NASHUA — Community Development Director Sarah Marchant visited the Rotary Club of Nashua Monday to share information on the city’s plans to upgrade areas along the Nashua River.

The plan works to utilize the city’s assets. To do this, city officials have weighed in on public input online. This has allowed them to reach more people to get a better understanding of what the community wants, what is already great and what can be done better.

A large focus of the project is accessibility. Marchant said community members want to have access to the Nashua River.

“They want to be part of it — they want to physically see it and have a much more physical connection,” Marchant said.

“We have so many events and concerts and shows and things going on downtown that we don’t have a great space for. And the community has said over and over again, we would love someplace to have a lawn, to be near the water, to be able to see the water,” Marchant said. “We have so many great restaurants, but we want more things to do and to be able to interact with.”

Marchant said officials are looking at the city’s base, in terms of what infrastructure exists and how it can be enhanced. She said they also want to include opportunity for future development by adding in more greenspace and parking.

Marchant said there have also been requests for a dock system, which will allow for boat accessibility.

One of the overall priorities for the project includes creating a continuous riverwalk loop that connects various part of the city and links up to Mine Falls Park and the Heritage Rail Trail.

“If you’re walking on Main Street, you are less than a five-minute walk to Mine Falls Park, which is another gem in the heart of our city, almost 300 acres of beautiful space,” Marchant said.

She added, “If you can get there out your door by just running through the new riverfront connection to Mine Falls Park, that’s a win for everybody. It gets everybody out on our sidewalks, on our streets, enjoying our downtown.”

Marchant said officials will be looking to make this connection through a new rail trail. The city currently has a rail trail that runs west of City Hall. They hope to install a new rail trail that will run east of City Hall to the future rail station.

“We’re really looking at trying to connect some of these larger assets downtown,” Marchant said.

She added, “We are trying to tie in Main Street and all the great things we have going on, the new Performing Arts Center, all the amazing restaurants, work at the library plaza, other things that we are doing and investing in, making sure that it all ties together so that we can really capitalize.”

Another key factor in the project will be vegetation management, or as Marchant put it, “lack of” on the waterfront.

This fall, officials will be working to remove invasive species along the waterfront. Though the water is clean, the species are damaging vegetation. Marchant said there will also be significant tree removal, especially along the river’s southern bank.

Marchant said the invasive species are so bad that the trees will be killed either way.

During her visit, Marchant also showed Rotary members drone footage of the Nashua River, which includes sketches of the plan for the future.

The project is receiving help in funding from a recently approved Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district system, which captures the new tax value in the area and moves that value into a separate fund.

TIF is a tool that allows a government to capture the money from an increase in property value before the value actually increases. For example, if adding a new roof to a building will increase its value by $250,000, TIF allows the government to take the $250,000 to pay for the new roof.

“We have funding to move this forward and we are getting started on that right now with invasive species removal and tree removal that you’ll see this fall,” Marchant said.

The TIF will also cover a new plan for LED lights, which will be installed along the riverfront to keep the area safe and accessible.

“We’re pretty excited to be able to move this forward at this time,” Marchant said.

Grace Pecci may be reached at 594-1243, or at gpecci@nashuatelegraph.com.

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