VIDEO VIEWS: What do you think about council’s Columbia Ave. design decision?

This seven minute video explores the wide range of opinions held by merchants and random pedestrians on the Columbia Ave. streetscape design.

On May 7, Council decided in an in camera meeting to change the design of Columbia Ave.

Previously, the design had called for wide sidewalks and parallel parking between Queen St. and Washington St. on the north side of Columbia. The design intended to create a pedestrian boulevard to beautify the downtown core, to encourage the introduction of sidewalk cafés, and to encourage people to spend more time downtown.

Although this design had been based on a long period of public input, a large segment of Rossland were opposed to the plan, in particular the requirement for parallel parking on the block.

The day construction began, council decided to maintain angle parking on this block, much as it is now. Council’s opinion on both the design and the process to reach their decision are described in other articles this week.

City staff report that the new design will see the north side sidewalks lose some width (less than a metre), and the south sidewalks will gain a metre. Both sidewalks will be four metres wide.

We took to the streets to ask Rosslanders, what do you think?

Filmed and edited by David Hartman. Interviews by Andrew Bennett.