Alongside the merchant tents at the Farmer’s Market Wednesday, the consulting firm, BrookMcIlroy set up its consultation booth to ascertain the wants and needs of the public.
Manager of Planning Services, Beverly Hillier was also there with city staff to help. It's one of the many ways the voices of the people of North Bay are being heard before planning the future for the downtown and waterfront areas.
“It was part of the consultant strategy of doing a broad public consultation,” she said, explaining the choice to hold an outreach session at the Farmer’s Market. “It’s really about reaching out to the community to see what people want for this area in the future.”
Hillier said the public response has been really good, with people of all ages participating.
“We’ve talked to kids, seniors, and everybody in between, so we’re getting a good mix of people’s opinions,” she said.
Consultants used a map of the downtown/waterfront area and asked participants to mark down the most frequent walking paths they used, areas where they socialized, and much more in an effort to see where people go and why.
This information, Hillier said, was key in figuring out what direction to take the area in to best serve the needs of the community.
“We’ve heard a lot about splash pads, four-seasons activities, restaurants, and making sure we maintain or enhance our great walking trails,” she said. “A lot of people have been talking more about enhancing what we have in the right kind of way."
Hillier said they are still in the first phase and that other consultation opportunities will arise before the plan is completed. Until then, people can still access and participate in the Downtown/Waterfront Master Plan survey, which can be found here, until this Friday, August 19.
So far, the survey has over 1,000 responses from the public, which Hillier said was incredible, considering last week it had just over 600—more than they had initially anticipated.
Additional information on the Master Plan can be found here.
