DRAFT REPORT
Town of Wolfville Commercial Development Plan
January 2006
Ekistics Planning & Design 1 Starr Lane. Dartmouth, N.S. B2Y-4V7 Ph:902-461-2525 fax:902-465-3131 [email protected]
In association with: Cantwell & Company Ltd T.M. McGuire Ltd. Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1.0 : BACKGROUND...... 1 1.1...... Context ...... 2 Project Goal...... 5 Project Purpose...... 5 1.2...... Study Approach ...... 6 1.3...... Report Organization ...... 7
CHAPTER 2.0 : DEMOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS...... 8 2.1...... Population Trends ...... 10 Household Formation:...... 11 Household Ownership...... 12 Education...... 13 2.2...... Work Activity and Incomes ...... 14 Income...... 14 Labour Force Activity and Occupations...... 14 2.3...... Economic Outlook ...... 15 2.4...... Physical Characteristics/Community Description ...... 16 Town Size:...... 16 Transportation Linkages:...... 16 Health Services:...... 16 Public Facilities:...... 16 Recreational Facilities...... 17 Municipal Services:...... 17 Recreationacultural Activities/Clubs:...... 17 Culture...... 17 Construction and Land Development:...... 17 Taxation:...... 18 2.5...... Overview of Tourism Industry ...... 19 Nova Scotia Visitor Flow Report...... 19 Visitation to Visitor Information Centres...... 21 Local Tourism Attractions...... 22 Visitor Welcome Centre...... 26 2.6...... Summary of Tourism Market ...... 26
CHAPTER 3.0 : SWOTT ANALYSIS...... 28 3.1...... Strengths ...... 28 3.2...... Weakness ...... 29 3.3...... Opportunities ...... 29 3.4...... Threats ...... 30 3.5...... Trends ...... 30
CHAPTER 4.0 : SYNTHESIS...... 31 4.1...... Workshop & Interview Results ...... 31 4.2...... Town Case Studies ...... 35 Wine Tourism and Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario...... 35 Eco-Village...... 39 The Book Town of Bredevoort, Netherlands...... 41 Summary of Case Studies...... 42
CHAPTER 5.0 : COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN...... 44 5.1...... The Strategic Plan ...... 44 Strategic Plan...... 45 Sustainability Plan...... 46 Acadia -Town Partnerships...... 48 Rent and commercial tax...... 49 Missing Businesses...... 50 Storefront Decorating...... 51 The Wolfville Farmers Market...... 51 WBDC & Town Synergies...... 51 Implement the Civic Signage Strategy...... 52 Programming and Marketing Themes and Opportunities...... 52 5.2 ...... The Spatial Plan ...... 56 Reducing Impediments...... 56 Investing in Capital Projects to Stimulate Commercial Redevelopment...... 59 Sidewalk Cafes...... 66 Financial Incentives for New Commercial Growth...... 69 Infill Strategies...... 69 Post Office Redevelopment...... 69 East Main Street Redevelopment...... 70
CHAPTER 6.0 : IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY...... 71 Phase 1 – Signing the Downtown (Gateways)...... 72 Phase 1 – MPS and LUB updates...... 72 Phase 1 – Implement the Sidewalk Cafe Design Standards...... 72 Phase 1 - Wolfville WIFI network...... 73 Phase 1 - Wolfville Downtown Revitalization...... 73 6.1 Funding Sources...... 73 6.2 Next Steps...... 76
APPENDIX A: DATA TABLES...... 79 Town of Wolfville commercial development plan
Chapter 1.0 : Background
The Town of Wolfville is the academic and cultural centre for the Valley Region of Nova Scotia and a destination for Nova Scotian and non-Nova Scotia tourists alike. Originally settled by the Acadians who were later expelled by British forces in 1755, Wolfville was resettled by New England planters who arrived in 1760. The Town was incorporated in 1893 and is now well known for is rich Acadian History, its place as a centre of education, and its picturesque setting on the shores of the Minas Basin, framed by the dykes that were built in the 1700s. Wolfville has long been a destination for both Nova Scotia travelers (within province tourists) as well as visitors from ‘away.’ Apart from its place in higher education and the all season beauty and charm of the town, Wolfville is also well known for its farm markets, boutique shops, and theater. Collectively, the market for Wolfville draws from residents within Town of Wolfville itself as well as: A significant portion of Kings County Weekend travelers from the urban core of Nova Scotia; Traffic funneled off highway 101 (and Highway number 1); and The Visitor flows along highway 101. An additional market for the Town of Wolfville is the University of Acadia which has an estimated enrollment of approximately 3,700 students. This fact is one of the core strengths of the Town. The student enrollment effectively doubles the population of the Town during the school year (beginning in late August with students arriving until
ekistics planning & design • telephone: 902.461.2525 • fax: 902.465.3131 • www.ekistics.net p. 1 Town of Wolfville commercial development plan most leave in April) with a group of people that are consuming goods and services without occupying much by way of local employment opportunities. The annual off-season dip in student populations occur at a time when the tourism season takes hold and Wolfville’s economy is bolstered during the summer months by the nearly 200,000 party trips to or through Wolfville which consume goods and services from fuel to overnight accommodations and a variety of goods and services in between. The presence and constancy of the University of Acadia provides a unique level of stability to the underlying economy that effectively insulates the area from market fluctuations; education is in high demand with seemingly little regard for fluctuations in prevailing economic condition. With specific regard to Acadia, the recent updates to the campus through the implementation of their master plan, construction of student residents and the construction and outfitting of the K.C. Irving Environmental Science Centre have supported the local and regional construction sectors and a variety of other supporting industries. The further expansion of Acadia will continue to convey local benefits, although it should be acknowledged that may of the construction related opportunities are filled by workers from other regions.
1.1 Context Those who live and work in the Town of Wolfville likely enjoy a higher standard of living relative to the average Nova Scotians, with about 40% of the paid occupations in Wolfville tied to higher than average paying employment in both heath and education, and other service based occupations. The higher than average wages and education levels within a university town, combine to create a cultural centre that provides an enviable quality of life in an attractive agricultural setting. Services and amenities available to Town residents are quite extensive. As a result of the quality of life and attractive setting, Wolfville it is often held out as a benchmark in rural Nova Scotia for other communities who are themselves contemplating a path for strategic development. However, Wolfville is not content to rest of its laurels. For example, Town Council is concerned that the municipality derives too much of its property tax revenue from residential sources. As a result, they would like to see an increase in the amount of revenue generated from commercial properties. For example, the neighbouring community of New Minas has seen a large amount of “big box” commercial development during the past decade. While the Town is content that this type/ form of development has not occurred within Wolfville, as it could overwhelm the scale and quaintness of the Town, it does mean that Wolfville residents spend a large amount of their disposal income in neighbouring communities. This outflow of economic activity means that the associated commercial property taxes accrue to these
ekistics planning & design • telephone: 902.461.2525 • fax: 902.465.3131 • www.ekistics.net p. 2 Town of Wolfville commercial development plan neighbouring municipalities. This property tax deficit is exacerbated by the fact that the Province of Nova Scotia pays a grant in lieu for the assessed value of buildings at Acadia University; an amount that the Town feels is less than market value. As a result of this activity, the Town of Wolfville is now making a concerted effort to address the issue of economic development within the town. In fact, this was the impetus behind a service review that was completed by the Town of Wolfville in 2002. This review identified the needs of the town with respect to recreation, tourism, and economic development. As a result of this process, the Town acted to fulfill its role in community and economic development and instituted a Department of Community Services. This department is now responsible for delivery of the three service roles of recreation, tourism, and economic development. In delivering on these service roles, the Department of Community Services has engaged in a consultation process wherein a Community Development Public Advisory Committee was created, and participated in a prioritization exercise. This process revealed a number of key findings regarding the role of Planning Development Regulations in the overall development of the community and economy of the Town of Wolfville. This committee reached a number of conclusions including: The current planning approvals process is lengthly and burdensome and has discouraged business from locating within the Town; There is an underlying lack of vision for development and, consequently, every opportunity that is raised must be consideration as an ‘exception’; and, There is a lack of fundamental understanding about the economic realities and the impact of development and a need to avoid anecdotally based conclusions and clarify assumptions and understanding through a fact based deeper understanding of the commercial data and what is happening to the area economically to assist in defining the problem. Ultimately, the Community Development Public Advisory Committee process concluded that a Community Economic Development/Commercial Development Plan was necessary to guide the Town in its path forward. This is the focus of this report. Key issues to be addressed in the Commercial Development Plan include:1 Parking and Traffic Management. Where should there be parking within the downtown core? A recent traffic/parking study prepared by Atlantic Road and Traffic Management concluded that parking is not currently maximized and that there is a significant amount of vacant land or excessive/suboptimal parking. This could be better allocated to alternative uses could be used as space for businesses Pedestrian Uses. The downtown core provides an ideal environment for a pedestrian/walking environment. What types of development strategies will encourage this?
1 The majority of these considerations resulted from a preliminary start-up meeting and the subsequent project start-up meeting wherein we clarified the objectives of the study and changed the scope from a focus on the quantitative analysis to a focus on the planning and visualization that is included within this commercial development plan.
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Land Uses. Where should what land uses be permitted and what uses should not be permitted. This has been the subject of debate in the past. For example, “Just us Coffee” attempted to purchase a building within the Town in the early 1990’s in order to establish a coffee roasting facility; supposedly, the Town was not interested in allowing this to happen, and did not agree to the sale. GE Printers also attempted to amalgamate several parcels of land in order to enable the development a new facility. This did not occur, and now this operation located in Kentville. Other land use considerations include the use of the dyke land area and the possibility of an expansion to the waterfront park. Planning Development Regulations. This process is viewed as unnecessarily long, costly and outcomes are often considered too subjective for any serious developer. The result has been degradation in the facades of many storefronts, and a lack of new commercial investment in the downtown. High Rent/ High Taxes. Commercial rental rates in the area are perceived as high, as is the tax burden. What can be done to increase the commercial tax base and limit future increases in property taxes? What can be done to provide more affordable housing? Relationship to the Business Park. What will be the relationship between the development in the downtown and the Dykelands Business Park area that is now located near the dykelands and is the only development space for industria light commercial land use? Availability and Optimization of Space. There are pockets of empty space or space that is not efficiently/effectively utilized within the Downtown. What can be done to increase the use of this space. For example, is it possible to increase the density of the downtown core, thereby creating more customers for local businesses?? Can tax incentives be used to encourage second floor residential uses above commercial space within the downtown core? The sustainability of the Town is linked to the density of the core and this should increase this to support overall sustainability. Retail Opportunities. Should new retail development focus on opportunities from the student population, or should it focus on general business development that is not tied particularly to the student populations? Relationship to the University. What new business opportunities are possible through the university, particularly in the area of environmental science and products for research and development, and the link between innovation and commercialization? Brand/Image. What needs to be done to best reflect the character of the town? What can be done to maintain the Town’’s existing character? How do we maximize the potential of the niche as the Cultural Centre of the Valley? Development Standards. What can be done to ensure that new housing options are aesthetically pleasing? Data Limitations. In the same way that conventional wisdom of problems can be based on unfounded assumptions not supported by fact, there is a lack of
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data and a need to collect this and understand the data to assist in accurately defining the problem. This data needs to be quantified. Cultural Centre of the Valley. How do we maximize the niche potential of Wolfville as that cultural capital of the Valley? Development Threads. What commercia retai business opportunities are most appropriate within the range of activities that Wolfville is known for, which include: o The regions Culinary/Winery areas, o The farm markets, o The University, o The cultural industries which include the Art Gallery, theater and the university, o University related resources and infrastructure, such as the KC Irving Environmental Science Centre Alternative/Sustainability Energy Growth. What is the potential for the development of Wolfville, particularly with respect to wind generation on the dyke lands.
(1) Project Goal The goal for the Commercial Development Plan is to provide a document that addresses the above issues and reflects the needs of the next Municipal Planning Strategy and Land Use Bylaws. The vision for the final Commercial Development Plan is one that is strategically based on the commercial downtown and identifies priorities, provides market and economic information, and helps to: Define Wolfville; Addresses what is happening with commercial development in the area; Provide an spatial design strategy; Establishes the kind of environment that is appropriate to the Town; and Addresses what complimentary/compatible business/clusters should be encouraged in the Town. Within this process, the most significant challenge that has emerged is the fact that while there is consensus regarding the need for a Commercial Plan, there is no consensus for the vision of the this plan. The spectrum for the vision is wide; from a locality that is branded as a center for arts and culture, to a farmer’s market destination, to a leading centre for environmental sciences. Considerable effort was expended to find a shared definition of the problem and, through extensive consultation, develop a shared solution as to the overarching trends that will influence the development path.
(2) Project Purpose The purpose of the Commercial Development Plan is to map a path towards:
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1. Increasing the commercial tax base in order to “develop a more sustainable balance of commercial and residential revenue”. 2. Revitalize the downtown core and expand this so that in both appears and functions as a flourishing commercial destination. The Commercial Development Planning process is a forward looking step for the Town of Wolfville and a natural extension of some of the Town’s recent Community Service initiatives. The final plan should provide two components: an economic development strategy for the Town; and a physical design strategy for the downtown core.
1.2 Study Approach Following a competitive procurement process, Ekistics Planning and Design and its project partners at Cantwell & Company and McGuire and Associates were selected to prepare a Commercial Development Plan for the Town of Wolfville. Our approach to this assignment consisted of four related phases, organized and carried out in a logical sequence, building from one to another in the development of the Commercial Development Plan. These four phases consisted of: Phase 1 – Background Research Phase 2 – Community Profile Phase 3 – Stakeholder Consultation Phase 4 – Commercial Development Plan As part of the planning process, our approach was to identify existing data that would support a fact based review of the socio-economic climate in which the development plan is set. This is provided in Chapter 2 and focuses on an assessment of existing conditions leading to a discussion of the expansion potential of the commercial core. To develop an effective plan, we also needed to consider and understand the potential impediments which physically confine the development of the downtown area. These include the university on one side, the marshlands on another side, the active rail line that bisects the downtown (which may someday be an opportunity) and the residential heritage community to the south and east. Other limitations that were considered related to land use bylaws (LUB’s) such as the height/density restrictions, or design guidelines which are otherwise intended to preserve the heritage character of the downtown. Our consulting process also revealed significant opportunities to strengthen and enlarge the existing commercial core. Our approach towards uncovering the strengths included an extensive series of more than twenty in person and telephone based interviews and a presentation to the public. These steps were designed to first learn from key stakeholders and then empower the local community to come up with solutions for themselves so that they would have ownership over the resulting commercial development plan.
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The final design charette was carried out through the use of a commercial development workshop wherein we explored the potential options and gathered input on solutions, thereby working to ensure buy-in from a wide cross section of the community. This step was preceded by a series of high level interviews, a photographic inventory of the town, a guided walk about, and several site visits carried out during the months of July, August, and September 2005. Ultimately, our approach to the assignment followed a consultative effort designed to build consensus with respect to the commercial planning goals and approach so that the identify visions and priorities are shared and that a workable strategy can be implemented to realize the plan’s objectives.
