What Does The Future Hold For Depot Square?

ORLEANS – For close to 100 years, Orleans was serviced by trains, starting with the establishment of the Cape Cod Central Railroad in 1865. When the train came through Orleans, it made its stop at the appropriately named Depot Square.

Rail service along the line ended in 1959. But George Meservey said last week that as recently as 1999, when he was hired as the town’s director of planning and community development, the square was still very active as the site of regular craft fairs and other events.

“For whatever reason they kind of faded away, but it was a nice attraction that added a little life and vibrancy to that little part of the downtown,” Meservey said during a public workshop on the square’s redesign Sept. 15.

Today, Depot Square is primarily used as parking for those looking to access the adjacent Cape Cod Rail Trail or stroll through downtown. But officials hope that a redesign of the square could return it to being the community hub that it once was.

Three design options were presented for the square during last week’s workshop, each showcasing a mix of parking, public greenspace and accessible walking paths. The designs were prepared by the firm Greenman-Pedersen, Inc. (GPI), of Wilmington with funding secured through $70,000 in free cash authorized at the May 2024 annual town meeting.

“This is an opportunity to turn a piece of town property, one of the few pieces of property that exists in our little village center on Main Street, into a positive attraction, and a way to just enhance and improve the area,” Meservey said.

Robert White, a landscape architect with GPI, said that the existing parking lot accommodates 27 vehicles, but that there are approximately 1,500 parking spaces for residents and visitors in the vicinity of the square. Each of the designs offer additional amenities beyond onsite parking, including easier access to the rail trail, shaded areas, public greenspace, restrooms and an information building for visitors.

The first option shows a modified parking lot divided by a grass median that would allow for 32 parking spaces. Immediately to the right is a rectangular building housing restrooms and the information center, as well as a centralized park area with walkways, greenspace and areas for shaded seating. Closer to Main Street, a narrow portion of the square would accommodate a relocated bike shed. 

“Basically we want to make it look less like a parking lot and more like a place that people park so they can then walk on a really nice trail around the perimeter,” White said.

Option two features all of the same components with the public park area situated where the existing parking lot is. Next to it is a rectangular parking lot abutting the rail trail with space for 25 cars, with the information building and restrooms situated between the two. The bike shed is again located near the end of the square closer to Main Street.

A third option, presented as design “2A,” is a slightly modified version of the second plan that shows two areas for entering and exiting the parking lot. Orleans resident Scott Zenke voiced opposition to having the two egresses, citing the dangers they could pose to pedestrians along the road.
“We’re doing well on the circulation of traffic, but you’re putting your outgoing traffic right where your pedestrian walkways are coming in,” he said. “So it’s something you want to stay away from.”

Zenke also said the 25 spaces as presented in option two fall “way short” of what’s needed in the square. He suggested that the parking lot be expanded to the north to allow for 12 to 14 more vehicles.

Ginny Farber, meanwhile, said that the parking lot as currently configured with its square spaces poses problems for elderly residents. White said that the spaces could be angled slightly, but that doing so would lead to an overall reduction in the number of spaces on the property.

“There’s a diminishing return there,” he said.

Farber, who chairs the town’s board of water and sewer commissioners, also asked about the potential for tying the property into town sewer. Public Works Director Rich Waldo said that while the town would like to connect the square to sewer, there currently isn’t a stub on the property to make that connection.

“It can be done, it’s just not shovel ready,” he said.

Andrea Reed of the select board, speaking as a resident, advocated for the inclusion of public art and bike racks on the property. White said those could be incorporated into a final design.

The estimated cost for the renovation is figured at $1.39 million, which White said does not include the cost of constructing the information building and bathrooms. 

“Parks are not inexpensive these days,” he said.

Meservey said there is no firm timeline for the project to advance, but added that public input received on the designs will be taken into consideration in hopes of moving ahead with a “real project sometime in the near future.”