ELORA – After a few nasty winters with sewer and watermain breaks along East Mill Street in Elora that flooded the basements of businesses and homes in the area, the township has moved up infrastructure replacement to 2023.
And that gives the Elora BIA less than a year – more like six months – to convince council there’s an opportunity to improve the downtown core when the work is done and the street is reassembled.
The group hasn’t been idle.
With input from the BIA and the public and insight from development consultant Uri Salmona, it has a plan that would see hydro lines buried, wide sidewalks on both the north and south sides of the street, a crosswalk at Melville Street, and new lighting, trees and flower boxes.
The improvements would transform this “gateway to Elora” and make it as beautiful and inviting as the rest of the core, officials say.
It would also create a safe route for pedestrians to get to the Elora Centre for the Arts and Bissell Park, which are both big draws for local residents and visitors to the village.
The BIA held an open house at the arts centre on April 18 and was delighted that about 20 people showed up to see the vision for themselves despite a late April snowfall.
Sabine Maarse, a BIA member and chair of the East Mill Street committee, said safety and providing a better tourist experience are the main drivers behind the proposed changes.
“It seems logical to us,” she said. “We want to get people excited for the possibility. This is an opportunity to do something better.”
Currently the sidewalk on the south side of East Mill Street is narrow and ends before reaching Bissell Park, leaving pedestrians stranded.
And the sidewalk on the north side of the street is asphalt, just like the road, with only painted lines to delineate the difference.
Hydro poles are very close to the street and interfere with driving and walking traffic. And frankly, they are ugly, officials say.
The proposal would see eight on-street parking spots removed to accommodate the wider sidewalks, but John Kears, owner of the Karger Gallery, said the plan is for sidewalks without curbs which would make them flexible.
“The sidewalks could be a delivery zone during the week or a pick-up lane for people getting take-out food,” he said, adding that on weekends there would be room for pedestrians to spread out.
“We see this as being multi-functional.”
Donna McCaw lives in the area and came to the open house to see the proposed plan.
“It certainly needs upgrading,” she said of the street.
“The sidewalk just ends and there’s no safe place to cross. When the (farmers) market is on, there are so many cars and so many people, it’s just crazy.
“The first priority should be safety and this does that.”
Kears said he understands the township’s budget is for the infrastructure work only and that things like trees and planter boxes might be left for residents to fundraise.
He said the next step is to communicate the design to council and township staff and see what they think.
But he’s also hoping for community support as improvements to East Mill Street will benefit the whole of Elora, he said.
“We’ll keep this going,” he said. “This is day one of our public campaign.”