1.3 Report Organization The remainder of this report is organized under the following sections. Chapter 2 outlines the demographic trends in Wolfville Chapter 3 Presents a brief SWOTT analysis for the Town Chapter 4 outlines interview/workshop summaries and presents 3 case studies for similar Towns with lessons to be learned for Wolfville Chapter 5 outlines the strategic and spatial recommendations of the commercial development plan Chapter 6 presents the way to implement the plan.
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Chapter 2.0 : Demographic Analysis
Like most parts of Nova Scotia, Wolfville has experienced somewhat of a contraction of its population over the most recent Census period. At the same time, the Town has witnessed a structural shift wherein the age of the majority of the population has increased (median age). Table 1 presents a summary of the Town’s population. Table 1 Historical Population Growth: Wolfville Year Population Change Annual % 1961 2,413 1986 3,277 864 1.43% 1991 3,475 198 1.21% 1996 3,833 358 2.06% 2001 3,658 -175 -0.91%
Wolfville had a 2001 census population of 3,658, a 0.9% average annual decrease from the 1996 Census (3,833 people). While the recent decline is a greater proportion than for the province as a whole, viewed over the past 40 years, the population of Wolfville has actually increased since 1961 by more than 50%. We have broken down our project tasks into 6 sections, namely: project orientation, Collect and Review
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Documentation, Participation Strategy, Inventory, Concept Plan and Final Master Plan. These sections are described below. Relative to the 2001 Census, Wolfville’s population has increased of 3.7% over the ten years since 1991. More recently, Nova Scotia’s Municipal Indicators for 2003 indicate a 10.5% reduction in population over the past four years. In comparison to other selected communities with Kings, Wolfville has exhibited a similar trend in population, with slight growth in population since 1991 (although in the past Census period Wolfville had a slight decrease in population. The local resident population, however, does not address the full story. As the home to Acadia University, Wolfville’s permanent population almost doubles each year as 4,000 students take up residence for eight or more months during the school season. This surge in population creates both opportunities and significant challenges. The opportunities rest in the fact that the majority of the students arrive with funds to study and do not work. As such, they are agents that consume local goods and services with means brought from outside the area and, for the most part, they do not participate in the labour market. This is reflected in Figure 1 which shows a large population in the 20 to 24 age cohort for both males and females, but more particularly for females. Figure 2 presents the same chart based on Kings County population levels. This shows a distribution that one would expected with a higher proportion of people in the over 40 to 50 group and less population in the younger cohorts. Figure 4 provides the population pyramid for Nova Scotia thaty shows a similar distribution of a ‘destabilized’ pyramid where the numbers in the younger cohorts are not ‘replacing’ bubble in the middle cohort. For all charts shown, the 75+ cohort, by definition, includes everyone over 75 and appears skewed relative to the preceding bands for other senior and older cohort groups. This is because of the pooling in the age group with no upper bound. What is noteworthy form this band is the disproportionate number of females to males over 75 years of age.
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Table 2 Comparative Community Population Levels Town/Community 1991 Population 1996 Population 2001 Population Wolfville 3,475 3,833 3,658 Berwick 2,158 2,195 2,282 Kentville 5,506 5,551 5,610 New Minas 4,969 5,214 5,072 Municipality of Kings 45,087 47,486 47,159 Total Kings County 56,317 59,193 58,866
2.1 Population Trends Among the factors that will influence future changes in Wolfville’s population will include: The ongoing expansion of the University, and its effect on the wider economy, The twining of highway 101, and the reduction in travel time between Wolfville and the urban centre of NS, and The general trend for the province as a whole, where Nova Scotia lost population from 1996 to 2001, from 909,282 in 1996 to 908,007 in 2001 (a decrease of 0.1%). Within Nova Scotia, 12 of 18 counties saw a decline in population from 1996 to 2001. Those counties that did not included Halifax County (4.7% growth), Hants County (2.6% growth), Lunenburg (0.1% growth), Colchester (0.1% growth), and Antigonish (0.1% growth). In short, our rate of population regeneration (from births and in migration) is not sufficient to overcome factors which reduce our population (out migration and death). There is a notable trend in Nova Scotia where population from rural areas is becoming increasingly concentrated in central regions of the province. This trend may be driven in part by the relatively greater economic opportunity associated with the urban core, but it might also be the result of contributing influences of policy shifts toward centralized services, combined with an aging population who tend to want to locate were services are more accessible. The expectation is that over the next 15 to 20 years most of rural Nova Scotia will experience a continual reduction in population in some pockets combined with a stable population level overall (Provincially). In terms of Wolfville’s experiences, the recent drop in population may be people relocated to just outside the town border (e.g., Port Williams) so they are still in the area. Wolfville is ideally situated as an adult lifestyle community, with the university, cultural activities, nature, etc. and this will continue to support stability in this age group. Regardless of the cause, it appears over the last few Census periods people that those who had lived in rural areas appear to be migrating toward centres of greater economic activity/opportunity which has include the economic centre of their particular region/county, but more often this means a move toward the Halifax
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Regional Municipality. The benefit to Hants County, in particular, has been its proximity and attractive quality of life which positions the area well as a bedroom community for the HRM. Population is a function of births, deaths and net migration. Wolfville, like virtually all of NS, is not replacing population through births and it is unlikely that there will be significant changes in death rates over the near term. The next option to grow population is through positive in-migration – particularly of families of child-rearing age. The impediment that may exist are perceptions about the cost of living in Wolfville - as stated in a recent committee meeting, Wolfville is up-scale, “the south end of the valley.” This perception, although befitting the cultural, boutique, and culinary flair of the Town, may not be encouraging to families with younger children. The point that must be made is that all communities across Nova Scotia are facing similar pressures. As communities in NS become increasingly competitive for populations (through migrations), the level of services and quality of life will become very important element in that competition. It is in this area that Wolfville excels within its current charm. Adding or encouraging development that supports quality of life – recreation, entertainment, housing options – will fortify this position. Another consideration may be the nature of the employment opportunities that are attractive to families. The university is a good draw for a higher than average educated workforce. But there must be opportunities for families, not just individuals engaged by the University. An option may be for the Town to work with Acadia in support of Acadia’s recruitment so that staff is given a complete orientation and that their families are ‘recruited’ as well. Note that there is currently a large scale demographic study underway which provide the Town with some strategies to support population growth and encourage in-migration of families.
(1) Household Formation: Tends in household formation in Wolfville, and more so in Kings County reflect the increasing demand for housing options with a shift from multiple person households to more 1 and 2 person households (note the slight decline in the number of Persons per Household). The following tables illustrate these trends for Wolfville and Kings County.
Table 3. Percentage Change in Household Formation, 1991 to 2001 Private Households - By Size Wolfville Kentville Berwick New Kings Nova Minas County Scotia 1 Person 10.2 24.9 27.7 32.2 32 32.7
2 Persons 12.6 22.6 17.2 27.5 23.4 24.2 1 3.3 3.9 3.5 1.7 3 Persons -3.6 -8.1 -4.5 -19.4 -6.2 -10.8 4-5 Persons -2.3 -15.3 0 -11.9 -13 -29 6 or more Persons -34.1
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The table shows that the number of multiple person households has declined over the period. Across Nova Scotia the number of one person householders represents 32.7% of all households. In Wolfville, the share of one person households is 10.2%. One and two person household formation is increasing in Wolfville, perhaps reflective of the university lifestyle and the ongoing campaign in Kings to attract retirees to the area, while the number of multiple person households has decreased dramatically (-3.6 percent for three persons, -2.3 per cent for 4 to 5 persons, and -34.1 percent for six or more persons. The implication is that the region will continue to need housing options for smaller households, while options for multiple person households will be less of a requirement. Kings shows a similar trend where there is a shift from multiple person households to fewer, with a 32% increase in 1 person households. Table A-1 in Appendix D provides more detail on household formation in the region.
(2) Household Ownership Examination of household ownership also provides useful information on the demands that may be expected for housing options. A review of household ownership information in Wolfville during the period from 1991 to 2001 shows a 6.1% increase in the number of occupied dwellings. Of these, 50.5% are owned and 49.4% are rented. Over the same period there was an 8.7% increase in the number of dwelling owned and a 3.1% increase in the number that are rented, thus, ownership has been the preferred option to renting. In terms of the types of accommodations, Semi- Detached/Row/ Duplex grew by 40.2% (246 unites in 1991 to 345 units in 2001) and Single Detached Houses grew by 8.4%. This may be reflective of the university town lifestyle where professionals wish to have smaller homes that require less upkeep than detached homes (i.e., a trend toward condos). There were 11.2% fewer apartments, which may be a market reflective of the increase in on-campus student accommodations in recent years. The increase in the average value of Wolfville dwellings in recent years is reflective of overall gains in property values experienced throughout Nova Scotia. These have stabilized over the past two years following a period of significant jumps in the value of housing. This trend has been spurred, in part, by the Bank of Canada’s interest rate policy (in pursuit of lower inflation), the relative strength of the dollar (further compelling the Bank of Canada to maintain low interest rates), growth in Nova Scotia’s economy throughout the late 1990s, increases in consumer confidence, the intergenerational transfer of wealth from parents of baby boomers to their children, and the relative stability and strength of the investment in real estate relative to other investment vehicles over the past decade, among other factors. Table A-3, A-4, and A5 in Appendix A provides some further detail on household formation and ownership.
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(3) Education Wolfville has one of the most educated populations in the province with 43% possessing a university degree (1996 Census). This compares to 15.3% for the province as a whole and 14.9% for Kings County. Educational institutions include: Acadia University, Horton High School serves grades 9-12. Located in Greenwhich just outside Wolfville - state-of-the-art school was constructed in 1998, and Landmark East School is a private international boarding school serving students with learning disabilities. Table 4 provides a summary of the educational attainment of Wolfville residents and reflects the higher than average level of education one might expect in a ‘university town’.
Table 4 Education
New King Nova Wolfville Berwick Kentville Minas s Scotia Less than High School 16.5 32.3 34.4 29.5 31.6 31.7 Less than Grade 9 5.7 8.1 11.3 7.7 9.2 9.5 Without secondary school 22.2 graduation certificate 10.8 24.2 23.1 21.8 22.5 High School Graduation 4.5 12.1 9.9 8.3 9.6 9.8 Certificate Some Post-Secondary Education College 2 5.6 5 4.9 4.5 4 University 10.7 5.4 4.5 4.2 4.6 5.3 Post-Secondary Certificate or Diploma College 21.8 30.6 31.6 33.3 32.1 31.2 University 3.2 4 2.6 2.7 2.6 2.7 University Degree - Bachelor's 41.1 9.7 11.5 17.1 14.9 15.3 or Higher
Within the Town of Wolfville, 41.1% of the population have attained a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared to 15.3% of the province and 14.9% of Kings county.. Within the communities profiled, Kentville has the next highest share with a university degree or better at 17.1%. This is shown in Figure 4. Table A-6 in Appendix D provides more detail on educational attainment in the region.
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Universit y Degree - Bachelor's or Higher, 2001
45% 41.1% 40% 35% 30% 25%
20% 17.1% 14.9% 15.3% 15% 11.5% 9.7% 10% 5% 0% Wolfville Berwick New Minas Kentville Kings Nova Scotia
Figure 4 Educational Attainment, Selected Areas
2.2 Work Activity and Incomes
(4) Income Information about the income of a region helps illustrate the standard of living and of the region and support the discussion of what sort of sectroal development and servicing needs are inpoprtant to an area. Based on an analysis of Census 2001 income data for the Town of Wolfville and comparative income profile for regions in Kings County and Nova Scotia, Wolfville enjoys a very high average income of $65K compared to $50K for Kings and $55K for Nova Scotia. Individual income reflects a similar trend, with Wolfville having a higher average individual income ($29K) compared to Kings ($25K) and the average for Nova Scotia ($27K). Within Wolfville, however, the dichotomy between male and female earnings is higher; nearly male income is nearly $18K more than female average income in Wolfville, whereas it is $13K for Kings and $12K for Nova Scotia in general. Higher incomes imply higher disposable incomes and a greater share of expenses on higher end services. The income and the household formation supports the picture of the region as being ideally suited to a mature, educated, and affluent area.
(5) Labour Force Activity and Occupations The higher incomes are generated by higher paying, good positions that are dominated by labour force participants working in ‘educational services’ (accounting for the largest single share of the labour force at 26%). The second most dominate industry was “Health care and social assistance” at 10.6% of all employment followed by “Accommodation and food services” at 9.3%.
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There are nearly 2,000 labour force participants working in Wolfville in a variety of occupations and sectors. The range of occupations reflects the trends in occupational shares that might be expected given the dominance of the education and tourism/ service sectors within the region. Within Wolfville, occupations in “sales and services” and “social Science, education, government and religion” account for the largest shares of occupations (24.4% and 23.6% respectively) based on the 2001 Census. The relative occupational domination of jobs in “sales and services” is reflective of the job situation in Kings and in Nova Scotia in General. The domination of Wolfville occupations in “social Science, education, government and religion” is driven by the University. For Kings as a whole, the second most dominate occupational classification is in ”Trades, transport and equipment operators and related” positions at 13.4%. For Nova Scotia, the number two occupational category is “Business, finance and administrative” with 15.7% of the 2001 labour force. Table A-8 and A-9 in Appendix D provides more detail on industry and employment in the region.
2.3 Economic Outlook Wolfville will continue to enjoy the benefits of having a relatively high concentration of higher than average paying good, stable positions associated with the university and the research projects that are anticipated. The combination will support the current position of the Town as a centre of education and culture for the region. Two of the more notable trends to support the economic position of the Town are the development of Life Science Centre at ACADIA. This $42.0 million project includes an $18 million biology building, an $8 million refurbishing of existing building, and a $1.5 million link between structures. The ‘link’ will result in a centre to develop, incubate, and commercialize technology with the expected result of a concentration of high tech expertise and the chance of significant commercial successes in the region. A second major influence will be the twinning of highway 101 which will effectively make Wolfville closer to the metropolitan Halifax area. This will bring with it competitive pressures for may regions along the 101 as rural consumers travel to Halifax for their retail needs. However, it will also increase the opportunity for Wolfville to become even more specialized in its role as a centre for culture, education, and arts as it will have better access to markets in Halifax that will support Wolfville’s role in this regard.2
2 Table A-2 in Appendix D provides some further information on other investment intentions that will benefit the regional economy over the next several years.
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2.4 Physical Characteristics/Community Description
(6) Town Size: The Town of Wolfville has a geographic area of 7.31 square kilometers and is somewhat of a gateway to the Annapolis Valley along highway 101.
(7) Transportation Linkages: The Town of Wolfville is located on Highway 1 which can be accessed via Highway 101 at two interchanges approximately 4 kilometres east or west of Town limits. Wolfville is approximately a one hour drive from Halifax however, as the twining of highway 101 continues, the time it takes to make the trip to and from Halifax will be reduced significantly. Wolfville is also a 1.5 hour drive from the ferry terminal in Digby, linking Nova Scotia to New Brunswick via the Bay of Fundy and it is a 2.5 hour drive from ferry terminal in Yarmouth which travels between Yarmouth and Portland, Maine.
