Work is already underway to implement parts of the Collingwood Downtown Garden Master Plan, thanks to some federal dollars recently awarded to the Collingwood Downtown Business Improvement Area (BIA).
During Monday’s (June 6) corporate and community services standing committee meeting, councillors got a first look at the plan, which maps out how the BIA and the town could implement better gardens and greenery into the downtown over the next five years.
“I think this is beautiful, clever and long-overdue,” said Acting Deputy Mayor Mariane McLeod. “I think the results are going to be terrific.”
As part of the update, the town’s manager of parks Wendy Martin and the executive director of the Collingwood BIA Sue Nicholson told councillors that a federal grant that must be used by Dec. 31, 2022 would be paying in full for some of the recommendations to be implemented this year.
Nicholson said the received federal grant was for $280,000.
“We were looking at a five-year roll out through our operational budget,” said Nicholson. “Since we were successful in applying for the grant, we can actually implement the majority of this plan.”
Downtown improvements that are expected to take place in 2022 through the grant funding are the addition of new benches, garbage containers, bike racks, irrigation in the main gardens, tree guards, tree grates and removal of non-viable gardens.
These items are planned to go out to tender this summer.
The report was prepared by Seferian Design Group and commissioned in June 2020 by the BIA with the support of the Town of Collingwood. The plan was originally delivered in August 2021 to the BIA.
It is noted in the plan that the garden areas downtown have been the result of three major infrastructure projects, however no overall, cohesive plan had previously been developed. The report outlines the current state of existing downtown garden spaces, and proposes how they can be improved moving forward while taking currently existing planning documents such as the community-based strategic plan, the downtown heritage conservation district plan and the cycling master plan into account.
The report notes that many of the gardens are annual/perennial mixes in raised concrete planters and while annual planting appears to thrive, most existing perennial planting show signs of stress.
Several factors possibly contributing to plant decline are salt contamination, weight of snow storage, seasonal exposure, lack of water and maturity.
“We want to do the best we can with the resources we have,” said Nicholson. “We have a beautiful downtown... and we wanted to ensure that we chose the right plants and the right places to plant.”
The report divides the downtown into five specific zones, and makes suggestions for improvements in each of the zones.
To read our original story on the plan including more details on the proposed changes, click here.
Jessica Lehr of Pollinate Collingwood spoke during the public delegation portion of Monday’s meeting to express appreciation for the addition of pollinator-friendly gardens in town-owned parking lots in the plan.
“We are pleased to see the involvement of native pollinator species within the plan,” said Lehr. “The BIA and the town has all of our support, and we would like to offer overall assistance.”
The committee voted unanimously in favour of receiving the report. Coun. Chris Carrier was absent from the meeting.
