Penticton

Photo: Deborah Pfeiffer

Residents view design plans at community centre

Penticton's Main Street springs to life during events like the Peach Festival or farmers' market on Saturday mornings.

To make the street vibrant all year long, the city has created new designs for the downtown core, with input from the public.

That dialogue is continuing this week as residents are invited to view plans at different locations throughout the city.

"Our goal from the start has been to have our community plan for the downtown, so we want to spend this whole week getting lots of feedback," said Barb Haynes, executive director of  the Downtown Penticton Association.

It has been more than 30 years since Main Street, with its time worn shopfronts and long existing restaurants, has had a facelift.

So in April, the downtown revitalization committee began asking for input from the public.

From there a design charrette was held in August, with the current designs coming out of those meetings.

Among the proposed changes are a lake to lake trolley car, a cultural district, entertainment district, wider sidewalks and more street cafes and a year round indoor market.

The colourful displays drew a big crowd at the market. People of all ages expressed an interest in the Penticton of tomorrow at the community centre.

While youngsters were excited about a new movie theatre and the trolley car, the older generation liked the idea of more to do, day and night.

"It needs this very badly because all the businesses down there don't seem to do very well," said Diana Kelly. "It especially needs more to do in the evening because right now it is too sleepy."

The next public input session is slated for 4 to 7 p.m., Thursday at the Shatford Centre.

A come and eat downtown campaign is also scheduled through Friday. From noon to 2 p.m. each day, patrons can visit each restaurant in the downtown and receive a rack card showing current pictures of the downtown compared with drawings of what it could look like in the future.

"Once we go through this whole week, we will gather all the information and go to the design phase, then bring that back out," said Haynes.