(12) Health Services: Health care services are provided in Town through the Eastern Kings Memorial Community Health Centre (http://www.go.ednet.ns.ca/~healthque/ ). This facility is located within the Town and serves the entire eastern region of Kings County. The community-based organization provides primary health care services from health promotion to treatment services. The nearest hospital is the Valley Regional Hospital which is located in the Town of Kentville. This 145 bed facility provides specialized patient care from maternal and child care, emergency services, intensive care, family and internal medicine, cardiology, dermatology, neurology, surgical services, chemotherapy, psychiatry, addiction services, pharmacy services, diabetes education, nutrition counselling, diagnostic imaging, respiratory, physiotherapy, and occupational therapy. Wolfville also has a number of health services for its residents in the form of locally available doctors, dentists, and councillorrs, therapists, and a variety of other healthcare professionals.
(8) Public Facilities: There are a number of public facilities in the Town of Wolfville, including: Lamb’s Way Christian Ministries, St Andrews United Church, St. Francis Roman Catholic Church, and St. John’s Anglican Church. Wolfville United Baptist Church
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(9) Recreational Facilities There are numerous recreational opportunities within the Town for both youth and adults. Facilities at Acadia University are open to the public and include a swimming pool, an Olympic-sized ice surface, indoor and outdoor tracks, and squash and racquetball courts. Seven public parks provide opportunities for soccer, baseball, skateboarding, swimming, and walking/hiking. two public playground facilities a public library. Other services, such as golf courses, are outside the town but still in reasonable proximity.
(10) Municipal Services: The Wolfville Water Utility maintains high quality drinking water through an optimal treatment process, regular testing and highly trained staff. Full sewage treatment is provided through reaction lagoons.
(11) Recreationacultural Activities/Clubs: Wolfville has a variety of sport and recreation clubs including soccer, baseball, basketball, volleyball, minor hockey, tennis, badminton, handball, cycling, curling, lawn bowling, elite and entry level swimming, chess, and cycling.
(12) Culture Wolfville is a thriving cultural and tourist destination that possesses small town charm in a cosmopolitan environment. In 2002, Harrowsmith Country Life Magazine voted it “one of the best towns in which to live in Canada.”
(13) Construction and Land Development: Wolfville has experienced a significant level of infrastructure development over the past number of years, particularly in relation to the expansion and growth of Acadia University. Based on the Nova Scotia Construction Activity report for July 2005, the level of construction investment is expected to continue. Table A-2 in Appendix A provides a summary of projects that are ongoing, confirmed, or announced for the Town of Wolfville. These include:
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Institutional or Government Construction Acadia - Life Science Centre Wolfville Acadia - McConnell Hall to Learning Commons Wolfville Acadia - Residence Building Update Acadia University Wolfville Assisted Living Complex Wickwire Property Wolfville School -Gaspereau Valley Elem. Renovation Greenfield Road #2781 Wolfville Multi-Type Construction: Retail Condo Project - Rail Town Refuse property on waterfront Wolfville Residential Construction Condo - Whispering Creek Main Street Wolfville Condos - The Breakers West End (former Bruce Whidden property) Wolfville Other Construction Development Woodman Fruit Farm property Wolfville Where budgetary information is provided, the combine projects are estimated at more than $70 million. Funding was also announced for a development in Wolfville Court which will, under the Canada-Nova Scotia Affordable Housing Program Agreement, create 22 affordable housing units.
(14) Taxation: Wolfville’s property taxes are comparable with other towns of similar size. Residential rates for 2002 were $1.57 per $100 of property assessment; commercial rates were $3.10 per $100 of commercial assessment. The following table provides a comparison of prevailing rates in neigbouring municipal units. Table 5 Residential and Commercial Tax Rates 2004/05 2004/05 Residential Commercial Wolfville $1.57 $3.10 Berwick $1.635 $2.805 Hantsport $1.630 $2.790 Kentville $1.167 $2.667 Kings $0.764 $1.702
Relative to the municipal units highlighted in table 5, Wolfville appears to have a comparatively low residential tax rate (lower that Berwick and Hantsport) but a relatively high commercial tax rate. What is not clear is from this rate is the fact that the tax rate for Wolfville also includes a premium that the WDCL asked the town to levy on their behalf. Of the 65 commercial and 65 residential rates assessed in Nova Scotia, Wolfville ranks 35th for residential and 31st for commercial. Thus, both rates ranked ‘middle of
ekistics planning & design • telephone: 902.461.2525 • fax: 902.465.3131 • www.ekistics.net p. 18 Town of Wolfville commercial development plan the pack’ when considered amongst all prevailing rates in Nova Scotia, although this is all relative to the assessment base of the community. Wolfville’s commercial assessment rate is nearly twice the commercial rate for the Village of New Minas (Kings). Another option may be to look at commercial tax from home based businesses, although we do not recommend this. The tax base that may be contributed from home based business is probably marginal – as is based on square footage used, which is likely minor. It may also be appropriate to think of the home based business as an incubator – those business that grow will reach their own levels and require space to the extent they achieve success, and, it appropriate, will naturally transition into a situation where they will be commercial tax payers. Those that do not make this natural progression probably could not withstand the added cost (either as a result of volume of activity or profitability), in which case it is probably better to have the economic activity of the business in Town than to add a tax and risk that the business closes or relocates. The other consideration may be: Neighboring municipal units- are they taxing home based business, and How do you prove that someone has a home based business?
2.5 Overview of Tourism Industry This section provides a summary of the tourism market in the Wolfville area. It also provides information on several local and regional museums.
(15) Nova Scotia Visitor Flow Report Data from the Nova Scotia 2000 Exit Survey provides information about the trip motivation of non-resident visitors to the Province, as well as how they spend their time in each community. The following table provides data on the total number of non- resident visitors to the province who indicated that they visited, or drove through the Evangeline Trail on their trip. It includes those who enter the province by air at Halifax International Airport, as well as by car at Amherst. As this data is for tourist parties, all numbers need to be multiplied by 2.17 to calculate the total number of visitors to the region. The data has been organized according to the geography of the region, starting with Windsor, and then traveling south along the Evangeline Trail to Digby. What is interesting about the data is that the total number of non-resident visitors that drive through the region steadily decreases the further south non-residents travel from Windsor (e.g., 445,718 non-residents traveled through Windsor, while just 127,596 traveled through Weymouth). In other words, most of these visitors are day tripping from Halifax, and tend to stay in the northern end of the Evangeline Trail.
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Party Overnight Total Non- Over Pass Party Party Party Party Residents Party Party Night COMMUNITY Through Stops Visits Trips Trips Visitors Stops Visits Trips Windsor 181,800 6,700 10,000 6,800 205,400 445,718 3% 5% 3% Hantsport 194,300 1,700 2,600 1,500 200,100 434,217 1% 1% 1% Grand Pre 174,500 2,300 22,700 4,700 204,200 443,114 1% 11% 2% Wolfville 138,200 4,800 23,600 25,300 191,900 416,423 3% 12% 13% Kentville 129,200 7,700 12,100 15,900 165,000 358,050 5% 7% 10% Berwick 127,200 3,000 3,500 8,500 142,300 308,791 2% 2% 6% Middleton 116,200 2,900 8,000 8,800 135,800 294,686 2% 6% 6% Bridgetown 110,000 3,100 5,700 6,100 124,900 271,033 2% 5% 5% Annapolis Royal 78,500 4,600 30,800 17,000 130,900 284,053 4% 24% 13% Digby 57,600 5,200 23,700 27,800 114,300 248,031 5% 21% 24% Weymouth 46,600 1,900 7,100 3,100 58,800 127,596 3% 12% 5%
Table 6. Results of the 2000 NS Visitor Flow Report. Source: NS Department of Tourism, Culture and Heritage
N.S Visitor Flow Report Definitions Party Pass Throughs Did not stop Party Stops Stopped for less than 30 minutes Party Visits Stopped more than 30 minutes, but not overnight Overnight Party Trips Stayed overnights
Of particular interest is the percentage of tourists or spend time a good portion of the day in the community (e.g., Party Visits include more than 30 minutes time, but not overnight – see the percentages at the far right, which have been calculated as a percent of the total visitors who drive through the community). From this perspective, Wolfville captures 12% of visitors that drive through the region. While this may seem low when compared to Annapolis Royal (24%) and Digby (21%), when Grand Pre is added to Wolfville, the combined percentage for the region (23%) is comparable. In terms of total overnight party trips, Wolfville is second only to Digby in terms of totals, although as Digby draws from a smaller market, its share of the total visitor flow is higher (24% vs. 13%).
Purpose of Trip and Overnight Stays - Wolfville Table 7 provides an analysis of the origination of non-resident visitors to the Wolfville area, as well as the reason for their visit. An analysis of this data indicates that approximately 72% all tourists driving through the Wolfville area without stopping (i.e., 138,200 party pass throughs out of 191,900 total parties). Another 4,800 parties (10,416 people or 3%) stopped in Wolfville for less than 30 minutes and then left, while 23,600 parties (51,212 people or 12%) spent greater than 30 minutes in Wolfville but did not spend the night. A total of 25,300 parties (54,901 people or 13% of all visitors) spent the night in Wolfville during the 2000 tourism season.
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Total Party Pass Party Overnight Party WOLFVILLE Throughs Stops Party Visits Party Trips Trips Percent Trip Purpose Business 13,800 600 2300 1,800 18,500 10% Pleasure 53,300 1,800 10,300 12,400 77,800 41% VFR 61,600 1800 9,800 7,100 80,300 42% Other 8,900 600 1000 3,500 14,000 7% Region of Origin Atlantic Canada 40,700 400 1,700 3,800 46,600 24% Other Canada 57,900 2,600 13,700 12,600 86,800 45% International 39,600 1800 8,200 8,900 58,500 30%
Overall 138,200 4,800 23,600 25,300 191,900 100%
Table 7. 2000 NS Visitor Flow Report: Wolfville Source: Tourism Nova Scotia
Non-resident visitation to the Wolfville area is split fairly evenly between Canadian residents from outside Atlantic Canada (86,800 parties or 45% of non-resident visitors), international tourists, (58,500 parties or 30% of non-residents - primarily from the United States), and 46,600 parties or 24% from Atlantic Canada (not including Nova Scotia residents). The percentage of international visitors to Wolfville is high relative to other towns on the Evangeline Trail. In terms of trip motivation, approximately 80% of all non-resident visitors reported visiting Wolfville for pleasure (41%) or to visit friends and relatives (42%). Ten percent indicated they came to Wolfville on business.
(16) Visitation to Visitor Information Centres Table 8 provides a summary of visits to each of the fourteen VIC’s along the Evangeline Trail. Overall, just over 65,000 people visited the fourteen visitor information centres (VIC’s) along the Evangeline Trail in 2005, down 22% from the 83,000 to 85,000 visitors in the previous two years. This decrease in visitation can be attributed a combination of the loss of the Portland, Maine ferry in 2005, and the poor performance of the tourism sector overall. According to this data, total visits to local VIC’s dropped 22% (approximately 18,000 visitors) in 2005. In Wolfville, total visits dropped by one third (33.8%), from a high of 16,204 in 2004 to 10,723 in 2005.
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Table 8.
VIC Visitation: May through August VIC Location 2003 2004 2005 Change Windsor 8,102 9,171 5,363 (41.5%) Hantsport 2,985 3,177 2,373 (25.3%) Wolfville 14,735 16,204 10,723 (33.8%) Kentville 10,600 8,981 5,090 (43.3%) Berwick 1,123 577 939 62.7% Kingston - Green 5,425 7,115 4,564 (35.9%) Middleton 3,086 2,459 2,446 (0.5%) Bridgetown 2,605 2,560 1,382 (46.0%) Annapolis Royal 8,625 7,515 12,281 63.4% Bear River 2,898 4,168 2,602 (37.6%) Digby 19,218 16,092 12,820 (20.3%) Tiverton 2,597 2,557 1,578 (38.3%) Weymouth - new N/A N/A 354 N/A Belliveau's Cove 3,456 2,988 2,488 (16.7%) Total ETTA 85,455 83,564 65,003 (22.2%) Source: Evangeline Trail Tourism Association
(17) Local Tourism Attractions
Grand Pre National Historic Site, Grand Pre, NS Grand-Pré National Historic Site commemorates the deportation of the Acadians and recognizes the national importance of this area which was a centre of Acadian life from 1682 to 1755. Located in the community of Grand Pre, Kings County, NS, the property overlooks the Minas Basin is located on the former site of an 18th century Acadian village; this village was the setting for Longfellow’s epic poem Evangeline. In 1920, the property was deeded to la Société l’Assomption, which raised funds for the reconstruction of a church, which was completed in 1930 and opened as a museum – just in time for the 175th anniversary of the Deportation. The Government of Canada acquired the site in 1957 and it was designated as a national historic site in 1961. At some point in the 1960’s Parks Canada built a visitor welcome centre on the property, and over time, the facility included an extensive garden, the memorial church, the original graveyard, a potager garden and the famous statute of Evangeline.
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In anticipation of the 2004 celebration, Parks Canada built a new 1,500 square metre (16,150 SF) interpretation centre. This new facility houses a theatre, exhibit hall, gift shop, multipurpose room, and administration area. The theatre holds approximately 150 people, and is designed to emulate the old of a ship. A 15 minute introductory video provides an overview of the deportation and resettlement of the Acadians. Adjacent exhibits provide information on the deportation, the Acadian use of bateaus, etc. A pathway from the rear of the building leads the visitor around to the formal gardens, past the statue of Evangeline, and to the small chapel. The Grand-Pré National Historic Site is co-managed by the Société Promotion Grand-Pré in collaboration with Parks Canada. The site is open seven days a week from 9 am - 6 pm, May to October. Off-season visits are available for groups with advanced notice. The grounds are accessible year-round. Admission fees are as follows: Adult : $6.50 Senior : $5.50 (65 years and up) Child : $3.25 (6 through 16 years) Family/group : $16.25 (Up to 7 people, a maximum of 2 adults) School group : $3.00 per student ( without guide) $4.00 per student ( with guide)
Grand Pre National Historic Site averaged 50,000 and 60,000 visitors per year from 2000 to 2003, with the total number increasing to just over 71,000 during 2004 (the year of the 2004 Acadian Congres).
Year Visitors 2000-01 61,073 2001-02 57,657 2002-03 59,194 2003-04 50,913 2004-05 71,568
Grand Pre Visitation Source: Parks Canada
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The Société Promotion Grand-Pré offers educational programs where their staff visit local schools, to provide interactive learning programs. Programs are offered from mid March to mid April, and cost $50 per class (mileage to the school is an extra charge). Some educational programs that have been offered include: The Mysterious Mixed up Artifacts. Students work with archeologists to observe, classify, and compare artifacts. The Deportation. Role playing based on the events of the Deportation. The Dyking Game. Discover the methods of dyke construction. Evangeline. Role playing to allow students to act out the story of Evangeline for themselves.
