Fall River pays $361,000 for a Route 79 master plan. The public will be able to weigh in.

FALL RIVER — The Fall River Redevelopment Authority has hired the international firm Stantec to develop a master plan for the future of the multimillion-dollar Route 79-Davol Street Corridor project, which will open about 18 acres of developable land along the Taunton River.

RDA Executive Director Sarah Page said the RDA board approved signing a $361,000 contract with Stantec to develop the master plan. The company has an eight-month deadline to produce it.

Stantec representatives, RDA and city Director of Engineering and Planning Dan Aguiar have had their first planning meeting.

“What we talked about in this meeting was all the pieces they are going to work on immediately,” said Page. “The big focus right now is all this market analysis. They are going to look at MassDOT’s plans and really understand where all the utilities are and what the parameters are for this development of this land.”

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What will the Route 79 master plan study?

The market analysis will include a look at what kind of residential and commercial development of the Route 79 corridor is appropriate, including whether developing a waterfront hotel would be viable.

When developing a master plan, Page said, Stantec will be bringing experts from around the country to work on specific issues on the redevelopment of the waterfront area.

“One is someone who worked for years at the Boston Redevelopment Authority, and his role is going to be to talk to developers to find out what their experience is with this kind of master plan and what they would be encouraging us to do,” said Page. “And that’s going to be very helpful.”

The master plan will also focus on the new Fall River Depot MBTA Station on Davol Street and the delayed start of commuter train service this summer.

Among its notable projects, Stantec’s website indicates it created the Dorchester Bay City master plan and was part of the team in the expansion of the Panama Canal.

Public will have input on the future of Route 79

“One of the people at Stantec is very experienced with working with the public, and we will be having a series of public meetings to engage with the public,” said Page.

As with the committees put together by the RDA for the Flint revitalization plan, which the agency is currently working on with the city, and the recent waterfront and urban renewal plans it sponsored, an advisory group is going to be assembled to help oversee the Route 79 master plan.

“We want to make sure we have good citizen representation,” said Page.

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What kind of housing development can Fall River expect?

“There is still a long way to go on the issue, but the assumption is that this waterfront development needs to maximize the tax revenue that can be generated and be a catalyst for the city’s future development. So we believe there will be market-rate housing,” said Page. “But all of this needs to be figured out.”

Will there be zoning changes at the waterfront?

When the RDA commissioned the waterfront master plan, Page said a Waterfront Transportation Oriented Development zone was created by the city. The state has MBTA zoning requirements as well.

“There is zoning in place knowing the train station was coming. So the consultant will look at how the MBTA zoning relates to the waterfront WTOD zoning. Would they recommend that the city make changes?” said Page.

But, Page reiterated, the first focus will be on the market research and analysis.

“What amount of commercial development is really a viable program. How many restaurants, how many stores, how many hotel rooms can we handle,” said Page. “So we are looking at all these things that are viable.”

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Design firm Stantec to create Route 79 master plan for Fall River