KEENE, NH – Keene City Council’s Municipal Services, Facilities, and Infrastructure committee will make another recommendation on the design portion of the Downtown Infrastructure Improvement, and Reconstruction project following last night’s workshop.

The full council held a third workshop on the project following their regular meeting Thursday evening. They were presented with four design options by Ed Roberge of Stantec, the consultant hired on the project.

The first option was the original MSFI recommendation, that most notably included maintaining the existing configuration of Central Square with some lane adjustments and improvements, and the exclusion of bike lanes downtown.

The second option was the original Ad-Hoc committee recommendation that included the installation of a compact roundabout and expansion of Central Square, that would have eliminated parking at the head of the square and turned that area into a walkway.

The third and fourth were hybrid options, one with multiple lanes heading up and down each side of Main Street, and another with a single lane.

Roberge went over each of the options and answered some questions along with Public Works Director Kort Blomquist.

As councilors began to discuss their opinions on the options, the multi lane hybrid option emerged as the clear front runner.

Councilor Kate Bosely said she prefers the multi lane hybrid option because it maintains the historical character of the square and says the slightly narrowed lanes will slow traffic.

“For me, the entire plan works,” Bosely said during the meeting. She also noted that she likes the bike lanes, which are included in each of the plans but can be removed, but said if you do exclude the bike lanes, you gain more sidewalk space.

Councilor Catherine Workman said she also prefers the multi lane option. She said that while whatever decision the council makes can’t please everyone, the multi lane option comes pretty close.

It “gives us a perfect compromise,” Workman said. She said the plan doesn’t lose parking, includes bike lanes, it’s traffic calming, has shorter crosswalks, and excludes the installation of a new roundabout.

Councilor Bobby Williams spoke up in favor of the single lane hybrid option because it was the most pedestrian friendly, but he did vote in favor of the multi lane option.

Meanwhile Councilor Mitch Greenwald, chair of the MSFI committee, said the multi lane option checks all the boxes for his “non-negotiables” on the project. He did note that he’s concerned about the speed of bikes downtown but said he is willing to give the bike lanes a shot. He also said he’d like to see the recommendation go back to the MSFI committee to allow the public to comment.

On the topic of bike lanes, Councilor Kris Roberts said that he doesn’t want bike lanes over sidewalk space for businesses and said he’s thinking about the future of Keene. Councilor Thomas Powers also noted that councilors should be cognizant of what bike lanes mean, which is giving up space. He said the lanes could get very little use to start and pick up more in the future, but he’s concerned that it could be an issue.

Councilor Bettina Chadbourne reminded the council that bike lanes can be added or subtracted later, but she’s glad they at least have a base plan with the multi lane hybrid option now.

Councilors Randy Filiault, Andrew Madison, Gladys Johnson, Bryan Lake, and Raleigh Ormerod all spoke in favor of the multi lane hybrid as well.

On the other hand, Councilor Michael Giacomo spoke up passionately in support of the original Ad-Hoc committee recommendation, citing the safety of roundabouts. He also said that he feels there are more constituents in favor of the Ad-Hoc redesign than the council realizes.

Mayor George Hansel asked council members if they were comfortable eliminating some of the options to help whittle down what they wanted to do. Councilor Phil Jones did speak up in favor of the MSFI recommendation and said it could be merged with the multi lane option.

Workman moved to send the multi lane hybrid option back to MSFI to allow for some tweaks and public comment, and to swap the upcoming PLD committee meeting on July 12th with MSFI so they can meet and hopefully push a recommendation through to appear on the full council agenda on July 20th.

Johnson moved to amend the motion to include the Ad-Hoc recommendation for MSFI’s consideration, but that failed 11-4.

Workman’s motion passed 14-1 with Jones opposed. The MSFI committee will meet in Council Chambers on July 12th at 6 pm, and there will be time for public comment.