KC Irving Environmental Centre The K.C. Irving Environmental Science Centre and the Harriet Irving Botanical Gardens were opened to the public in 2002. The facility provides Acadia University with a unique array of research resources for study in the natural sciences, including a number of highly adaptable systems to help researchers understand the effects of climate change (especially the Gulf of Maine, environment). The facility includes six (6) acres of public gardens representing native plant communities of the Acadia Forest Region, a glassed-in winter garden (climate controlled for research purposes), a garden of medicinal and food plants plus fully wired conferencing and educational facilities. The Centre is open daily, from 8am until 10pm, while the gardens are open from 7:30am until sunset, weather permitting. Admission is free, and while the Centre is not widely advertised (it is in the Doers and Dreamers Guide) visitation is now at about 30,000 people per year (although many of these people are repeat local visitors) Given the quality of the facility, and the free admission fee, the potential to increase visitation is substantial. A big focus for the Centre at the current time is to market and promote the facility. To this end, the Centre has retained a new employee to prepare a marketing plan. The Centre would welcome the Town’s involvement in this process, either in the preparation of the marketing strategy, or the implementation of the marketing campaign.
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Randall House Museum The Randall House was built in the late 1760 ‘s by Planters who migrated to the region to fill the void created by the explusion of the Acadians. Located adjacent to Willow Park, the facility provides an excellent example of house construction of that era. In 1949, the Wolfville Hisotrical Museum was opened, and in 1965, the named changed to Randall House. The museum is owned and operated by the Wolfville Historical Society. The Museum portrays the lives of middle income Nova Scotians from the late 1700’s to the mid 1900’s. Although the primary artifact is the house itself, the museum contains furniture and portraits of Wolfville families, among other things. Tea is served daily, and annual events include a Teddy Bear picnic, a garden ice cream social, and Wolfville’s Mud Creek Day celebration. Randall House is open Monday Through Saturday from 10am-5pm and Sunday from2pm to 5pm. Admission is free, although donations are accepted. The museum provides research on genealogy and historical photographs, with the first half hour free, and a charge of $10 per hour thereafter.
Robie Tufts Centre The Robie Tufts Nature Centre is located on Front Street. Built in 1990, the facility was constructed around an old chimney in order to preserve one of the few local homes of the chimney swift. In addition to protecting the swifts’ habitat and providing people with the opportunity to observe their spectacular antics, this interpretative centre seeks to promote awareness of and interest in local natural history and the environment. The Robie Tufts Nature Centre was organized in a co-operative effort by the Town of Wolfville, the Wolfville Business Development Corporation and the Blomidon Naturalists Society with the help of many individuals and groups. The facility is used by birders and naturalists as staging ground for their activities. As the facility is not enclosed, there is no way to charge an admission fee to the centre, and it is not possible to
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The Eagle Watch., Sheffield Mills The local community of Sheffield Mills has been hosting an eagle watching festival for a number of years. This festival occurs during the Winter months, and results in thousands of visitors coming to the region to watch eagles feast on chicken carcasses left by local farmers. A recent Birding Study (the Hince Report) identified three key birding sites in Nova Scotia (e.g., Cape Sable Island, Brier Island and Sheffield Mills) and in response has developed specific strategies for each of these locations. The goal of the Sheffield Mills study is to identify needed infrastructure and marketing efforts in order to enhance the attractiveness of this festival. Clearly, the Town of Wolfville is a key asset to this festival, as it has the high quality restaurants and accommodations that the birding market is looking for. This is an opportunity for the Town and could be packaged with the Robie Tufts Centre as a way to generate repeat visitation at other times of the year (e.g., during the bird migration south).
(18) Visitor Welcome Centre The Town of Wolfville and Acadia University have been reviewing the potential for a new visitor centre that would link the town to the campus. The proposed facility would provide information for people visiting the town and the University a starting point for campus tours, a coordinated contact point for recreation programs and facilities and registration for conferences. The facility would also have meeting room space available to the public. A number of similar facilities at colleges and universities in the New England area have been reviewed, and the Town and Acadia are currently refining the development model for the Centre. A site for the Centre has been selected on Main Street in front of the ATF facility.
2.6 Summary of Tourism Market Tourism visitation to the province has been declining for the past few years due to weaknesses in the North American tourism market. This weak demand, combined with the cancellation of the 2005 Scotia Prince ferry season, resulted in very disappointing visitation numbers for the Evangeline Trail and Southwest Nova Scotia. It is hoped that these numbers will re-bound in the coming years, but depending on factors such as ferry access, this make take time. The non-resident tourism market for Wolfville is dominated by visitors from the US and central Canadian markets (Ontario). These visitors tend to be older, well educated, affluent, and traveling in pairs as couples. The largest tourism attraction in the area is the Grand Pre National Historic Site with more than 50,000 paid admissions each year. Although relatively new, the KC Irving Environmental Centre has the potential to become a major draw for the Town. The facility is built and available, and has high quality programming in place. At this point, it only needs to be marketed to fulfill its potential. This
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is a huge opportunity for the Town to work with Acadia to create a major attraction for the community. There are several other tourism products in the town (Randall House, Robie Tufts Centre) although total visitation to both of these facilities is rather modest. The existing VIC at Willow Pond is located on the fringe of downtown Wolfville. Due to a poor tourism season in 2005,total visitation was down 34%. The Town and Acadia are looking at building a new visitor welcome centre on Main Street at the existing ATF facility. Given the proximity of this location to the new Irving Environmental Centre, Robie Tufts Centre and the rest of downtown, the Town should consider the possible relocation of the VIC from Willow Park to this location. This would help consolidate staffing for both facilities and the superior location would help draw visitors into the downtown,. This would likely result in more visitation to the Irving Centre, and more spin-offs for downtown merchants.
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Chapter 3.0 : SWOTT Analysis
In this section we present our analysis of the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats, and Trends (SWOTT) as the impact the Town of Wolfville and the overall commercial development plan.
3.1 Strengths Downtown Wolfville is relatively compact, and quite walkable. There are a number of underutilized land parcels that could be easily developed and incorporated into the future planning process for the downtown core; Wolfville has one of the most educated populations in the Province; Those that live and work in the Town have higher than average incomes and, consequently, would have higher disposable incomes; Wolfville has an existing base of boutique shopping and a unique opportunity to promote a niche, year-round shopping experience; The community/Town is well recognized as a centre for arts, culture, theater, dining, and other ‘high-end’ services, and enjoys a positive reputation and profile as a result;
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Growth of the wine industry and the opportunities for co-packaging a variety of visitor services around this industry. A year round economy. The student population bolsters the consumption of goods and services in the fall and winter season, while tourism creates demand for goods and services during the spring and summer seasons. These complimentary activities stabilize the economy . The Kings County, region benefits from the stability of the agricultural sector which, regardless of the prior years harvest and the current economic conditions, requires a fairly constant level of expenditure and effort each year (i.e., planting in the Spring and harvesting in the Fall). Wolfville has a variety of cultural and tourism attractions including the Atlantic Theatre Festival, Blomindon Provincial Park, Domain de Grand Pre Winery, Blomidon Inn Gardens, and the Bay of Fundy.
3.2 Weakness There are not too many weaknesses associated with the Town of Wolfville: The student population has limited disposable income and a relatively high demand for lower value service based industries, with relatively little demand for durable goods; The current building development process is characterized as cumbersome by stakeholders and the development community, and this over regulation has had the effect of reducing new investment in land and buildings. The area is somewhat removed from the major areas of population in Nova Scotia, reducing the area’s market attraction and the opportunity to draw larger industry/commercial enterprises that require population density. Front Street has never attracted the type of development that has occurred on Main Street. The lack of buildings on Front Street creates a streetscape that is not conducive to walking. The strength of the Town is tied to the presence of the university and, in this regard, lacks a level of diversity and would be significant affected if the stability of the University were altered. Because the Town has historically relied on Acadia to stimulate the economy, there has been very little need to develop other aspects of the Town’s economy.
3.3 Opportunities There are several parcels of land within the downtown core The Railtown condominium project will add more residents to the downtown, and will help focus future development on local Redevelopment of the rail area into condominiums
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Economic development opportunities related to the continued expansion of the Acadia Uniiversity The continued growth of the wine industry in the region immediately around the Town of Wolfville. This creates opportunities for Wolfville as the epi-centre of this activity. . The stability of the existing local economy (strongly based in the ‘recession proof’ sectors of education and agriculture), provides a good base of activity from which to build new economic activity3. The attractiveness of the community to retirement age people who are typically affluent or financially secure consumers that do not seek/require employment opportunities.
3.4 Threats The success of nearby communities in marketing themselves and attracting consumer dollars away from Wolfville. This includes the receptiveness of these communities to new real estate development. Continued development of large format retail stores in nearby New Minas, which divert disposable income from local residents. Resident opposition to changes in planning legislation that make Wolfville more friendly to real estate and business investment.
3.5 Trends The continued twinning of Highway 101, which will make commuting from Wolfville to Halifax easier. This will bring more development to the Windsor and Wolfville area, as well as the whole Annapolis Valley. Wolfville residents have some concerns about a proposed three-storey Railtown structure. These were raised at a Planning Advisory Committee meeting in July 2005. The ‘Railtown’ development calls for 30 condominums, nine commercial units, and a restaurant. More multiunit development will follow in Wolfville as it becomes easier to commute to and from Halifax. More people are being exposed to three wineries operating in Falmouth, Grand Pre and Gaspereau, thanks in part to the efforts of Sean Buckland and Mark DeWolf, operators of Valley Wine Tours. The pair believe the wine industry in the Annapolis Valley is about to experience sharp growth, an optimism shared by Hanspeter Stutz, owner of Domaine de Grand Pre
3Agriculture is under stress from a variety of sources, including large retail purchasing policies and increasing pressure from the World Trade Organization with regard to practices like supply management. Spending in agriculture, however, is relatively stable for the community that hosts this sector. While the term recession proof may be overstating the case, the annual spending is stable so the sector is as recession proof as any sector can be.
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Chapter 4.0 : Synthesis
4.1. Workshop & Interview Results The consultation for this project included over 20 one-on-one interviews, 6 focus group sessions and 3 workshops with various stakeholders in the community including business owners, the WBDC, Council, the Planning Advisory Committee, and Town development staff. There were a wide spectrum of ideas discussed at these sessions. The results of the consultation process are listed below; organized into some of the common major themes. Development More stores on Front Street, less gaps in the street fabric. Eliminate developmental red tape which necessitates development agreements for all changes to buildings downtown. Focus retail on ground floor on Main Street. Office and residential should be upstairs. Encourage 2 and 3 storey development in the downtown. Do not permit 1 storey development.
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More cohesive flan for development. Allow town planner(s) more discretion to permit facade improvements and avoid the percieved ‘subjectivity’ of the PAC. Find a permanent winter home for farmers market. The facility should provide be in the downtown, be covered and provide running water, and create opportunities for performance, studios, art, etc. There must be a fundamental shift in attitudes to encourage development in downtown Wolfville. Ease parking requirements to allow redevelopment of vacant parcels downtown. The rail line presents a tremendous opportunity for the town. Rapid transit from Wolfville to halifax?
Streetscape Use sidewalk space for sidewalk cafe’s Turn central avenue into pedestrian mall. Create a terminus at the end (not just the liquor store) Implement a downtown streetscape rejuvination program Implement the town’s civic signage strategy Emphasize pedestrian friendly downtown. WBDC should regain the lead role in improving the streetscapes downtown. Need to make Front Street a real front Street. Small things like Christmas lighting in winter (shut off high light standards at night) to create an atmosphere. Canada Post would allow development of a park
Downtown Increase population in 5 minute walking zone. Town should hire a designer to implement a facade program. Create incentives for building improvements Want an architectural styling that draws buildings together but doesn’t make all the buildings look alike. A colour scheme would do alot to pull things together. Town property on Front Street (by Robi Tufts centre) are now parking lots. Do you fill in some of the parking lots? Robi Tufts should stay the way it is. IGA parking lot should be encouraged to be developed. Heritage quality must be preserved
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Culture Focus on unique retail Specialty wine outlet to feature local wines. Provide a connection to the burgeoning local wine industry. People are attracted to Wolfville because of culture (restaurants, farm market, galleries). Boutique businesses are desirable. Events and people make the town. How can we slow people down - the ‘slow communities’ movement is appropriate for Wolfville Freddy zone in fredericton (wolfville e-zone) is a good model for Wolfville. Wireless anywhere in the town. Connect to the Acadia advantage program. Lifestyle is important to the quality of life above all. Students drive us crazy but we love them. Grand Pre has a heritage district, Wolfville should follow. The Wolfville culinary region is the nicest outside the city of Halifax. Valley could be the slowfood capital. Wolfville will be wine capital of the Province in next 5 years. 2 existing wineries but 5 more soon. Niche producers, boutique wineries. Special hybrids and varieties make it special for wine here.
Sustainability Implement a sustainability theme for the town. Ensure the Town leads the way. Dykelands are a real resource. Explore windmills or other alternative energy sources which are a draw for tourism. Sustainable design is not supported by current architectural guidelines. What about grass roofs and other LEEDS features? Downtown needs to reflect towns sustainable initiative. The Dykeland walking trail is a tremendous opportunity as long as the integrity of the dykelands are not compromised by it.. Must be able to walk on dyke from Grand Pre to Wolfville all year round. Need walking trails through the south mountain linking towns.
Acadia University Acadia should encourage students to use downtown. Acadia and town shouldn’t be so independent. Need to work with university Need a Welcome Centre for visitors to Acadia and the downtown area. THis could be located at the entrance to the ATF parking lot. Need to increase connection between gown and town. Along Elm Street, think of things to encourage students to come downtown. ekistics planning & design • telephone: 902.461.2525 • fax: 902.465.3131 • www.ekistics.net p. 33 Town of Wolfville commercial development plan
Where will space be for the LINKS project, where will it go. Must capture interrelationship between university and the town. The towns brand and identity must do a better job of reflecting the university as part of its history. The university culture must frame the town. There’s a reluctance to accept that identity. Wolfville needs to celebrate this identity. Wolfville is about human capital development (cultural, academic, technical). Acadia needs to bring more conferences to the area. Not just when students aren’t here.
The Waterfront Focus on the waterfront. Reinstitute a dock for marina, boat tours of the flats. Make the waterfront more accessible Waterfront park is tied to the future of the downtown core. Would like to see a St. Andrews on the waterfront. Allow tour operators to put up tour buildings on the waterfront.
Tourism Wolfville should be positioned as the Centre of the tourism industry for Kings County. Walks on the dykelands. Bird watching tours. Evangeline Beach, etc Create a Harvest Festival and use it to promote visits to the region. Wolfville will benefit as the service centre (food, accomodation, etc) for the region. Promote the outdoor adventure business from Wolfville (kayaks, hiking, etc)
Organization Need more synergy between the Town, WBDC and the Kings RDA to help attract professionals (e.g., professors, doctors, etc) to the region. Deal with vacant property owners by making it expensive to keep properties vacant downtown. Need to do more in the off season. Fire and Ice festival.
