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DOWNTOWN COMMERCIAL MASTER PLAN - PATTY XENOS DESIGN
WHEREAS, the City of Barrie’s 20 year Strategic Plan, Foundation for our Future recognizes the need for a strong downtown with links to the waterfront as an important element of our Community Economic Development Plan;
AND WHEREAS City Council’s Top 10 Strategic Priorities for 2004 - 2006 include both Developing and Implementing a Strategy to Revitalize the Downtown and Increasing the investment in and development of the waterfront, including linkage to Tourism;
AND WHEREAS, Council has approved both a Downtown Revitalization Plan and a Community Improvement Plan entitled The Next Wave for the City’s historic downtown area and adjacent waterfront which together have generated significant interest in the area;
AND WHEREAS, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs has approved the Community Improvement Plan under Section 28 of the Planning Act and the City now has the legal authority to assemble lands and enter into joint venture agreements for the purpose of implementing the Plan, and offer an attractive financial incentive package to facilitate downtown revitalization;
AND WHEREAS, the City of Barrie has retained Ted Handy and others to undertake the preparation of a Cultural Master Plan for the City of Barrie, and cultural activities have been identified in the research on downtowns as one of the key success factors of healthy downtowns;
AND WHEREAS, the Ontario Ministry of Public Infrastructure Renewal has identified the City of Barrie as an Urban Growth Centre and expressly identified Downtown Barrie as a key element of an urban growth strategy in the Draft Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe;
AND WHEREAS both the Government of Canada and the Province of Ontario have programs and funding available for brownfield (re)development and the City’s historic downtown and waterfront area contains such opportunities;
NOW THEREFORE THE CORPORATION OF THE CITY OF BARRIE RESOLVES AS FOLLOWS:
1. That the City of Barrie enter into an agreement with Patty Xenos Design and associated professionals for the preparation of a Commercial Master Plan for the Downtown/Waterfront, based on their presentation to Council of March 7, 2005.
2. That the proposed work program contained in their March 7, 2005 presentation be modified as follows:
a) That a meeting be advertised and held at City Hall enabling both formal and informal submissions from the general public and stakeholder interest groups with respect to the input to the Development Vision.
b) That the consultant in co-operation with City staff, monitor the interest and review the proposals and applications of the private sector with respect to downtown revitalization projects and report on the (in)ability and opportunity of same to be incorporated into the work program, the Development Vision and its implementation.
c) That the Commercial Master Plan be structured and undertaken such that it contains both a Development Vision and an Implementation Plan and Strategy including recommendations for the most implementable public and private sector projects, including those resulting from b) above.
d) That Striking Committee establish the composition of the Steering Committee.
e) That the contract with the consultant include a detailed work program and a payment schedule which identifies specific performance benchmarks and deliverables over the course of the contract. (PLN024-05) (File: D18-DOW)