The upstairs room at the Sonora Community Centre was packed and participants were spread around at various round tables. From left are Councillor Mike Campol; Joanne Muirhead, owner of Jojo’s Café; Kelley Glazer, executive director of Destination Osoyoos; Brock Jackson of EZ Rock; Gerald Davis, Town of Osoyoos director of community services; and Mike Stiles, accessibility advocate. (Michele Weisz photo)

After poor attendance at the meeting in June, there was a large turnout for Monday’s Town Centre Renewal Action Plan meeting.

The meeting, which began at 6:45 p.m., was held at the Sonora Community Centre. The small room was packed and every seat at each of the nine round tables was filled.

Mike Campol, outgoing town councillor; Kelley Glazer, executive director of Destination Osoyoos; Joanne Muirhead, proprietor of Jojo’s Café; Jim Dinwoodie, Town of Osoyoos director of operational services; and accessibility advocate Mike Stiles were among the members of the community who were in attendance.

Gina MacKay, Town of Osoyoos director of planning and development services and Michael Von Hausen, president of MVH Urban Planning and design Inc. facilitated the discussion.

Von Hausen began by stating that the goal of the meeting was to “talk about what our priorities are” and to “create a summary action plan.” MacKay and Von Hausen then presented a list of 20 “jump start” ideas for the guests’ consideration.

Some of the ideas included in the list were to install a gateway to identify the downtown area and creating misting stations and shaded areas at the pedestrian corners “without compromising pedestrian safety,” said MacKay.

Also mentioned in the list was the possibility of developing art pieces in the downtown and encouraging buskers to perform. According to MacKay these ideas might “bring a little bit more life downtown.”

Points that generated the most interest were:

  • Conversation corners;
  • 85th Street Plaza;
  • More trees downtown;
  • Downtown business organization;
  • Patios and sidewalk cafés.

While Mackay and Von Hausen were presenting their list of 20 ideas, several people raised their hands to ask questions.

A spontaneous debate broke out after Maurice Marty wondered “what’s your timeline for getting Highway 3 off of Main St.?” There was a smattering of applause and cheers as several guests showed their support for the question he raised.

After initially saying “that conversation is for a later date,” MacKay added “that comes up a lot but it’s also noted by a lot of other people that their business drives by them every day so they don’t necessarily want to see a bypass…there’s always competing interests, I’m just bringing that up as a point of fact.”

Marty responded by saying “Osoyoos is a destination location.”

“Well the highway runs through our destination,” Mackay replied.

Marty ended by saying: “The highway trucks are not stopping anywhere except to go to Tim Horton’s for a coffee and that’s it.”

After the presentation, each table was given an hour to come up with their own action plan list, by collaborating as teams, which they then presented to everyone. As the groups discussed their ideas, architect illustrator Cal Srigley created live concept drawings that he displayed.

Campol says that compared to Gyro Park, the downtown “just doesn’t look inviting” and that a pedestrian-friendly, nicer looking downtown would be an improvement. He described the meeting as being “more engaging, for sure” as compared to the June one.

The final consensus among the attendees was that in order to realize most of the points on the list, a BIA (Business Improvement Area) must be formed so that the downtown businesses can lobby for grants and funding to make the improvements.

MICHELE WEISZ

Osoyoos Times

Community members packed into a room at the Sonora Community Centre to discuss future changes to the downtown core. Gina Mackay, director of planning and development, and Michael Von Hausen, president of MVH Urban Planning and Design Inc. facilitated the discussion about what changes should be made to the downtown core. An illustrator was on hand to draw the ideas live as they were debated. (Michele Weisz photo)