New London - About 50 residents became urban planners Saturday afternoon during a "charrette," or workshop, to generate development concepts for the Fort Trumbull area.

"We want ideas from all sides of the issue," City Councilor Adam Sprecace said during the event. "There is not one issue in New London that is more well known, and this is a golden opportunity to work together for a common goal."

Sprecace called the workshop a "turning point for Fort Trumbull," and the city brought in Alan Plattus, director of the Yale Urban Design Workshop, to lead the discussion and present different ways to create a vibrant district.

"This workshop is to get people to roll up their sleeves and get out their own ideas," Plattus said. "We want to make Fort Trumbull part of the larger community, not something that's 'over there' but part of a larger context."

The public input on potential designs for the long-disputed property is an important part of the process, Sprecace said.

He encouraged participants to work with "'consensus' as the word of the day."

"The basic ground rule is there are no ground rules for this effort," Sprecace said. "This should bring the community together and move us in the right direction. We have work to do, but I think it's going to be fun."

Plattus discussed ways to connect Fort Trumbull with the downtown area by creating easy transportation routes. He said emphasizing certain anchors of an area, such as the fort and potentially a hotel, a band shell and a train station are all aspects to consider when developing a neighborhood.

Using the historical background of the city is a viable way to pull in visitors as well, Plattus said.

"The Freedom Trail in Boston is the second-most visited site in the country behind Times Square and ahead of Disneyland," Plattus noted.

Once split into groups, most attendees centered their attention on creating a waterfront pedestrian walkway that would connect downtown and the fort in an aesthetically pleasing way.

"The waterfront differentiates New London from so many communities," resident Frederick Roe said. "It could be like the Esplanade in Boston. If you build it, I'm sure they would come."

The results of the charette will be presented to the project's steering committee in a couple of weeks, Sprecace said, and a draft plan should be available by the summer. A final plan is scheduled to be completed by the fall.

The city undertook a multimillion-dollar, 90-acre redevelopment project, funded almost entirely by the state, 10 years ago to clear the Fort Trumbull peninsula for development that was expected to bring new jobs and tax revenues to the city.

The New London Development Corp., a quasi-public group that spearheaded the project, invoked eminent domain after several homeowners objected.

The case went to the U.S. Supreme Court, which upheld the city's use of eminent domain.

Despite the devisive nature of the development's beginnings, Barbara and Larry Hample, 50-year residents of New London, were optimistic the area can be revitalized.

"Now that it's done, we have to decide what we're going to do with it," Barbara Hample said. "We have to try and get past that and try to fix it."

s.goldstein@theday.com