Most people don’t live near downtown. Development patterns have moved the majority of our population far south of the river. Southlands and Southridge saw a 35% increase in population at the last municipal census. From a purely political view those areas should get the most attention. But they are also relatively new neighbourhoods. They have not yet had to face the challenges of failing century-old infrastructure. They don’t have the social problems of the downtown core. Revitalizing downtown is an important issue, because the same forces that weakened it will play out in every neighbourhood. Ranchlands and Southlands are new now, but will eventually age. What we learn here will help us maintain other neighbourhoods.
Medicine Hat may be small, but it is drop dead gorgeous because we have made great use of our natural beauty. Crescent Heights, Ross Glen, Ranchlands, Cottonwood, Southridge—all border onto coulees with great views. Our city is a perfect showcase for what prairie life is all about.
Downtown Medicine Hat is one neighbourhood that has failed to take advantage of its strengths. It borders a beautiful river, but access is cut off by River Road. It has beautiful historical buildings, but many are derelict and deteriorating. Downtown is the anchor of local tourism, but the neighbourhood also suffers from the highest rates of social disorder in the city.
People have been talking about downtown revitalization for three decades. We have been making progress. The 600 blocks of 2nd Street and 3rd Street are busy and vibrant. New businesses have combined with long time stalwarts to create new buzz. We still have work to do and need to build on this momentum.
City council is in the midst of passing our updated municipal development plan. It’s a good time to review why this neighbourhood warrants special attention, to remind us of the challenges of change and the choices we have.
Council’s vision for downtown
Council has been working with staff and the community for two years to develop our next municipal development plan (MDP). This high level plan outlines a philosophy and set of values to guide development in Medicine Hat. Included is a vision for downtown development.
There are three main components to council’s downtown vision:
The creation of a Waterfront Development District. The area from Finlay bridge to the old Arena would be developed to allow greater interactions with the river. It’s important to highlight that this district only works if River Road east of City Hall is closed and repurposed.
Council would like to see more mixed-use higher density development in the downtown core. In simple language we think more people living downtown is a good thing. Incentivizing residential spaces on top of commercial developments (mixed use) will help create a critical mass of population downtown. That in turn creates a self-sustaining neighbourhood.
Prioritize different types of transportation within the neighbourhood like pedestrian access. That means council will consider the pedestrian experience and public transit, not just vehicle traffic, when looking at design options.
Calgary has recently developed access down to the Bow River.
Intentionality and sustained attention
City council has deservedly received criticism for the lack of follow through on previous plans. To see this vision of this MDP realized requires intentionality and sustained attention to a degree we have not shown in the past.
City council has scheduled 3rd Street for a deep utility and street level upgrade in 2024. This is a key deadline. These types of projects occur once every 30 years. Unlike the MDP, which provides no resources for any of its ideas—council has budgeted and scheduled the 3rd Street work. That represents a once in a generation opportunity to remake 3 critical blocks of downtown.
There are a number of choices at play for the 3rd Street project and with other issues that will help address the downtown’s current challenges, but these choices are imperfect. Meaning that they solve some issues, but come with other downsides. It’s important for this neighbourhood to understand our options.
The issues
The 600 block of 2nd Street SE is catching fire. Inspire Cafe, Station Coffee Company, Redcliff Bakery, the Mezz, Sabai Infusion, Thuy Tien, Friday’s Image, Shut Up and Wear It, One Beauty Academy, The Page and Whisker, the Monarch Theatre, the Bank of Montreal and the Framing and Art Centre is a great mix of business. All attract traffic making this block lively. There have always been great shops and restaurants downtown, but they are often separated from each other by empty, rundown store fronts. But the 600 block of 2nd Street is what we’re striving for.
Optimizing the existing parking inventory
Complaints about downtown parking are never ending. We could turn downtown into Costco or Walmart with ample parking, but that ignores the unique strengths of downtown. We shouldn't assume that the answer to the downtown parking issue is simply more parking lots.
The city and the City Centre Development Agency have conducted numerous parking studies. Adding capacity is one, albeit expensive option, but the studies also found we weren’t making the best use of existing resources. Here are some of the findings:
On-street parking is primarily used by downtown workers who compete with customers for easy access free parking.
