Some questions about downtown displays

I got comments from the clerk and the fire chief about these questions. According to the clerk, a tent is required for curbside merchandise areas. This was done "in an attempt to maintain a consistent and compatible atmosphere in the heritage district." I am personally unconvinced that mandatory tents create anything that is either consistent or compatible when their use is unnecessary or unwanted. I think they are just another expense our BIA has to shoulder.The bylaw notes: "The Merchandise (sic) shall be displayed under a tent [S.A.1] structure not exceeding 2.4 metres (8 feet) by 3.6 metres (12 feet), and extends to the boundary of the front of the building, with the exception of businesses located adjacent to an intersection or bump-outs, and design guidelines for the Town of Collingwood Heritage Conservation District, shall be considered in review of applications." Also, tents erected for the "assembly" of people are required to have a specific fire rating. However, the clerk wrote, tents that are erected for the purpose of display and/or merchandise sales are not required to have that same fire rating, as long as customers aren't in them. The fire chief noted that, "any tent that is used for commercial use must be fire rated. If the tent is not fire rated and the intended use is for vending commercially then the vendor can occupy the tent but not the general public." However, he recognizes that "the small tents being considered are not big enough generally for the vendor, their product and the public anyway. "The chief and staff recommend the vendor sets up tables around the outside edge (within, of course, the tent), and staff stays under the tent. The public can see what is being sold - but from the outside. If the tent is larger, it will need a rating for fire retardant. But that's not necessarily optimal for the vendors, who were, apparently, not consulted about this section of the bylaw before it was drafted (perhaps aside from the BIA executive, that is). Silly customers who want to get under the tent if it rains - not allowed - just stand there in the rain!The chief notes the fire department has been explaining this issue to the BIA and special events people for several years. The fire department had to have tents taken down where someone was cooking under a non-rated tent.The new tents recently purchased by the town for BIA use have no rating for fire retardant, so can't be used for customers. It also means vendors cannot use electricity for displays in those tents (so, for example, music stores can't have electric guitars and amplifiers set up for people to test).Businesses are permitted to display merchandise year round against the storefront, but curbside merchandise displays (with tents) are only allowed between April 1 and October 30, concurrent with the patio regulations (well, the non-licensed patios, since licensed patios are non-existent in Collingwood, thanks to this bylaw). Setting up during March Break, even if the weather would encourage tents, is not allowed.I think this bylaw needs some reworking.

There was an excellent article in the Globe this week about revitalizing downtowns. One of the keys to injecting life into a downtown core is improving the infrastructure and it seems we have done that in spades. However, some of the other suggestions we fall down on badly!
Cafes, restaurants, and specialty entertainment should be encouraged. Our council has discouraged restaurants from locating on our main street with their restrictive bylaw governing patios.
It was suggested that restrictive levies and bylaws no longer make sense. London removed development charges and parking requirements for new residential construction and the city's downtown population has grown by 37% since 1998. Sadly our council's lack of vision halted progress on two fine developments. Imagine how much busier our downtown would be had Admiral Collingwood Place and the Lions' Den development had moved ahead. It would have also resulted in increased tax revenue for our town.
A downtown should be seen as a dynamic event space with outdoor concerts and festivals planned often. Elvis won't last much longer folks, since the Boomers are aging quickly and Elvis holds no relevance for the younger generations. The BIA is letting the downtown down.

I'm not sure I have done justice to the article. However, it pointed out to me what a poor job this council has done for our downtown core. We need Sandra, Rick, Ian, Mike, and five more people with a vision for Collingwood who don't get so wrapped up in rules and regulations that they lose sight of the big picture....a better Collingwood for the people who work so hard to pay their taxes.

an after thought.....tweek, rework, rewrite, rethink that ridiculous bylaw. It was conceived in haste, voted on without all the information and is not working to compliment business. Having to pay fees and purchase tents and move patios on top of such a high business tax is ludicrous.
Some on council don't understand they are working FOR the people.

How did it happen that "respect for the preservation of Heritage" managed to morph into misguided, draconian, poorly drafted, administrivia, death-by-a hundred-cuts, bylaws... (backed by new draconian by-law enforcement capabilities)???


Who are the hidden influencers and store owners behind this??

...and by the way, I think the outside of our new Library is ugly..
We spent $7 million and that red brick "warehouse" is what we got??.

Collingwood is starting to remind me of my parents retirement village in Florida.
The residents had nothing better to do with their time, than write reams and reams of of silly, detailed, rules and bylaws and then spend their time enforcing them.

Councilors....remind you of anyone??

Our Downtown is beginning to look the same way as their retirement village....no energy, no life, no attraction, no people, "lights out" early.

You forgot about the buskers. I brought this idea forward a year or so ago, hoping it would help animate and rejuvenate the downtown. It got subsumed into Councillor Jeffrey's dual whammy - Arts and Culture Committee and BIA - and it was turned inside out, strapped by picayune restrictions, and bleached into a pale shadow of the original idea. Why are some people so afraid of a little music or entertainment? Why does everything have to be so rigidly controlled that the life is squeezed out of it?