CIP: Downtown Streetscape and Waterfront Enhancement Strategy

Community Improvement Plan: Phase 1: Downtown Streetscape and Waterfront Enhancement Strategy

The Town's Official Plan and 2019 to 2022 Strategy recognize the need to revitalize the public infrastructure and amenities to create more vibrant, attractive, and sustainable commercial and tourism spaces. In particular, the plan identifies the downtown core and waterfront areas as Community Improvement Areas.

What's the status of the project?

This phase of the Community Improvement Plan project is now complete! The final Downtown Streetscape and Waterfront Improvement Strategy can be found here.

The next steps are to execute the strategy - a long-term and wide-ranging undertaking. The municipal staff team is developing an implementation plan that will outline the work for the next few years, aligned with other major infrastructure projects where possible.

These projects will need help from our community! The designs shown in the final report are concepts meant to provide a guiding vision and stimulate discussion. More input will be needed for each implementation activity to ensure that improvements meet our community's needs and add value to our town. 

How was this project carried out?

Extensive public engagement was required to explore the community's needs, preferences, and input and is a significant component of this project.

Preliminary input was gathered through a community survey, interviews with local business owners and community groups, and on-site visits and observations. This input was used to develop design principles and some early conceptual designs. 

An Open House for community consultation on the early conceptual designs took place on Wednesday, September 28th, followed by a roundtable community workshop on Thursday, September 29th, 2022. These sessions allowed the project team to gather in-depth feedback from the community on the conceptual designs. A second electronic survey was used to gather further input from those unable to attend the in-person sessions. 

The conceptual design panels used in the sessions are available in the related Documents section below, and a recording of the workshop can be found on the Town's YouTube page here. 

The team received excellent feedback and constructive criticism. The feedback was used to update the guiding principles and develop a second round of conceptual designs.  

Why was this work done? 

In 2021, Council approved a Community Improvement Plan for the downtown area to:

  • Improve the visual and functional aspects of the downtown area
  • Promote the safety of pedestrians and cyclists within the downtown area
  • Promote a favourable climate to encourage private investment to revitalize, re-develop, and improve the downtown area.

Developing a Streetscape Strategy is a high-priority first step in implementing the CIP. The Streetscaping Strategy would outline a vision for the streets within the downtown core area and guide future public infrastructure development (for example, road and sidewalk improvements). The streetscape would also support the other components of the Community Improvement Plan that encourage and support private investment in façade improvements.

The Official Plan also outlines the intention for the Keys Properties "to become a commercial/residential focal point for new development that focuses on the waterfront and at the same time supports the uses and activities of the Town Centre."

The development of a conceptual urban and landscape design (the Waterfront Enhancement Strategy) will help guide the policy development, improvements, potential land uses, and amenities for the larger waterfront and marina area.

The Town of Deep River has engaged an architectural and landscape design team from Fotenn Planning + Design to help develop a cohesive and integrated streetscape and urban landscape design for these key areas. Extensive public engagement is required to explore the community's needs, preferences, and input, which is a large component of this project.

What were the expected outcomes of this project? 

The primary purpose of this project is to develop a cohesive and holistic vision for the downtown and waterfront areas. This vision would be expressed through a streetscape strategy, urban design concepts, and renderings of key areas and components. A detailed description of supporting policies will allow the Town to create the regulatory framework to support and encourage the implementation of the vision.

The streetscape for the downtown core will include potential designs for:

  • Street layout, including parking
  • Intersection and traffic control layouts
  • Pedestrian walkways
  • Wayfinding signage
  • Street furniture and public art
  • Landscape improvements

Note that the larger CIP project includes a financial incentive program local business owners, property owners and tenants to encourage façade improvements.

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