Bike racks could start sprouting throughout the downtown core soon.
At least that’s what officials hope by adding bike racks to the city’s downtown beautification program.
In its second year, the program provides business owners with grants that cover half the cost of flowerpots, perpendicular signs, benches and now bike racks.
That’s music to the ears of Andrew Phelps, owner of Cranky’s Bike Shop on St. Anne Street.
“People have been asking for bike racks in front of our building for a long time,” he said. “We’re pretty excited.”
His previous attempts to put in a bike rack met with resistance from the city but now he’s poised to get one while only paying half the cost. One hitch is that the design requires approval from the brand leadership team established to ensure compatibility with St. Albert’s new “Cultivate Life” brand.
“The design doesn’t necessarily have to incorporate the new brand. We’re just looking for something that’s very artistic,” said tourism development co-ordinator Joan Barber.
She’s received a lot of inquiries about bike racks but expects the greatest uptake to be flowerpots.
“What I would like to see is that the whole downtown core is pretty much covered in flower pots,” Barber said. She would also like to see four or five more bike racks and at least six “blade” signs.
These hang perpendicular to the street and are 10 times more visible than face-mounted signs, she said.
First introduced last year, the beautification program only saw one business adopt a blade sign and four businesses take on flowerpots. This slow uptake was mainly due to a late introduction, which won’t be a problem this year, Barber said.
“We’ve given people enough time to buy into all aspects of the program,” she said.
So far she’s fielded at least a dozen inquiries from interested business owners, she said.
The program applies to businesses within the downtown area as defined by the Downtown Area Redevelopment Plan. The city provided $70,000 for the program last year but still has $60,000 left, which Barber expects to spend.
Deb McGee, owner of Crimson Quill Gifts, plans to repeat as a flower purchaser.
“I had lots of people commenting on it … positive comments about making the downtown look beautiful,” she said.
“I’m not sure that I could directly correlate that to increased business but it makes peoples’ shopping experience downtown more pleasurable.”
Bob Fisher, who sits on the chamber of commerce’s downtown committee, recently walked the downtown to inform business owners about the program.
“After three days on the street I think everybody’s aware of it,” he said. “The response overall is very positive.”
Flowers should start appearing throughout the downtown in late May or early June, he said.
Fisher is glad to see that, after years of talking about improving the downtown, the city is finally making something happen.
“There’s a desire to do something rather than chat about it,” he said.
The downtown beautification program is the city’s response to recommendations made by tourism development consultant Roger Brooks, who visited St. Albert in 2008 and 2009.
