A vision to unite Collingwood’s waterfront through thematic elements, public art and pedestrian-friendly spaces was on display at Simcoe Street Theatre on Tuesday.
During a public information session on May 16, consultant Brook McIlroy presented initial design concepts to unite the town-owned public spaces along Collingwood’s waterfront north of First St., dubbed the Sidelaunch District Public Realm plan.
However, residents at the first session on Tuesday afternoon brought forward concerns on the plan, predominantly about parking.
Brook McIlroy principal Calvin Brook said the intention of the plan is to unite the multiple public spaces along Collingwood’s waterfront.
“You have an incredibly beautiful waterfront and harbour, but the two are disconnected today,” said Brook. “We can make those connections finally, to bring the character of Hurontario through to the water slip. Whatever we do in this space has to be fabulous.”
Brook also said the design elements would weave Collingwood’s shipbuilding past into the spaces within the plan.
With three major developments slated for the area: Collingwood Quay, Perfect World and Harbour House, the plan would create connecting public spaces along Sidelaunch Way, Hurontario north of First St., North Pine St. and Heritage Drive that include adding multiple planters, bicycle lanes, public art and other pedestrian-friendly amenities. Some of the proposed changes to the area would involve closing some sections to vehicles while activating others to discourage vehicle traffic in favour of encouraging pedestrian and bicycle use.
Brook told attendees they’ve been consulting with the private developers in the area on the plan to bring cohesion to the spaces that connect the developments. All the spaces are proposed to be activated for use year-round, with different activations depending on the time of year.
“We worked to make sure the opportunities, especially on the ground floor of those buildings, work with the public spaces to make them active, safe and fun,” said Brook. “There’s been some great development work done so far, but this is the key opportunity to get it right.”
The preliminary plan includes five key areas of activation.
1. Town square
At the south-west corner of the Collingwood Quay development adjacent to restaurant spaces will be a small town square for public events.
2. Piazza
The Piazza will be placed on the northern-most section of Ste. Marie St, between Sidelaunch Way and First St. Flanked by the commercial area of Harbour House on the east side and the existing commercial area on the west, one of the summer suggestions was to have public market fill the space. Winter suggestions include an outdoor curling rink in this section.
3. Mews
The Mews area would exist on Hurontario St. between Sidelaunch Way and First St. Attendees of the public information session saw two options for this area. The first would see this section of the street closed to vehicle traffic completely, while the second would see the area open to one lane of vehicle traffic only. Raised planters and seating would be a fixture with the area primarily intended for pedestrian use.
The section is intended to be a gateway to draw pedestrians from the downtown to the waterfront.
4. Lookout
The Lookout would be the public space at the northern-most tip of the Collingwood Quay development.
5. Public space at Heritage Drive and Sidelaunch Way
The northeast corner of the Harbour House development will also be reserved as a public space as part of the plan.
Overall, changes to Sidelaunch Way were proposed as two options, both with one lane of traffic able to run in each direction: the first with trees lining the sides of street and bicycle lanes included for the length of the road, the other with trees and planters on the middle of the street without designated bicycle lanes.
“While there are five different areas, we’re looking at how they integrate with each other. We don’t want them to speak a different language. We want this to really look as if it’s one distinct area,” said Trish Clarke, senior associate with Brook McIlroy.
None of the speakers identified themselves during the question-and-answer portion of the session, however many of the questions came from existing residents who live in the area, concerned about parking in the plan.
“My biggest concern is parking. Where are all the people coming going to park?” asked one resident. “I’m particularly concerned about parking along Pine St. Sidelaunch (Way) has cars parked all the time now. A lot of that parking is going to disappear here.”
“I think, before you get too far along, you need to address where all these people are going to park,” she said.
Director of parks, recreation and culture Dean Collver said parking in Collingwood is a known problem, and traffic and parking studies are currently underway through the town to determine a solution that will serve the town best as a whole.
“One of the things to understand about this (project) specifically is that doing it, or not doing it, isn’t going to change our parking issues,” he said. “We’re trying to create an area that is uncomfortable to cars. We’re trying to get active transportation to be the key mode.”
“I know it feels like we’re putting pressure on cars. Truthfully, Collingwood has been going through a cultural migration for a while now. Cars are not a priority. Active transportation is a priority,” said Collver.
Brook McIlroy were the group behind the 2016 waterfront master plan for Collingwood. They were procured at the end of 2022 to come up with the concept for the Sidelaunch District Public Realm plan. They presented their first iteration of the plan to the town in April.
“We got initial town staff and stakeholder feedback then so we could revise it before it came to the public,” said Clarke following Tuesday’s meeting.
Following Tuesday’s public information sessions and public commenting opening up later this week through the town’s Engage Collingwood page, Clarke told CollingwoodToday the consultant would gather the feedback, incorporate it into the plan and present a final version to Collingwood council in the fall for their feedback and approval.
She noted cost estimates and phasing plans to build out the vision will be part of the discussion at that time.
