A plan to transform Commercial Street in the heart of Nanaimo’s downtown has won the support of city council.
The five-year phased project — with some details still to be worked out — would start next year and could cost up to $19.2 million in total.
Features include wider sidewalks, better lighting, new landscaping, public art and integrating plazas and parks with streets.
One concept for Diana Krall Plaza — dedicated to the Nanaimo singer and pianist — would include a bird’s-eye-view outline of a grand piano.
The new design links the plaza to Commercial Street to create a large area that could host events and public gatherings, according to a video on the plan presented to council. The plaza will include places for sitting and people-watching, and an interactive stage and viewing area.
After the first phase, with an expected price tag of $3 million to $3.7 million, other phases would go to the council table for annual budget decisions.
City council endorsed the vision after receiving a report from consultants Toole Design and Mobycon.
Mayor Leonard Krog said Thursday that planned changes will mean downtown “will be a safer, more welcoming place for everybody.”
He hopes the revitalized space attracts all ages to the area, including those who might otherwise avoid downtown because of concerns about people with mental-health and addiction issues.
Planned changes open up the opportunity for more public events downtown, Krog said, pointing to the Greater Nanaimo Chamber of Commerce’s hugely popular night markets on Thursdays.
Reworking Commercial Street will take several years and be carried out as other improvements unfold on that street and nearby, such as renovations to the former A and B Sound building and the city-owned site that once held the Jean Burns building, destroyed by fire in 2016.
The plan includes flex zones where chairs could be set up for a special event, a market could be held, or a restaurant could expand its outdoor space, Krog said. “It will be that much easier to undertake all those kinds of things that will be special.”
Under the phased plan, work on Commercial Street from Victoria Crescent to Terminal Avenue and the Commercial and Bastion Street intersection would be completed first.
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