{"id":35357,"date":"2017-07-28T09:14:15","date_gmt":"2017-07-28T13:14:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/huntsville.dopperonline.ca\/?p=35357"},"modified":"2017-07-28T09:14:15","modified_gmt":"2017-07-28T13:14:15","slug":"mayor-wants-working-group-examine-downtown-revitalization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/mayor-wants-working-group-examine-downtown-revitalization\/","title":{"rendered":"Mayor wants a working group to examine downtown revitalization"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;I think it\u2019s time for council to take a more active role in what\u2019s going on in our downtown core,&#8221; Mayor Scott Aitchison told councillors at the July 26 General Committee meeting, citing vacant lots and buildings in the BIA, Brendale Square and on King William Street.<\/p>\n<p>He noted that the Community Improvement Plan (CIP) was drafted in part to address the issue, but that &#8220;it hasn&#8217;t really worked&#8230;Just sort of hoping that the private sector will do something isn\u2019t enough.&#8221; There is a review of the CIP in progress by Town staff but Mayor Aitchison wants council to be more involved.<\/p>\n<div style=\"float: left; margin-right: 14px;\"><strong><broadstreet-zone zone-id=\"45658\" keywords=\"\" soft-keywords=\"true\" zone-alias=\"\"><\/broadstreet-zone><\/strong><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;I think it\u2019s good for us to strike some kind of working group or committee to make suggestions to us about what we need to do,&#8221; said Aitchison. &#8220;My thought process was that we could do something similar to the way the strategic plan was done when Mackenzie was mayor. I\u2019ve talked to Hugh a couple of times about it, about the process they followed. It was a remarkably well-planned and well-run process with I think six or eight working groups on a wide variety of topics\u2026That\u2019s what got us the revitalization of the urban core, the (Algonquin) theatre.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Councillors around the table agreed, with Deputy Mayor Karin Terziano wondering if a discussion has already been had with the property owners in question &#8220;to see if there\u2019s something we can do to help them?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The answer\u2019s yes,&#8221; replied Aitchison. &#8220;To some degree that\u2019s part of where this comment comes from&#8230; There\u2019s a combination of factors if you\u2019re looking at any of these properties, (but) it\u2019s pretty simple math. If you want to sell a property, you have to have a willing buyer willing to pay the price you\u2019re asking for it.  The only reason these properties haven\u2019t sold is because they want too much money for them in a lot of cases, not all of them.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He acknowledged that &#8220;if we have to try to push people around a little bit&#8221; it could be a politically unpopular move, and he wants the community to tell council what it wants to see happen.<\/p>\n<p>The resolution was carried for staff to be directed to bring back a report on a downtown revitalization working group structure. Once it is ratified at the August council meeting, CAO Denise Corry will be tasked with coordinating the group.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Don\u2019t miss out on Doppler! Sign up for our free newsletter <a href=\"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/dont-miss-out-on-doppler\/\"><u>here<\/u>.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><broadstreet-zone zone-id=\"45657\" keywords=\"\" soft-keywords=\"true\" zone-alias=\"\"><\/broadstreet-zone>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;I think it\u2019s time for council to take a more active role in what\u2019s going on in our downtown core,&#8221; Mayor Scott Aitchison told councillors at the July 26 General [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1903,"featured_media":35365,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-35357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-breaking"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Mayor wants a working group to examine downtown revitalization - 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