ESTEVAN - Ideas for the future appearance and amenities in downtown Estevan were discussed at a meeting Tuesday night at the Nicholson Centre.
A couple dozen people gathered to share their thoughts. The session started with a presentation by George Harris Collaborative – the consulting agency for the downtown revitalization efforts.
Harris shared the findings of an open house in November that generated plenty of responses from both people who attended the November meeting, and those who commented online.
The people in attendance at Tuesday’s gathering were then broken up into separate groups to get their input into the future of downtown Estevan. They shared what they would like to see downtown in terms of shopping opportunities, restaurants, coffee shops and more, and other amenities that could be added, such as parks and parking lots.
A big emphasis of the session was how downtown could be more accessible for pedestrians, and the different events that could be offered to bring people downtown.
It was noted that downtown is not just limited to the 1100 and 1200 blocks of Fourth Street. Harris said it includes Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Streets from 13th Avenue to Souris Avenue South.
Those who attended the meeting could also saw a three-dimensional design of how the 1100-block of Fourth Street could look with some changes.
Harris said he was pleased with the meeting and the ideas that were brought forward.
“The people that came out were super engaged and very interested. Our team, the consultants, got some really great ideas. It really helped us understand the feelings and how the city people think,” said Harris.
He found people are thinking in a progressive fashion.
George Harris Collaborative will take the findings from the meeting and incorporate them into the design process and combine it with technical information on streets, buildings and sidewalks.
The report is slated to be filed in March.
Next week’s edition of the Mercury will have more on this story.
