Airdrie’s downtown is not the 205 acres City planners initially thought; it’s only approximately 50 acres, according to residents who participated in downtown visioning engagement exercises in 2017. “About 75 to 90 per cent of respondents felt the real core of downtown was along the Main Street corridor,” said City of Airdrie Planner Karl Mielke. “It’s a lot smaller than the 205 acres that fall within the downtown boundary now.” Airdrie’s current downtown only scored four out of 10 with engagement participants. According to Mielke, some of the services people said they wanted to see downtown were stores and restaurants, and places for people to work. “We have a lot of work to do to bring it up to the standards we’d like to see,” Mielke said. “The shared vision we were able to pull…is that people want a vibrant, exciting, action-filled, modern downtown, one that is fully accessible to all members of the population, has excellent walkability and…can function as a social hub.” Coun. Candice Kolson said she was excited. “I think it’s great that we’re engaging the public,” she said. “There’s only so much we can do to bring people to the table…but I think it’s great.” Coun. Kelly Hegg alluded to a controversial downtown project, The Square, abandoned in 2016 after public outcry about how it was handled. “The reason we brought forward the request in 2016 was because citizens wanted something – they were asking for it,” he said. “There is a way to do it, and this is the way to do it right.” A plan to conduct public consultation was approved by council in January 2017, with the various exercises carried out in January and February 2017. A variety of methods were used to engage residents, including surveys, focus groups and workshops. Mielke said a total of 7,500 responses were collected. Full results were presented to council April 20, 2017, at which time staff was directed to move forward with next steps. City staff is currently working on developing a new Downtown Plan, Mielke said. The existing plan was adopted in 2008, and the last time a comprehensive Downtown Plan involving public consultation was completed was in 1999. Additional opportunities for the public and stakeholders to have their say will be available in the coming months, Mielke said, starting in September. These opportunities include surveys, consultation with stakeholders and design charrettes – collaborative sessions in which a group, usually of designers and architects, comes together to develop a creative solution to a design problem. The Airdrie Public Library (APL) will be a key stakeholder in the upcoming discussions, according to Mielke. APL was at the centre of the controversy over The Square after it was announced that plan would considerably increase the size of the library. Questions arose about the cost of the project, possible conflict of interest because the board overseeing the real estate assets of the City was comprised of all members of City council plus the city manager and director of finance, and the lack of public consultation on the proposed project. Mielke said a committee involving numerous City departments is involved in the development of the new Downtown Plan. Following the completion of the next phase of public consultation, he said planning staff would draft the new Downtown Plan. That plan would be revised and refined before presented to council for discussion and consideration in the third quarter of 2019.
