City leaders now have more information to help them decide the fate of Victoriaville next month.
City Councillors officially received a first report that recommends tearing down the enclosed shopping centre, a possibility that’s been tossed around for years.
They spent an hour talking with Community Planner Jeff Palmer with Urban Systems, who says it’ll be a complicated process if they do tear the mall down.
Councillors were interested in how to help revitalize Victoria Avenue and what options can attract more people to the area. Palmer says the city could make use of some temporary measures like container markets.
Those are shipping containers where people can visit vendors or see entertainment, although Palmer explains they’re a stopgap measure and won’t provide the city with the benefits of a permanent business.
He adds that whatever they do, there’s no one single key to livening up the south downtown.
“There is no silver bullet. You need a hundred small incremental projects on a sustained basis, each one bringing more activity over the previous one. And then you get to the point where we’re building residential apartments in downtown Winnipeg, which would have been unheard of ten years ago,” Palmer points out.
City Council still has to vote on October 19th to determine how to proceed with Victoriaville.
