The Rural Municipality of Ritchot is working with HTFC Planning & Design to create plans to revitalize the main streets of three of its biggest communities: St. Adolphe, Ste. Agathe, and Île-des-Chênes.
Lesley Gaudry, Ritchot’s economic development officer, explains that the goal is to design main streets that are intended to bring the community together in strategic meeting places while driving economic growth.
“We have three towns that have changed quite a bit demographically as well as geographically over the last ten years, mostly due to residential expansion as well as a bit of commercial expansion in Île-des-Chênes and industrial expansion in Ste. Agathe,” Gaudry explains. “We’re doing this project so that each main street can become a vibrant business district. We are taking a serious look at our main streets and want to explore design features that enhance walkability and flow for multiple modes of traffic like vehicles and bikes.”
As Gaudry explains, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. “You can’t have a recipe and say here’s what we need to do. Each town has its own unique sense of place, so that’s why we planned workshops in each community.”
Over the past few weeks, HTFC Planning & Design has conducted workshops to bring stakeholders together to help reach a consensus on development directions. The stakeholders included anyone who had a vested interest in the main street such as non-profit organizations, parent advisory committees, seniors groups, and owners of storefront businesses.
From these workshops, HFTC Planning & Design will come up with concept plans and drawings for the three individual main streets. Open houses will be held in each community early in the new year to share the plans with stakeholders.
“From there, we will end up with some drawings with budget estimates and we will then be able to use those plans for the short-term and long-term development of these communities,” Gaudry explains. “These plans can then be used as infrastructure documents as well an economic development documents.”
