Downtown Tomorrow – Linking Orillia’s Core to the Water

Downtown Tomorrow – Linking Orillia's Core to the Water

Public consultation on future of downtown and waterfront May 1 to 4 at the Legion.

Local residents will soon have a unique opportunity to help shape the future of two of the city’s key assets – its waterfront and downtown.

One of the municipality's top priorities, as outlined in council's strategic plan, is the Downtown Tomorrow project that is now underway. The project, aimed at linking Orillia’s core to the waterfront, is critical to the city realizing its fullest potential, according to Mayor Angel Orsi.

"I truly believe we have so much potential with both our downtown and our waterfront that it has to happen – and now is the time," said Orsi.

"The downtown and waterfront revitalization plan will generate a new economic climate to support job creation and businesses and to provide residential opportunities so that we can attract people to live, shop, and celebrate our cultural heritage and festivities," said Orsi.

But the vision is not to be council's alone, said the mayor. With that in mind, Urban Strategies Inc. was recently hired through a request for proposals to help steer the process, create a working plan and, perhaps most importantly, to garner public input and spark community engagement.

"Council made it very clear from the outset that input from the community should figure prominently in the project," said Dan Landry, the city's manager of economic development. "Community consultation was a key component of the request for proposals and a key determining factor in choosing a consultant was based on their ability to engage the stakeholders."

That process has already begun in earnest. Over the past two months, the consultants have visited the city for  meetings – from one-on-one sessions to group interactions with key stakeholders.

"Those informal interviews and discussions are meant to have informed the consultants about the interests in the community," said Ian Sugden, the city’s director of planning and development.

This information is critical to the upcoming design charrette process – a weeklong series of seminars, forums and public meetings – to ensure it starts with as much accurate background information and understanding about the community as possible, Sugden said.

The charrette will be held from May 1 to 4 at Orillia's Royal Canadian Legion. Details of the exercise can be found at www.downtowntomorrow.ca

"The consultants have been doing a good job already of engaging the key stakeholders in smaller group settings," said Landry. "The public planning process (charrette) will build on this. We will be doing our best to promote this process to encourage people from the community to take part. The rest is really up to them."

Right now, it's unknown what the final plan might look like. But, most agree on what has to happen.

"Everyone agrees on a couple of things: that both our waterfront and the downtown are extremely valued and have great potential," said Landry. "It's also the consensus that we need to map out a plan to take better advantage of that potential. Even as the downtown sits right now, I feel strongly that there are opportunities for investment, for new business to take root. By focusing our energies on priming that pump, I believe our success will be that much greater."

Landry noted that it's been several decades since there's been a total makeover of the downtown. And he said previous waterfront plans have focused on landscape design and the use of publicly-owned property. That's not a bad thing, he quickly added, saying Orillia has "arguably the nicest port and waterfront parks on the Trent-Severn system. Acting on previous plans has made our waterfront a destination. It’s time to take it to the next level," he said.

And that means doing things differently, Landry conceded.

"The two big differences that I see are that this is one of the first, if not the first, approaches which looks at and maps out a plan for the downtown AND the waterfront in concert," said Landry. "That linkage has been missing and is starting to stand out more and more as a gap which needs to be addressed."

The other key element, said Landry, is that this time, the city is looking to stimulate private investment in these key areas.

"Private investment is needed in both the downtown and the waterfront areas to create businesses and places for people to live," said Landry. "It's up to the city to set the table and make it inviting for business to buy in. That is a key component to the exercise. Once the vision is established, private investors can take a look to see where they fit in …where there are opportunities to invest and to generate a return on their investment."

Sugden agrees.

"This plan should… be an attractive tool to the private sector (that) will be a graphic and textual description of the investments that the city plans to make in the public realm. Those public-realm investments, if wisely made, will attract private-sector investment on private properties," said Sugden. "The private sector investment creates or enhances the existing tax base, creates jobs, and will help make the city’s core (its downtown and waterfront) more attractive, lively, and viable for many years to come," he added.

Whatever evolves from this process, this is not a plan that will gather dust on a forgotten shelf, Orsi vowed.

"Once the plan is complete, I will work with council and the public to ensure we identify an actionable Phase 1 plan that will commence this term," said Orsi. "This council will proceed to deliver something that makes good economic sense, and by doing that, the vision – a vision of our future that we can all be proud of, together with results we can actually see and feel – will begin to take shape."

That's music to Landry's ears.

"Council has mapped out a fairly aggressive timeline for this exercise, because it wants to be able to receive and reflect on a report in time to consider funding for first steps in its next budget," said Landry. "I think that is a good sign."

The end goal should not be understated, said Sugden.

"The revitalization plan will ideally result in increased linkages between the city's Lake Couchiching waterfront and its port and parklands with the downtown, in an effort to ensure that the central core of the city remains a vibrant and viable place to live, work, shop, and play," said Sugden.

FACTBOX:
A public planning exercise for the City's Downtown/Waterfront Revitalization Project will be held from May 1 to 4 at the Orillia branch of the Royal Canadian Legion, at the foot of Mississaga Street. For details, visit www.downtowntomorrow.ca

The city's project team is comprised of the following people:

• Planning and Development Director - Ian Sugden
• EDC manager - Dan Landry
• Public Works Director - Peter Dance
• Parks and Recreation Director - Ray Merkley
• Two members of the EDC Development Pillar Sub-Committee
• A representative designated by the Downtown Orillia Business Improvement Area
• A representative designated by the Orillia and District Chamber of Commerce
• A representative of the Orillia Power Distribution Corporation