The North Shore Business Improvement Association has released a community plan to guide them over the next five to ten years.
The plan identified 35 major projects with varying timelines, and four proposed policy changes.
“For example, the crosswalks in the Tranquille corridor were not painted red again this yea,” said NSBIA Executive Director Jeremy Heighton. “Our crosswalks actually don’t meet an international safety standard. So something as simple as painting the white lines instead of the red zones.”
“That’s an example of a really simple one. We’re also looking at all the planters along the corridors. We’re looking at opportunities to create some activity spaces.”
The plan, he said, comes ahead of the city’s rewrite of their North Shore Community Development Plan.
“Their plan deals with all of the residential neighbourhoods beyond our scope,” added Heighton added. “Our goal is to set some of these foundational pieces in place so that we can start connecting all of the other plans.”
The plan is focused on the commercial areas on the North Shore, and he hopes it will give the city some information and ideas moving forward.
It focuses on five areas – infrastructure, transportation, commercial growth, community building, and common spaces.
“Infrastructure of the North Shore, so street lighting and sidewalks, and crosswalks. Transportation, which includes busing, biking and walking trails,” Heighton added.
“Commercial Growth which are projects that address the needs to grow our commercial corridors. Community building so things like arts, multiculturalism and creating activated spaces, and the Common Spaces like parks and trees and places to congregate.”
Like all planning documents, Heighton points out this document will be modified based on external forces like new development, taxation regime shifts, and funding opportunities. Core projects are expected to largely be completed within 5 years, with a few exceptions like a pedestrian bridge across the Thompson River.
“There’s really three core funding streams. There’s supplemental budget, there’s core budget, and there is self funded type of things where we can do collaborations,” Heighton said. “Some of those listed here will fit into each of those three buckets, and now that we have this plan, we can make those plans and determine where those funding opportunities come from.”
You can read the plan in it’s entirety here.
