A city grant program aimed at sprucing up downtown hasn’t taken off as well as city officials had hoped.
Last year the city introduced a grant program to provide up to $2,500 to downtown businesses that adopt “blade” signs, a sidewalk cafĂ© or general beautification such as flowerpots, hanging baskets or outdoor seating. So far only five businesses have taken advantage of the offer.
“I was a little bit disappointed in it but we didn’t get it out until the end of June so I know it was a little late,” said tourism development co-ordinator Joan Barber.
“Most of the feedback [from businesses] was they just didn’t have time last summer.”
Businesses had until Oct. 15 to apply for the program, which applies to those falling within the downtown area as defined by the downtown area redevelopment plan. The result is that only $8,000 of the original $70,000 budgeted has been spent. The remaining $62,000 will carry over to this year, Barber said.
The city has fielded requests to add outdoor bike racks to the program and is exploring that option, she said.
“I’m very positive that the uptake will be much stronger this year,” Barber 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.
At one public forum, Brooks showed photos emphasizing the stark appearance of St. Albert’s downtown compared to more successful cities where business owners line the streets with planters and benches. This type of esthetic focus can increase sales between 10 and 20 per cent, he said.
Brooks is a fan of blade signs, which hang perpendicular to the street rather than facing straight outward, because they are much more readable for passing motorists and pedestrians.
Art Beat was the only business to get such a sign through the program.
“We would have been silly not to take advantage of it,” said owner Eric Outram, whose sign cost a total of $650.
Outram applied for such a sign eight years ago when he moved his business downtown but bylaw enforcement wouldn’t allow it. Now he feels his business is much more visible to passersby, although he hasn’t had any feedback from customers yet. However, several business owners have asked where he got the sign done.
“I think that a lot of businesses are finding things kind of tight right now and maybe don’t see the benefit. I’m not sure why they wouldn’t. We jumped on it because it’s bound to be a benefit,” Outram said.
There were several factors at work in the program being undersubscribed, said Mayor Nolan Crouse.
Doctors and dentists, of which there are many downtown, have less of a need for such signs than retail businesses, he said.
Some landlords didn’t want to spend the money while one didn’t want one tenant to have a blade sign if the others didn’t. Also, some business owners felt they just couldn’t afford to front the entire cost in uncertain times.
“This is going to take a little while,” Crouse said.
