Planning on Tuesday night for a new and improved Green. An ice skating rink. An ​“interactive” fountain. A cafe. A new business plaza.The New Haven Green could look pretty different soon. City residents raised those options for new amenities on Tuesday evening at a public meeting in the basement of 200 Orange St., where the goal to update the historic greenspace at the city’s center was laid out in live presentations and tall printed site plans.The Elicker administration proposal has been in the works for the past four months, and steered by the office of City Engineer Giovanni Zinn and Orange-based landscape design contractor the Tavella Group — in coordination with the Proprietors of the New Haven Green, the self-perpetuating five-member committee that owns the expansive space.Just before 6 p.m. on Tuesday, dozens of community members and city officials trickled into the municipal office building’s hearing room, signed in, and took their seats. Soon, they began scrutinizing the site plans, sticky notes, and pens spread out in front of them.Zinn addressed the room. ​“It’s a great time to think about how we could make [the Green] even better, make it a place that on a daily basis we’re not just going through it, we’re going to it, a place that people from all over the city and the region can come to on a daily basis — not just for the great special events, of which we’ve had so many.”The city’s new emphasis on ​“to” over ​“through” became all the more apparent with a presentation by Thomas Tavella, the landscape architect working with the city on the proposal. In addition to new amenities in the park itself, the biggest change proposed would impact the roadway right in the middle. As it stands, the plan would shut down the leg of Temple Street that now connects Chapel and Elm and divides the Green into an upper and a lower lawn. In its place would be more green: trees, footpaths, and gathering spots.The site plan made available to meeting attendees on Tuesday, as put together by the City of New Haven, Tavella Design Group, and William Kenny Associates, identified a host of other proposed changes for the Green, including a cafe with restroom and outdoor seating, a stage platform and gathering area, a ​“woonerf,” a temporary ice skating/game area, an ​“interactive fountain,” and a children’s garden.”All of this comes a year after the State Bond Commission approved sending New Haven $4.6 million in October 2023 for ​“downtown mobility improvements in the vicinity of the New Haven Green, including the Temple Street woonerf, streetscaping along College Street, converting College Street to two-way traffic, and raised intersections.”At Tuesday’s meeting, Downtown Alders Kiana Flores and Eli Sabin, of Wards 1 and 7, which each cover half of the Green, voiced their support for the conversation and for making the Green more enjoyable for city residents. ​“The Green is obviously a huge resource and a historical aspect of the city,” said Sabin, ​“and we need to make sure that it’s preserved and protected and made better for future generations.”Flores echoed the sentiment, and mentioned her own personal affinity for the park: ​“I definitely think that my favorite parts of the Green are when it’s utilized in terms of when you have events like the tree lighting, Black Wall Street, and you see people go there not just to walk through but to stay and to make memories and just really appreciate the city.”Janet Bond Arterton, a senior judge of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut and chair of the proprietors committee, emphasized the legacy of the Green, and the importance of improving it while honoring historical tradition. Then came time for input and ideas. The members of each table formed their own discussion groups and chatted about the proposal, and city officials circulated among them while attendees wrote on sticky notes the ideas they were generating and pasted those notes onto a big sheet of paper.The notes ranged from questions about existing components of the plan to suggestions for new ones. In reference to the pedestrian walkway set to replace Temple Street, one read, ​“Why curved path? Does not encourage walking across.” Another suggested that the city ​“bring back farmer’s market,” and a second note below it read, ​“free food?” At a different table, attendees batted around the idea of an ​“outdoor classroom” on the Green, with a ​“rotating exhibit” showcasing the park’s history — “(Black Panther Trials, Amistad, etc.)” –– in partnership with the New Haven Museum.Though the tone of the discussion was optimistic about the future of the Green, participants expressed a recurring concern about the plan to eliminate the three-lane Temple Street corridor linking Chapel and Elm. City officials said the city is planning to use the street closure as an opportunity to deliver Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), in coordination with the state Department of Transportation, and convert Church and Elm streets to two-way traffic.“The largest impact is transit,” said Assistant City Engineer Dawn Henning. ​“Currently, there are bus stops that are along Temple Street and we’re having that conversation with Connecticut Transit as part of our BRT project. Elm Street is going to be a thoroughfare for buses, and so we’re looking at shifting some of that traffic to Elm Street and Church Street. There’ll be a little less buses on Chapel Street as a result, hopefully, and so it just kind of shifts it around.”Not everyone at the meeting was convinced. ​“I think the instincts are good, and I get sort of what they’re aiming for, but I don’t think that this is implementable as is,” said Eva Geertz, who works downtown and walks through the Green five days a week. ​“There needs more space to accommodate people waiting for buses, but also space that allows for the kind of stacking of buses that’s gonna become much, much greater. It’s gonna get super complicated because what they’re envisioning takes away bus transit from Temple Street and Chapel Street.”Aside from the bus issue, Gregg Ferraris said he was worried about the implications of the raised pedestrian walkways proposed for the eight intersections and mid-block crossings surrounding the Green. Ferraris helps put on the New Haven Grand Prix, and sees the raised crossings disrupting the usual course traversed by cyclists every September. ​“From a cycling standpoint of everyday riding, not a problem at all, but I’m not sure if the race could continue if those raised crosswalks were part of the improvement plan, which from an overall standpoint I’m very much in favor of,” he said.Also in attendance at the meeting was East Rock/Fair Haven Alder Caroline Smith, who sits on the proprietors’ advisory committee and will join the board of the New Haven Green Conservancy, a new nonprofit that will fundraise for the improvement project. She stayed after the workshop wrapped up to discuss the plan with community members.“I think that something that should be really important to us is if we’re going to close down Temple Street and change where the bus stops are, that we make it a priority, if not even non-negotiable, that bus service improves,” she said. ​“I think we should not budge on that.”Next steps, Zinn told the Independent, will see city staff reviewing the public feedback provided at Tuesday’s meeting and figuring out where to take the proposed Green redesign from there.City Engineer Zinn: “It’s a great time to think about how we could make [the Green] even better." The Green today. The Green tomorrow?