The Downtown North Battleford Business Improvement District is seeing lots of improvements happening in their area at the moment.
The changes were evident right at the location for their June 21 Annual General Meeting: at the Capitol Theatre, which had just re-opened after undergoing a major renovation.
The improvements were also happening on 101st Street, which is already closed between 11th and 12th Avenues as construction work begins on the street there.
The scope of activity in the downtown core served as a backdrop for the AGM for the Downtown North Battleford organization as they ramp up their efforts even further in 2017.
The North Battleford BID itself has undergone change over the last year. Lisa Kissick (formerly McEachern) departed in 2016 as executive director, with Shelley Bernier taking over that role in February.
According to the executive directors’ report presented at the meeting, a number of initiatives are planned for 2017:
The Art Alley initiative that started in 2016 will continue in 2017. The first project of 2017 is complete and they are hoping to complete three projects in total throughout the summer.
Downtown North Battleford will be completing the Central Park rehabilitation project this year. Funded by an $89,000 grant from Co-op Community Spaces, the project has seen the fountain area replaced and transformed into a multi-purpose space. Plans for this year include adding additional lighting to the area.
Beautification efforts will continue downtown with the Clean Team on the streets keeping the area clean.
The Downtown Façade Improvement Grant has returned in 2017 after four grants were awarded last year, and the organization remains committed to improving the look of downtown.
There were a couple of guest speakers at Wednesday’s AGM, but while their areas of expertise were different, the underlying issue was the same: how to revive downtown to make it a safe and attractive place for people to go.
The safety efforts downtown were a focus of the report from the city’s community safety coordinator, Herb Sutton, who spoke about both the short term and long-term strategies.
He particularly noted the Art Alley project was one that actually fits in with community safety and with the principles of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design.
In particular, it fits into the CPTED principle of “image:” the notion that well-maintained properties will give the impression to potential criminals that the owner cares about the property and will keep it safe. There was research and statistics to back up that notion as well.
“I’m really pleased to hear that you’re going to expand that,” said Sutton of the Art Alley project. He called the first project “a great start, but expanding the program is really important.”
Sutton also spoke about enforcement efforts downtown by the RCMP and Community Safety Officers, the new Lighthouse mobile outreach van that arrived May 1, and letting the public know not to give food or money to people downtown, as Sutton reminded the audience there were already places they could go for food.
“What we’re doing when we do that is perpetuate their vulnerable circumstances,” Sutton said.
As for long-term efforts, Sutton spoke about efforts towards getting secure and stable housing in place for those who need it.
The Battlefords Affordable Housing and Homelessness Committee has made an application to Saskatchewan Housing Corporation to renovate a building to provide an eight-room rooming house, and are awaiting word on funding; as well, an application is being prepared to the federal government through Urban Programming for Indigenous Peoples for funding the facility as well as programming supports.
The city has also hired a consultant to do a comprehensive housing strategy for the city and the expectation is that report will be completed by February or March 2018.
The other presentation was from city director of planning and development Jennifer Niesink. Her focus was on the downtown revitalization efforts going on in the wake of the adoption of the Downtown Master Plan by the city earlier this year.
She particularly spoke about the construction work that was now under way in the downtown. Underground pipe replacement work began Monday on 101st Street between 11th and 12 Avenue, to be followed by street reconstruction work.
“As you’ll notice, starting Monday this week, 101st Street is getting ripped up,” said Niesink.
“It’s going to go on for six to seven weeks. As painful as that will be, I think we’re going to have a beautiful product in the end.”
She said they are looking to create a downtown that is “pedestrian-friendly” and brings “legitimate users downtown” - building an “atmosphere where people will go to the bank and feel comfortable walking down the street” to other businesses.
“What that ends up doing is it brings more people downtown, which then makes it more viable for new businesses to come downtown.”
The idea is to bring it up to a standard of where people want to be, installing trees, new flower pieces and solar pedestrian lighting, she said.
“It will be beautiful when it’s done, and it’s something we’re looking to carry over five years for the whole downtown core.”
This year the city is doing work on 101st Street from 11th to 12 Avenues and 12th Avenue from 100th to 101st.
Next year the proposal is to do 100th Street from 11th to 14th, but that is budget dependent, said Niesink. Other streets will be identified for work in further years.
Niesink also made clear the city was looking for the citizens’ patience and understanding, adding they are doing all they can to mitigate the disruption as much as possible. “We really do see a value in the end,” Niesink.
