Business Development and the Pattern Book A healthy business environment contributes to a strong community. Many discussions have led to many theories on how to revitalize Sylvan Lake’s downtown, and I’d like to share my vision with you as a former business owner, and a business-minded individual. Private industry will ultimately make the decision on whether to invest their savings and their livelihoods in our downtown. A municipality’s role in this revitalization is creating a business-friendly environment. Attracting business has been a goal in our town for many years, but the efforts have shown slower results than many of us would like. I’d like to identify some solutions. Bear with me, the document is technical, and so is the solution… but so is starting a business that you invest your life in! One of the larger stumbling blocks for small and mediums sized businesses desiring to locate in Sylvan Lake’s downtown is the Pattern Book. The Pattern Book was intended to set a vision for downtown development, but in many cases it has prevented would-be investors from locating their businesses here. I have some specific issues with the Pattern Book that I feel need to be overcome to foster business growth downtown. Below are some specific changes I’d like to see made to the Pattern Book: Widen the narrow architectural controls Where the pattern book prescribes Cape Cod, Georgian, Greek Revival, and Colonial Revival architectural designs for new downtown buildings, it limits business growth and vision by the major cost associated with adding the prescribed styling. It also turns off potential investors that do not see these styles as appealing or fitting with their businesses appeal. We need to open up these narrow guidelines and introduce more design options to potential businesses. While setting a vision for the area is important, I’d like to introduce more options to the pattern book building design criteria, and in doing so attract more activity and investment to the downtown. Re-evaluate density and height requirements The Pattern Book prescribes a minimum of 3 stories and a maximum of 4 stories for new buildings on Main thoroughfares like 50th street, 46, Avenue, and Lakeshore Drive. This is another narrow window for investment. Limiting new buildings to 3 or 4 stories in a town our size drastically limits the amount of new investors that are interested in building in our downtown. If you consider the size of the newly renovated Cobb’s Block, the height, the mass, it’s hard to imagine that a new building would be required to build higher to comply with the guidelines of the Pattern Book. I think at the very least, 2 storey buildings need to be added to the accepted standards of the Pattern Book, in order to lower the potential cost of investment in the downtown. Re-consider mixed uses Combining commercial with residential makes sense in theory because in order to have customers shop at your business they have to be near your business! A recent Sylvan Lake business gap analysis also revealed that people prefer to shop where they live, rather than where they work; which supports the mixed use theory. However, there is a big difference between concept and reality with regard to mixed uses. If a 14 storey apartment building has a clothing store on the main floor, the perception is you have a clothing store in your building; which could be seen as an added benefit. If a 3 storey building has a clothing store on the main floor, the perception is you live above the clothing store; which could be seen as a detriment. These are drastic changes in perception, but both employ the same mixed-use concept. With the cost of developing a building that is mixed use and 3-4 storeys, there are fewer investors that will take the risk, due to the possible perception issues. I think that the mandated mixed-use developments should be reconsidered; and that commercial-only developments should be added to the pattern book as accepted uses. Residential developments should be highly encouraged downtown to take advantage of the desired shop-where-you-live concept, and therefore residential-only uses should also be approved, broadening the appeal of developing in Downtown Sylvan Lake. Overall The Pattern Book prescribes a narrow scope of development in downtown Sylvan Lake. Too narrow. The Pattern Book needs to be amended to recognize that where a concept and vision for downtown is useful, too narrow of a vision will stifle development and cause the downtown area to suffer economically. We need a vibrant downtown, with a wider scope of development and design. We need to create a business-friendly atmosphere for our downtown to prosper. Follow this link to the Pattern Book for The Town of Sylvan Lake sylvanlake.ca/uploads/Pattern_Book_Updated_July_2010.pdf
Posted on: Fri, 13 Sep 2013 14:40:39 +0000
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