Another $1.3 million sought for downtown plaza

City Council will be asked Monday to accept an $8,594,531 tender submitted by Avery Construction Ltd. for construction of the downtown plaza.

That price was negotiated down from Avery's original bid of $8,791,900.

City councillors will be told that no levy increase will be needed to pay for the remaining $1,318,569 budget overrun on the project.

That amount would be paid using unallocated cash from the Canada Community Building Fund.

The following is the project rationale, as prepared by Tom Vair, the city's deputy chief administrative officer for community development and enterprise services, for Monday's City Council meeting: 

Strategic development

The downtown plaza project is a strategic project and critical component of the downtown revitalization strategy. Downtown is the only geographic area specifically mentioned in the 2016-2021 Corporate Strategic Plan.

“Vibrant Downtown Areas – We are striving to create a vibrant and attractive downtown that contributes to the vitality and resiliency of our city. Downtown areas play a central role in defining the character of our city.”

Downtown revitalization was also identified as an overarching goal in the FutureSSM Community Development strategy and a common piece of feedback during the extensive consultation exercise.

Downtown vision

The downtown plaza is central to the vision to advance the downtown. Staff have previously provided a strategy for downtown development that included key projects contributing to downtown revitalization:

• Bay Street Redevelopment (completed)
• Bondar marina upgrade (completed)
• Downtown Plaza
• Mobile retail units located at the plaza
• Relocation of the Mill Market to 73 Brock Street o Queen Street Streetscaping
• Spring Street Woonerf and connection to the waterfront

The plaza is a central component to this revitalization strategy.

Community support

Brook McIlroy led a number of community engagement sessions with two public input sessions, a series of First Nations input meetings and an online survey. The vast majority of feedback from these sessions has been positive. In addition, the [Downtown Association] has voiced its support for the downtown plaza. The fundraising campaign exceeded the initial fundraising target of $400,000 with a total of $1.23 million in support (over three times the amount initially contemplated)

Activation

A key component to the downtown plaza is having activity throughout the year. The features of the plaza (skating rink, water feature, stage and digital screen, play feature, mobile retail units) will help to draw people to the plaza year-round. As staff began work to address the council resolution on downtown activation, it was clear the importance of the plaza to this activation and also the excitement at the potential to host a diversity of events in the plaza in the future

Momentum

Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, a number of positive events, patio openings and investments were taking place in the downtown. The importance of the plaza is only heightened with the need to return foot traffic and continue to attract business and residential development investment in the downtown. In the last 11 years over $121 million in building permits have been taken out in the downtown. There are over 300 businesses in the downtown. City leadership is required to contribute to the ongoing, positive development of the downtown. Investment in public realm and programming plays an important role in achieving the success desired and continuing this momentum

Expert review

Roger Brooks recommended the plaza concept in his assessment of downtown Sault Ste. Marie. Roger Brooks has assisted nearly 2,000 communities with their branding, tourism, downtown development and marketing efforts during his career, which spans more than 35 years. As one of the industry's foremost authorities on downtowns, Roger has helped communities around the world working in more than 45 U.S. states, across Canada, in Western Europe, Scandinavia, and Mauritius

Research conducted into best practices in downtown revitalization and successes in other communities often include the development of a downtown plaza. The American Planning Association issued a report titled, “Downtown Revitalization in Small and Midsized Cities”. The report highlights: “Gathering spaces are a community’s living rooms and are essential attributes of a downtown. They provide a “third place” that complements the “first place” (home) and “second place” (work) for residents to get together, socialize, and catch up on the latest gossip. These are the venues where people interact, mingle, and share ideas. They facilitate chance encounters and contribute to neighboring and community cohesiveness. They enable social bonding and the fostering of community belonging. Because of these qualities, public gathering spaces are essential to downtown health and, by extension, the health of the entire community.”

Investment attraction

Part of the goal of the plaza is to incentivize further investment in the downtown. Having a location that appeals to residents will help to improve the potential for businesses and attract residential development. City staff engaged the development community at the outset of the downtown plaza project and received positive feedback that this type of investment will help further residential development and is exactly what the City should be doing in the downtown core. Council also approved the sale of land on September 21, 2021 to facilitate a major condominium project proposed for the downtown in close proximity to the plaza

Welcoming community

A common piece of feedback heard through the FutureSSM community consultations was that some newcomers expressed difficulty meeting people and feeling that they were becoming part of the community. While not a silver bullet, building a downtown plaza and programming the space to host a diversity of additional community events that appeal to different groups of people in the community is a way to help address this issue. It has been discussed at council numerous times the importance of attracting newcomers and retaining youth in the community to address our aging demographic and need to fill workforce requirements.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the health of a community’s downtown is vital to economic development – it is one of the most important factors that businesses, labour force, students and youth use to assess the health of a community. The plaza project is a critical component of the downtown revitalization strategy and an opportunity to enhance the downtown for generations to come.

Monday's City Council meeting will be livestreamed on SooToday starting at 4:30 p.m.