Off-street parking lots are underutilized.
Enforcement of the 2-hour free parking time (through chalk on tires) is inconsistent.
The transit terminal is an under-used parking facility. Anecdotal stories indicate people have safety concerns about using this facility.
New on-street patios create a great atmosphere and lively streets, but reduce on street parking capacity.
Choices:
Many city-owned lots have permit space available. In my opinion the city should prioritize utilization over cost recovery. Getting closer to 100% utilization should be the goal. If the city is reluctant to undercut private parking lots to achieve this we should sell these lots. Being lukewarm isn’t helping anyone. Encouraging employees to park off-street would free up more on street parking for spontaneous visitors/customers.
Similarly, transit terminal parking needs to get closer to 100% capacity. If people aren’t using the facility because of safety concerns city council needs to address them. This is a massive expensive facility.
We need to review if the current 2-hour free parking time is adequate. Perhaps it should be 3-hours? If you’re downtown for business there aren’t many options for medium term parking.
We need better signage downtown indicating where the parking options are. Visitors would have difficulty knowing what options are available.
We need to also optimize private lots. For example, bank parking is well used during the day, but empty during the evenings. How can we facilitate better utilization of these spaces as well?
Current enforcement of the rules is weak and inconsistent. The Medicine Hat Police Service received additional funds in 2020 for a new parking enforcement system. The new system, using cameras and automated tracking of license plates, will make enforcement much easier and consistent, but will be a significant change from current practice. Avoidance of enforcement through rubbing off the chalk or moving your car will no longer work. This will be a difficult transition. We can make this transition much smoother if we address these other things.
Character buildings and encouraging redevelopment
Medicine Hat is lucky to have so many historical buildings. These give downtown its distinct character. We have lost many more. It’s easy to see why. Renovating old buildings to bring them up to modern safety codes is often prohibitively expensive. The longer they sit empty, the harder they become to save. The Assiniboine Inn, the Tramps Building, and the Towne Theatre, are white elephants dragging down this neighbourhood. Considering these buildings have been sitting empty for years how do we turn them back into productive members of the community?
Choices:
The MDP signals council’s support of more residential space downtown. We know that redevelopment of infill properties is harder and more expensive than greenfield developments. Council will need to add incentives or regulation support to rebalance this. Lethbridge has a $30,000 per door incentive for market priced residential developments downtown. This is one way to rebalance the cost of brownfield redevelopments.
Council has experimented with tax cancellations with the 603 First Street property, but there are other taxation incentives to spur development. Assessments in other provinces split evaluation between land value and improvement value. City council could amend rules to limit taxation to land value. We would collect the same amount of taxes, but any additional improvements going forward would not be taxed. This might change the economic calculus of bringing old buildings up to code. If you think about it, our tax code is completely backward. We want people to invest in their properties, but as soon as they do we raise their taxes. This while derelict owners benefit from low taxes. Our incentives are backward. Splitting assessment this way might solve this issue. This is a better way of encouraging redevelopment rather than council picking winners and losers with tax breaks for specific properties.
Decreasing concentration of social services
It’s hard to strike the right balance in talking about social disorder downtown. You don’t want to focus on the negative because there are so many good things happening. And the perception is usually worse than reality. Many areas of downtown don’t experience any issues. But other blocks do experience the effects of drug use, garbage, loitering and general social disorder.
The proposed supervised consumption site choose to be located downtown for a reason. The downtown is a consistent hot spot for overdoses. Overdoses are only the worst indicator for the effects of social disorder. The tip of the iceberg. The province pulled funding for the supervised consumption site, but the problems it was meant to address still exists. Our community has not yet attempted solutions in a coordinated way.
It is uncomfortable to be faced with poverty and drug addiction, but we’re going to have to face it. The current pandemic will only exacerbate these issues.
2018 heat map from the Medicine Hat Police Service showing hot spots for drug overdoses in Medicine Hat. Year over year the downtown is a consistent hot spot.
There is a straightforward answer to the question of why downtown sees higher rates of social disorder. This neighbourhood has the highest concentration of social services of any neighbourhood.
City council has taken a laissez faire, free market approach, to most developments, including social service developments. The result has been a concentration of social services in the downtown core.
