Leamington businesses lobby for loitering bylaw
Bikes and bodies clogging sidewalks in Leamington’s core were two recurring themes as council held a special meeting Wednesday to discuss the revitalization of its uptown district.
Streetscaping, pedestrian walkways and incentives to improve business facades were overshadowed by talk of establishing a loitering bylaw.
“We have talked about it at length and we’re trying to figure out how to deal with it,” deputy mayor Hilda MacDonald said.
The matter was discussed at an in-camera session of council earlier in the day.
Some residents and business owners specifically mentioned the large number of migrant workers that flood the downtown core to do their shopping and then linger on the streets for hours.
“There’s so many of them it doesn’t allow people who live here to feel safe,” said business owner Nat Milana, who stressed he had a good relationship with migrant workers.
“It’s the loitering of people,” Milana said. “You need to move them along or what you’re trying to fix isn’t going to get fixed.”
Lisa Bradt, chairperson of the BIA, noted how Leamington went from being rated the best place to live in Canada in 2006 by MoneySense to 110th last year.
As the owner of Bradt’s Butcher Block, she said she hears from customers who are fearful to walk through large crowds on narrow sidewalks to reach her store.
“As a woman, you can put 100 men in suits and I don’t want to walk through them,” Bradt said.
Bradt said based on conversations she’s had with merchants and customers, “I believe they would be in support” of a loitering bylaw. It’s customers who are expressing the most concern, she noted. “They don’t like the environment it creates.”
They are not targeting one part of the population, she said. “There are people out there with mental illness. “
She added that “hordes of people on the sidewalks gives the impression that this is not an area I want to experience.”
Pembroke established a loitering bylaw in 2015, Bradt said.
Milana noted the problem is at its worst on Friday nights and Sundays. He said he’s altered his business hours and stopped opening on Sundays.
“I can’t make a living on Sunday anymore. I’m wasting my time,” he said.
Milana also said his business has been hurt by illegal underground operations on local farms selling migrant workers everything from booze to shoes.
He declined to speak with a reporter after the meeting but did tell council he had erected a “no loitering ” sign in front of his business.
He called on council to provide more enforcement in the form of downtown foot patrols by the OPP at peak times.
Coun. Tim Wilkinson asked council to consider more programming and alternatives for “this very valuable section of our population. We are very fortunate to have these guests in our town. They are the horsepower of this town.”
Mayor John Paterson said the legal advice provided to council is that the town’s ability to enforce a loitering bylaw is negligible.
Some business owners and members of the public have an issue with the large numbers of migrant workers in the core but “most do not have an issue,” he said.
Administrators were asked to prioritize the visions council has for the uptown core and report back.