There’s still a lot of work to do but town council has continued moving ahead with recommendations in the Downtown Core Committee report it approved back in November.
Mayor Dan Onichuk said Monday that it was decided at a special committee of the whole meeting last week to put in order four of the five “council issue” recommendations included in the report.
First off, the mayor and CAO Mark McCaig will commence discussions with the affected landowners to fulfill goals of the plan.
“That’s to find out what’s available, what’s not available, who’s prepared to work with us and who’s not,” noted Mayor Onichuk.
Secondly, the Planning and Development Advisory Committee will review and report back to council on the most appropriate use of lands deemed available.
Third, council will hold public meetings to inform and get input from town residents regarding downtown core initiatives being proposed.
And finally, administration will be directed to put together an estimate of costs to fund the projects.
Mayor Onichuk noted the fifth recommendation—that the Administration and Finance executive committee be directed to put together a long-term plan to reduce the commercial taxes in town—wasn’t discussed last week.
Greg Mercure (Canada Customs), Jane Johnstone (Ontario Travel Information Centre), and Gord Winik (Abitibi-Consolidated), all of whom helped work on the Downtown Core Committee report, were on hand for last Wednesday’s meeting to answer councillors’ questions and voice their support of the initiatives outlined in the report.
“It’s moving ahead,” said Mayor Onichuk. “There seems to be some reluctance on the part of some councillors. I’m not sure why. It’s a very positive initiative.”
Created as a working body under the Economic Development Advisory Committee (EDAC), the Downtown Core Committee—consisting of members of the EDAC, the Fort Frances Chamber of Commerce, Business Improvement Association, Abitibi-Consolidated, Re-Inventing Fort Frances, and the Rainy River Future Development Corp.—met between January and October, 2005 to devise a report addressing how to revitalize downtown Fort Frances.
Issues identified included traffic flow, parking, funding, museum plan support, alleys and lanes, tourist centre relocation, the public library, the town as a destination point, signage, and downtown branding.
Among the ideas in the report include:
•making Church Street one-way from Mowat Avenue west to the entrance to the bridge and making Central Avenue one-way from Scott Street south (this is to make a secure zone permitting traffic within it only to flow to the U.S.);
•designating Scott Street as “The Great Canadian Main Street;” and
•making the “Little Amik” logo synonymous with Fort Frances again.
In related news, town council voted Monday night to not include Central Avenue in its “Connecting Link” funding application to the province this year.
This is due to the fact certain details of the Downtown Core report involve the potential closure of Central Avenue, and the town does not know what’s going to happen with that stretch of road.
Couns. Roy Avis, Neil Kabel, Rick Wiedenhoeft, and Mayor Onichuk voted in favour of this while Couns. John Albanese and Tannis Drysdale voted against it.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
