City officials met with business leaders along the Columbia Road corridor last month to discuss the ongoing development of an “action plan” focused on a 3.2- mile stretch of the roadway between Franklin Park and South Boston. The Feb. 26 meeting was held at the Dorchester Bay EDC’s Pierce Building and was the first held with just merchants at the table along with city planners and consultants who are weighing a range of improvements to give the road system more of a “greenway” feel.

“We have no proposed changes yet. We’re not there right now,” said Xavier Lopez, Boston Transportation Department (BTD) project manager. “Ultimately, the feedback we get here about the corridor will inform our designs. Later on this year we’ll be showing dynamic alternatives of what Columbia Road could look like.

Lopez said one objective is to re-design the roadway “so that it’s more of a complete street. If you look at it now, it’s more of a pseudo-highway that cuts through Dorchester and only serves drivers.”

Surveys conducted for the planning effort show that 36 percent of those living on Columbia Road have no access to a car, and 55 percent do not drive to work, which Lopez said underscores the need to create safer, more robust pedestrian and public transit options.

Beyond that, city planners also seek to create a safer street, and a “greener experience” inspired by an original concept of architect Frederick Law Olmsted, who envisioned a greenway to connect Franklin Park to the waterfront.

Lopez said alternatives will likely be made public in the summer at a public meeting. Officials would then collect more input through the fall with a final design on the boards by December.

Business owners did raise some concerns at the meeting, some informed by other city projects nearby.

Tehudis Salcedo, who manages Hollywood Liquors, said his customers don’t trust the city’s motives in adding bike lanes and dedicated bus lanes to nearby Massachusetts Avenue and American Legion Highway and Seaver Street.

“We think your mind is already set,” said Salcedo. “That’s how the general public feels and this is all a show. When you were doing Mass Ave., they came and asked us about it. People didn’t think it was a good idea but they implemented it…Many wonder what is the purpose of coming and asking because they just move forward and the people that it’s supposed to help don’t ever come anyway.”

Alita Warn of the Conservatory Lab Charter School on Columbia Road is also wary of adding bike lanes.

“With all due respect, no one is going to ride a bike through that area (Mass Ave.) with all that’s going on there. It makes no sense there and I like to ride my bike. You wonder how did that get through,” she said.

Estella Rosario, the owner of Dahlia’s Garden flower shop on Dudley Street, noted that customers come by car mostly and the city cannot push people to public transit without addressing safety concerns.

“I made the decision not to drive to my business, but safety was a problem,” she said. “People were camped at the station in Four Corners and the 23 bus has issues. If the city wants us to take public transportation, there needs to be more support. I don’t think people feel comfortable taking public transportation.”

Owners from Consuela Beauty Salon on Dudley Street noted, along with others, that many parking spots have been eliminated on Columbia Road over the years. Speaking in Spanish, they said it has caused a rift as customers and employees park in residential areas – frustrating neighbors.

But Lopez and Jeff Rosenblum, principal planner from Toole Design working on the project, said this approach is different.

“If a bike lane doesn’t work for Columbia Road, it won’t be implemented,” said Lopez. “That’s why we’re here now. I can say with 100 percent certainty we don’t have any plans now for what Columbia Road could look like.”

Added Rosenblum: “In the past the city came up with designs internally and came up with stuff and forget to tell (key people) in the community and they just did what they wanted. That’s how it used to be. That has changed. But I see people’s remembrances of that remains…A lot of people have immediately thought the city is going to make Columbia Road like Blue Hill Avenue or Columbus Avenue. The answer is absolutely not, but it’s a reasonable thing to think because that’s how the city has done business.”

Added Salcedo, “You need to get the trust back from the community. Maybe starting to fix the things they already brought up. I’m just trying to help.”

One thing that is on the table for businesses is the idea of parking meters in certain stretches — an idea also being considered for Dorchester Avenue in Fields Corner. Like other places, commuter parking and long-term parkers frequently gobble up needed business parking, prompting planners to indicate that meters are “on the table for discussion.”

“The last thing we want to do is impede any business operations on Columbia Road, but at the same time we want to find creative solutions to increase turnover and reduce the number of people parking on the curb when they shouldn’t be,” said Rosenblum.

Val Daley, director of Uphams Corner Main Streets, said the meeting was a good first step.

“No one wanted to talk to me when I started here,” she said. “They had decades of experience where the city never followed through on things. It was a deep-rooted history but trust in me broadened over time when seeing small changes…That’s one thing you really have to dive into and rebuild that trust…The city really wants feedback from business owners because they are now trying to change that history.”