Stouffville Main Street businesses contemplate BIA to help downtown core

Town previously had a BIA from 1980 to 2009

Yorkregion.com
June 21, 2019
Simon Martin

There are few people more intimately familiar with Stouffville Main Street than Kim Everson. She has been operating Stouffville Florist on the road for the last 35 years. As the town contemplates the possibility of moving to a Business Improvement Area for the Main Street Everson said it’s important for the future to be merchant-focused.

Stouffville previously had a BIA for the downtown from 1980 to 2009. The town formed the Downtown Stouffville Working Group in 2006 and the BIA was folded into it in 2009. 

The Downtown Stouffville Working Group activities include events, beautification, marketing, advocacy and planning, are supported by an additional tax levy that is paid by commercial and industrial property owners within a designated downtown area and is collected by the Town.

According to a staff report, in recent years the working group has claimed to have had difficulty accomplishing anything, citing outside interference that was beyond their control.

“The downtown is an important part of our community. It has been a real challenge lately,” Ward 4 Coun. Rick Upton said. “There has been some discontent.”

Everson said she remembers the BIA having more merchants and retail people on the board guiding the decisions. The working group has more lawyers and service people on the board, she said.

Owner of Chic Thrills Charlotte Cave said the working group became a body that simply rubber-stamped town decisions. “We need to do something,” Cave said. “Downtown is an entity unto itself and it's dying.”

Ward 6 Coun. Sue Sherban said many business owners have reached out to her. “There has been much conversation with active businesses wanting to have a little more input in bringing more business to the downtown."

Whether a BIA is the right solution depends who you ask. Owner of Redefined Finds Alison Jackson said she thinks a BIA would be a great idea for the Main Street businesses.

“A BIA would be perfect way to come up with ideas,” she said. According to Jackson, a lot of the town’s economic development focus has switched to west end of town where new plazas are being proposed and built. She said she thinks a BIA would fight for a core. Business owners have already banded together to have successful events like Ladies Night that help bring residents into the downtown core, Jackson said.

While the idea of BIA could be good, Cave worries about the viability of one in a town like Stouffville. “We don’t have enough stores for BIA,” she said.

Mayor Iain Lovatt said it’s important to get feedback from local merchants about what they want for the downtown. A BIA is just one element on the table. “We all want the downtown to be successful,” he said. Council passed a motion June 18 for staff to report back later this summer with feedback from local businesses about how to move forward on downtown improvement.

As merchants on Main Street contemplate the future there is the large spectre of Main Street reconstruction looming. Originally scheduled for 2018, the last word from Stouffville council doesn’t have the project moving forward until 2021 or 2022.

Leandra Meli has operated Maddy’s dog grooming boutique on Main Street for the last five years. She said she understands the need to reconstruct Main Street. Although it could be a challenge for the business, she is optimistic about the future. “I think we can survive it,” she said. “We don’t rely on too much walk-in traffic.”

Jackson said reconstruction is necessary and look forwards to it happening.

Mario D'Addese runs Fame Men’s Hairstylist next to the GO station on Main Street. He just hopes when the construction actually happens it goes quickly.