King Township moving forward on revitalizing Main Street

King encourages business, property owners and residents of Schomberg to provide input

Yorkregion.com
January 30, 2019
Sheila Wang

King Township is prepared to take one step forward to restore the former glory on the historic Main Street in Schomberg.

Township staff presented a report to council members on the one-year progress of the revitalization project of Main Street at the council meeting on Jan. 28 as the project transitions into its final stage.

Launched in fall 2017, the Main Street project is aimed to bring vibrancy and animation to the commercial core of Schomberg as the business activities on Main Street have declined over the last two decades.

“We’ve made a lot of progress and they were quite impressed with all the trade area analysis and the resident survey that we did and the business survey that we did and a swath of analyses that we’ve done,” said economic development officer Jamie Smyth who presented the report to council.

Smyth put forward a four-point approach in the draft strategy along with 74 proposed action items for council to consider for final approval in preparation for the project to move from strategy development to implementation.

The four-point approach, or four-pillar program was developed based on a template from Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA), including leadership and management; physical improvements; economic development; and marketing and promotion.

“It’s a really good, tried-and-true method of revitalizing and re-engaging a downtown neighbourhood main street,” said Charles Cooper, who spoke in favour of the report on behalf of Schomberg Village Association and the affiliated community groups.

A longtime resident on Main Street, Cooper said he moved in 19 years when Main Street businesses were struggling to survive as plazas and big-box stores started making their way to Schomberg.

He said the proposed plan is moving in the right direction as it promotes Main Street as an attraction for people to visit, shop and have fun.

The budget for the implementation of the strategy is $104,000 in two years. This is the second year since King Township received the $52,000 in partnership funding from the OMAFRA Rural Economic Development (RED) program.

In the report, staff also asked council to direct the $45,000 funding from Ontario through the Main Street Revitalization Initiative to the Main Street revitalization project for physical improvements such as streetscaping and beautification.

The Street Revitalization Initiative is a $26-million fund to help municipal governments across Ontario undertake main street revitalization activities that support small businesses.

King Township is required to utilize its funding by March 22, Smyth said.

“The reality is that we took this on because we felt that Schomberg was at a bit of tipping point in terms of whether it was to have that kind of historic, quaint rural traditional main street village feel to it,” Smyth said.

The staff report included a trade area analysis which found that Schomberg’s trade area covers more than 200,000 people, dominated by traditional family structure with children at home with immense spending power.

More than half of the households in the trade area earn over $100,000 per year, and more than 13 per cent make more than $200,000 per year, according to the report.

“I think that’s encouraging for businesses that may want to take advantage of knowing that Schomberg is reachable and that it could be a viable destination if we have the right mix of businesses, restaurants and galleries,” Smyth said.

There are currently 32 businesses that have 63 full-time and part-time employees within the historic Main Street, according to the report.

The long-term goal of the revitalization project is to attract people and drive awareness as a destination, enhance physical design and appearance, and attract more business that fits the Main Street focus.

The goals are expected to be accomplished through the 74 action items, from street beautification, park improvement, event promotion and marketing.

King encourages the business and property owners and residents of Schomberg to provide input on the draft strategy and proposed actions before the end of March 2019.

Council is expected to make a final decision on the staff’s strategy and implementation plan for the revitalization project in April.

For more information, visit schombergmainstreet.ca.