portion of downtown — including National Grid's former electric plant property, the Greenhound bus station, Grand Union and its parking area, Harbor Fuel's tank farm, Petrel Landing, Commercial and Whale streets and Wilkes Square — now being researched by CBT Architects of Boston, Mass., the firm that designed the new Dreamland, is moving forward, but not without the island public's help. Next Wednesday, Oct. 14, CBT is holding a six-hour open house at the American Legion Hall at 21 Washington St. from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. to gather as many recommendations, critiques and comments about its evolving design of this part of Nantucket as it can. The Board of Selectmen, the Downtown Revitalization Committee and the Planning Department are charged with generating two alternatives that CBT will submit to the town at the end of December.

Oct. 14's multimedia presentation and three-dimensional model display of potential design options is the first of four opportunities for the public to talk directly to CBT's team of architects and urban planners. Tentatively, CBT plans similar public meetings on Nov. 18, Dec. 5 and Dec. 9.

Get more information at www.nantucket ma.gov/wilkessquarestudy. I