By Councillor Michael Dailly
Our downtown is the heart of our community and through it flows both the pulse of commerce and the beat of arts and culture. It is important that we listen and give serious consideration to the concerns of our business community while respecting the rights and wishes of all the residents and visitors to our fair city.
In a recently published open letter to the mayor, council and residents, a group of business owners listed a number of problems that they identified as needing to be fixed. At the top of the list was parking congestion. Let me start by saying there are many communities that would love to have the traffic and fully used parking spaces that we enjoy. It means our downtown is busy. The solution or fix is complicated.
In anticipation of the need to replace aging sub-surface and surface infrastructure as well as in response to identified concerns about parking, lighting, signage and patio bylaws, two years ago your city council directed our planning department to commission a study now known as the Downtown Urban Design Strategy which can be found at nelsonurbandesign.com
The complete report is 146 pages. It is a framework to guide public realm improvements in downtown Nelson.
This strategy was developed with significant input from stakeholders and the public. It provides a framework for renewal while maintaining Nelson’s character and uniqueness. Having a planning framework like this document allows us to be ready to apply for and take advantage of federal and provincial infrastructure grants as they are announced.
Consultation including meetings with the business community and key stakeholders informed us that there were many concerns (see pages seven to nine of the report) including parking, loitering, bus shelter, signage, cluttered and tired sidewalks, consideration of seniors, graffiti, need for public washrooms, and a need to increase community policing and bylaw enforcement.
This is a working document that provides some strategies for addressing our downtown problems. It is well worth reading. It is a work in progress that is intended to enhance business vibrancy, heritage conservation, public safety and downtown parking.
The creation of the Downtown Urban Design Strategy demonstrates Nelson’s commitment to ensuring that the downtown continues to be a vibrant and progressive place in the future.
The implementation and priorities of this plan will continue to evolve and will continue to include consultation with residents, business owners, the Nelson and District Chamber of Commerce, Nelson and Area Economic Development Partnership, Cultural Development Committee, Nelson and District Arts Council as well as the City’s Advisory Planning Commission.
This plan has been developed because we know it is important to our residents, our businesses and our visitors that we have a safe, accessible, downtown that includes our arts and culture community. In the short term, city council has also recognized that Nelson’s downtown smoking policy needs review. We have directed staff to research our bylaws regarding where smoking should and should not be permitted.
Nelson has one downtown which we share with each other, and in many ways it’s a multi-cultural, multi-generational melting pot of diverse lifestyles. People experiencing the full range of social and economic circumstances share our sidewalks.
I would argue that being Canadian means having a commitment to finding ways to continually work together to renew, improve and create the kind of place we all want to live. Every day is an opportunity to see the humanness in the people we meet or their differences, the choice is ours.
Of course while it is important to be tolerant of others it is just as important that everyone act respectfully and responsibly refraining from any behaviour that would infringe on the full exercise by others of their rights. Each of us is responsible for observing laws, by-laws and the public good.
Everyone who works or visits our downtown has the right and should expect a safe, hassle-free experience.