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4.2 Town Case Studies
This section presents case studies of three towns that either have attributes that are similar to the Town of Wolfville (e.g., wine and culture focus), or that highlight topics of interest to the project steering committee (eco-villages and book towns). The intent of these case studies is to identify whether or not the concept is transferable to Wolfville, an if so, what lessons can be learned.
(1) Wine Tourism and Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario Tourist visitation to vineyards, wineries, wine festivals and wine shows for wine tasting and experiencing the wine producing region is known collectively as wine tourism. Over the past twenty five years, improvements in wine quality in the Niagara Region of Ontario, followed by changes in provincial legislation, have encouraged the growth of small boutique wineries, and as a consequence, have created a fast growing wine tourism industry. The Annual Niagara Grape and Wine Festivals attract over 500,000 visitors per year. Many of the wineries in the Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake have been at the centre of this regional tourism growth.
The Town Niagara-on-the-Lake (2001 population 13,839) was founded in 1781 on the southern shore of Lake Ontario as Newark. It was the capital of Upper Canada from 1792 to 1812. After 1970, the surrounding agricultural townships and villages were incorporated into the Town of Niagara on the Lake (NOTL). The town now occupies 40 square kilometres and is bounded by St. Catharines to the west, the Niagara River to the east and Niagara Falls to the south. Tourism within NOTL is centred on several facets of the town: its historic district, including several restored military sites; the Shaw Festival, an annual theatre festival; and sixteen wineries in the agricultural areas of the town. A number of inns, bed and breakfasts and spas have been developed in restored and
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recreated historic buildings which service the visitor market. Hillebrand Winery
Economic Context: The economy of the Niagara region is dependent on a number of industry sectors. Manufacturing is the largest wealth-producing sector. The agricultural sector, moving against provincial trends, grew almost 120% from 1989 to 1999 and is still growing. In the year 2000, the Niagara region accounted for 80% of the wine grapes grown in Canada. Commercial services are the largest employers. The region is the primary tourist destination in Ontario and accounts for 40% of the province’s tourism industry.
Wine Tourism: The Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake does little or no promotion of wine tourism. NOTL’s Chamber of Commerce, supported by wine industry organizations, has been primarily responsible for the development of wine tourism in the town; the municipal government’s role has been to support the Chamber and the wineries in their efforts. The number of wineries in the town has increased from seven in 1991 to 20 in 2005. The goals of NOTL’s Economic Strategic Plan are to support tourism development and encourage further agricultural development. To achieve these two potentially conflicting goals, the town’s land use plan regulates winery activities in relation to the size of agricultural acreage: wine tastings and tours are only permitted on the larger estate wineries. Niagara has only within the past two decades become associated with high quality wines. Inniskillin Winery in NOTL, one of Canada’s first cottage or boutique wineries, was the first to introduce high quality table wines using classic European grape varieties in 1975. The operators at Inniskillin and other wineries felt that the future of the Niagara wine industry was in the production of premium wines. Provincial law now mandates that Ontario table wines must be produced with French hybrids and viniferas; wine sold through the Liquor Control Board of Ontario may no longer contain any of the native grapes. These changes in grape varieties and legislation have fostered the growth of boutique wineries, which are at the heart of the wine tourism industry in the region.
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The Vintner’s quality alliance (VQA), created in 1988, has also raised the international profile of Niagara wines. The VQA is an appellation system that governs the quality of wines in Ontario and British Columbia. Most of the wineries belong to the Ontario Wine Council, a non-profit trade association that leads marketing and policy for the Ontario Wine industry, and acts as a liaison for wineries, grape growers and government. The Council established the Niagara Wine Route, which connects over 50 wineries in the Niagara region that offer guided tours, tastings, restaurants, special events, festivals and shopping. The council generates a large amount of promotional material including the Wine Trails Newspaper and a website.
Niagara-on-the-Lake: Distance to Urban Centres (km) Hamilton 65km Kitchener Waterloo 125 London 195 Toronto 125
Ontario Wine and Culinary Tourism Strategy In 2001, the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Recreation and the Wine Council of Ontario commissioned the preparation of an Ontario Wine and Culinary Tourism Strategy. Wine and culinary tourism had been identified as drivers for increased tourism, in terms of attracting more visitors and in extending the stay length and spending of current visitors. In the Niagara Region, some key components of the strategy were to: Establish an international signature event, the Annual Niagara Grape and Wine Festival Enhance the Wine Route experience through signage and sub-branding (including one for Niagara-on-the-Lake), a guidebook and improved maps. Develop packages and itineraries for wine and culinary adventures. Establish selected communities as hubs for wine and culinary experiences. Encourage the private sector to establish more high quality and character accommodations. Broadening the appeal of wine experiences to appeal to short term and long term visitors, and corporate and group markets. Extend the season for wine tourism by holding year-round events. Establish quality standards programs. Assist wineries, restaurants and cooking schools with tourism strategies. Increase training in wine knowledge for tourism staff . The Grape and Wine Festival now has three components: the Niagara Icewine Festival (mid January), the Niagara New Vintage Festival (mid June), and the Niagara
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Wine Festival (late September). This segmentation of the festival extends the total draw of the event, and creates a market for tourism product during the difficult Winter season.
Chateau des Charmes Winery
Strategic alliances and markets The wine industry is still trying to come to an understanding of who the potential wine tourist might be. Recent wine tourism promotions appear to be broadening their appeal to a more general market than the commonly perceived affluent, middle aged, highly educated, tourist. Inniskillen Winery has recognized the importance of Ice wine to Japanese tourists and specifically markets its wines to these consumers.
Wineries in NOTL and the Niagara Region collaborate in different areas, including advertising and special events:
Examples of Wine Tourism Strategic Alliances
Source: David J. Telfer. “Strategic alliances along the Niagara Wine Route.”, 2001 Most of the wineries belong to the Ontario Wine Council, which has been establishing joint marketing initiatives, festivals and special events. The wineries in NOTL have formed a Wine Marketing Committee which co-ordinates marketing and the various interest of the wineries in the town. One trend in the wine tourism industry is the pairing of wine with high-end food products. Some wineries have restaurants and/or cooking schools. Tastes of Niagara is a strategic alliance among food producers, processors, distributors, hotels, wineries, restaurants and chefs. The link to tour operators is becoming important: many wineries have multiple bus tours stopping at their wineries. On- site wine sales to tourists compose a significant part of overall sales for many wineries.
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Most wineries advertise through newspapers, magazines; the more established wineries have marketing departments. Sources: Niagara Grape and Wine Festival: http://www.grapeandwine.com/ Niagara-on-the-Lake Chamber of Commerce: http:// www.niagaraonthelake.com/ Niagara Economic Development Corporation: http://niagaracanada.com/ community/NiagaraLake/index.cfm Wines of Ontario (including the Wine Route): http://winesofontario.org/ David J. Telfer. “Strategic alliances along the Niagara Wine Route.” Tourism Management 22 (2001) 21-30 Town of Niagara on the Lake: http://www.notl.org ; CEO: Lew Holloway 905-468-3266
(2) Eco-Village The concept of community development based on ecological principles has been around since the 1960s, but the 1990s saw the development of a spate of community sustainability initiatives worldwide. Most of this activity was prompted by the RIO Earth Summit’s Agenda 21 agreement, which called for local level implementation of sustainability principles: the meshing of economic, social and environmental priorities. Because all approaches to ecologically sound practices are tailored to the community and its location, resources, values, and economy, no one clear model of a typical “eco-town” emerges. There are a wide variety of approaches to incorporating more ecologically sound approaches to land and resource use, energy consumption and generation, infrastructure, food production, social networks, and economics within communities of all scales. The approaches include:
A focus on the social aspect of sustainability: “Ecovillages” are communities of modest size (usually under 300 people), often in a rural location, whose residents share common values. These community-designed and built villages focus on environmental, social, spiritual, and economic sustainability. For example: the co-housing community of Windsong, in a district of Langley BC, was established in 1996 and is home to 90 people. A focus on technical innovation: Existing towns, cities or industriacommercial areas are developing “Eco-Industrial networks”, which may include resource recovery (e.g. district heating networks), waste material exchanges, clusters around a resource, and material recycling. Burnside Industrial Park, Dartmouth
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is currently serving as laboratory for research on the implementation process. The international model for industrial symbiosis is the Danish industrial city of Kalundborg, which has self-organized into an industrial network over the past 40 years. The ad hoc application of principles: Some cities and regions have begun to incorporate sustainability through adoption of selected sustainability principles. For example, HRM’s draft regional plan, although not a comprehensive plan for sustainability, acknowledges the need to take a sustainable approach to land development, environmental protection, and infrastructure design. Many other communities are now taking a similar approach. Comprehensive Planning: Communities of all sizes are in the first stages of adopting a comprehensive plan for sustainable development based on the Agenda 21 principles. For example, Whistler BC adopted a comprehensive plan in 2001. Its first step is a strategy for managing energy, air quality, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In 2001, the Town of Craik and the Rural Municipality of Craik, in south-central Saskatchewan, began developing a long- term plan for a sustainable community-based project. The Town saw a need for local initiatives addressing climate change, which could also stimulate socio- economic revitalization of this rural community. Time frames for establishment of sustainable communities are long. Many approaches start with alternate, “green” forms of energy generation, energy reuse and energy conservation, because the technical challenges and solutions are well understood. The social dimension of sustainability is more problematic to achieve. Development of an eco-community has not been used as a route to conventional local economic development.
Sources: http://www.uneptie.org (United Nations Environmental Program) http://gen.ecovillage.org/ (Global Eco-village Network) http://www.whistler.ca/Sustainability/ (Whistler BC) http://www.craikecovillage.ca/community.html (Craik Eco-village)
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(3) The Book Town of Bredevoort, Netherlands A booktown is a specialist retail development in towns undergoing economic decline. Under this model, large clusters of commercial properties or defunct public properties are converted into districts for retailing second-hand and antiquarian books. In Europe, the packaging and marketing of the towns as a unique product has been successful in attracting visitors to peripheral settlements with no other significant attractions. A 1999 tourism study of book towns in Europe revealed that these towns tended to be: in rural areas in decline, mainly due to the loss or reduction of agricultural employment; in communities with small (populations of 400 to 1500); geographically peripheral and perceptually remote from core urban centres, but within a day’s drive of a large metropolitan area; experiencing large retail losses; not creating other new employment (i.e., not too many options for new job creation); lacking a strong tourism base.
Because individual businesses must have low overhead and ample storage for a growing and static inventory, in most of the towns property was cheap and rents were low. The book town concept originated in Hay-on-Wye, Wales (2001 population of 1,450) in the 1960s. The town was a declining agricultural settlement until a flamboyant resident and local bookseller persuaded other booksellers (now numbering around 30) to set up shop in abandoned buildings. The town hosts an annual festival of literature. Tourist visits to the town in 1999 numbered around 500,000 per year; 90% are day visitors. Other isolated small towns in Europe have followed the Hay-on-Wye model, with mixed success. The book town component of Bredevoort, Netherlands (population 1,600) was a private initiative begun in 1993; bookstores in the town now number around 30. The town also hosts associated cultural events. Fjaerland, Norway (population 300), until 1986 only accessible by boat, still struggles to attract a sufficient market. Once drawn to the village for the book town experience, visitors are offered cruises on the fjord and mountain hikes. Montolieu in Southern France (population 850) emphasizes book making as well as selling. The town re-commissioned a defunct 17th century paper mill and opened several artisan workshops, which focus on teaching traditional crafts associated with books, such as papermaking, printing and
ekistics planning & design • telephone: 902.461.2525 • fax: 902.465.3131 • www.ekistics.net p. 41 Town of Wolfville commercial development plan bookbinding. The book town has injected some life into the local economy; a few other businesses have opened, including several bed and breakfasts.
Is the concept of a book town transferable to North America? A few book towns have been established in North America, usually by the declaration of a single retailer or a core group of book retailers in small towns. For example, several U.S. communities and the town of Sidney B.C. purport to be book towns, but the economy of these towns appears to be only marginally reliant on the book town component. In North America the concept has not been embraced or received with the same enthusiasm in as in Europe. The European towns that have been successful are also located in rural areas with a dense population compared with North America. Here, low rents and abandoned buildings, which are necessary elements for a successful book town, are not usually associated with proximity to a large market (i.e., population density in Europe is much higher than North America, and certainly Kings County).. Some European book towns receive government subsidies to support their development of the local economy; this is unlikely in North America. In North America, the book town concept appears to be a successful strategy at a limited scale for a small segment of the retailing industry.
Sources: http://www.hay-on-wye.co.uk/ http://www.sidneybooktown.ca/ http://www.booksourcemonthly.com/index A. V. Seaton. “Book Towns as Tourism Developments in Peripheral Areas”. International Journal of Tourism Research: 1, 389 - 399 (1999). International Organisation of Booktowns: http://www.booktown.net Photo Sources: www.bredevoort-boekenstad.nuk ; community.webshots.com/ album/359442257wdwjUW
Summary of Case Studies Based on our review of these three concepts, we have the following comments.
Wine Town Theme. The wine town theme has great promise for the Wolfville area, as there is an existing base of wineries in the area, as well as a large concentration of farm markets and agricultural producers. In addition, Wolfville has an existing supply of high quality restaurants, cultural amenities and accommodation.
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The weakness in this approach is that the region has not yet developed the critical mass that is evident in other renown grape/wine regions (e.g., Napa Valley, Niagara on the Lake, the wine regions of France). Perhaps this can be a sub-theme of a larger agricultural promotional theme for the region that is currently being promoted by a group of local farmers, wineries and restaurants. It would make sense to create a grape and wine celebration/festival as a way to attract and retain visitors to the Wolfville Region. This could start as a weekend event, and over time expand to include events throughout the course of a week. Unlike other events, this type of event would necessitate overnight stays (Like the Kitchener Waterloo October-fest).
Eco-towns. The positioning of a town as an eco-community is something that would take a very long time to accomplish, as this takes a large amount of investment in key infrastructure (e.g., new innovative sewage treatment, wind power facilities solar panels, etc). Other than the environmental programs offered at Acadia University, Wolfville does not have any current competitive advantages that would help establish itself as an eco-town. Due to changes in government policy (e.g., the implementation of the Kyoto Protocols) a large number of communities throughout the world will be converting to sustainable types of municipal infrastructure, and as such, it will almost impossible for Wolfville to distinguish itself as unique. Wolfville should continue to promote the use of sustainable environmental technologies throughout the community, but should not rely on this as the focus of the Town’s economic strategy.
Book towns. The book town phenomenon appears to be centred primarily in Europe. It relies on a number of factors which do not appear to be possible in Wolfville, including: large amounts of inexpensive storage space for books; close proximity to large urban centres (Halifax is large, but is small by European standards), and government support through cultural subsidy programs. There is not an existing industry of book sellers or book manufacturers in Wolfville that are clamoring for this focus. This is a nice concept, but not one where Wolfville has a competitive advantage, and the Town should not rely on this as the basis of its economic development strategy.
