A plan for how to get the ball rolling on a two-year old downtown redevelopment report will soon arrive before city council.
A lengthy discussion at Wednesday's Development and Infrastructure Committee meeting outlined proposals for the physical landscape, as well as changing to an incentive program to make the city's core more attractive to developers.
Plans include electrifying the city's signature natural gas lights, changing planters at mid-block crosswalks, adding public art and a nearly complete refurbishment of street, sewers and utility infrastructure over the next 10 years.
City council has already approved $2.5 million to improve street lights that will likely see the traditional gas lights converted to electric LED lights N a measure the committee hopes will add a sense of security to the core and bring in shoppers and diners after dark.
The committee's chair, Ald. John Hamill, said that he supported the move, but it will be pointless if shops don't extend their hours.
"If you go down after 8 p.m. you can fire multiple cannons and not hit a soul," said Hamill, who felt that the business owners must match the city's enthusiasm for improving business in the area.
"We built a $50 million building (the Esplanade) down on the corner that was supposed to save downtown and nothing's happened."
Mavis Conrad, the executive director of the City Centre Development Agency, said that a pilot project over the winter saw about 70 per cent of businesses extend their hours to 8 p.m. during the winter but other owners didn't feel safe after locking up because of the dim streetlights.
"If the lighting was better, I'm sure a majority of business owners would stay open later," she said.
As for how the lighting switch would work, Dwight Brown, the director of planning for the city, believes that wiring can be pulled through gas lines that currently connect the lamps.
A pilot project this fall on 600 block of Second Street will determine final specifications, then replacement would take place street by street coinciding with other road and utility replacement.
The infrastructure plan was also spelled out at Wednesday's meeting. The city will dedicate $7.1 on storm sewer replacement and upgrades in the core, nearly $18 million on water and sewer upgrades, as well as $750,000 on road overlay. All three will be done at the same time, starting with single blocks of Second Street and South Railway Street this year. The remainder of second Street would be done in 2015, and portions of Third Street in 2017 and 2018.
"You listen to some people and they say we shouldn't spend a dime on downtown," said Ald. Wayne Craven. "But it's our historic district ad it's our responsibility."
As for on street parking, the possibility of angled parking was not recommended as it would mean parking on only one side with the possibility for more accidents.
The problem of visibility at mid-block crosswalks could be mitigated by removing large planters on the one side N which would give oncoming traffic a better view of pedestrians.