Strategic planning well underway for downtown

Dear Editor

As the chair of the North Battleford Business Improvement District, I would like to address some of the concerns outlined in Mr. Hiebert's letter last week (Old buildings have value).

Firstly, I think I can speak for all of the board members when I say we were all very sad to have lost two buildings downtown last year. The tragic fire at The Bargain Shop has left a physical and economic hole in its place. The destruction of the Pigeon Hotel is particularly detrimental to the downtown, as it has now left us with an entire block that does not contain any buildings.

It is unfortunate that we lost these buildings. It is certainly not the intent of the BID to tear down any existing structures. Our mission is to transform downtown through investment attraction, signature events and partnerships, not to demolish every building that needs a little TLC.

The BID board of directors has just completed a strategic planning session to map out our next few years of goals. It will be posted on our website in the coming months, and I encourage you to review it. One of our key initiatives is community pride. We want to engage all downtown businesses, as well as absentee landlords, and remind them why they chose downtown in the first place, and encourage them to take pride in their properties. Through the expansion of our facade improvement grant, we hope to bring several buildings back to life. With the help of our previous facade improvement recipients, and the recent Art Alley project making huge waves, we are beginning to see people take interest in their properties again, and are seeing the first steps towards positive change.

The City has also been working on a Downtown Master Plan to further encourage a unified and beautiful downtown. This very exciting document is currently before council, and I recommend you contact City Hall if you would like to view it.

Finally, the BID board is always open to new ideas on how to preserve our heritage downtown while encouraging new exciting investments. We are currently working on a plan to develop committees for different projects downtown, and welcome anyone who would like to be part of positive growth in our community to join us.

Beth Walls

Chairperson

North Battleford Business Improvement District