(Telegraph photo by DEAN SHALHOUP) Michael Conneely, owner of the Peddlers Daughter restaurant on Main Street, was among numerous residents and downtown business owners who spoke at Wednesday night's public meeting on the upcoming expanded outdoor dining season.

While heavy, wet snow typical of March piled up outside, the focus inside a warm City Hall aldermanic chamber Wednesday evening was on the coming spring and summer and the return for the third season of the city’s expanded outdoor dining program.

As it stands now, the 2022 outdoor dining season will open May 1 and run through mid-October, with a handful of revisions here and there that were added or subtracted in what city Economic Development Director Tim Cummings called “the spirit of compromise.”

Cummings underscored the fact that the current proposal is far from set in stone, and assurred the stakeholders present in the chamber and taking part via Zoom that their voices will be heard, and their concerns addressed, in what he referred to as a “fluid process.”

Alderman-at-large Michael O’Brien Sr., chairman of the aldermanic Committee on Infrastructure, scheduled Wednesday’s joint meeting of his committee and the Planning and Economic Development Committee to allow Cummings and other city officials to share with the public their research, ideas, opinions and suggestions.

The subject of parking — a sore spot for a number of downtown merchants, some of whom contend downtown Nashua parking has been an issue long before the advent of expanded outdoor dining — was addressed by consultant Andy Hill, who said in his presentation via zoom that the typical walking distance from parking spot to destination is 800 feet, and the maximum distance a downtown visitor should have to walk from car to destination is 1,400 feet, or roughly a quarter mile.

A full story on the meeting, including other topics discussed at Wednesday’s meeting and input from the public, will appear in The Sunday Telegraph.

Dean Shalhoup may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.