Age-friendly tourism - accessible downtowns

NRU
May 10, 2017
Sarah Niedoba

Recognizing both its changing demographics, and its need to bring tourism to its two historic downtowns, Whitby council has approved an age-friendly action plan that aims to tackle both issues.

Council has been pushing to pedestrianize its downtowns for years, hoping to draw both tourists and locals to the area. The new age-friendly plan feeds into this goal, by prioritizing the town’s walkability.

After months of consultation with community groups, council approved staff’s Age-Friendly Whitby Action
Plan Monday. It contains 72 recommendations, ranging from emergency preparedness measures, to improving downtown walkability.

“We like the saying, ‘If you build for the youth, you’re inaccessible to seniors, but if you build for seniors, you’re accessible for everyone,” says Mayor Don Mitchell.

Mitchell believes that the plan will align well with Whitby’s Downtown Action Plan, which focuses on
developing the town’s two historic downtown cores into walkable tourist-friendly neighbourhoods.

“The reality is that, right now, our downtowns and neighbourhoods are very vehicle focused,”
says Mitchell. “It’s an ongoing process, trying to make the spaces more walkable, and more accessible, but ultimately it’s a worthwhile one.”

Sustainability, heritage, downtowns and community development manager Maria McDonnell has been working to pedestrianize the town’s historic spaces through her work with the downtown Whitby action plan.

“In the Downtown Whitby Action Plan, it’s about creating pedestrian friendly environments and vibrant
places, and certainly in the Age-Friendly Plan there’s a lot of overlap in that regard,” says McDonnell. “I think some of the challenges come when you’re working with a fixed built environment, and you have to work with your existing buildings and sidewalks instead of building something new.”

Still, McDonnell is committed to rebuilding the town’s two historic downtowns, which she calls the “business hearts” of Whitby. She says that the age-friendly plan is focused on making the downtowns
accessible to as many residents as possible, in order to maximize both tourism and resident use.

“While the age-friendly action plan was focused on a certain demographic, I think that anything that comes out of it helps everyone in our community-downtowns can be really accessible for that senior demographic if things are built right,” she says.

The plan’s recommendations include increasing accessibility to businesses within downtown; encouraging downtown business associations to conduct walkability audits; and improving accessibility at community events to increase participation.

The plan also details ongoing goals to make the town more walkable, including the improvement of trails,
pathways and sidewalks, and making planning choices that account for bicycles.

Implementation of the plan will be launched at an event on June 1, to kick-off Seniors Month.