Downtown Heritage Conservation District - Study and Plan
Section 9
Design Guidelines
Opportunity Areas
The Plan recognizes that the future development of Collingwood and its region as a four-season recreational and tourist destination will require increased commercial, residential, and infrastructure development in the Downtown and near-Downtown areas. Except for the waterfront land, these areas are already largely built-up, with the vast majority being properties of significant heritage value, which the Plan is designed to protect. For a Heritage District Plan, demolition and replacement is not a viable option. There are opportunities for use intensification to accommodate the required growth in a way that maintains existing heritage resources and character.
Parking Lots
The Plan recognizes that parking is a required part of the infrastructure for a healthy and successful Heritage District. The existing parking lots are at or above the current required capacity, and will certainly become inadequate with greater Downtown business activity. They are also the only significant un-built lands in the District. The provision of multi-level parking structures on the current sites can provide needed use intensification in convenient proximity to the business area.
The construction of the existing parking lots required the demolition of buildings on Pine and Ste. Marie Streets, leaving a lop-sided streetscape. This reduces the sense of place and feeling of enclosure that is important to pedestrian comfort. This deficit is reduced, but not eliminated, by the planting installed at the edges of the parking lots.
There is a design opportunity to address the parking deficit and the streetscape deficit, by constructing attractive new developments that integrate parking, commercial, and residential uses on the existing parking lot sites. It is recommended that feasibility studies for such developments should be undertaken by the Town and/or the B.I.A. The studies should investigate the potential for a public/private partnership for this kind of development, and should include heritage and streetscape requirements in the terms of reference. Conceptual sketches of such a development are shown below.
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A parking structure can be more than a stack of slabs
A plan for the proposal shown above. Narrow strips along the street and lane frontages can provide shops, offices, and housing, restoring the streetscape. See below for further ideas aboutintensification of use in the lanes.
Lanes and Pathways There are precedents for intensive use of lanes, most famously in England, where the mewses (originally lanes for stabling horses) have been richly developed into the commercial or residential enclaves. The continued requirement for vehicular access for deliveries and other access does not preclude development of the lanes as pedestrian-friendly ways. The vehicular traffic is relatively infrequent, so pedestrian/vehicular conflict is manageable. Toronto’s Kensington Market, where the narrow vehicular streets become predominately pedestrian on busy fair-weather weekends in a nearby example of ad-hoc pedestrianization. Weekend drivers adjust, and the accident rate is effectively nil. Closer yet is the one-block long Maple Lane in Barrie, illustrated by a property owner and embraced by the Mayor and Planners, is now underway. Co-operation between the owner and the City in making improvements will create a new pedestrian-oriented frontage for residential and business uses.
The House-Form Area that surrounds the Commercial Core could accommodate certain business use intensification without significant damage to its heritage character. It already contains examples of such uses, like restaurants, bed-and-breakfast establishments, and professional offices, which can be accommodated in heritage residences without inappropriate architectural changes. Most retail business could not be accommodated in such buildings, and downtown retail intensification must be accommodated elsewhere. One possibility is integration with parking intensification, as outlined above. Use intensification on the Lanes and Pathways is another. The existing lane system has unused frontage roughly equal to that on Hurontario Street.
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Maple Lane in Barrie. |
Collingwood's lanes, flanking Hurontario Street, offer the opportunity for use intensification along these lines. Development possibilities include:
-- Restaurant patios, with lane entrances and attractive planting.
-- Creation of new frontage for existing businesses, with an entrance near the parking lots and additional display windows to attract laneway pedestrians. Where the buuilding doesn't extend to the lane, a rear addition with these features would increase floor space.
-- Similar revisions could accommodate a separate lane-facing retail frontage.
-- Some lane-facing retail could be accommodated in the parking intensification developments described above.
As in the Barrie example, co-operation will be required between the municipality and property owners in improving the pedestrian appeal (and therefore the economic viability) of the lanes. It is recommended that the Town and B.I.A. initiate discussions of laneway improvements and use intensification.
The Federal Building
The Federal Buuilding has the highest heritage value. It represents the capstone of Collingwood's early great prosperity, and it is unique in the Town as a purely neo-classical building, and in the marble facing material. It is a treasure.
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The northern end of the Federal Building's front porch. |
As a Federal property, the building is exempt from designation under the Ontario Heritage Act, but it is designated federally. When the property is de-accessioned by the Federal government, it should be immediately designated under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act, and the designation should include many of the interior features.
The re-use of the building, in a way that preserves its very worthy heritage features, should be actively pursued.
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