Cultural District Decision to Come by Summer's End
Marlborough is likely to learn in late August if its downtown will be receive the designation.
Photos
Marlborough should know by Labor Day whether its applicaiton to have part of downtown designated as an arts and tourism destination will be approved by the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
The Boston Globe reported Friday that MCC staff has scheduled site visits to two other communities seeking the designation, but had not set a date to visit Marlborough.
The MCC is expected to consider several applicaitons for designations, including Marlborough's, at a meeting in late August.
If approved, Marlborough's Main Street Cultural District would be eligible for grant funding and other programs. The state program was developed after a report from MassINC found that culture, the arts and tourism can be a strong engine for economic development.
Spearheaded by the owners of Bumpy's and other business and cultural leaders, the efforts to create a district in Marlborough began earlier this year and recently won the strong support of the City Council.
Neil Licht
12:38 pm on Monday, July 2, 2012
Actually, we dont need that approval to act.
I'll bet the city council can declare downtown what ever it wants to call it and then via creating the appropriate new zoning regulations, make sure it stays that way. Easy isn't it!!!!
How about it council, JUST DO IT in the way that I offered. You can grandfather in any businesses there now to the present owner only that do not meet the new "zoning" rules but require that upon change of ownership that the new zoning regulations apply.
Lets act for a change instead of asking another overseer for permission to do something we can do by a little out of the box thinking via our city council.
Neil Licht, Marlborough taxpayer and resident.
JPC
7:35 am on Monday, July 9, 2012
Neil, I think you missed the point that the Marlborough Downtown Village association is seeking the designation through MCC to qualify for grant funding.