It was summer, 1997, and I was walking to a Chamber of Commerce meeting. A group of us had been diligently promoting the downtown as a viable arts district, and we had optimistically staged art shows and festivals, compiled a city arts directory, and sent out publicity releases and newsletters.

We even organized an October, 1996 "Business Opportunity Day" that drew more than 240 people for a conference and walking tour that highlighted our downtown's bargain prices, great architecture, and (admittedly limited) city incentive programs.

Ten months later, it was slowly dawning on us that the downtown's empty real estate was indeed being snapped up -- but largely by speculators who bought it cheap and left it empty, thus exacerbating the very problems we were hoping to reverse.

That's when I spotted the elderly woman on Mattison Avenue, sitting alone and crying in her car.

"Do you need help?" I asked.

She waved her hands at the deserted streets and boarded-up buildings around us. "When I was younger, I vacationed here every summer. What happened to it all, miss?"

By the time I reached the Chamber meeting, she wasn't the only one clutching a tissue.

Then, slowly, a new breed of owner appeared, one who was interested in restoring old properties rather than simply warehousing them. And, following them, came a pioneer group of arts-based entrepreneurs who gamely decided that Asbury Park was well worth the risk.

Fast forward to summer, 2003: Last weekend, Dave and I dined on delicious brick-oven pizza and exotic drinks at Insano's, a stylish new restaurant that recently joined the already acclaimed ranks of Moonstruck, Bistro Ole, Sonny's Southern Cuisine, and Harry's Roadhouse in downtown Asbury Park and sophisticated Clementine's on nearby Fifth Avenue.

Before dinner, we strolled past a bevy of enticing new galleries and home accessory shops, multiple antique shops, a vintage bookstore, a vintage clothing store, a dance studio, a women's and children's clothing boutique, a flower shop, a gourmet grocery and more, all on Cookman, Mattison and Bangs avenues.

At several locations, the lights of new upstairs lofts glistened, and walking or biking police officers stopped to greet merchants and customers.

The Asbury Park of 2003 is as unbelievable to those of us who rallied for an arts district in 1996 as the Asbury Park of 1996 must have been to that woman.

And, last month, the city council passed a new Central Business District Redevelopment Plan that puts some long-term vision into the growing slate of downtown renovation projects.

This week, I talked to Councilman John Loffredo, who championed the project, and planner Susan Gruel of Heyer, Gruel & Associates, the firm that the city and Planning Board hired to supply much of the plan's vision. (Ironically, because Dave and I still own our former gallery building, I'm obliged to abstain on all downtown discussions and votes.)

As designated by the council, Asbury Park's Central Business District stretches from the east side of Main Street to the west side of Grand Avenue, and from the north side of Lake Avenue to the south side of Summerfield Avenue, encompassing Cookman, Bangs and Mattison Avenues.

Within that region, the plan creates four unique sub-areas:

1. Steinbach Building. This landmark building, which formerly housed Steinbach's Department Store, is slated for historic restoration, with retail shops and restaurants on the first floor and a combination of retail shops, restaurants, offices and residential uses permitted on the upper levels.

2. Cookman Avenue Retail Core. Cookman Avenue, from Grand Avenue to just east of Main Street, will serve as the main downtown retail corridor with continuous window shopping at ground level. Restaurants and retail shops are permitted on the first floor, but service businesses, professional offices, fitness clubs, residences, and other non-retail uses are permitted only on upper levels.

3. Lake Avenue Residential. The block that houses Moonstruck Restaurant is slated for residential use (to take advantage of the Wesley Lake view), with additional eating and drinking establishments also permitted. This block will flow into the first block of lakeside housing planned for the Waterfront Redevelopment Area.

4. Mixed-Use. First floor areas in the remainder of the Central Business District can house a wide variety of non-residential uses, ranging from retail sales and restaurants, to financial institutions and professional offices, to childcare facilities and fitness centers. Upper floors can be developed for commercial and/or residential use.

How does the downtown plan differ from the Waterfront Redevelopment Plan? For one thing, there is no "master developer" for the entire area. Individual owners can develop their own properties in accordance with the plan.

And while our engineers have determined that extensive and costly sewer upgrades are not needed to accommodate the additional people, parking has already become a major issue. Developers must now provide 1.5 spaces of off-street parking for every residential unit they construct and two parking spaces for every 1,000 square feet of new non-residential floor area.

In the future, developers may also have the option of contributing to a joint, downtown parking structure.

An amended version of the city's Urban Enterprise Zone design guidelines will be used to regulate building facades, signs and streetscapes, and new height limits will be imposed.

Although the plan developed by the city -- with major input from planners Susan Gruel and Fred Heyer -- has already won an Excellence in Planning Award from the New Jersey Planning Officials, the real test came at a recent Planning Board meeting, where members of the public spontaneously burst into applause as the new document was approved.

As for Dave and me, we're planning some repairs on our own downtown building, and we're looking into whether we can install a concrete sidewalk with sparkling marble dust -- just like the magical, glittering sidewalk that people still associate with the Mayfair Theatre.

It's nice to be having fun in downtown Asbury Park again.