We can learn a thing or two from Mortlach
Don’t look for one single solution to create vibrant business districts
I found myself in Mortlach, Sask. over the long weekend. It was the first time my kids had been on Highway 1 and the first time I ever found myself in Mortlach.
I loved what I found there: trendy cafes and shops, an urban forest, a photo gallery along Main Street. It’s a really nice town of only 260 people.
Now the trading area is larger, which helps any town, but being only 20 minutes out of Moose Jaw means they have big competition in almost everything they do. If I was going to move to a rural community, Mortlach would be on a short list of potential places to call home.
The entire community is smaller than some Saskatoon neighbourhoods and has a more vibrant business district than many of them. Those businesses make the neighbourhood more walkable, and coffee rows mean stronger community bonds.
How do we do that same thing in Saskatoon?
Well, we have the business improvement districts (BIDs), and by and large, they do a good job of representing their business interests.
It can also happen on a smaller scale. Look at what the Caswell Hill Community Association and the Festival Committee does with Art in the Park. A quick look at the website shows a variety of artisans coming again this year. On top of that are food vendors and hundreds of people like our family, who will be there to shop and eat.
City Park has a micro business district with City Perk and a new micro mall where the old grocery store used to be. No one wants to see a grocery store close, but with the new shops, City Park has become a destination for people to visit. City Perk is my go-to coffee shop now.
While communities often are looking for a silver bullet like a big business to turn them around, a variety of places have found that tossing spaghetti against the wall and seeing what sticks works. Instead of one big employer, a multitude of small businesses have a few employees. No grand slams but a multitude of singles advance the business and community interests.
Our neighbourhoods used to have more of these.
A drive through the west side of Saskatoon shows a bunch of residential units that used to be small businesses, generally small corner grocers.
Almost all of them are gone and are now residential properties. All that’s left is the occasional strip mall, which serves a purpose, but they are few and far between.
One of the problems cities have, Saskatoon included, is the high cost of startup for a small business. Rents are still too high for many small businesses.
While the struggling economy has had some impact on property prices, many entrepreneurs are shocked at what commercial rent costs in business districts and the lack of rental opportunities outside of them.
While there’s a lot of space in industrial districts, not all businesses are a good fit in an industrial zone and many need a more commercial and residential vibe.
How do we do this? First of all, it can come from zoning and neighbourhood design like we see in Hampton Village and other new neighbourhoods — walkable commercial districts in the middle of the community.
Council offers incentives for downtown development; why not offer some for urban and suburban walkable developments?
Use small corners of park space if needed. Council protected the Third Avenue United Church, so why not act creatively to create some of the small spaces that make Saskatoon neighbourhoods great places to live, shop, and work?