Attleboro OKs sweeping urban renewal plan

ATTLEBORO – The Attleboro City Council last week approved, by a 10-to-1 vote, a sweeping urban renewal plan crafted by the Attleboro Redevelopment Authority that calls for transportation improvements and housing and commercial development in the city’s core.
The council also authorized the city to borrow $2.5 million to cover its share of the $14.7 million cost of the first phase. Officials hope to begin implementing the plan in August, the ARA’s executive director, Michael Milanoski, told the Attleboro Sun Chronicle.
Downtown Attleboro has long been struggling, and the plan includes several measures to revitalize it, including relocation of the public works yard, opening up the river for public use and improving traffic flow.
It also defines five districts where the ARA would have the power of eminent domain – though last week’s vote only authorized the use of that power in two of the districts, the riverfront and a six-acre industrial parcel known as the Cookson District.
The plan has been in the works since 1999, when the city obtained a $500,000 federal grant to plan a new commuter rail parking garage. Over time, that project grew into a comprehensive effort to revitalize the city’s core by applying smart-growth principles and a “village” model.