Town seeks input from residents and businesses

By Miriam Ostermann, Associate Editor

In the wake of criticism over last year’s Second Avenue downtown revitalization project, town staff is adopting a proactive approach by gathering input from residents and local businesses for the upcoming Third Avenue revitalization project.
On Feb. 13, the town held a public open house related to the project, allowing for feedback as they are currently in the information gathering, public engagement and design-tendering phase of the project.
“The criticism of the town in the past was that we had our minds made up. I don’t think that’s true; we are very much in this preliminary design phase and we’re getting public and business feedback as part of the open house,” said Chuck Procter, planner for the Town of Strathmore.
“We’re asking, how important is the consistency with Second Avenue with Third Avenue. To me it is important that it is consistent, that we use the same kind of colour scheme and that kind of thing, but we’re going to see what the businesses say, whether they rate that high or low … but it’s still very much up in the air.”
The town is seeking input regarding the number and size of parking stalls, the value of public and plaza space, and landscaping. During the Second Avenue downtown revitalization project, Procter estimated 10 events were held between 2015 and 2016 as well as an open house in 2017 to receive public engagement. This time around, the town is providing online surveys, extra time and appointments with businesses in the downtown, an information booth, one-on-one business walks and public engagement reports.
“We want to do a better job and have more input early on,” Procter said. “Not that we didn’t have good input last time, but maybe it was just spread too thin. We want to fix that.
“They were toying with this idea in the 1980s. They’ve been trying to revitalize the downtown for a long time, but they could never get it going. So we’re just so happy to be a part of the time that’s going to bring that change.”
Last year, Strathmore’s downtown received a major overhaul with a total approved budget of $1.25 million. The upgrades included decorative lighting, planters and greenery, street furniture, plaza areas at a number of intersections and new sidewalks as part of the Downtown Enhancement Project.
Concurrently, the town also dipped into their Municipal Sustainability Initiative fund for a storm water drainage pipe to be installed – one was non-existent previously.
The construction had an impact on local businesses as roads were closed to traffic and businesses had to open their back doors as a customer entrance. Brian Code, owner of Strathmore’s Florist, also approached town council this month urging them to be bolder in their approach to receive input from downtown businesses before making decisions.
While the Third Avenue project has the same budget of $1.2 million, staff expect it to be less disruptive to businesses as a storm sewer is already in place. The proposed date for the project is Spring 2018. The construction is presumed to see completion in the summer. Procter also said the road will likely remain open to traffic for the majority of the project with work occurring in the parking stalls and sidewalks portion of the street.
The one-on-one business walks will include members of the construction team visiting each business on Third Avenue on Feb. 22. An information booth will also be set up at the Edgefield Calgary Co-op on Feb. 25 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.