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HomeMy WebLinkAboutDowntown Advisory - 2007-11-08 DOWNTOWN ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES November 8, 2007 City of Kitchener The Kitchener Downtown Advisory Committee met this date, commencing at 4:10 p.m., Chaired by Glenn Scheels with the following members present: Councillor John Smola, Councillor Christina Weylie, Denis Pellerin, Bernie Nimer, Karen Taylor-Harrison, Thomas Seabohm, Glen Woolner, Linda Stewart, Vince Buehler, Suzanne Ronald, Nadine Cybulski City staff present include: Sandy Curzon, Silvia Wright, Cory Bluhm, Eric Saunderson, and Tracey DeVille 1. Minute Approval That the minutes of the October 11, 2007 meeting be approved. Moved by Glen Woolner Seconded by Bernie Nimer 2. Business Arising Downtown Streetscape, Business Plan Input 2.1 Mr. Cory Bluhm provided a follow up to the Downtown Streetscape Master Plan and asked the Committee for input on the Business Plan. He advised the feedback from the public has been positive for the most part; however, the following issues were raised: - Don’t spend a dime - Width of the roadway (concern that narrowing would cause conflict for cyclist etc.) - Cycling lane – to date a solution for a safe lane for the cyclists could not be found; however, the roadway will be wide enough for cyclists to share the road safely with vehicles Regarding questions on whether people had concerns on the parking, Mr. Bluhm noted that there was not a concern coming from the consultation process. Mr. Bluhm asked the 5 questions: 1. Will the King Street MP Produce Community Benefits 2. Does Economic Opportunity Exist 3. Can the City use King Street as a catalyst 4. Are we capable of succeeding? 5 .Should the city play a role in implementation? Mr. Bluhm advised the Committee that the first 3 questions were partially addressed by the Committee in previous meetings and that the focus today would be on Questions 4 &5. Challenges: Are we capable of succeeding? What can we use as challenges for our downtown businesses? 1. King Street restaurants to fill the sidewalks with cafes 2. King Street Retailers to have outdoor retailing 3. KDBA & event organizers to increase programming 4. The development industry to capture residential growth 5. Development industry to use sustainable design 6. Businesses to improves storefronts / interiors 7. Development industry for only high quality designs 8. King Street owners to refurbish upper storey facades 9. King Street retailers to upgrade products, etc 10. Changes restaurants to upgrade menus, etc Mr. Bluhm advised the Committee of the track record and success of each of these ranging from weak to strong. He also provided insight into what could potentially happen if we did nothing, noting that we would have things stay the same and with a new streetscape would create a positive business attraction opportunity. Feedback: ? KDBA’s focus is on marketing the downtown, they are looking to increase involvement ? Have been strong on the events in the downtown and we need to bring the retailers on board – work together with everyone ? Outdoor retailing – how is the participation on the sidewalk sales there is an annual sale done during the blues festival ? KDBA is having some resistance from the retailers that they do not want to stay open late, they are working with them to change the attitude and get everyone on board more ? Outdoor retailing – historic photos awnings from store to store protecting you from the elements and we could look at those again to bring some character to the downtown ? We need to see a good return on this and that needs to show in the business case ? Agreement on the assessment that Cory made on the track record and potential success of the challenges – we need to look at what other cities are doing and how they make things work ? Important to move forward we need to make the downtown a place where people want to be we need the other ingredients – we do not have the right businesses down here yet ? When we have new events we have to ask the questions – what is making people come, where can they eat, where can they get a coffee, where can they park, what’s open, can they shop – we need to work with the downtown retailers and make them aware of the potentials that are here ? The streetscape is part of an evolving catalyst to the other things happening in the downtown ? KDBA is faced with a challenge – convincing the existing retailers and bringing them on line and the new comers coming in – growing in 2 paths – how do you capture these people and bring them in together Cory advised that this study is a small portion of a larger study that includes surrounding streets within the downtown. We will be providing a presentation on that in the future. Civic District Charette, Update The Committee was advised that 4 major stakeholders in civic district have been doing a visioning process (on line survey etc.) and held a charette to get community feedback. They are formulating that into a report and plan to present to Council in November. Feedback has been very positive. NEXT MTG – Sonia Lewis to present update on this process. Culture of Safety Forum, Update & Feedback Silvia provided an overview of the forum and what the next steps are. She advised that the outcome has been monthly meetings of stakeholders. If you see something, please let us know and we can try to do our best to forward on to the proper area. Silvia went over the spreadsheet and provided an explanation on the things that came out of the forum for the downtown. On motion, the meeting was adjourned at 6:00 p.m.