Downtown Nanaimo needs its improvement association back
Nanaimo’s downtown does not seem to have the vitality it had a year ago. There are a few vacant main-floor buildings on Commercial Street. The parklet that was located outside Two Chefs Restaurant is no longer there. Homeless people are “camping” in some store entrances. There are fewer downtown events.
The ideas generated by the June 2016 Royal Architectural Society of Canada design charrette held on six downtown sites have not been acted upon. So what has happened? Why has the downtown lost its energy?
It is my view that the City of Nanaimo’s January 2017 decision to stop supporting the Downtown Nanaimo Business Improvement Association is largely responsible for the deterioration of the downtown. The city decided to cut its $230,000-per-year funding for the improvement association. Those dollars were matched by the members of the association (downtown business and property owners).
As a result, the downtown lost its major advocacy group, a group of downtown businesses that pooled their money with the city’s funding to run the association office. That office provided downtown supports, including active marketing of retail space, the architectural society’s design charrette, environmental assessment and redevelopment opportunities for Terminal Avenue, and street activities and events. The improvement association was the champion for a healthy and vibrant downtown and was successful in that work.
Ironically, a few months after the City of Nanaimo pulled the plug on the improvement association, the B.C. Network of Downtown Business Improvement Associations held its annual conference in Nanaimo. That network of 60 members from downtowns in other B.C. cities and towns had come to celebrate the good work undertaken by our own (former) Nanaimo Downtown Improvement Association.
I was invited to speak at that conference about the design charrette that the improvement association had sponsored. The charrette was seen by other improvement associations as an innovative partnership. It involved more than 80 architects from across Canada.
The architects provided design ideas for Diana Krall Plaza, China Steps, the A&B Sound/ACME sites, the waterfront site across from the Port Theatre, the laneway by the Royal Bank off Chapel Street, and the proposed hotel site opposite the Conference Centre. That work was sponsored by the improvement association at a cost of $10,000 for supplies, tents, reports etc.
The donated architects’ time was valued at more than $40,000. A very good return on the $10,000.
The designs produced by the architects were captured in a graphic book, as well as a video (RAIC Festival of Architecture 2016 Design Charrette on YouTube). That project is one example of the good work completed by the improvement association.
As well, the parklet that was placed outside of Two Chefs Restaurant in summer 2016 and 2017 was designed and managed by the improvement association. Those projects and others have been lost due to city council’s lack of support for the improvement association.
By cutting its funding for the improvement association, council turned its back on the downtown and left its future in limbo. The city said at the time that the businesses were free to continue to fund their own association. But history has shown that downtowns are not shopping malls owned by large corporations that have deep pockets to fund their own events, promotion and activities. Downtowns in smaller cities, such as Nanaimo, are places composed usually of smaller businesses with tight budgets, often family owned and operated.
Business improvement associations were formed about 30 years ago to provide supports for small downtown businesses that were struggling in the face of competition from shopping malls. Over the years, I have had the good fortune to complete planning and revitalization projects for several areas in downtown Saskatoon, Victoria and Winnipeg and smaller downtowns, such as Brandon, Chilliwack, Hope, Langford and Sechelt.
In most cases, both large and small, the success of downtown related to the presence of strong, vibrant business improvement associations and/or strong, supportive civic leadership. Improvement associations have become acknowledged critical elements for downtown renewals across Canada. But they require partnership with city government.
By abandoning its support for downtown Nanaimo’s improvement association, council has put Nanaimo’s downtown business owners and property owners on notice and at risk that city council does not seem to care about the economic and social wellbeing of the downtown. While other downtowns and improvement associations in B.C. prosper and continue to be financially supported by their city governments, Nanaimo’s downtown suffers because of a misguided council decision that withdrew support for the partnership.
It is time to revisit the 2017 city council decision to withdraw support for the work of Nanaimo’s Downtown Business Improvement Association. There is too much evidence across B.C. and North America that downtown cultural, economic and social wellbeing and associated livability rests on the foundation of strong, thriving business improvement associations. David Witty is a founding member of the Planning, Design and Development Society of Nanaimo. He has worked on the revitalization of a number of downtowns across Western Canada. This is the third of three-part series.