Mayor Kozak says next week’s event a critical time for public feedback on City’s newest neighbourhood revitalization effort
By Contributor
After a successful first step in the City of Nelson’s Railtown District Planning Process, stakeholders in the neighbourhood revitalization project are gathering for a two-day session next week — followed by the public’s first opportunity to view progress on the effort thus far.
“We made some terrific headway in last month’s initial stakeholder session,” said Mayor Deb Kozak in a media release, “and we’re anticipating a significant amount of progress next week.”
“But the most exciting and important component of this process, is the chance to hear from Nelson residents and business owners,” the Mayor adds.
The public is being invited to an open house Thursday night, from 6-8 p.m. at the new Nelson and District Chamber of Commerce, immediately following the two-day charrette, which runs Wednesday and Thursday.
The two-day workshop will be led by Vancouver’s Modus planning and design firm, the company hired to oversee the Railtown planning process, along with a 20-member local stakeholder group.
Mayor Kozak explains that Thursday’s open house is an important opportunity for the community to provide input and feedback on preliminary design concepts developed over the past month.
“We really need to know what the public wants the district to look like,” says the Mayor. “We want to know what they feel works well now in Railtown, what they’d like to see, and how they feel we can make their visions a reality.”
Information on the Railtown project is available on-line at www.nelsonrailtown.com, which is connected to the City’s website (nelson.ca). The site includes a link to a quick survey that everyone is being invited to fill out. The survey focuses on three aspects of the proposed plan — Now, Wow and How.
The site also includes regular project updates, notifications and project deliverables.
Following next week’s planning sessions; concept options developed in Phase 2 will be followed by the selection of a preferred neighbourhood concept, in Phase 3. There will be a second Public Open House scheduled for April/May.
The Draft Neighbourhood Plan — including detailed policy, design and implementation components — will be presented at a second public open house this spring, before the final plan is presented for Council adoption.
The Railtown Sustainable Neighbourhood Plan and recommendations are to be completed by the end of June, with Council slated to approve the document in September.
Bordered by Highway 3A, Cottonwood Falls, Government Road and the CP rail tracks running parallel to the West Arm waterfront, the Railtown planning process is exploring a mix of light industrial, commercial and residential development — all tied together in a walkable, vibrant and unique public neighbourhood.
Based on a ten-year outlook, Railtown could create as many as 100 new jobs and see up to 11 acres of light industrial development, 100 residential units and 20,000 square feet of retail space — space that can be added without negatively impacting the vital downtown business sector.
The Mayor explains that seven publicly directed policy documents are being used to guide the Railtown vision— including the Sustainable Waterfront and Downtown Master Plan (SWDMP).
The district’s design principals include: high livability, green energy and infrastructure, an intact ecosystem around Cottonwood Falls Park, state-of-the-art broadband availability, walkable neighbourhoods, infilling, a mix of jobs and housing, strong bicycle and pedestrian connections, cultural amenities and brownfield ecological restoration.
