downtown chestertown master plan

Main Street is embarking on a Downtown Master Plan with our local partners and a consulting firm to plan the future of Chestertown’s Historic District. Working in concert with the Town’s Comprehensive Plan and the Town’s Strategic Agenda, the Downtown Master Plan will focus on multiple aspects, including infrastructure, streetscape, utilities, tourism, and more. Master planning recognizes the importance of forethought and community engagement and the effect pre-planning has on greater future outcomes. The Town of Chestertown is working off of a 2015 Comprehensive Plan, which states a “General Commercial Goal” of “maintain the vitality of the central business area as a prosperous commercial center.” However, the Comprehensive Plan does not illustrate any responsibilities, strategies, or implementation plans related to this goal and the last Downtown Master Plan was published over 50 years ago, and there has been no documented master planning since.The purpose of the Downtown Master Plan will be to develop a vision, strategy, list of projects, and implementation plans to bring this goal to fruition. As Chestertown prepares for its future, the Master Plan will be the guiding document for all major downtown decisions, as well as a beacon for private owners and investors to utilize as they prepare to market their properties or plan improvements.

Downtown projects occurred in recent years in spite of the lack of a Master Plan and have not had the benefit of an overarching vision and plan to ensure ongoing development is holistic, sustainable, robust, and cohesive. Recent projects may be seen as “one-offs” rather than progress towards a greater future vision, while high level needs such as resilient infrastructure and state-of-the-art streetscape designs go under-financed. Signs of planning and targeted investment deficiencies include a 5% decline in Chestertown population 2010-2020, continuing concerns with the quality of Kent County public schools, and long term commercial vacancies just outside the downtown district.

Examples of community investment needs include:

• stormwater management,
• mitigation of overhead electric/phone/internet wires,
• sea level rise resiliency,
• bike and pedestrian pathway planning,
• infill property development prioritization,
• public space planning and the balance between parking and pedestrian uses,
• residential (especially workforce housing) planning,
• preservation of Colonial and Victorian properties and landmarks,
• street and curb design for traffic calming and  vehicular/pedestrian circulation,
• pedestrian and vehicular wayfinding,
• storefront, sidewalk, and street lighting,
• streetscape improvements (e.g., sidewalk, outdoor seating, planting/tree canopy)

The single overarching long term community investment need is a plan for the revitalization of downtown Chestertown to ensure its prosperity and vitality for the next twenty to forty years.