Saint John City Market Strategic Plan Heads to Council
SAINT JOHN — It is being described as an incredible vision for a refreshed and rejuvenated Saint John City Market. The final draft of the uptown market’s 10-year strategic plan is heading to council for its approval.
Members of the city’s growth committee got a look at the initial draft of the plan in early June.
Co-author Kieron Hunt of FBM Architecture said they made some tweaks based on feedback they received since then. Hunt said that included placing more emphasis on the heritage and historic value of the popular market.
“We include that throughout the strategic plan but what we didn’t do is we didn’t have it front and centre,” Hunt told committee members on Tuesday. “In the strategic plan now, we speak to the importance of the heritage and the historic elements as setting a stage for progress.”
A final two-week survey on the Shape Your City website garnered more than 370 responses. Hunt said one topic they heard frequently from people is that they do not want the market to become a food court or shopping mall.
“We really took away from this that the City Market is a treasured landmark in uptown and we are not proposing it become a mall or food court,” he said. “We saw where some of those notions came from in the rendering that we had presented which might have looked a little too modern for some people’s liking. It wasn’t meant that way.”
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The plan includes more than 60 recommendations, such as establishing regular hours of operation, redesigning the outdoor plaza at Germain Street, and reducing the number of aisles from three to two.
The shift from a three-aisle to a two-aisle layout will provide for more space in the market but will modify and potentially reduce the amount of stall space, as one of the two central rows of stalls is removed to create wider walking aisles.
The plan identified this move “as fundamental to unlocking the value and vitality of the Market,” as the amount of walk-by traffic would increase significantly for each vendor, and wider aisles would allow more easily for walkers, strollers, and wheelchairs.
Hunt said this recommendation was an “area of disagreement” among people who responded to the final survey.
“I know that having three aisles does make it hard to get around but that is also a bit of the charm and a staple of the city market. I love the market aisles the way they are,” wrote one person.
“I love the 2 aisle concept and would love to see more seating both inside and outside,” wrote another individual.
Mayor Donna Reardon, who chaired the City Market steering committee, said she is excited to see the final plan.
“We’ve got signage that should be changed, we have accessibility issues, we have washroom issues. There’s lots of things that need to be brought up to speed and so this plan will do that,” Reardon said during Tuesday’s committee meeting.
The strategic plan will now go to council for final approval at their July 24 meeting.
Brad Perry is the Regional News Director for New Brunswick at Acadia Broadcasting, Huddle content partners.
With files from Alex Graham