Workshop on Stimulating Saxonville Village Thursday

The Town of Framingham’s Economic Development and Industrial Corporation (EDIC) is undertaking a planning and market analysis study on the Saxonville village commercial center.

Residents are invited to a workshop meeting on Thursday, Feb. 26 at 7 p.m. at Cameron Middle School.

Framingham’s EDIC was established in 1995 to “stimulate economic development and expand employment opportunities in the Town of Framingham in accordance with the town’s approved economic development plans.”

The EDIC is holding a workshop on Nobscot village on Monday night.

The purpose of the workshop is to discuss what should the village’s commercial center be, how should it look and how can the Town help the village get there.

There was a discussion of what Saxonville needs on the Framingham Patch Facebook page last week. Click here to read the comments and join the discussion, which started after Patch posted that the Indian restaurant in the former Friendly’s building has closed.

The Town of Framingham solicited requests for proposals for professional assistance by a land use planning, economic development and urban design consultant to lead this effort.

The Cecil Group, a planning and design firm located in Boston, was selected with their economic development subconsultant FXM Associates.

The consultant team will seek input from the community to better understand the issues and opportunities of the study areas and to identify a shared community vision for the village centers to help shape economic development strategies. This public outreach will include stakeholder interviews, presentations at EDIC regular meetings, and three public meetings in each village center.

The planning study is expected to be complete by the end of June 2015.

Initial public meetings are scheduled for February, with alternative approach meetings in April and the final public meetings to be scheduled in June.