Summary of Public Engagement for the Sustainable Waterfront and Downtown Master Plan - November

UPDATE:  The DRAFT PLAN [PDF - 10.4 MB] will be presented to Nelson City Council and the community [PDF - 87 KB] on March 9th, 2011.

November 2010 Workshops

Key Observations

The second set of public workshops for the creation of the City of Nelson Sustainable Waterfront and Downtown Master Plan were held on Thursday, November 25th 2010.  The workshops focused on the Draft Master Plan Goals and Two Preliminary Design Concepts in a format similar to the workshops held in October, with morning stakeholder discussions and an evening public workshop.

Stemming from the Draft Path to 2040 Principles and End State Goals, twelve Draft Master Plan Goals [PDF - 620 KB] were presented.  The goals that garnered the most support and will be prioritized are:

  • Connections - Connections between the Downtown and the Waterfront across the CPR tracks are crucial to the successful redevelopment of the Waterfront lands.  The most favoured connection was an at-grade crossing [PDF - 164 KB] beside the old CPR Station, linking Baker Street to Lakeside Drive.  In the longer term, a bridge extension to Kootenay Street was preferred over a bridge extension to Ward Street, as it is more central to the Waterfront lands.  Any crossing over CPR tracks will require further discussions with the Canadian Pacific Railway Co.
  • Downtown Intensification - Downtown intensification and infill of vacant and underutilized lands, in the form of mixed-use buildings, should be prioritized.
  • Baker Street South Intensification - The area surrounding the old CPR station (the new Chamber of Commerce building) should be prioritized for mixed-use, live/work residential and expanded commercial development.
  • Heritage / New Construction - Revise the current Official Community Plan design guidelines for new development within the Downtown to allow for more contemporary styles of architecture.  New buildings would be subject to urban design guidelines in order to properly shape the public realm (streets / sidewalks / parks).
  • Red Sands Park - The creation of a new City park at the northern end of the city was the highest priority goal for the open space network.

In addition the draft Master Plan Goals, Two Preliminary Design Concepts [PDF - 3.9 MB] were presented.  The concept that was most popular was Concept 1 - Water's Edge Residential.  This concept, serving as a vision for the Waterfront in proximity to Downtown, proposes multi-family uses from Hall Street to Poplar Street.  The concept includes two long-term options for the Chahko Mika Mall site:

  1. Redevelop on the current site as a mixed-use mall with retail at grade and residential above; or
  2. Redevelop the existing site to residential uses with the option for relocating the mall to west of Hall Street in close proximity to Downtown.

Next Steps:

The feedback from these workshops will form the basis for developing the Master Plan, including design guidelines.  A public presentation of the Draft Master Plan [PDF - 10.4 MB] is scheduled for March 9th, 2011, with a Council presentation at 3:45p.m. and a Public Open House from 6-8 p.m. [PDF - 87 KB]

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