(Telegraph file photo by DEAN SHALHOUP) Will the concrete barriers, shown here being installed last year, return this year? Aldermen are scheduled to vote on the amended ordinance involving extended outdoor dining at tonight's meeting.

NASHUA — Barring an unexpected last-minute development, the full Board of Aldermen will take up for discussion and a vote the so-called extended outdoor dining ordinance at tonight’s regular meeting.

The ordinance, officially titled “O-22-008: Relative to Seasonal Road Closures and Elimination of Certain On-Street Parking for Extended Outdoor Dining and Other Non-Vehicular Use,” has been tossed back and forth and around and around for weeks now, as those on opposite sides of the debate over what the 2022 version of the program should look like — or if it should return in any form to the city’s downtown district.

Tonight’s meeting, which, a review of the agenda indicates, has the potential to last well into the night, begins at 7:30, and can be attended in person in the aldermanic chamber or via Zoom, the links for which can be found at the top of the agenda posted on www.nashuanh.gov.

The ordinance is the lone item on the agenda under unfinished business, and appears about halfway down page 4 of the 5-page agenda.

Tonight’s so-called aldermanic packet, which contains paperwork, contracts, resolutions, ordinances and other documents related to matters expected to be acted upon, came in at 486 pages. To find the two-page, amended ordinance, scroll down to pages 344-345.

Other matters on tonight’s agenda include the issuance of $6.2 million in bonds for the sewer infrastructure project, three collective bargaining agreements — two involving two different police unions and the other, the tentatively agreed upon Nashua Teachers Union contract.

Also on tap is a resolution to transfer funds to an account to help fund the cost of a Nashua Public Library facility assessment and building master plan; and a resolution “relative to the adoption of the Nashua Arts and Cultural Plan.

As for the extended outdoor dining ordinance, the vast majority of people who spoke against the ordinance’s passage cited the return of the concrete barriers and the narrowing of Main Street to one lane in each direction as the main reasons they oppose the measure.

Many who wrote emails or spoke at previous meetings said they would support outdoor dining if it were limited to the sidewalks in front of participating restaurants and retail stores — on the condition the barriers are eliminated.

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