Hillsborough "Vision 2030" Open House

Hillsborough Planning Director Margaret Hauth led an Open House, on Thursday evening at the Town Barn, to discuss the “Vision 2030” project.

The early stages of the project involved collecting Hillsborough-centric data.

“If you don’t know what the current situation is,” she says, “you don’t know whether you’ve made any progress.”

There are several lofty goals as part of the development project: town-wide wireless internet by 2025, increasing residential density without losing small-town charm, all while maintaining affordable housing options.

But one item grabbed community member’s attention on Thursday night, the construction of a train station to re-establish Amtrak service and be open to commuter rail. Hauth says they are in line to receive funding from the state Department of Transportation for construction of that train station in 2019.

“We are building the platform, the building, and access to the site so that Amtrak trains can stop,” she says. “Any other trains that are running on that line – that choose to stop – we will welcome.”

The Town of Hillsborough already owns 20 acres off of South Churton Street where the train station will be built.

This is the second time Hillsborough officials have developed a long-term planning document, and they have seen major solutions come during the process.

“In 1990, when we wrote the first Vision 2010 plan, we did not have a reservoir,” Hauth says. “We were at a point where really we couldn’t tie on new water customers for any kind of large-scale development.”

Hauth says that they will have annual reports to update the board, and residents, with progress being made on the “Vision 2030” project.

The public hearing for the development plan is scheduled for next Thursday, January 15.