Old Lyme — How welcoming does the Old Lyme shoreline need to be?

It's a question that will be answered over the next 18 to 24 months as part of the formative Shoreline Gateway Committee's task to create a vision statement for an area that until now has been overlooked.

The goal is for committee members — who currently are being sought — to decide what Route 156, also called Shore Road, and the Sound View Beach area should look like, and then pitch to the selectmen a way to make it happen.

The focus area starts where Mile Creek passes under the state road in the vicinity of the old Cherrystones Restaurant property at 218 Shore Road and continues to just past the police station at 294 Shore Road.

Originally conceived by the Economic Development Commission, the committee is the latest in an effort to elevate the part of town known to varying degrees at various times for its lowbrow nightlife.

The small, cloistered and affluent town of Old Lyme has been wrangling for more than a century with developer Henry Hilliard's legacy: one strip of beach deeded in perpetuity to the "unorganized general public."

First Selectman Tim Griswold during the EDC's pitch last month said that limited business offerings on Sound View's Hartford Avenue, anchored by a beachfront bar and a beachfront restaurant, mean the current clientele is still "mainly young people coming down for a good time."

"We really have to figure out how you change that," he said. "Because that's been since World War II."

Hartford Avenue has long been marked by competing interests. Business owners need people to come, park and spend money, while homeowners and renters often don't want to share their beach vacation with large crowds of people, some of whom can get unruly due to alcohol.

Some people averse to the influx of beachgoers have used terms like "out-of-towners" to describe visitors they say hail largely from cities. Those favoring a more inclusive approach argue the terminology represents thinly veiled classism and racism.

Selectman Matt Ward, who later in the meeting was appointed co-chairman of the gateway committee, said it's important to make the area attractive to people from other parts of town as well as nearby areas including East Lyme, Lyme and Salem. "We want people from our surrounding communities to want to go down there," he said, "not just people from Hartford, Springfield, whatever."

EDC member Howard Margules told the selectmen the issues raised by Griswold and Ward are "complicated" and "tricky."

"At some point we've got to come to terms with some of those big issues that have been sitting out there that we've never dealt with openly," he said. "This is a process to do that. That's all it is."

The EDC is asking the committee to come up with a master plan for the area that reflects the opinions of the entire town. The idea is similar to the process guiding the redevelopment of Halls Road, where a committee hired the Glastonbury-based BSC Group for $48,000 to come up with a master plan with associated zoning changes. That process is ongoing and additional consulting fees are being requested.

Margules said there's a range of viewpoints when it comes to reinvigorating Route 156 and Sound View. According to the EDC member, some people don't want to do anything, while others want to see more commercial options, residential options, or a mix.

"So how much of each," Margules asked. "And what's the scope of each?"

He said the committee's focus on determining what fits in the area — and what doesn't fit — will help ensure development going forward is in keeping with what the community wants, as opposed to what developers want.

He cited an application to the Zoning Commission for the construction of two self-storage buildings at 224 Shore Road as an example of the kind of project currently drawing opposition from some residents.

"Basically if we had a plan that addressed those kind of issues, we might not be in this position right now," he said.

EDC member John Stratton described a history of failed redevelopment initiatives since he moved to town. His first was in the mid-1960s, when he voted against a project that would have razed some existing cottages to make room for new housing lots. "It would be lovely and it would be peaceful and it would have no character at all and mostly it would take away family cottages from people who had owned them for many, many decades here in town," he said.

In the early 1980s, a commission was established to look at redirecting traffic patterns around Hartford Avenue and adding parking spaces, according to Stratton. He said the group fell apart.

In 2001, The Day archives show that the EDC hired an architect to study the area, and findings in the resultant report were used as the basis for the Sound View Task Force and eventually a new village district. The 2005 update to the regulations relaxed some of the town's strict zoning rules to encourage property owners to renovate their buildings.

Stratton said the regulation changes didn't result in noticeable improvements. "I think it didn't happen because not enough people took advantage of the window that it offered," he said. "Now we have a new window and a new vision for the way to embrace that shoreline district as a tourism center."

EDC member Joe Camean told the selectmen the focus on the Sound View Beach area needs to be year-round. "We presently have a business model there that partially is to pump a lot of beer in the summer and go to Florida for the winter," he said. "I don't think that's the best and highest use of that part of our town."

The selectmen ultimately voted to create the committee with Ward and Selectwoman Martha Shoemaker in charge.

Shoemaker at this week's selectmen's meeting handed out the Shoreline Gateway Committee's charge, which asked members to produce a vision statement and a master plan for Route 156 from its intersection with Otter Rock Road to Breen Avenue "to preserve this important and historical area while positioning it for future generations to enjoy."

Shoemaker said the selectmen are accepting applications for the committee and hope to make appointments at the April 4 selectmen's meeting. A general appointment application form is available on the town website at bit.ly/sgcappform.

Officials are looking for representation from the Sound View Commission and various beach associations, as well as broader boards and commissions such as those that govern planning, zoning, affordable housing, harbor management and economic development. Other suggestions include the town zoning enforcement officer, a police officer and a design professional from the community.

Shoemaker and Ward will decide how to ensure representation from the shoreline business community "without creating potential conflicts of interest," according to the charge.

Margules, the EDC member, emphasized in his initial pitch to the selectmen that the success of the project depends on buy-in from all residents, not just those around the beaches.

"Right now, we have differences between that area and the rest of the town," he said. "And if you want the rest of the town to buy in to it, there has to be some benefit to them. They have to see a vision."

e.regan@theday.com