- by Anne Finlay-Stewart, Editor

The first of our Little Wagon tours took us to 1st Avenue East starting at 10th Street. This is where the River District's Phase 2 refurbishment is/was to begin in 2022. At this point, the project is still on the Five Year Capital list, but with no specific timetable due to budget constraints.

The building right on the south-west corner is surrounded by a fence marked ”danger”. It is still the subject of a lawsuit being waged between the insurance company of its owner (SONIK) and the City following the bridge re-build.

Next door, a beautiful home overlooking the river and studio of local artist Jean Francis is for sale.

On Saturday morning there were ten cars parked at the curb or in private parking spaces perpendicular to the road, but there were 17 parked in that block when we visited during the week. This was the area Deputy Mayor Scott Greig was referring to when he expressed concern about individual private contractors doing snow removal with perhaps less than full regard for the City's new $600K boardwalk, landscaping and seating.

On our weekday visit two large trucks were also parked at the curb. Delivery truck access was one of two “deal breakers” named by property owners in consultations – “rear laneway deliveries remain functional and unencumbered for large delivery vehicles” and “private business parking along river is not displaced”.

On the store side, garbage, cardboard and recycling containers and dumpsters all need somewhere to go if walkers and patio tables are to share the space as shown in conceptual drawings. Back entrances not only need to be pretty, but they need to lead not to store rooms, garbage rooms and kitchens, but to corridors, washrooms and retail spaces.

In the artist's renderings there are patio tables on the river side of the road too, but it is unclear whether it is imagined that servers and customers are to cross the traffic lane to get to them, or where they are to put their garbage or wash their hands.

Twenty six trees were cut down last year in preparation for the building of a boardwalk approximately 150 metres long, to be cantilevered over the riverbank. Some of the trees were reportedly diseased, and some are clearly, valiantly, trying to grow back. They obviously cannot be allowed to grow under the proposed boardwalk, and the importance of the tree in securing the stability of the riverbank in that block is “unclear – but a good question” according to my friendly sources in that field.

As we picked a bucket-full of discarded coffee cups and water bottles into the little wagon (assisted by Raven who lived up to her retriever heritage) we looked across the river at what is to be Phase 4 (?) of the River Precinct redevelopment.

In all the years I have been asking questions, no one has ever told me the original purpose of the stone structure on the west bank south of 10th Street. The last few years of litter-picking have shown us that the space is used for privacy, including sleeping rough and substance use, and Saturday was no exception. The refurbishment plans show it removed and the area re-graded with benches, trees, picnic spots, canoe and kayak landings and rentals. And of course, an actual continuous walkway south from the harbour.

Some of the elements included in the original design of the1st Ave. E. redevelopment were removed in an attempt at cost reduction – decorative paving was replaced with asphalt, a decorative screen across a parking area, two gate-posts and a sidewalk replacement were eliminated at the south end.

At the most recent city council meeting discussing the Phase 2 project, Councillor Dodd referred to this 1st Avenue block as connecting “all the areas that we know are vital and essential” and “extending the walking path from the harbour all the way to the Mill Dam”.

In reality, both the north and south ends of this block of 1st Avenue end mid-block on 9th and 10th, busy streets that intersect our downtown. On this east side of the river, a walker needs to go east or west to a stoplight or four-way stop, or jaywalk. That or play the classic Live Frogger from Seinfeld.

Rounding the block and walking north on 2nd Avenue East, we passed the dozen or so businesses whose space goes straight through to 1st Avenue. In only two or three instances is the property owned by the same people who run the business.

This likely accounts for the disparity in verbal reports from Pam Coulter, the Director of Community Services, and Councillor Melanie 'Middlebro, at the council meeting.

Ms. Coulter said there was full buy-in from the property owners, including BG Wealth, a GTA investment firm that bought the MacKay building and the Coach Inn among other downtown properties. They have converted apartments above the former Kokoro and others to short-term rentals with access on the river side. A gentrified 1st Avenue would be to their advantage.

Council Middlebro', remembering the Poutine Feast decision made by council with absolutely no discussion with downtown businesses, went to see those folks managing businesses in the 900 block. She told council that more than half were opposed to the redevelopment and had serious concerns about the construction, parking, and deliveries.

Deputy Mayor Greig had no specifics, but he spoke of the cost to business owners – “$50,000 in the blink of an eye” – in cosmetic improvements and security, and the expense of staffing increased retail or restaurant space.

Bottom line about Phase 2 of the River District is ... the bottom line – and that is the sticking point for a council sitting with a long list of unfunded capital projects.

But standing on that river bank and looking across, the west bank looked like it had the real potential and land for public, river-focussed, family space that would be the actual connecting piece of the walkway from the harbour to the cenotaph. Can we just re-number the phases of the project?

The next Little Wagon Tour will be this Saturday at 1:00 p.m., starting at the East Ridge (former new OSCVI) parking lot, and touring the sites of over 1,800 homes of our possible future neighbours!  If you need more information, message or email.