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Council endorses boost to downtown revitalization budget
City of Cranbrook council March 8 approved increasing the 2021 Budget for the Downtown Revitalization Master Plan from $50,000 to $300,000, to recognize an increased scope and change in delivery methodology, with funding to come out of the Downtown Parking Reserve.
The main requirement for this master plan is to provide a coordinated response to how the downtown should look, based on community consultation and best practices, and to inform design criteria recommended for developments in this area going forward.
Components of this plan will also help inform and update the OCP anticipated to commence later in 2021.
City staff initially brought this request to council at the January 18, 2021 meeting. Council requested further clarification, and on Monday, March 1, staff provided an overview presentation of the proposed Downtown Master Plan proposal at a Committee-of-the -Whole meeting.
In the 2020-2024 Strategic Plan, developed by council, in February 2020, council identified undertaking the creation of a Downtown Revitalization Master Plan as a top priority. This is indicated under 3.3.1, Thriving Community.
In the initial budget discussions in the fall of 2020, city staff identified a need for $50,000 to complete this work. The thought was the work could be completed internally by staff, with only graphics development, printing, etc. to be done by outside resources. In the ensuing months, staff realized that a more robust, comprehensive plan should be developed, largely using outside consultants familiar with this work.
Part of this was due to limited staff resource availability, and also to bring in the latest thinking in the planning world with respect to this process.
Staff reached out to other communities and based on information received, revised the estimate to $300,000 to match the standards and detail achieved on other similar reports for other communities, performed by outside expertise, explained a report to council by Ron Fraser of Engineering and Development Services.
Read more about the Downtown Revitalization Master Plan.
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