Orillia’s downtown streetscapes could be dramatically different in the coming years.
Mississaga Street could be transformed into a flexible, curb-less street. Peter Street could be reimagined with gateways and grand public art.
“We are looking at developing different ideas for the streetscape along Mississaga Street, Peter and West, among other streets in the study area,” said Jim Vafiades, a senior landscape architect with Stantec Consultants, the firm hired by the city to help develop a streetscape plan for the downtown.
The forward-thinking Downtown Tomorrow report, adopted by the city several years ago, laid out seven goals to be achieved through 33 strategic initiatives over two decades.
“One of those was to improve connectivity and the streetscapes, specifically in the downtown,” Vafiades told council committee Monday night, when he provided an update on the project.
He said the goal was “to look at the historic core and the need for improvement to beautify the downtown and encourage street life as it pertains to both the patrons that visit the downtown as well as residents that live in or nearby the downtown.
“It’s also looking at ways to clearly define and create safer connections throughout the core, particularly for cyclists, as well as improving access to the waterfront trail and destinations throughout the downtown.”
While Stantec consultants have “walked the streets” and spent lots of time in Orillia, they also spoke to lots of people – both “regular” citizens and downtown merchants – to get their input.
At a public meeting in August, they expected about 40 people to show up. More than 75 participants shoe-horned their way into a City Hall meeting room.
Vifiades said the public engagement was “extremely informative. There was great, lively discussion.”
Coun. Pat Hehn said “ideas were just flowing” at the session. “It was one of best meetings I’ve attended in four years (on council.) People were so interested and so wanted to improve their downtown.”
Input from the forum and several other smaller stakeholder meetings, in addition to social media responses and input from talking to people at two summer festivals was collected and analyzed.
From that, themes emerged. Those ideas, including better accessibility, protection of trees, more focus on the arts district, improved walkability and developing the potential of alleyways, will be used in the next phase – the design of a streetscape masterplan. It’s expected that will be complete by the end of the year.
That “design concept will be used to inform detailed design engineering exercises. The detail design will be done by another consulting team,” said Ian Sugden, the city’s director of development services.
However, he stressed that the reconstruction of Mississaga Street is not envisioned for several years. It is “not within the five-year capital forecast,” he said.
According to Stantec’s 31-page report, “successful streets are created through a combination of form and activity. When both are present, a great place is created. In the case of Orillia’s downtown streetscapes, the revitalization of the downtown streetscapes will help contribute to an already vibrant and active community.”
They believe Orillia’s downtown boasts “a great amount of raw material to build from – vibrant storefronts, functional streets, built and cultural heritage, recreational resources and transit. During the public consultation process, the community brought forward exciting ideas on instilling change such as a flexible street environment and a more distinct anchor on Peter Street.”
The consultants believe the Peter Street Arts District has “immense potential to be re-imagined as a distinct downtown anchor point.”
Ideas include paving treatments, grand public art, gateways, branding, lighting, greening, events infrastructure and shopfront improvements.
Stantec will now work to generate a concept(s) that incorporates the ideas of the community and the priorities of the city with strategic design and placemaking. The concept will be presented to the public at an open house for further feedback which the consultants will incorporate into the final draft by December.
