See Our Market Square.
See Our Waterfront.
There are a number issues with the downtown other than those listed here. Suggestions for further study:
Eliminating the jumble of rights of way beween John & Centre south of Dundas and making it a municipal laneway. This was done north of Dundas before amalgamation at minimal cost and with excellent results.
Survey of upper floor space. Encourage consolidation of bldgs which could accommodate elevator as was done at 2-6 Dundas W and 28-32 Dundas E. Example: 35-39 Dundas E; Interest free loans to make upper levels into accessible housing ; Examples: New York Cafe; 42 Dundas E; Wallaces bldgs.
Re-introduce and expand StreetSmart program.
Town spent $72,000 in 2014 installing WiFi and Cameras downtown. Have the cameras been effective? Will it deter crime and help reduce police costs? Does the WiFi attract the downtown visitors we want?
Public washrooms.
A carnival was held on the Campbell House parking lot for two years.
15-17 Market Square, recently refurbished.
Parking
Ample public parking is critical to our downtown. The Mill St and Water St lots were added by the Town in the 1970s but no new public parking has been added since.
Hogle Developments Ltd allows free parking at the Campbell House parking lot. To left, the lot is nearly full during a recent festival. But this is a temporary solution and when this property is developed, there will be a serious shortage of downtown parking downtown.
115-127 East St is a vacant service station just a block from Town Hall. The property extends through to Adelphi St and 80 parking spots could be created. The property has been for sale for years and the current asking price is $175,000. There are other options to create public parking too.
Snowplowing Downtown. The BIA pays $5,000 towards snowplowing which is recovered as a surcharge on downtown business owners. The snow is loaded on trucks and removed in the early morning hours. The cost of plowing and snow removal varies but it is claimed that it amounted to $35,000 in 2014-15 winter.
Meanwhile, Wendy’s, Devcor Centre, LCBO, Shoppers Drug Mart, Metro, Canadian Tire, PharmaPlus, Napanee Mall, Milligan Farms and even WalMart get their sidewalks plowed by the Town for free.
Our Big Bright Light Show. About 50 business owners paid $500. per store to help purchase and install the lights in 2012. The Town pays about $30,000 per year to put them up in November and take them down in March.
Fair Tax Policy
Development Charges:
Should council waive development charges on downtown development as other municipalities have done? Development charges were waived secretly for Hampton Inn and other businesses in the north end. Will development charges be waived again on the Hampton Inn expansion about to be announced? If so, will the same courtesy be extended to the Gibbard redevelopment? These things always happen in closed session so will the public have any way of knowing?
