The Cromwell Community Board is expected to approve the design, detailed drawings and specifications for those two stages at its meeting on Monday, along with the timeline for the multimillion-dollar project.
The upgrade of the mall and town centre was first mooted more than a decade ago and the work has been divided into stages to spread the cost over a five-year period.
Concept plans for the town centre development were approved by the board at its February meeting and it agreed to set aside $2.6 million over five years in its long-term plan for the upgrade.
This year, $753,805 has been budgeted for landscaping the northern entrance to the town centre and around the Lode Lane toilet area, as well as preparing design plans and tender documents.
The area included in the first two stages of the redevelopment involves the "main gateway" to the town centre, community facility officer Evelyn Bisset said in a report to the board. The upgrade of the Lode Lane toilet and landscaping is included, along with car park extensions.
Mrs Bisset said while the work would revitalise the town centre car parking and pedestrian areas, it did not include work on the buildings, which were privately owned.
"The board needs to ensure that the property owners buy in to the proposed redevelopment by ensuring that the exterior of their premises and the verandas, which in some cases are in very poor condition, are maintained to a satisfactory standard," she said.
"There could be a significant risk during heavy rainfalls to pedestrians who walk under the sections of the verandas that have been poorly maintained in the past by the property owners."
The timeline for the project has tenders for stage 1 and 2 closing in November or December, with construction starting in March next year.
