The Themes from What We’ve Heard:

• Connect downtown to Freeport’s Natural Resources and enhance existing open spaces.

• Rethinking downtown streets as public spaces.

• Continue to attract visitors to Freeport year-round.

• Rethink Freeport’s identity as a year-round destination for outdoor recreation.

Discussion Questions

• How can the downtown best support Freeport’s natural resources?

• How can people better connect with Freeport’s natural resources from the downtown?

• How do we better utilize existing open spaces in the downtown?

• Interior open space?

• What natural resource connections identified in the Active Living Plan are being implemented?

• How can Downtown become a hub for connection to the outdoors and Freeport’s natural resources?

• How can Downtown businesses help promote outdoor recreation and Downtown as a gateway to the outdoors?

Outdoors and Open Spaces

On February 5, 2022, at 11 AM, we will be hosting an in-depth meeting to discuss how Downtown Freeport can better embrace the outdoors. We would love to hear from you: How can Downtown best support Freeport's natural resources? How can the existing open spaces in Downtown be improved? And, how can Downtown support an active outdoor lifestyle year-round for both Freeport residents and visitors? We have heard overwhelming interest in improving the parks, squares, and informal open spaces in and around Downtown. We need your help thinking in more detail about the open spaces and natural connections Downtown. 

Make Downtown the Trail Head to Freeport’s Natural Resources

How can Downtown become the gateway to all of Freeport's fantastic outdoor destinations and activities? 

We know that there are a variety of beautiful trails, natural resources, and outdoor destinations within a short distance of Downtown. However, today these connections are not clear to locals and people from away. Downtown does not connect to Freeport's beautiful coastline along Harraseeket River and Maquoit Bay. Could a trail network for walking and biking link these places together? How else can we connect the waterfront to Downtown? 

In addition to the coastline, the Town could more strongly connect other outdoor destinations to Downtown. We need your help prioritizing these connections. How do these connections occur? What routes will make walking and biking comfortable and safe? How can we celebrate these connections within Downtown? 

Imagine a situation in the future in which a group of friends meet Downtown, grab their coffees, and a quick breakfast. Then, they depart by bicycle for a nice long ride out to Wolfe’s Neck, and then back to Downtown. Once back Downtown, the family can quickly meet up at one of the recognizable open spaces, maybe Memorial Park or a new plaza on Main Street where they can comfortably lock up their bikes. A brief walk down Main Street, the group of friends can enjoy lunch outdoors on one of the many outdoor terraces for dining. If there are kids in the group, the kids can run around the park Downtown while the rest of the group packs up the car with bikes and gear from enjoying the day Downtown. How can we improve this vision? Is this something that residents of Freeport see in the future for Downtown?

Enhance the "Town Square"

"Meet me Downtown." When one says that to another in Freeport, where do they mean? What is the specific destination within Downtown that is the recognizable "center" of Town? 

Great Towns have great town squares. There are postcards of these places and the events these spaces host year-round. The cultural and civic life of the Town plays out within these spaces year of year. In Freeport, where is the "Town Square"? 

We have heard from many that  L.L.Bean Discovery Park might function mainly as the "town square" Downtown. We have also heard that there is great potential for improving Memorial Park. Could Memorial Park function as Downtown's main square? Or is there an opportunity to create an entirely new "town square" somewhere Downtown? We need your help thinking about all of these options and how the community can improve each of these spaces individually and as a network of "connected" open spaces Downtown.  

Streets are Open Spaces Too

There are many great opportunities Downtown to improve the quality of the streetscape. Suppose these improvements are made correctly and in a coordinated fashion. In that case, the network of streets connecting destinations within Downtown will feel much more like public spaces instead of sidewalks attached to motor vehicle travel lanes. The streets of Freeport's streets Downtown need to be beautiful, tree-lined, and pleasant places to linger and spend time. Why are there no street trees on the streets Downtown? Where are all the benches and areas to sit outside along the streets Downtown? How can the cars and trucks passing through Downtown behave better to make Downtown feel like a friendly New England Village? 

We have often experienced locals driving from one end of Downtown to another. This same trip would take 5 or 10 minutes to walk. This choice to drive is a symptom of the design of the streets.  Downtown needs to be a more pleasant place to spend time than the comfort of one's private, leather-covered, car seat. The more that locals choose to walk when they are Downtown, the more the community has the chance to engage with one another on the sidewalks of their Town. These "bumping into" events do not occur if it is not pleasant to walk down Main Street. Not only do these local trips within Downtown degrade the sense of community within the neighborhood, but they also add traffic to Downtown's street network. Removing these local trips from the traffic Downtown is an easy win for everyone.    

What else can be improved Downtown to make the streets more friendly for walking, biking, and spending time? 

Create Flexible and Multi-Functional Civic Spaces

There are even more opportunities to enhance and create new public spaces throughout Downtown. New development can create new public spaces. The Town can coordinate new trails as larger infrastructure capital projects occur. And, the community can come together to test many of these ideas in the coming months and years with short-term pilot projects. These short-term "tests" will refine these plans before making significant investments in permanent improvements. 

A great neighborhood has a network of well-connected open spaces that are flexible and support the many functions of public life that happen day to day and month to month. Freeport's Downtown can have this characteristic if we can come together to think through these details. 

We look forward to discussing this with you on February 5, 2022, at 11 AM at the Downtown Design Studio. RSVP for Design Week here.