Urban design visions shared at mall pop-up
Aaron Dorris envisions George Street as a sort of outdoor mall, complete with gathering spaces, as part of a downtown Peterborough that would also see Water and Aylmer streets widened and outfitted with dedicated bicycle lanes.
His idea was heard by city planners Patrick Vusir and Milan Nguyen as the city hosted a 2 1/2 hour pop-up event at Peterborough Square, where visitors could ask questions and provide input on topics like the urban design survey.
Dorris didn’t fill out a sticky note to include his idea on the board with other thoughts and comments, but did pocket a paper version of the urban design survey as part of the latest update to the Official Plan.
The city is gathering feedback on areas including design, heritage and community identity as part of the survey, which closes Monday. It was also an opportunity to raise awareness of the update and provide in-person consultation.
“We want to get out and give people a chance to comment in person,” Vusir said.
It’s an important process, said local heritage enthusiast Sheryl Smith, who dropped by after completing the survey online.
Society tends to believe that a complete knockdown/rebuild is the most environmentally friendly process, she said, but the greenest buildings are ones that already exist because they were built with steam and fire power.
“I like to see neighbourhoods keep their size and scale,” said the Selwyn Township heritage committee member, who highlighted Confederation Square as a great example of mixing buildings and green space. “That’s the kind of scale that needs to be respected.”
A collaborative exercise known as a design charrette seeks to determine the level of support for recommended design strategies in categories such as built form, for example, which covers areas like building placement, height, use and features.
Visitors could place dots on several presentation boards to indicate how much or little they supported various concepts.
Preserving downtown’s character was another topic. Visitors could rate their support for techniques such as adaptive reuse, which is repurposing an old site or building that has outlived its original purpose, while retaining historic features.
They could place a dot under strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree or strongly disagree.
Kristen Chatten was on her way to get lunch when she stopped by. She appreciated the public engagement but said for her, mental health and wellness should be a priority, because many people who need help don’t know where to go.
Staff likes to use Peterborough Square because mall visitors come from all demographics, Vusir pointed out. “It’s a diverse crowd.”
There will be more public consultation events coming up, he said, adding that signing up for the mailing list is the best way to find out what’s happening.
NOTES: The urban design survey and mailing list sign-up is available at www.peterborough.ca/planit ... Paper copies are available in the planning division at City Hall at 500 George St. N and the waiting room at the Peterborough Transit bus terminal at 190 Simcoe St.