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Chapter 5.0 : Commercial Development Plan
The following chapter outlines the strategic vision for a commercial development plan for Wolfville. The plan can be divided into two components; namely, the Strategic Plan and the Spatial Plan. The spatial plan focuses on physical and functional improvements, which relates to Wolfville’s potential physical development and the way in which such development might be enabled; and the strategic plan focuses on strategic, administrative, programming and marketing themes and opportunities, which refers to how the Town should promote itself to increase business activity.
5.1 The Strategic Plan The strategic plan outlines a strategic framework for enhancing the commercial core of Wolfville. These can be subdivided into several categories including the strategic plan, the sustainability plan, Acadia/Town partnerships, rent and commercial tax, missing businesses, storefront decorating, the farmers market, WBDC/Town Synergies, and the civic signage strategy. These concepts are described below in detail.
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(1) Strategic Plan This section outlines the key principles associated with the Economic Development Strategy, while the next section provides some project specific details.
1. Fix What You Have. The Town has as strong economy, and is desirable place to locate a business, however the existing planning regulations are limiting the ability for companies to invest in downtown. Rather than spend a lot of effort creating a “theme” for the town that can be used to attract business, the Town should focus on streamlining the planning approvals process so that existing and new business opportunities are not wasted. 2. Incorporate Green Development Principles, But This Is Not a Panacea. The Town should incorporate green planning and design principles into the new MPS and LUB. However, as evidenced by the case studies, a large number of municipalities worldwide are also taking a similar approach. This is not to say that the inclusion of green development principles is not worthwhile, but rather points to the fact that this work will enhance the attractiveness of Wolfville as a place to live and work (the Town’s competitive advantage), not become the foundation of its economic development strategy. 3. Acadia University Is A Major Asset For the Town. Wolfville is a university town, and the fortune of the community is linked to the university. The town should work cooperatively with Acadia to achieve a number of common goals, including the LINK project, expansion lands for a technology campus, a visitor reception centre, and the promotion of the KC Irving Centre to visitors, etc. 4. Culture is an Important Economic Driver. Wolfville is the cultural centre of Kings County, and draws visitors from Halifax and further abroad. Much of this visitation can be attributed to cultural amenities associated with the Town (e.g., the Atlantic Theatre Festival). Given the recent financial troubles associated with the ATF, the Town should do whatever it can to support the efforts of this important group. 5. Wolfville Needs a Major Tourist Attraction. Wolfville has a large amount of tourist infrastructure (e.g., hotels, restaurants, etc) but it does not have a specific attraction that generates visitation to the community. Several opportunities exist: Acadia University as a tourist attraction (e.g., campus tours through the proposed visitor centre, JD Irving Centre, etc), and an enhanced Robie Tufts Centre and dykelands interpretive facility. The Town should offer to work with the Irving Centre on the preparation and implementation of a marketing strategy. 6. Create an Point of Sale for the Arts Community. There are a large number of artisans in the Wolfville region, and their product is an integral part of any cultural tourism strategy. The Town should work with the WBDC to identify and develop a small cultural facility/centre that can be used to showcase the work of local artists. This might include workspace for artisans, and could also be a good match with an expanded farmers market.
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7. Highlight and Promote the Town’s Connection to Local Agriculture. A large number of visitors are motivated to visit Wolfville because of the plethora of farm markets and its close proximity to agricultural facilities. The Town and the WBDC should work with local businesses to reinforce this link, thereby positioning Wolfville as the focus of a daytrip to the Valley from the Halifax region. 8. Develop a Regional Culinary and Wine Strategy. The province of Nova Scotia has developed its own food and culinary strategy, however it provides a lot of focus on the promotion of Nova Scotia grown products, and less on specific locations or events. Given the existing concentration of food service businesses in Wolfville, the town should position itself as culinary destination. This might include the creation of a food and wine festival as part of the agriculture and artisan strategies. 9. Improve the Quality of Main Street To Encourage More Investment. Main Street and Front Street are in need of refurbishment as a way to enhance the image of the town, and to promote more investment. The town needs to address this issue. 10. Big Box is Not for Us. Wolfville cannot compete with the big box commercial development that is occurring in nearby New Minas. Rather than trying to replicate this environment, Wolfville needs to do the opposite: focus on small, high quality businesses that focus on niche products and customer service. Many of these businesses want to establish themselves in Wolfville, although the current development climate limits this activity. 11. Focus on Existing Retailers. The retention of key businesses such as grocery stores and pharmacies is key to the future livelihood of downtown. The Town should continue to work hard with these businesses to ensure that they remain a viable part of the economy of downtown Wolfville. 12. Regional Cooperation on Attracting Key Employees. Wolfville has Acadia while Kentville has the hospital. Both communities could benefit from a cooperative effort to attract and retain high level employees such as doctors, lawyers, scientists, professors, etc (e.g., couples where one is professor and the other is a doctor). The Town should work with Kings County and the Town of Kentville to promote region to possible employees.
(2) Sustainability Plan Wolfville is one of a handful of municipalities (Whistler, Canmore, HRM, and Wolfville) in Canada who have adopted The Natural Step (TNS) program. The Natural Step program is a framework for sustainable organizational planning. As the heart of Wolfville, the downtown needs to reflect the sustainable initiative. This focus for the downtown was identified as a strategic direction by many of the participants at the downtown workshops held by the consultants. There are only several ways that this could be manifested in a commercial development plan which are outlined below: 1. Make Downtown a walkable experience. Create incentives for residents to walk downtown by providing benches, overhead canopies, street trees, entertainment
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and pedestrian friendly streets. Improve waterfront trails and link trail networks into communities and the University. 2. Bring housing to the downtown. People living in the downtown means less reliance on cars and more importantly, creates ‘eyes on the street’ which reduces the public safety problems found in downtowns without people. The Town should continue to encourage second and third floor residential units with future downtown developments. 3. Increase the density downtown. Create opportunities for more activity in the downtown to preserve expansion on valuable surrounding farmland. 4. Adopt R2000 Standards for building design. While this can cost three to five per cent more than regular construction, the annual heating costs can be reduced by at least 20%. (http://r2000.chba.ca) . 5. Develop water conservation standards for new buildings. The City of Charlottetown is implementing a similar strategy downtown for new developments. 6. Encourage alternate forms of transportation. Bike racks, benches at bus stops and pedestrian friendly signage all encourage non-auto transportation. The town could make some easy improvements in this area. 7. Green the streets. Look for all kinds of opportunities to use landscaping downtown including planter boxes, street trees, planted sidewalk areas, etc. Develop a downtown tree planting program. 8. Look into off grid energy solutions. Wind power is becoming a more real energy solution in many municipalities across Nova Scotia. investigate the potential of wind power in the dykelands. 9. Develop a sustainable stormwater management plan for the Town. The municipality should investigate partnership opportunities with Acadia University to create a stormwater treatment wetland in the dykelands to treat stormwater runoff. 10. Develop an Open Space Masterplan for the Town. Create a strategic open space plan to link neighbourhoods to natural and park spaces around the town. Create a management framework for the open space network and partner with Acadia University who are also developing open space guidelines and plans. 11. Develop a municipal LEED policy for future municipal developments. Ensure that future municipal buildings and developments follow at least a LEED bronze rating. 12. Develop a sustainable waste management plan for the downtown. 13. Complete the 747 Project to turn over 747 acres of the Town’s drinking water supply watershed to the NS Nature Trust. The Nova Scotia Nature Trust is a nonprofit nature conservation group that can take a leadership role in the stewardship of this old growth forest, thus preserving the Town’s drinking water supply. 14. Develop an environmental plan for the town to identify areas that should be preserved from development and encourage development in areas not limited
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by carrying capacity. The plan should focus on land use, waste, energy, open space, landscape suitability and capability, etc. The Town has already demonstrated its commitment to sustainable planning by accessing the Canadian Federation of Municipality’s Green Municipal Funds for the development of a new model sustainability focused MPS. Service NS and Municipal relations have have endorsed this approach, and are now partners with the Town on this initiative. The Town needs to spread this message by working with the WBDC to facilitate sustainable changes at the individual business level in the downtown.
(3) Acadia -Town Partnerships The Town must capitalize on the inter-relationship between itself and Acadia University. The LINK plan is just the first step. Other areas for partnership include: 1. Taking a cue from Acadia, the Town should develop a wireless program for the entire downtown . The City of Fredericton has developed a similar wireless program called the Freddy Zone. This downtown zone could be branded as the Wolfville WIFI Zone. The zone could and should be compatible with Acadia’s network to allow students wireless access anywhere downtown. The network would appeal to students, residents and high-end tourists, and would help position the town as an innovative place to do business. 2. Coordinate the Town’s Open Space masterplan with the University open space plan. Ensure that open space connections and greenways are continuous between the Town and the university. 3. Cooperate on a shared stormwater management strategy for the Town and University as outlined in the Acadia University Landscape Master Plan. 4. Partner with the university to bring University retail into the downtown. Much of the existing retail at Acadia is buried in the middle of campus, and is unavailable to the general public (e.g., there is not a photocopy shop downtown). Many university’s across North America partner with adjacent downtowns to create off campus stores, bookstores, clothing stores, etc., that front on the adjacent retail area. For instance, NSCAD University just moved its campus Art Store from the 6th floor of the campus to a retail storefront on Hollis Street. In this way, the Art Store is open to students and general public alike. Harvard University and MIT both have their bookstores just off the edge of campus where they can also attract the general public. Saint Mary’s University has done similar downtown location shops. Acadia and the Town should discuss the potential of bringing some campus retail opportunities into the downtown. As long as this space is made available to anyone at market rate, this will be a win- win partnership. 5. Cooperate with Acadia and the Marshbody to develop a management plan for the Dykelands. A management plan is needed for the dykelands so that environmentally benign activities such as walking trails and wind power generation can co-exist with the preservation of the marshlands. This management plan should identify areas for tiered preservation and should find
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a way to make a formal dykeland walking trail a reality. The focus should be on protecting and interpreting the dykeland resource. 6. The LINK program will initially start on the Acadia campus; however, some of the spin off businesses could look to relocate to surrounding commercial areas within the next 5-10 years. The Town should work with the University to determine the requirements for potential business spin offs locating in the town in the next decade. Spin-off businesses will fit one or two descriptions: small high tech start-up firms looking for interesting space (likely renovated heritage buildings in the downtown) and, an office campus environment (given the lack of land within the town, this is probably located on Acadia’s lands at the top of the hill adjacent to Highway 101). The Town should make provisions to incorporate these needs into the strategic vision of the downtown or surrounding industrial areas. 7. Welcome Centre partnership between the University and the Town. A large number of universities throughout North America have visitor centres that provide information to visitors, and act as ambassadors for the university. Examples include: Boston University, Yale, Bates College, UC Berkeley, University of Indiana, etc. The Town and Acadia have had several meetings on this topic, and have agreed that a good location for the building would be the area in front of the Atlantic Theatre Festival. Possible uses include: visitor services (campus tours, JD Irving Centre, etc), interpretive exhibits on the history of Acadia, tourist information, booking of guided tours (Dykelands walks, etc), theatre box office sales, WBDC office space, etc. Both parties are currently working together to pursue funding for a conceptual plan. The town should considere the relocation of the VIC to this location, as a way to minimize the operating cost of the facility, and to enhance visitation to local tourism attractions (e.g., KC Irving Environmental Centre). 8. Capitalize on cross marketing campaigns for the University and the Town. There is a acknowledged reluctance to accept the identity of Wolfville as a university Town. We do not see that association as a bad thing. In the US, many towns understand the strategic significance of associating themselves with the local university, however in Canada, there is a reluctance to assume this role. The Town must do a better job of framing the university culture as part of the Town’s identity in its marketing and branding efforts (i.e., Wonderful, Welcoming Wolfville does not do this). Wolfville, like Acadia, specializes in human capital development (cultural, academic, technical), and both groups work together, a stronger future will emerge.
(4) Rent and commercial tax During the stakeholder interviews for this project, several local business people indicated some concern about the commercial property tax rate in Wolfville. From their perspective, they thought the rate was high. In order to assess this situation, the consultants compared the commercial property tax rates of several local municipalities. This data is summarized in the following table.
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As the data indicate, Comparison of Commercial Tax Rates commercial tax rates are Municipality 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 roughly ten percent Village of New Minas$ 1.65 $ 1.70 $ 1.70 Town of Kentville$ 2.83 $ 2.80 $ 2.67 higher in Wolfville than Town of Wolfville$ 3.10 $ 3.10 $ 3.10 they are in the Town of HRM$ 3.36 $ 3.36 $ 3.41 Kentville, and almost Town of Windsor$ 3.57 $ 3.57 $ 3.59 eighty percent higher than in the Village of New Minas. However, when compared to commercial rates in the Town of Windsor, Wolfville is eight percent lower. Based on this analysis, the commercial tax rates in Wolfville appear to be reasonable, when compared to other similar locations (e.g., Kentville and Windsor), and below other municipalities in the province that have rates above $4.00 per $100 (e.g., Cape Breton Regional Municipality, Springhill, Oxford, Lockeport, etc). This is still the case when the $0.25 per $100 levy for the Wolfville Business Development Corporation is added to this base rate, although some local business owners would argue otherwise. The key to the WBDC levy is providing value. If the funds collected from this levy are used appropriately, property owners should see a tangible improvement in the business climate downtown, and very few will complain about this additional tax. The issue is the perception of the overall tax rate (base rate plus WBDC levy is $3.34 per $100) when compared to the neighbouring communities of Kentville ($2.67) and New Minas ($1.70). In order to ensure that the WBDC continues to provide value to property owners downtown, the municipality should review the activities of the WBDC on an annual basis. The focus on this review should be the accountability of the WBDC on their mandate to create value for tax payers.
(5) Missing Businesses The Town of Wolfville is a relatively small community, and as such, has a limited ability to support a wide array of retailers. While this is generally not a problem, in some cases the operation of a second economy on the campus of Acadia University limits accessibility of some services. For example, downtown Wolfville does not have a photocopy shop, although one does exist on the campus of Acadia University. One way to address this issue is to encourage Acadia to locate some of these retailers on the edge of their campus that abuts downtown. In this way, retailers on campus also add to the vibrancy of downtown. This scenario is quite common in other university settings and should be explored in Wolfville. The one cavaet associated with this recommendation is the perception that retailers on campus are subsidized by the relatively low property tax scheme (grant in lieu of taxes) between Acadia and the Town. This can be easily addressed by ensuring that the rents charged for this retail space by Acadia are equal to market rents for the rest of downtown. This will ensure an even playing field for all parties.
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(6) Storefront Decorating The WBDC should sponsor a downtown Storefront decorating course to teach members about retail storefront design, customer service theory, window dressing, and storefront lighting design. The course would benefit all business owners downtown and would likely significantly improve the face of the downtown to residents and tourists.
