About 10 years ago, the City of Courtenay asked people what they wanted to see for downtown.
There was a whole to-do about it, with people gathering at the Native Sons Hall and discussing the possible futures about downtown Courtenay with city planners and other officials. The goal was to put together a vision for downtown for the next decade, which is ending right about now. One product of the event was a playbook, which was "meant to be a reference guide for all partners to identify actions and responsibilities as the community works together to inject new energy downtown."
At the time, people said they wanted three main things for downtown: they wanted to expand the boundaries of what was considered 'downtown,' to create pedestrian and bicycle linkages to other parts of the city by creating a greenway system and to turn downtown into a place where people can work, live and play all within walking or biking distance from their homes.
Expanding the core of the downtown area would bring more people downtown. That would mean more people living in the area, as well as more people visiting the area.
"The community indicated during the workshops that our downtown is safe and clean, creating a welcoming environment for people," the playbook said, adding that "opportunity for downtown living is lacking."
Part of making that "bring more people downtown" idea was to make the area easily accessible by all modes of transportation.
"To achieve this, walkability is critical, and a 'pedestrian first' strategy is a core priority for downtown. This means when considering transportation options, the discussion should start with pedestrians in mind. The community also indicated a desire to increase the bicycle-friendliness of downtown so as to assist in increasing the modal share of this transportation option. Cars remain the primary mode of transportation to and from downtown," the document says. "Accordingly, appropriate facilities for parking and directional signage for visitors to easily locate them are important."
Also noted were required improvements to the river crossing for pedestrians and people on bikes.
Turning downtown into what the document called a "complete downtown" would take a bit more work. As an example of how to do this, the city had a list of what it called 'catalyst projects,' or 'transformational ideas for downtown to demonstrate city commitment, reinforce the community vision and stimulate future investment.'
Duncan Street was the target of this. The transformed Duncan Street was re-visioned as 'Duncan Mews,' featuring a market park, special events down the street, and a plaza near the art gallery. The plaza was envisioned as a 'Woonerf,' a Dutch concept, roughly translated to "living street" that puts a higher priority on pedestrians. This would be located at the steps of the library, heading north towards Simms Street, with no vehicles allowed south of Simms. There would be a lawn flex-use area, a kids' play place and staging for special events. From Simms Street on, the Woonerf design would have continued, with a six-metre-wide carriageway for necessary vehicles. The concept would continue until 4th Street, where the existing parking lot would be re-prioritized into a market park, with flexible use options.
Another notable idea was to redesign Sixth, Fifth and Fourth streets, giving them each a separate identity and characterization. First would be 6th Street, which would be "The Green Street." It would connect community services, and with more trees, be a "truly green street," the document says. Fifth Street would be the "shopping street," with a similar, albeit more pedestrian-friendly, design to what it has now, with a focus on shopping and storefronts. Fourth Street was envisioned as the "Market Street," essentially an open-air market with food vendors, pop-up shops and the ability to be closed off for food festivals.
Those, combined with a re-imagined river district with more pedestrian connections to and across the river, along with more infill housing in certain areas of downtown, were the vision imagined for the city in 2015.
So, how is the community doing so far?
As far as redevelopment sites go, there has been progress made. The document suggested that the Palace Theatre, old Thrifty's, 14th Street and England Avenue and Kilpatrick and Fifth Street areas all be redeveloped to have more housing and more business opportunities. For the most part, these have all been redeveloped over the past ten years. The Palace Theatre is now an apartment building, the old Thrifty's is now a locally-owned grocery store, 14th and England has multi-family housing, and Fifth and Kilpatrick is now a set of condos. For 10 years, that's not a bad amount of change.
What's left is the transformational pieces for downtown's character. The city is hosting an open house about just that on May 14 to get feedback and updates on documents like the playbook.
鈥淒owntown is the heart of our community, and it鈥檚 expected that much of Courtenay鈥檚 housing growth will occur in the downtown area over the next 20 years,鈥� said Mayor Bob Wells. 鈥淭his project is building on previous work through other key projects, such as our Official Community Plan and Downtown Playbook. We want to hear directly from the public about proposed downtown design options and how we envision moving around the downtown when more people will be living there.鈥�
There is one area that could use some work, however.
If we want to make the same kind of changes as outlined in the 2015 document, the pedestrians and people on bikes need to be prioritized far more. That will likely mean parking somewhere else, which, while I would like to not see valuable land used for something as simple as parking, I realize is a necessary step in getting more people walking and riding downtown. Whether that means sacrificing the "market park" or directing people to parking across the river at Simms Creek Park, with the Sixth street bridge as a connector, or a combination of it all, that's not for me to say.
But encouraging non-car traffic downtown needs to be more prominent in the plan. That means more bike infrastructure. That means bike racks, bike parking areas, bike lanes and less land devoted to parking stalls. There are already a lot of people who bike or walk downtown. I'm here every day, and I see it every day when I leave the office. People want to walk and ride downtown, let's give them some space.