HIV Community Link (needle exchange)
the methadone/suboxone clinic
The Medicine Hat Community Housing Society
the food bank
Provincial income supports and employment centre (provincial building)
the Salvation Army daily drop-in centre
the public library
Permanent supportive housing (the two Toronto towers across from the provincial building)
the courthouse
Medicine Hat Family Services
the Champion’s Centre/the Mustard Seed
Bridges Family Program
The concentration of social services in the downtown core was caused by the guiding philosophy of these organizations. ‘Don’t make those who need your services come to you, rather we should go to them.’ That principle creates a feedback loop. People with needs are attracted to the neighbourhood because that’s where social services are. New social services come to where they’re needed. Though all these services are greatly needed and benefit the city, there are negative effects when people with needs are concentrated. Those effects are borne by this neighbourhood.
Council has two options as I see them.
Council could intentionally work to break up this concentration. (I voted against the relocation of the food bank to the old Maple Ave firehall because of this concern.) Amending the land use bylaw would give city council more power to regulate new social service developments. It would help our community be more intentional about this issue. Did you know there are more regulations for a cannabis shop than a supervised consumption site where illegal drugs are consumed? There are many rules about where cannabis stores can be located, but we have no rules for social services. Council could add limits to the number of social services in a radius or put in rules about adjacency and buffer zones.
Or we can accept this natural trend and maintain this free market approach. If we do we should recognize that people with needs do cause some negative issues. That can be mitigated through intentional additional supports and investment for the neighbourhood to help offset these negative issues.
Either way, encouraging more people to live downtown or near downtown would greatly help. The concentration of people with needs stands out because so few people live downtown. A busy downtown would make all the difference. That might mean financial incentives for residential infill developments downtown, such as the Lethbridge residential incentive.
3rd Street infrastructure work in 2024
The renewal of deep utilities are important to allow for larger developments that require increased capacity for water, wastewater and power. But the design of street level amenities is no less important.
We live in Canada and should embrace our winter months. Downtown Medicine Hat is busy and vibrant in the summer with patios and festivals, but turns empty and bleak in winter. We should encourage year round activities.
Edmonton has creatively implemented winter design guidelines to help their streets stay busy even in the cold. Streets and buildings are designed to block wind. Sunshine exposure is maximized through orientation. We are Canadians after all and should embrace the winter.
One-way vs. two-way vs. angle parking
2nd and 3rd Street, the main downtown streets, are organized as one-way couplets. One-way streets are primarily used when the goal is the efficient movement of traffic. If we maintain the status quo, council is implicitly saying that our primary goal for downtown is a traffic hub between the north and south ends of the city. In my opinion the status quo of one-way streets does not align with the 2020 MDP.
Choices:
Two-way streets are better for pedestrians because they slow down traffic. They also provide more eyes on the street because traffic is flowing both ways. It also creates a stronger traffic system by building in redundancy. If 2nd or 3rd is shut down traffic can be picked up by the other street. (In 2009 council adopted a comprehensive downtown revitalization plan. One of the plan’s goals was to convert 2nd and 3rd street back to two-way streets. Naturally, five years later when the previous council did the major 2nd Street project they ignored the plan.)
Alternatively we could maintain the one-way couplets, but reduce traffic to a single lane. With the gained space we can create flexible space for parking cars or people or activities depending on the need.
Neither option is perfect, but either is an improvement over the current system.
The 2nd Street work in 2016 did wonders to remake the feel of those blocks, but it only scratched the surface of what’s possible. Here is one example of bad design currently on 2nd Street. The planters near the crosswalk are ill placed. With shops looking to create outdoor cafe seating this design wastes valuable usable sidewalk space.
A downtown coordinator
The city would benefit from creating a downtown coordinator within city hall to work with the Chamber, the City Centre Development Agency, social services, the police and other stakeholders to make progress on these issues. Council would benefit from someone driving the execution of our municipal development plan.
There are so many complex issues at play downtown, but considering its importance there is a good case for council making downtown a continued priority. There are a lot of great things happening here, but there are other troubling trends as well. Downtown Lethbridge is a warning of what might happen if we allow our problems to fester.