Essex downtown forum: parking, a market and more to do top residents' wish list

Essex residents and business owners agree on what downtown needs most: a place to park, a small market and more reasons to stay once they arrive.

Those were the themes that ran through every small group at a downtown visioning forum Sept. 29, hosted by the Greater Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce and the town. The chamber, which counts more than 65 Essex businesses among its members, ran a survey ahead of the forum that drew more than 85 responses.

Chamber CEO Sam Bevins said the goal was to move from what people want to how to get it, while staying realistic. The chamber cannot recruit a particular business, he said, and the town has limits on what it can do.

What the survey found

Town Administrator Brendhan Zubricki shared the survey results. Nearly 90% of those who answered live in Essex year round, and about three in four have ties to the town going back a decade or more. Most visit the town center often: 43% a few times a week and 36% daily.

Opinions on how downtown looks and feels were split, with 54% rating it fair and 43% good. Better parking topped the list of improvements, followed by green space and landscaping. A grocery store or market was the business people most wanted to see. Local markets, festivals and live music led the ideas for making downtown livelier, and nearly three in four said they were very likely to support a new local business.

Most people drive downtown, 64%, while about 36% walk.

A town growing older and wealthier

Zubricki also walked through figures from the town's 2025 senior needs assessment and 2026 housing production plan. In the 2020 census, 27% of Essex residents were over 60, compared with 24% statewide. Newer federal survey data puts that share at 34%. He called it "a rapidly growing senior segment."

The median household income has climbed to $157,147 in the latest data, up from $133,553 in 2022, and 67% of households now earn $100,000 or more. About 19% of households earn under $45,000.

The causeway problem

Zubricki said the causeway now floods even on calm days during very high tides. The town asked the state about raising the road when it was rebuilt, and again when the Essex River Bridge was replaced in 2023. Both times, he said, the state found that lifting it enough to matter would leave the businesses along the road with steep ramps down to their lots.

A 2025 study by the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization gathered ideas from businesses on both sides. Results of a deeper state funded study are just starting to come out. The town is now working with the state Department of Transportation on an application for a federal PROTECT grant, which would pay for a full look at the options. Zubricki said that study would likely be worth more than $2 million.

Ideas from the room

Parking came up in every group. Suggestions included turning the green space by the old engine house into parking, moving boat trailers out of the middle of the Memorial Park lot and talking with private owners about shared spaces. One group floated parking across the river with a shuttle boat bringing visitors downtown.

Other ideas that came up more than once:

• Fully acquiring the old railroad right of way, part of which is privately owned, for a walking and biking trail, and connecting bike riders into the center of town.
• Wayfinding signs that show visitors where to park, eat and shop, plus slower traffic and safer crosswalks.
• Year round public restrooms. The ones at the park are seasonal.
• A farmers market, a summer concert series and regular events, such as a weekly downtown night.
• Docks for visiting boaters, river dredging and more ways to get people out on the river.
• Seasonal decorations, better lighting and a public art mural along the river.
• A small inn or bed and breakfast, and a pharmacy for an aging population.

Several speakers said the town once had more than 30 antique shops along Main Street, many now converted to housing. One group suggested zoning that keeps shops on the ground floor with apartments above.

Business owners also described limits. Some shops have tried stocking groceries, but customers did not buy enough to make it work. The town's sewer cap and soils restrict new building. Some business owners said the town used to budget money, about $20,000 by one account, to help merchants draw visitors, until budget cuts ended it. They asked for that support back and for simpler permitting.

Mark Lynch, a co-chair of the chamber's Essex division, said the bigger barrier may be agreement itself, describing a "lack of getting to yes" on what kind of downtown Essex wants.

Another group said residents and businesses have no good central place to share news and event listings.

What happens next

The town planner said she will write up a summary of the night's ideas. The chamber and town will keep meeting, and officials said the ideas can support grant applications with partners including the Metropolitan Area Planning Council.

The chamber's next big Essex event is ClamFest on Oct. 24.

Earlier coverage: Essex backs grant bids for causeway flooding and Chebacco Lake (Sept. 30) announced the forum and covered the town's grant bid for the causeway study. Essex selectmen to take up a full time fire chief job description and a search for a town accountant (Oct. 2) previews the Oct. 5 meeting, where the administrator will report on the forum.