Next Thursday, November 6, at 7pm (doors open at 6:30), you are invited to the River Town Community Planning Forum at the Senior Center in Lewisburg (116 N 2nd St).  This will be an occasion for anyone and everyone with an interest in improving Lewisburg's connection to the river to come together, learn about the River Town program and past and current proposals along those lines, add in your own ideas, and help figure out where we should go next as a community.

It's a lot to ask to get people to tear themselves away from other commitments, families and regular schedule, but this is a key opportunity to help chart a course forward.  There are lots of ideas floating out there:  let's improve the St George St boat launch; could we put in a canoe/kayak landing somewhere? how about a riverwalk running North/South? what changes could we make to N Water St to make it function better for all users -- cars, bikes, and pedestrians? what's going on at the Community Garden? how will the rail trail get to the river and once it's there, then what happens?  that's "some bridge"!  is there a plan for the future of Wolfe Field? how does the situation with flood insurance changes affect all the rest of this? how do we decide what to do and where to start?

As noted in the previous post, the Borough does have a lot afoot with repetitive loss acquisitions and demolitions recently completed on S 6th St along Bull Run.  And we will be moving ahead with the next steps in that process (with more public meetings!) to figure out a quite detailed level how to reenvision the reclaimed public space where those houses stood, the new relationship of 6th St to the space of the public park, the range of effective reclamation and restoration of the banks of the creek, and how it all integrates with the programmed and unprogrammed spaces of the park.  This River Town Meeting is intended to help lay out the range of next projects for the community to consider so that we can pursue them in the future as effectively as we have the Bull Run Neighborhood Project over the last decade.

The meeting will start with an open house which will give you a chance to browse through tables with information about existing proposals.  Each table will have a person able to answer questions and discuss the subject.  Then at 7 we'll get started with introductions and background.  By 7:30 we will break out into small groups for more immediate discussion of different topic areas.  There will be focus tables for Community Life, Downtown Lewisburg, the Built Envrionment, Natural Resources, and Draw-Your-Own Plan for those less inclined to words.  Depending on interest levels and attendance, we can add additional tables on some of the topics.  At 8:30 we'll reconvene as a group and share our key findings and top priorities.  We plan to do a very quick prioritization exercise to close.

There will be snacks on hand as well, so you won't have to run on fumes the entire time.

So consider coming out and sharing your vision for Lewisburg's future as a River Town.  We'd love to get your input.