Quimby Streetscape and Design Plan

Here's the recording from Tuesday's (8/12/25) Town Council Meeting. 

 As always, if you know anyone who wants to be added to these Town updates, please send them this link. 

The big update from this meeting was the Resolution that was unanimously approved authorizing an award of contract for the Quimby Streetscape Engineering and Design Plan.

As a member of the smaller committee overseeing the Quimby Streetscape project, I wanted to share why I voted in favor of selecting Arterial, both during the committee’s recommendation process and again at the Town Council meeting.

This has been a competitive and transparent process from the start. We issued a formal RFP and received proposals from 9 different firms. While there were several strong submissions, Arterial clearly stood out as the best fit for this project. Having multiple options allowed us to thoroughly evaluate the best company for our needs. 

Now that Arterial has been selected, we’re entering the design phase, and this is where your voice becomes essential. There will be a public engagement process, and I’ll be reaching out soon to gather your input. Please stay tuned and start thinking about what you’d love to see on Quimby Street.

This project is a major investment in the future of our downtown. I believe Arterial is the right partner to help bring this vision to life. More broadly, I'm a firm believer that a thriving downtown is one of the most important things that makes Westfield special. It’s where we build community, support local businesses, and create the kind of shared spaces that make our town feel like home. It’s also one of the key things that sets us apart from other neighboring towns. 

Looking forward to working with you all to make this something we’re proud of.

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Why Arterial?

Arterial is a Montclair based urban design studio that specializes in creating flexible, pedestrian-first streetscapes that support local businesses and enhance public life. Their proposal stood out for several reasons:

1. They know Westfield. Arterial has already been working with the Town since 2023 and they’re deeply familiar with our streets, our stakeholders, and our downtown vision. 

2. They’ve done this before, successfully. Their past work includes award-winning “festival streets” and flexible plazas in Montclair, Millburn, Union, and other New Jersey towns.

3. They focus on placemaking, not just paving. Their proposed designs include retractable bollards, upgraded landscaping, ADA improvements, traffic calming, and attractive street furniture, all to create a space that’s as useful for everyday life as it is for events. 

4. They use immersive tech for community engagement. Stakeholders will be able to preview and walk through the proposed design using virtual reality, a huge plus for transparency and collaboration.

5. They bring one integrated team. From urban design to civil engineering and landscape architecture, Arterial has everything in-house, which leads to better coordination and execution.

6. Their proposal was the most thorough with a proposed timeline and a budget that came in under what we planned for. 

If you have questions about the process or want to learn more about the next steps, feel free to reach out. I’m happy to connect as we get deeper into the process. 

Thank you and more details to come!