Water Street overhaul draws anxieties, ideas

Business people, residents and contractors all had their say about the future plans for Water Street in St. John's at a meeting Wednesday evening.

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The city plans to start work soon to upgrade sewers and infrastructure below the street, which are almost a century old and need to be replaced.

While some people were there to provide input on the final look of the busy downtown street once the work is done, others expressed their anxieties about how the five-year project could hurt their bottom line.

"Businesses could go out of business, which could cause unemployment for people," said Jason Brake, owner of the restaurant Blue on Water.

"Small shops and restaurants on Water Street we employ the equivalent if not more than Bull Arm, so just imagine if someone was to come into Bull Arm and say 'okay half of you are not going to have jobs in a year'."

Some are already calling for the whole project to be delayed until 2017, but city councillors are promising to do everything possible to make sure businesses aren't negatively affected by the dig.

Future design plans also discussed

Despite the complaints from Water Street businesses, some residents and stakeholders were at the meeting on Wednesday to have a look at plans for the work and to make some suggestions for the final layout of the street.

Gerald Penney, who lives in the area, hopes the city will come up with something that will alleviate some of the current traffic problems in the downtown. 

"I can't think of anything else but some redesign that mitigates traffic," he said after the meeting.

"The place is just choked with traffic. So unless that changes and the automobile gets put back a bit and pedestrians come forward — in the grand scheme of things I can't see what else would happen."

Council plans to hold another meeting with business owners in early October. In the meantime, they are still working with contractors to come up with a final plan for the street.

Halifax-based company UPLAND Urban Planning and Design is leading the project, and will look after the streetscaping plan once the infrastructure work is complete.

Bruce Mans, who represented the company at the meeting, said they are hoping to have some designs to choose from by the end of the week, and to settle on a final design by the end of the November.

"People have different ideas about making it pedestrian only, heated sidewalks and so on," he said.

"We've heard a lot of things so far and everything is on the table at this point."