Those with a vision for Squamish’s downtown have a week to complete a District of Squamish survey.
The District is proposing changes to the downtown core that include increasing employment space and adjusting setbacks to widen the streets in some areas to make them more bike and pedestrian friendly.
Council passed first and second readings of bylaws to create these changes on Feb. 21, but at the public hearing on March 14, an outcry from local business and landowners, who were either confused or unhappy about the changes led to second reading being rescinded to allow time for further consultation.
The District survey started last week and is open for one more week to gather feedback on the changes and what values respondents prioritize for downtown.
(To fill out the survey go to squamish.ca/yourgovernment/projects-and-initiatives/downtown.)
The District, in partnership with the Squamish Downtown Business Improvement Association and the Squamish Chamber of Commerce, also held a community workshop on May 4 that was attended by about 50 residents, developers and business owners. “Generally, there was agreement and understanding that yes, we want to have active streets with wider sidewalks, safe travel for bikes, as well as parking,” said District director of planning, Jonas Velaniskis, who was one of the facilitators of the workshop.
Velaniskis said many attendees provided constructive input on the proposed changes. One particularly interesting suggestion he heard was to try one-way streets on some downtown roads.
“Which gives you a whole lot more space to do active transportation because you can basically close down one side of the street,” he said.
Downtown Squamish BIA president Sabrina Gawley said the workshop and survey are positive steps, but the association’s board and its members are concerned about Squamish as a whole in terms of how various plans and developments will impact downtown.
“There’s a lot happening in Squamish right now and there’s not a lot a focus on downtown,” she said. “We don’t want to get left in the wake of everything building up around us and attention being paid elsewhere. This is a good first step in ensuring that we are at the forefront of staff and council’s minds, but there needs to be more of it.”
A more holistic plan is needed, Gawley added.
“There’s little bits and pieces working in isolation here,” she said. “[Members’] primary concerns are staffing and how development is going to impact their business and there needs to be a bigger plan.”
Several community-created strategies and plans informed the recent proposed changes to downtown. For example, the Downtown Neighbourhood Plan and the Employment Land Strategy set forward a vision of downtown that was bustling and friendly to bikes, walkers and cars.
Its projections saw an increasing need for downtown commercial space.
The 2016 Active Transportation Plan called for bike infrastructure downtown including separated bike lanes down Third and Pemberton avenues.
An overview of the feedback received both from the workshop and survey will be presented at a future council meeting, according to Velaniskis.
