The following article appeared in the September 18 edition of the Guelph Mercury:
Café tables spill out onto cobblestones. Waiters deliver meals by the light of street lamps. People casually hang out on benches and art installations occasionally fill the street.
It might sound like Europe, or at least Quebec City. But if Councillor Ian Findlay has his way, it could be coming to downtown Guelph.
Findlay is promoting turning Douglas Street into a pedestrian-only walkway.
The discussion arose in part because the road has been closed since April, when a fire seriously damaged three buildings on that street.
“I think (the closure) certainly has made it evident that the world doesn’t end when you close a street,” Findlay said.
He argues a pedestrian-only street would attract people looking for a place to relax.
“As the community looks at ways to improve downtown, time and time again what I hear is about seeing people on the street,” he said. “It’s to create a pleasant, safe, beautiful atmosphere that allows people to enjoy themselves.”
There are potential issues — mostly related to getting the right mix of businesses, allowing existing businesses to get deliveries conveniently, and maintaining the street as a space where people want to live.
But those aren’t insurmountable, Findlay said. Council could work to attract appropriate businesses. Alleys behind the street could be used for deliveries, and condominium and apartment developments could attract the kind of people who want to live downtown.
“There’s an element of society who likes to live in the hive of activity, who likes an urbanized environment,” he said. “It’s certainly not for everyone, but neither is the suburbs.”
The idea is supported by Roy Jason Ashdown, co-owner of the Gummer building, which was damaged in the Good Friday fire. His company is working to redevelop the building to double the office space it had before the fire. He hopes to attract shops and restaurants to the ground floor of that building — business he said would benefit from a pedestrian-only street.
But Shelley Krieger, co-owner of the successful Red Brick Café on Douglas Street, said the discussion is premature.
“There’s a point in the development of a downtown when a closed street makes sense,” she said. “I don’t support it at this time.”
She cited failed pedestrian streets such as Sparks Street in Ottawa, which she said was closed to cars too early in the development of that city’s downtown.
She said many more stores and apartments are needed on Douglas before it can successfully be closed to traffic.
“Right now, Douglas Street is pretty quiet at night,” she said. “My hope is that even five years down the road, we’ll have much more residential development.”
That sentiment was echoed by David Corks, the city’s new downtown economic development manager.
“If you close a street and it’s deserted, that looks pretty bleak,” Corks said.
He said it would be up to business owners to decide what works.
But because of the upheaval caused by the fire, it’s hard to say whether the street would work as a pedestrian-only street, said Audrey Jamal, general manager of the Downtown Guelph Business Association.
“Until the street gets reopened and business goes back to normal, it’s hard to add another layer,” she said.
Closing the street intentionally is much different from the current ad hoc closure, she said. If the street was actually a pedestrian street, it would be upgraded and promoted as such.
“It’s another thing to have a closure foisted on you,” she said.
Findlay raised the idea of a pedestrian-only street last week during a downtown planning workshop where councillors discussed how to improve the core area. Other suggestions included widening the sidewalks and narrowing the roads on Macdonell and Wyndham streets and turning Carden into a street that could close occasionally, if there was a large civic event going on, Findlay said.