In Wednesday night's Downtown Revitalization Committee meeting, the main topic of discussion was the Holland Street Reconstruction Project, where they discussed their site visit from last month.
The project team and consultants from engineering firm WSP updated the committee on the work plan and there will be Public Information Consultations held early in the new year, with a plan to deliver a final Environmental Assessment and detailed design to Council for approval by the end of June 2022.
The Environmental Assessment is very wide-ranging, by design, according to Downtown Revitalization Committee Chair Jonathan Scott.
The cost of the Holland Street Reconstruction project will be funded almost completely from the town's Development Charges and is budgeted at about $17.7 million.
It will include the reconstructing of Holland Street with wider, tree-lined sidewalks while looking at ways to improve laneways for public use, and seeing how to mitigate traffic on neighbouring roads like John, Centre and Scanlon.
The assessment will also look at beautifying the gateways into the downtown from Bridge Street, the intersection at Professor Day, coming south along Barrie Street and north along Simcoe Road, with a boulevard approach down Simcoe to the future town hall. There is the idea of including some type of art or signage that will help identify and welcome people into town.
The committee will also look at how the area can connect to the GO station, including cycling lanes, and the parkland at 125 Simcoe Rd., as well as a future riverfront trail network.
The consultant team is also working on the overall Master Transportation Plan in conjunction with the town's Bridge Street Corridor Review.
The committee discussed using quality materials in the road and sidewalk design for a more attractive streetscape, in addition to incorporating benches, trees, planters, and public art.
Both Councillor Mark Contois and Scott said they want the downtown to be attractive, but not at a "Yorkville-level" so that it is cost-effective to maintain.
This summer, the town will be investing around $250K in expanding the parking lot at 62 Holland St., and possibly using Community Improvement Plan (CIP) funding to have neighbouring store owners improve adjacent parking lots.
Once the parking lot project is complete the town will have completely redone all five parking lots in the downtown's ‘four corners’.
The committee also passed a recommendation asking that staff report back on a permanent summer patio program, and that the road reconstruction consider how to design the sidewalks and curbs to accommodate patios more effectively.
They also asked staff to report back on options for closing Barrie and Simcoe streets potentially on summertime weekends, to give the downtown restaurants post-COVID a chance to have on-street dining and entertainment.
"Doing that as a pilot could be a really interesting way to see about making the downtown come alive on summer weekends," said Scott. "The downtown revitalization is all about ensuring it is a walkable, people-friendly area so that we can support our restaurants and stores in along our ‘Main Street’."
