New life soon for ‘tired looking area’
By MARYANNE FIRTH/Tribune Staff March 15/11
PORT COLBORNE — The much-needed face-lift in Port Colborne's downtown core is one step closer to fruition.
City council has approved the creation of a detailed streetscape design for the Downtown Central Business District Community Improvement Plan, a job that will be taken on by design consultant Aecom.
The downtown CIP was adopted by council in September 2010 and the request for proposal for the streetscape design was issued this past January.
Six proposals were received, reviewed and scored by the city's engineering and planning staff, with Aecom recommended to receive the contract. Of the top three scoring proposals, Aecom's offered the lowest bid.
Though the company's bid for the overall design of the project was $297,057, staff recommended at Monday night's council meeting that an agreement be struck to design the principle and secondary area streetscapes found within the CIP at a cost of $199,707 — excluding site servicing until funding is confirmed.
To begin the preparation of the detailed design drawings, council budgeted $100,000 in 2010. Those funds were matched by a grant secured by the city from South Niagara Futures Development Corp.
That $200,000 is enough to fund the complete set of tender drawings and documents for both the principle and secondary area streetscapes found within the CIP project, said Ron Hanson, the city's director of engineering and operations.
Additional funding of $117,350 for site servicing is required, however, for the watermain and sanitary sewer design work, as well as storm sewer and roadway design work, Hanson said. Capital funds are available to assist with the project, he added.
"This is a budget item, but not a new ask."
Council approved that additional funding be referred to the 2011 water and wastewater budget deliberations as well as the 2011 operating budget deliberations.
"The recommendation is that we do all of the design in 2011," Hanson said, with the hope to get the CIP "designed and ready to go" by the end the year.
Similar to the Main St. CIP, the city is taking a "tired looking area" and bringing in back to life — this time in Port Colborne's downtown, said Mayor Vance Badawey.
He assured the city would be working with the Downtown Port Colborne Business Improvement Area board and downtown business owners as the project gets rolling.
"I can hear the dancing downtown right now for this," said Ward 1 Coun. Dave Elliott.
Elliott, council's representative on the downtown BIA board, said rejuvenating downtown "will be an economic driver for the city."
mfirth@wellandtribune.ca
Port Colborne's faltering heartbeat is downtown
By FRED DAVIES Feb. 2011
Downtown Port Colborne is in crisis.
If you are a business person operating in the downtown core, this comes as absolutely no surprise. But this is not a particularly unique situation because other communities are facing similar decline. Old infrastructure, changing commercial and retail patterns, competition from new boxlike concepts generally on the outskirts of our communities, are all contributing factors to the economic malaise facing our downtown and others.
But what we do about it, and how we respond over the long term, will set us apart from those who accept or believe nothing can be done to stimulate and sustain new enterprise in a central commercial district. Downtown business districts are not dead, but they do need to be reinvented, restyled and evolve into more dynamic people places for more than shopping.
They need to be a destination because they are attractive and recreational and also residential.
The first and unequivocal position that must drive renewal is the recognition that the downtown core is the heartbeat of the community. It is one of the key measurements of the overall health of a city.
A dynamic, attractive, vibrant, people-oriented and diverse downtown will not only attract and sustain commercial activity, it will stimulate ancillary investment in the wider economy, including industrial and other small business development and expansion.
A downtown commercial core must appeal to local residents as a source of pride in their community, not just a place to spend money. Visitors and tourists will judge a community, objectively and subjectively, based on the variety of stores, shops, restaurants and other attractions as well as the quality of design, esthetics and basic infrastructure.
People will spend their money in an area that is diverse and dynamic. This is not about competition with box stores or multi-unit malls, it is about a measured response to this new reality that happens to include them.
We want people to move to Port Colborne; build a new home, buy a re-sale, set up shop here, start a family or enjoy the town in retirement. We want the population to grow through an economic development strategy that is not focused entirely on one or two sectors, but a broad understanding that real people make investment decisions on an equally broad base of criteria.
Landing the big corporate fish, so to speak, is an entirely different thing altogether and is a topic for another day.
So how many new homes were built last year in Port Colborne? Seven. That's half of the new homes built in Wainfleet.
Port Colborne consistently ranks near the bottom in new home starts in Niagara and only beat Wainfleet in new starts in 2009 by four. Comparable communities like Thorold had 32 new housing starts. Pelham had 39. This is according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. and doesn't account for townhome or muli-unit construction where Port
Colborne, in fact, had zero starts.
If the downtown is indeed the heartbeat of a community, downtown Port Colborne is in heart failure. One need only drive around to see the number of businesses that have closed, empty store fronts, crumbling sidewalks and years of neglect from both property owners and government. Many businesses are hanging on by a very thin thread as we work through this monumental recession. But will that thread snap as we come out of the decline or will all stakeholders step up and build a consensus of what needs to happen in the next several years to rebuild, restore and renew the viability of downtown?
One step taken last year was completion of a community improvement plan (CIP) that presented options to improve the downtown. But we have also been there before. CIPs can provide vision, but they cannot provide political and economic will to actually see the process through. Many of them have gathered dust with other reports in the archives of city hall.
It boils down to dollars and a collective will. Where does the community, public and private, find the dollars to invest in infrastructure and in central business district improvement?
Clearly, the taxpayer in one form or another must foot the bill (whether from federal, provincial or municipal taxes) on the infrastructure and public land side, and local businesses and property owners must be willing to invest in their long term interests as well.
The cost? On the infrastructure and public land side, the cost of improving downtown Port Colborne will be many millions, not unlike the investment made in Humberstone. On the private sector side, the cost will be millions more.
Can it happen? Absolutely. But frankly, we all need to step up to the plate and establish a public-private sector partnership and formulate a short, medium and long term plan with achievable milestones that can be accepted by both.
The Downtown Business Improvement Area is a very loosely connected group of business people who volunteer on this community board to sponsor events and undertake small projects aimed at
improving the commercial and retail sector. But these people are also spending their days trying to keep their heads above water in this time of crisis. The BIA is not the organization that should be regarded as the source of stimulus or responsible for the agenda. The debate on the most appropriate use of limited tax dollars in local projects will continue for sure, but it is imperative all stakeholders sit around the discussion table and establish the parameters for downtown renewal, including how the dollars will be raised and allocated.
All councillors, the economic and tourism development personnel, the chamber of commerce, the BIA, local ratepayers and other service providers need to put their frustrations and agendas aside and recognize, without reservation, that downtown redevelopment must be a top priority and get on with the job.
This is not a situation that can be ignored any longer.
We need a five-year redevelopment plan with a clear and unwavering commitment from council that the downtown district is critical to the health of the community and it is prepared to back up the position with investment sufficient to do the job right. If that commitment is made, the private sector will respond as well and new investments will be made in property and business improvement.
If this all happens, the heart of the community will be pumping strongly again. New jobs, business retention and expansion and new
development will be stimulated. If it does not happen, prepare for more than economic heart failure. Be ready for commercial and retail cardiac arrest in downtown Port Colborne.
Fred Davies is general manager, South Niagara Community Futures Development Corp.