(7) The Wolfville Farmers Market The Wolville Farmers market is one of the most successful markets in the Province with approximately 45 regular vendors during the peak Fall season. The market is located on the grounds of the Robie Tuffs Nature Centre (Front Street) between May and September, and then relocates indoors to the Acadia Student Union Building for the remainder of the year. According to the manager of the market, the facility is in need of additional space for more vendors, a covered facility to provide protection from the elements and some basic heat and services (washrooms, running water, etc). Ideally, the Market would like to try to find an indoor, year round space in the downtown to provide these enhanced facilities. One existing structure that could provide this space is a former apple warehouse adjacent to the Atlantic Theatre Festival space. The Farmers Market has been having negotiations with Acadia University over the use of this space, and the Town should encourage these talks to continue. From the Towns standpoint, it should be critical to find a downtown location for the market. Finding a permanent indoor location is a goal of many farmers markets in the province and remains as one of the main issues cited for slow growth and adoption within a community.
(8) WBDC & Town Synergies The Wolfville Business Development Corporation (WBDC) is an important organization for businesses in the Town. It was started at about the same time as 1978 MainStreet program and, initially, its focus was on sidewalk and streetscape improvements and development. However, when the WBDC was forced to define an assessment district in the mid 1990’s it expanded its mandate to include all businesses paying commercial tax in the town. Over time, as funding for development improvements diminished, the WBDC focused on primarily on marketing. The organization currently spends about $50-60,000 per year on advertising and has no full time staff; it shares part time staff with the town. While many businesses in Wolfville benefit from the marketing activities of the WBDC, there are a significant number of service businesses which see little benefit from general marketing initiatives.
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The WBDC, the Town and the Kings RDA should work together to realize streetscape improvements, signage and wayfinding improvements and facade improvements in downtown Wolfville. For example, the construction of community information kiosks by the WBDC in 2004 , is one way that the WBDC can help leverage development projects for the downtown. This shift in emphasis from marketing to marketing and development is more in line with other business improvement commission mandates in the province. There are a number of funding programs that are currently available for infrastructure related projects, and could be accessible to the WBDC for development projects. As such, while the WBDC should continue to market and promote the Town, it should also work cooperatively with the Town to focus more efforts on new development initiatives.
(9) Implement the Civic Signage Strategy The Wolfville Civic Signage Strategy was prepared in 2003. However, as of the date of this report, very little of this strategy has been implemented. This is unfortunate, as the town is in need of an enhanced and more cohesive look, and signage is a cost effective way to do this. The town should work with the WBDC to set priorities and timelines for implementing the civic signage strategy within the next 5 years.
(10) Programming and Marketing Themes and Opportunities Chapter Four illustrated examples of Towns that have been successful in developing niches that have ultimately transformed them and given them a new successful identity. We noted that Niagara-on-the-lake had similarities to Wolfville and its identity as a centre focused partly upon its surrounding wineries held promise for the Town. Parts of our “Programming and Marketing” recommendations revolve around this theme. However, our overall observations are that Town already has a strong identity that simply needs to be organized and cultivated to a greater degree. We recommend that the Town place an emphasis upon two themes, “Wolfville as a Prestigious University Town” and “Wolfville’s Sense of Place”, and then consider the specific business opportunities that may be associated with them, examples of which are identified below. In implementing these two themes, we also recommend that the Town “Cater to a Variety of Interests” by ensuring that it offers a complete experience within the Town.
Wolfville as a Prestigious University Town Natural to all university towns, and as confirmed through our public consultation, Acadia’s presence produces a “love-hate” sentiment. For as many benefits that result
ekistics planning & design • telephone: 902.461.2525 • fax: 902.465.3131 • www.ekistics.net p. 52 Town of Wolfville commercial development plan from the university, there are often perceived to be as many problems. However, from a marketing perspective, given the internationally recognized prestige that is associated with Acadia, the Town has an outstanding opportunity in marketing itself first and foremost as “The Home of Acadia University.” We suggest that there are two categories of opportunities that may be had through Acadia’s presence: “Event and Tourism Synergies” and “Businesses Catering to Students / Students Catering to Businesses.” 1) Event and Tourism Synergies Every evening lecture, conference, concert, and sporting event represents a tremendous opportunity for both the Town and Acadia. Businesses such as restaurants already realize significant benefits when there is an influx of people for an evening sporting event. We recommend that the Town needs to capitalize on such events on a much broader scale by establishing a direct promotional strategic alliance with Acadia. Examples of such initiatives are described as follows. An occasion such as a prominent sporting event might be promoted jointly by Acadia and the Town to places like the Halifax market, with programs such as discounts at businesses and overnight accommodations. This could be supported directly by radio, print, and television advertising campaigns. A further direct marketing effort might be concentrated specifically upon Acadia alumni and the parents of current students and alumni. Acadia and the Town should jointly participate in programs that not only remind these specialized groups of their association with Acadia, but also within the Town, with the ambition of promoting tourism. Again, the Town should consider implementing programs such as a Town- wide discount at business and overnight accommodations for Acadia-related tourists. For Acadia, devoting marketing funds to promoting Town tourism to such groups should be recognized as a key way in which it can re-establish long-term alumni relationships. 2) Businesses Catering to Students / Students Catering to Businesses There are a wide number of businesses within the Town that largely rely upon Acadia students. Although at times, as identified through our public consultations, there might seem to be a cross-purpose in having relatively high-end retail outlets and restaurants alongside pizza shops, we suggest that this mixture is what makes a university town like Wolfville interesting. From our perspective, the Town’s emphasis upon catering to students should be on simply retaining the market that currently exists. Acadia’s Campus Plan advocates an essentially stable student enrollment. Based on this, there is little opportunity to increase the student business market-share than that which already exists. Therefore the Town needs to ensure that this “opportunity” that has already been fully realized is not diminished in anyway in the future. To this end, we recommend that the Town continue to be mindful of any significant potential internalization of businesses onto the campus, as has occurred with so many other universities. Another way in which to realize a further opportunity from the student and professor presence in Town is with the possibilities for business incubation. The students represent a potential labourforce that may be attractive for certain types of
ekistics planning & design • telephone: 902.461.2525 • fax: 902.465.3131 • www.ekistics.net p. 53 Town of Wolfville commercial development plan businesses. We specifically note that some types of call-centers might be attracted to Wolfville based on the attractiveness of being able to employ students on a part-time basis along with full-time local residents. We recommend that that the Town evaluate the potential for business opportunities such as a call centre and if deemed to be reasonable, to facilitate the establishment of a modest sized office building within the Downtown, potentially as part of the program to revitalize Front Street described earlier. The idea of a “Valley Innovation and Technology Centre” has been a long-term idea within the Town. This would be comprised of a building with flexible facilities and spaces to allow for fledging research and development companies to become established. Such centres are typically an extension of the work done initiated by professors and others in a university setting. While such a business enterprise holds promise for the Town that we believe is worth pursuing, its viability should be carefully assessed in light Acadia’s relatively small number of professors and graduate students.
Unique Sense of Place Through our consultation process there were many suggestions that an emphasis ought to be placed upon instituting themes such as: The “slow food movement”; Encouraging cultural assets such as the local area artists; Promoting a environmentally sustainable community through the implementation of environmentally sensitive practices; and; Developing the community as a centre for surrounding emerging local wineries (as considered in one of our case studies). In our opinion, none of these on an individual basis is sufficiently strong enough to form complete theme. Rather, we recommend that all of these have a common combined thread that should become a theme for the Town. Collectively, these elements categorize Wolfville’s unique sense-of-place: Its existence as a relatively self-sufficient community that is tied intrinsically to its natural environment of agricultural lands, the dykelands, the Minas Basin, and the important visual presence of Blomidon and the Gaspereau Valley. From a perspective of the “slow food movement”, tied with the emergence of the surrounding wineries and specialty local grown food, and appreciation of natural features such as the dykelands, we suggest that the Town continue position itself as the prominent centre for this theme. This should be achieved through direct promotions of events such as wine festivals, continued support of the Saturday Market, photographic and artisan retreats, and encouragement for establishments such as restaurants that place an emphasis on locally grown foods. Coupled with this, the Town should promote its recently established “rail trail” and continue to work with the two Marshbodies to market hiking along the dykes not only for recreational purposes, but for educational and agricultural appreciation purposes. Other efforts should include an expansion of the bicycle tour business opportunities that are already in place in Wolfville and a re- establishment of kayaking tours from the harbour.
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From a sustainable community perspective, we suggest that provided the Town continues to develop dense downtown, it will already have achieved a much higher standard of sustainability than which exists in other communities. Opportunities for specific sustainable programs, such as “green buildings” and “district heat” will naturally be possible and evolve from this form of settlement. As this occurs, there will be increased opportunities for a greater emphasis upon a sustainability theme to be promoted. Until this time, we suggest that it be encapsulated within the overall “sense of place” theme we are recommending. Finally, promoting a unique sense of place need not be comprised of sedate programming and business promotion. Events such as Mudcreek Days represent a perfect and uniquely “Wolfville” festival experience that may be marketed to a far greater extent. This combined “sense of place” is something that we recommend be fully promoted in marketing and promotional literature and business development.
Catering to a Variety of Interests Much of what we are suggesting through our marketing and promotional recommendations is that Wolfville simply improve upon existing attributes. Along this vein, it is extremely important that the Town recognize that one its primary ambitions should be to offer as many experiences as possible, so as to retain visitors for as long as possible. In addition to visitor retention, establishing a vibrant community unto itself, provides an attractive settling for business development. One means of doing this is, while focusing upon the two themes we have recommended, is to ensure there are a sufficient variety of attractions and events to make people stay for extended periods of time. There are very few places outside of Halifax that have sufficient variety of things to do to engage visitors for more than a day. Over the last several years there have been significant strides towards establishing a variety of attractions, such as the establishment of the K.C. Irving Centre, the continued implementation of the Millennium Trail, and the Saturday market. Such efforts should continue. New activities and attractions that do not detract from the “Prestigious University Town” and “Connection to Natural and Cultural Features” themes being recommended should be encouraged. One specific segment of visitor market to which it has been identified that there are limited attractions are families. Admittedly, there are few things in the Town that readily cater towards children. If the Town continues to emphasize the two themes being recommended above, it is unlikely that the Town will ever have, or want to have, something similar to Aylesford Zoo or Upper Clements Park. However, we suggest the Town could make dramatic strides forward in retaining family groups for extended periods of time through the establishment of something as simple as a significant playground structure in a prominent location such as Willow Park. In many cases, such a feature can become the entire reason for a trip to Wolfville. No matter if it is catering towards families to a greater degree or otherwise, the Town needs to focus attention upon providing a wide spectrum of things to do.
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5.2 The Spatial Plan An important realization for the Town is that there are limited opportunities to establish new commercial businesses or districts beyond the existing boundaries of the Downtown. The reasons for this are: The boundaries of the Downtown are well defined and limited by being surrounded by established residential areas; The existing Dykeland Industrial Park cannot be expanded due to provincial legislation that prevents further development of marshlands; The possibility of establishing a new commerciaindustrial district on the west end of the Town is doubtful due to existence of established residential areas; While there are large tracts of undeveloped land on the eastern end of the Town, they are a considerable distance from the Highway interchange and therefore unsuitable for a commerciaindustrial park development. There will likely continue to be a modest increase in the number of home occupations and there is the possibility of that single research facilities associated with Acadia may be established. However, beyond these, unless circumstances change, any increase in the commercial activity will need to originate from new development and redevelopment within the existing Downtown. Given this, it is critical that that new commercial development be promoted within the Downtown if the Town is to realize an increased commercial assessment base. There are three significant, but relatively simple things that might be done to encourage commercial growth within the Downtown, as follows.
(10) Reducing Impediments One of the recurring comments made to the consulting team is that the Town’s land use planning regulations are too cumbersome. In our review of the Municipal Planning Strategy and Land Use Bylaw, we note two major disincentives to development. These include the development agreement approvals process and the parking requirements outlined in the LUB. Suggested overhauls for reducing development impediments are described further below. Development Agreement Approvals The first development disincentive is the process required to gain approval for Downtown development projects. Most projects require a development agreement due to the Town’s Architectural Guidelines Manual for Downtown policy requirements. Although their intent of ensuring that development makes a positive contribution to the Downtown, is vital, they are a disincentive to development through the amount of time it takes to secure approvals and the high degree of uncertainty in the process that hinges upon Town Council’s approval and which is subject to possible appeals to the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board. Although the Architectural Guidelines Manual for Downtown has the appearance of being rather complex, the actual requirements are fairly straightforward in basically outlining conditions to ensure that:
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Buildings have façade features that promote pedestrian interest, such as large display windows; and Utilitarian elements such parking and receiving areas are not dominant. Rather than through a lengthy development agreement process, we recommend that most matters of concern be regulated through land use bylaw conditions and considered through a regular development permit process. With this, the development agreement tool would become almost a means of “last resort”; only used in situations where such approvals cannot be achieved through an as-of-right process. MPS and LUB changes The most frequently cited recommendation by the business community for improving the commercial development climate in Wolfville is the need to streamline the land use approval process. Currently most of the downtown is zoned as GC (general commercial), with small pockets of RI (residential intermediate), IG and I/C (industrial). Due to concerns about the type of development that was occurring in the downtown, the Town adopted the Architectural Guidelines manual for Downtown Wolfville in 1992. This manual was an attempt to preserve and enhance the heritage character of the downtown by providing guidelines for architecture, signage and streetscape. Shortly after the manual was adopted, the Planning Advisory Committee (PAC) debated how to implement the guidelines. At that time, the decision was made to adopt policy that would trigger a development agreement for all significant developments. Policy 6 of the current Municipal Planning Strategy (MPS) states that: “It shall be the intention of Council, in the Commercial General designation, to consider the following developments by a development agreement, provided the proposals are for a use that is permitted in the Commercial General Zone, C-1: a) new buildings or additions to existing buildings in excess of 100 square meters; b) additions to existing buildings in excess of 10 percent of the floor area of the existing building; c) alterations to existing buildings which include: • structural alterations of the building facade, • changes to windows and/or doors, • changes to exterior cladding materials, • changes to roof lines”. Based in this by-law, a building owner looking to replace a window or door on their building would have to file an application for a development agreement, pay a $600 application fee, and agree to attend a public hearing and other required meetings with the Planning Advisory Committee. The effect of this over regulation was that most property owners stopped maintaining their buildings, as the cost and effort associated with minor improvements was prohibitive. This was confirmed through interviews with business owners, who also indicated that the development agreement process was also way too subjective (i.e., based on personal taste, not objective criteria). How can the restoration of heritage buildings proceed if the debate is reduced to the choice of colour (green or blue) or other similarly subjective criteria.
