Bolton revitalization plan aims to offer more to residents

By ROB PAUL

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

As the Bolton community continues to grow and diversify, so to do the plans for the historic downtown core.

As such, Economic Development Officer Sandra Dolson has put forth a plan to help ensure the area offers more to its residents.

The Bolton Downtown Revitalization Plan is an action in the Economic Development Strategy and MDB Insight was contracted to assist with the development of the plan.

In developing the plan, the Mayor, Councillors, staff and agency meetings and interviews, two stakeholder meetings, and an online survey (over 350 responses) were part of the consultation process by MDB.

Overall, the Bolton Downtown Revitalization Plan consists of 72 recommendations organized within 10 actions with the first action being a formation of a Downtown Revitalization Task Force.

Council adopted Caledon 2020-2030 An Economic Development Strategy for the Town of Caledon on April 28, 2020. One of the short-term actions in the strategy was to develop a Bolton Revitalization Plan focused on the historic core area, incorporating relevant recommendations from current adopted plans. 

The plan is concentrated geographically in the Bolton Heritage Conservation District (BHCD), with many of the recommendations focused on the commercial area known as downtown Bolton.

The four pillars of the plan are organizational, design, economic vitality, and promotion. The plan is intended to be implemented over the next 36 months.

With the first action of the plan being the implementation of the Downtown Bolton Task Force (DBTF), it includes an outline of who will be part of the DBTF.

It will be made up of the CAO (or designate), Ward 5 Councillors, one representative of the Bolton BIA board, one Chamber of Commerce board member, one downtown business owner, one Heritage Caledon representative, and one representative from a local community group or service club—Region of Peel and TRCA staff representatives will be requested to join the DBTF in a liaison capacity.

The DBTF will be responsible for prioritizing the plan recommendations, completing a “who does what” exercise, and developing a detailed work plan. Additional community groups, residents, business and/or property owners may be engaged to form working groups throughout the term of the plan, if required, based on the individual recommendation projects.

Throughout the consultation process, residents indicated that the Old Bolton Fire Station should remain in the Town's ownership and be utilized as an anchor to attract people and entrepreneurs to the area. MDB noted that publicly owned lands in downtown areas provide municipalities with the ability to control beautification, design, and flexibility of uses on those lands, which may accelerate revitalization.

The 10 actions that make up the plan are: establishing a Downtown Bolton Task Force; resourcing the Bolton Downtown Revitalization Plan; ensuring policies are helping Bolton's downtown core; designing streets and parking to help Bolton's downtown core, experimenting with placemaking pilot projects; expediting the completion of park, trail, and river improvements; filling empty storefronts with successful businesses; attracting new businesses to downtown Bolton; reopening the fire station as the “FireHub,” and promoting downtown Bolton as a shopper, visitor, and investment destination. 

The reopening of the fire station is a key component of the plan with the idea for it to be used as a resource centre to help residents and community work groups work together to accomplish the goal of revitalizing the downtown core. 

Within the action of reopening the fire station, the plan recommends relocating the farmers/vendors market to the property to foster a four-season market/destination, along with curated works from local artisans. There will also be an invitation to an established food retailer to set up a satellite local food market.

To help with getting local feedback on the downtown revitalization, the fire station would also be used as a centre for ideas and business start-ups—it would include adding a wall covering space and makers' space. It would also be utilized as a central information point for event organizers and visitors.

The DBTF will also plan to develop a budget for Council's consideration to renovate the fire station as an accessible space. 

Through the 2021 budget process Council approved initial funding in the amount of $175,000 to initiate the implementation of the plan. Any future renovations of the Fire Station to be considered will be brought forward to Council for approval and included in future budgets.

The 10 actions in the plan fall under one of the four pillars with the 72 recommendations then falling under one of the 10 actions. 

The “organization” pillar of downtown revitalization involves creating a strong foundation for a sustainable revitalization effort, including cultivating partnerships, community involvement, and resources—the organization pillar is made up leadership/collaboration and policies/process. Organization is viewed as the most crucial piece of the plan and without it continuing into the next steps would be difficult.

The “design” pillar of the plan supports the community's transformation by enhancing the physical and visual assets that set the commercial district apart—the design pillar is focused on parking, public realm (streetscapes and beautification, public spaces, river, trail, and park connections), and transportation.

The “economic” vitality pillar focuses on capital, incentives, and other economic and financial tools to assist new and existing businesses, catalyze property development, and create a supportive environment for entrepreneurs and innovators that drive local economies—the economic vitality pillar looks at empty storefronts, business variety and quality, fire station redevelopment, and Community Improvement Plan incentives.

The final pillar is “promotion” which positions the downtown or commercial district as the centre of the community and a hub of economic activity while creating a positive image that showcases a community's unique characteristics. The promotion pillar is built around advertising/promotion and awareness and festivals/events. 

All aspects of the Downtown Bolton Revitalization Plan are expected to be completed or started within the 36-month timeframe with varying windows.

The short-term actions (to be completed within three to nine months) are establishing the DBTF, resource the Bolton Revitalization Plan, reopen the fire station as the “FireHub,” and experiment with placemaking pilot projects.

The medium-term actions (nine to 18 months) are ensuring policies are helping Bolton's downtown core, designing streets and parking to help Bolton's downtown core, and filling empty storefronts with successful businesses.

The long-term actions (18 to 36 months) are expediting the completion of park, trails, and river improvements, attracting new businesses to downtown Bolton, and promoting downtown Bolton as a shopper, visitor, and investment destination. 

More details about the Downtown Bolton Revitalization Plan can be found at the Town of Caledon website at Caledon.ca.