ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — It looks like Duckworth Street will be included in this year’s St. John’s downtown pedestrian mall — but not all of it.
In Wednesday’s committee of the whole meeting, St. John’s city councillors expressed overwhelming support to have two sections of Duckworth Street barricaded for the popular event.
While final approval has to be made at Monday’s regular council meeting, councillors were unanimous to give the motion the go-ahead.
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“I really hope the public supports Duckworth Street in this endeavour. We want them to be a part of it,” said Coun. Debbie Hanlon, who noted St. John’s is leading the nation by being pro-active in developing such public spaces. “We should be proud for getting to this point.
“It did take a lot of time and thought … I’ve walked the street many times, I’ve met the staff down there, I’ve look at all avenues and we have taken into consideration the comments from the public and the businesses, so I’m pleased to bring this forward.”
The first proposed road closure on Duckworth Street would be from New Gower Street to Bates Hill, with the second from Cathedral Street to Prescott Street.
It’s suggested that Water Street closures — from Adelaide Street to Prescott Street — remain unchanged from 2020.
According to a report on the pedestrian mall, prepared by city staff, there were no impediments for the suggested inclusion of the two Duckworth Street sections. It noted the Bates Hill to Cathedral Street section has grassy areas that could be used for arts and entertainment.
The other three sections posed too many safety and traffic challenges that could not be reasonably overcome — including blocked access to essential vehicle services such as MetroBus and trucks — which would need to travel downtown via Cochrane Street and Hill O’Chips, as well as access to parking garages.
While it appears many residents and businesses had hoped that all of Duckworth Street would be included, councillors felt the present proposal is a good option.
“We shouldn’t let progress stop because of wanting perfection,” Coun. Shawn Skinner said. “This may not be a perfect situation … but in my mind, it does pedestrianize parts of Duckworth Street. It does give us, the public, and the business owners on Duckworth Street an opportunity to showcase what they can do. I think you’re going to see this be a great success.”
Skinner added he’s confident people will walk all of Duckworth Street.
The inclusion will come at a price — $167,600.
With daytime security costs, the Duckworth Street closures would cost a total of $70,600 ($35,300 for each section). And an additional $97,000 would be added for any combination of Duckworth closures to account for overnight security, event staff and garbage removal.
The current budget allocation for the Water Street closure is $200,000.
This year’s event is set for July 2 to Sept. 6 and will see many more businesses with outside eating and lounging areas and patios, with the city’s recent approval to waive fees to lease city land.
Discussions about including Duckworth Street in the pedestrian mall started during last year’s event.
The debate prompted some Duckworth Street businesses to start a petition, which garnered the support of nearly 20 Duckworth neighbours and had close to 500 signatures. It contended that by limiting the pedestrian mall to Water Street alone, it not only represents an “inequitable use of communal tax-payer money” but also creates the potential for revenue losses for neighbouring businesses during summer months and the loss of long-term business equity and property value.
Since then councillors and city staff have had many discussions with the public and business owners to try and come up with a solution, which proved to be logistically challenging.
According to statistics of engagement the city received from the 2020 event, overall, the public was 98 per cent in favour of continuing a pedestrian mall in the future, while 89 per cent noted that the availability of the pedestrian mall influenced their decision to go downtown. Sixty-three per-cent said the pedestrian mall helped them discover new services in the downtown.
Of the owners of businesses that were included in the mall last year, 89 per cent agreed the mall benefited the downtown as a whole, while only 71 per cent of businesses not included in the mall agreed with that. Thirty-four of them outside the mall noted negative impacts, such as reduced parking availability for customers, a decline in customers and negative financial impacts.
“This wasn’t an easy decision for council and staff,” Coun. Jamie Korab said. “Ninety-eight per-cent wanted a pedestrian mall down there and that’s a hard number to ignore… .
“Yes, some businesses did better than others. Some on Water Street did better than those on Duckworth, but it was my belief all along — and these numbers here prove it to me — that it was beneficial to the whole of downtown and that’s what we want. It’s the jewel of our city. We want a vibrant downtown and there’s no question in my mind this pedestrian mall did that.”
Coun. Sandy Hickman said the pedestrian mall will only get better in the future.
“The cruise industry will return,” Hickman said. “And can you imagine getting off a cruise ship and having this set up for them? It’s just an amazing experience.”
Rosie Mullaley is a reporter in St. John's covering municipal affairs
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Twitter: @TelyRosie