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At the Nov 3, 2005 PAC meeting, the commission agreed that the pendulum had swung too far, and that the policies and by-laws put into place to protect the heritage quality of the downtown were actually having the opposite effect; they were stifling new investment. The PAC indicated that it would like to find a balance between protection and enhancement of the resource, and creating an environment that is conducive to new investment. They are hoping that this can be addressed in the upcoming review of the Municipal Planning Strategy (MPS) and Land Use By-laws (LUB). To do this, the consultant’s recommend redefining what constitutes a “significant development” and making the LUB more prescriptive as it relates to signage and architectural design guidelines in the GC zone. The MPS update to the definition of significant changes should be changed to: a) new buildings b) additions to existing buildings in excess of 10% of the existing floor area; c) alterations to existing buildings which include: • structural alterations of the building facade, • changes to roof lines. Changes to windows, doors and exterior cladding should be covered in the LUB to allow the planner to make these decisions immediately (i.e., site plan approval). The change from 100 square metres to 10% of the floor area is consistent with the MPS policy for changes to residential dwellings in the town. Policy 8 of the MPS makes overtures about streamlining the DA process, however, in practice, there have been no streamlining measures ever developed. We recommend removing policy 8 from the MPS. Section 3.2.3.2 of the MPS (CS designation) speaks about preserving opportunities for commercial use in this area, however, section 17.3 of the LUB limits the amount of commercial use in this area to 300 square metres. The remainder of the dwelling must be used as residential use. We recommend removing LUB policy 17.3. The bulk of buildings in the downtown range between 2-3 storeys in height. The current bylaw has a maximum height restriction on buildings in the C-1 zone of 11 m (34’). Since most buildings are a minimum of 10’ floor to floor, this only leaves 4’ for the roof (most 12/12 peaked roof heights are half the width of the building which on average is about 25’ in Wolfville). There should be a provision to allow peaked roofs (peaks oriented to the street) up to 40’ in height. This would be consistent with the design of buildings in the 18th and 19th century. While there is much effort placed on limiting the height of new buildings an many downtowns, it is not widely understood the negative impact of short buildings (i.e., one storey buildings) and how their scale can be just as inappropriate as a building that is too tall. In order to address this issue, the town should include a minimum requirement for a 2 storey structure in the C-1 zone. This will create a streetscape that is much more in harmony with the existing heritage buildings. The MPS and LUB needs a strategy to deal with vacant properties in the town. Land speculators have an incentive to maintain vacant properties because their property
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Town of Wolfville commercial development plan taxes are low and the gains they expect to make on a future sale outweigh the small cost of keeping them vacant. One solution is a split rate tax to significantly increase the tax rate for properties that are not actively used for more than 2 years in the downtown. The City of Baltimore also offers a Vacant Dwelling Tax Credit to rehabilitate vacant structures (5 year reduction in assessment increase due to rehabilitation; 100% credit in first year to 20% in the fifth year). These types of options should be explored further by the town. The town needs to adopt a civic art strategy as part of the MPS. HRM is just putting the finishing touches on its cultural plan which might provide a good model for a strategy in Wolfville. Essentially the strategy should endorse public civic art and provide a framework for realizing a public art program for the Town (especially the downtown) within the next decade. Lastly, there are a number of inconsistencies between policies and by-laws that need to be identified and cleaned up in the updated MPS and LUB. These are beyond the scope of this study to identify in detail. Parking Requirements The second major regulatory disincentive that needs to be addressed is the Land Use Bylaw’s requirements over parking for commercial uses. Any new development, change in development that requires a greater number of parking spaces (e.g. a restaurant), or an expansion of an existing land use typically requires additional on-site parking or a fee to be paid the Town in the amount of about of $2,000.00 per required parking space. While such fees admittedly provide the Town with revenue in which to develop or improve parking lots, the parking requirements have, and continue to be an impediment to development in the Downtown. One example of this is the Paddy’s Pub development, which proceeded without any concessions by the Town over its parking fees. A further example is the Pharmasave development that located all of its required parking on-site, thereby creating a parking lot on Front Street rather than landscaping or possibly another building. We suggest that the Town would likely receive more long-term assessment income from an increased commercial tax base than that which may be gained from the one- time cash-in-lieu payment program. On this basis, we recommend that the Town eliminate all of its Downtown parking requirements for commercial uses. To successfully implement this, over time the Town may need to reorganize much of its existing parking supply and consider applying a modest parking levy to all Downtown businesses. However, such matters may only be necessary if a substantial amount of new development occurs and parking becomes problematic. While eliminating the Downtown parking requirements might seem radical, there should be comfort in that places such as Peninsula Halifax have no parking space requirements for commercial uses.
(11) Investing in Capital Projects to Stimulate Commercial Redevelopment The Town has a limited budget for capital infrastructure and it therefore needs to be selective in any project that it undertakes. We are aware that there are several longstanding capital projects on a “wish list” for the Downtown which range from the development of Millennium Park to the creation of a municipal parking lot off Linden
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Avenue. Based upon the public input we received and our review, we suggest the Town needs to immediately implement two relatively simple and inexpensive projects that directly support future development, before considering any other possible initiatives.
Front Street Improvements The first project we recommend is a replacement and widening of the existing narrow asphalt sidewalk along the south side of Front Street, with a wide concrete sidewalk. This would directly promote the notion of Front Street as a major commercial thoroughfare. To accomplish this, some parking on this side of the street may need to be lost and the width of certain sections of the street may need to be greatly reduced to account for situations where buildings are close to the road right-of-way. Such reductions would be beneficial in slowing traffic and thereby achieving greater overall safety. Where possible and logical, a second sidewalk should also be installed on the north side of Front Street. In the next decade there will be continuing pressure for new commercial land development in the downtown. One of the few areas for new development is the Front Street area (on the north and south sides). The parking areas around the Robie Tufts Nature Centre will face pressure for redevelopment since parking may be more aptly suited to other areas of the downtown and IC zone (if the market moves to an indoor location). In particular, the parking lot at the corner of Front Street and Elm Avenue would be an ideal development location to anchor this end of the street with a building (parking lots on corners of street are generally discouraged in urban design because they are weak anchors to the end of a street). Future development on this lot needs to provide ample room between it and the train station to ensure the integrity of the heritage resource. The Town should encourage as much as possible infill developments along Front Street. In particular, the partial development of the Save Easy parking lot would go a long way towards restoring the commercial vitality of Front Street. Future developments on Front Street need to be street related and pedestrian scaled. A streetscape design strategy should be prepared for Main and Front Street which would recommend new pedestrian amenities (benches, trash, etc.), new decorative pavements, street trees, lighting, signage, etc. as outlined below. The drawings on the following page represent the proposed massing for Front Street. Note that the buildings do not necessarily represent the architectural style appropriate for Wolfville, but the pictures do provide a flavour for sidewalk activity, building scale and streetscape continuity.
Central Avenue Improvements The second project we recommend is the “pedestrianization” of Central Avenue. This notion was again, strongly suggested throughout the public input sessions. The rationale for this is that this would promote a linkage between Front Street and Main Street and thereby spark increased Front Street development. There are however, several constraints to completely closing the street to vehicular traffic including:
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Some of the businesses along Central Avenue have customers that may preferred to be dropped off outside their establishments; Some businesses have their deliveries made via the street; and A complete closure would create a very long block extending from Gaspereau to Elm, which may pose traffic and safety concerns. Based on the above, we recommend a relatively simple series of changes to Central Avenue that would create a street to be shared by vehicles and pedestrians. These include: Replacing the asphalt surface of the street with a treatment such as paving bricks or stones; removing curbs and cutters to provide an ‘at-grade’ sidewalk and street profile, with bollards and/or street amenities differentiating pedestrian and vehicle surfaces. Installing pedestrian-friendly street furniture such as benches along the sides of the street; and Instituting the directory signage that has been recommended for Central Avenue as described in the Wolfville Civic Sign Manual.
Streetscape Master Plan One of the very high priorities for Wolfville should be the creation and implementation of a streetscape master plan for downtown including Main Street, Elm Street, and Front Street. The current quality of the sidewalk experience in Wolfville is extremely low with stamped asphalt amenity strips (used in very low cost applications), broken street trees, low quality cobra head lighting, powerpoles and wires, aggregate planters, uncoordinated signage and recycling stations, temporary looking crossings islands, filled in tree grates and broken sidewalks. The streetscape image is the first impression for visitors and in Wolfville’s case, could be considerably improved. A Streetscape Plan for Truro. streetscape master plan should be Ekistics 2005
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Front Street
Front Street
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Front Street Existing
Front Street
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Front Street Existing
Front Street
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Facade Improvements ACOA has helped fund numerous facade improvement programs in Nova Scotia during the past few years, including projects in North Sydney, Sydney and Glace Bay . Programs were funded out of the Strategic Community Investment Fund. In some cases, the projects partnered with local RDA’s and municipalities to make up a portion of the funding. Funding is typically allocated to facade improvements only. The program pays half the cost of facade improvements up to $25,000. Some programs apply a formula based on the total square footage on the façade, thus allowing more funding for larger buildings. The program typically begins by obtaining seed money to hire an urban design consultant to prepare a facade improvement study (usually $30-40,000). The consultant works with building owners to prepare conceptual designs and cost estimates for each building on the street. The construction program must follow the facade plan prepared by the consultant for the funding to be realized. Participation in the program is typically very high. The municipality benefits significantly from the program by increasing the assessed value of the buildings in the downtown. Ekistics prepared the North Sydney and Sydney facade improvement plans and is currently preparing the Portland Street facade improvement plan in Downtown Dartmouth. This project should be spearheaded by the Wolfville Business Development Corporation in partnership with the Town.
Existing
Proposed
Facade Study for Downtown Sydney. Ekistics, 2004
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(12) Sidewalk Cafes Main Street and Front Street both have restaurants and cafe’s that would benefit from the creation of sidewalk cafe’s to enliven the street and improve summer business. Many communities in Atlantic Canada have developed programs for temporary decommissioning of parking spots in the summer to allow sidewalk cafes to flourish. The Town should develop a program to allow sidewalk cafe’s in the summer following, Halifax, Charlottetown or Moncton’s sidewalk cafe model. This could also be approached as a joint project between the Town and the WBDC.
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ekistics planning & design • telephone: 902.461.2525 • fax: 902.465.3131 • www.ekistics.net p. 67 Town of Wolfville commercial development plan
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(13) Financial Incentives for New Commercial Growth The Town has been asked on occasions to decrease its commercial tax rate in light of a perceived unfair burden being placed upon existing businesses. However, we suggest that the Town needs to address the root of the problem; its limited amount of commercial assessment base. The best way to accomplish this is to stimulate new development. Specially, we recommend that the Town institute a five year “tax holiday” on the taxes that would be levied against increased assessments that result from new commercial construction, additions and renovations. Such a measure has recently been suggested as part of a program to revitalize Barrington Street in Halifax. Instituting an assessment freeze for a limited amount of time should be attractive to the Town because it creates no new direct implementation costs for the Town. It should also be viewed positively by any existing businesses that although may not take advantage of such a program, receive an overall benefits from increased trade and a broadened commercial assessment base within the Downtown.
(14) Infill Strategies There are several ‘missing teeth’ on the street in Wolfville that would benefit from a concerted infill strategy for the downtown. These include: I. Infill vacant lots with buildings. Many of the vacant lots are occupied by parking lots. The Town may want to explore some planning incentives to encourage developers to fill the vacant lots. These incentives could include reducing parking requirements, tax incentives, etc. The Town should approach each of the owners through the WBDC to determine what might be done to encourage infill development. II. Encourage two and three storey development in the downtown. Downtown is primarily 2 and 3 storey with several 1 storey developments. The LUB should be changed to make 1 storey developments a non conforming use. III. Encourage street related development. Uses like the Post Office which is pushed back from the street, detract from streetscape character and retail congruence. The town should not permit building setbacks more than 6’ on Main Street, Elm and Front Street in the future. This would require an update to the LUB and MPS.
(15) Post Office Redevelopment. The existing Post Office building provides an excellent public amenity and a great reason to bring residents and visitors downtown. Unfortunately, the design of the building does not fit the rhythm and scale of Main Street, as it is a one storey building that is set too far back from the street, with a large amount of parking visible. The consultant’s had a conversation with Public Works Canada (who maintain the building) to discuss their plans for the facility. In summary, PWC while has no plans to replace this building, they are open to discussions on the possible re-use of space adjacent to the street. One opportunity would be the creation of a parkette adjacent to the street. This would provide a pedestrian amenity and enhance the streetscape, until such time as this site is redeveloped with a more appropriate building form.
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(16) East Main Street Redevelopment. With the closing of the Petrocan station in 2006, there may be a significant opportunity for the redevelopment of the block between the Tourist Bureau and the Tim Horton’s. This block, at the entrance gateway to the town, is in need of some significant renovations and improvements. The town should work with property owners to explore the redevelopment potential of this site.
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Town of Wolfville commercial development plan
Chapter 6.0 : Implementation Strategy
The Commercial Development Plan outlines long term recommendations for the development of the downtown that will require substantial resources and considered planning to achieve. It is important to build momentum for implementation of the plan through successful realization of demonstration projects early in the process, which help to build community support by showing the merit of the proposed improvements and the feasibility of implementing the works proposed. The implementation strategy highlights a number of more visible, manageable, and necessary upgrades for the early stages of implementation with more complex works in later stages. Deferral of the construction of more complex projects allows time for the additional study, property negotiation or permits to be completed in the lead-up years. Priorities for implementation are based upon the following criteria: Potential for greatest initial positive impact Ability to enhance visitation to the downtown Status of land ownership or construction readiness Opportunity to facilitate partnerships (i.e. private sector.) Coordinating with other ongoing municipal projects Logical design and construction sequence
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Creation of gateway or entry signs and nodes.
The following discussion explores some of the next phases needed to facilitate implementation of phase 1 projects outlined in the table above.
Phase 1 – Signing the Downtown (Gateways) Erecting the highway and gateway signing recommended in the Wolfville Signage Manual will be an effective and low cost measure to boost the identity of the downtown, and encourage visitation and economic activity. Implementation of this project is relatively simple; realistically, completed works could be in place by late spring 2006.
1. The design concepts presented must be reviewed, approved, and choices among alternatives made. 2. Sites for signing must be identified and accessed, and highway signing must be coordinated with Nova Scotia Department of Public Works and Transportation (NSDTPW). 3. Detailed design of signs is required. 4. A budget for implementation must be established and funding secured. 5. Contract for implementation.
Phase 1 – MPS and LUB updates The Wolfville MPS and LUB are currently undergoing its regular updates. Ensure the recommendations outlined in this report are part of those changes, particularly as they relate to the definition of significant changes which require development agreement approval.
1. endorse the commercial development plan in principle; 2. implement the many policy changes proposed in this document in the MPS and LUB. 3. Consider the 5-year tax holiday for new infill development downtown.
Phase 1 – Implement the Sidewalk Cafe Design Standards Review the design standards outlined in this report and investigate other municipal treatments of sidewalk cafe’s. Prepare a strategy for implementation in the spring of 2006.
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4. Prepare sidewalk cafe design standards. 5. prepare a sidewalk cafe permit for owners 6. determine a price structure for removing parking spaces for sidewalk cafe’s during the summer months. 7. Encourage 2 or 3 sidewalk cafe’s for the 2006 season.
Phase 1 - Wolfville WIFI network Begin discussions with the City of Fredericton concerning steps required for creation of a wireless Internet Zone for downtown. Partner with Acadia University to make the university Intranet available downtown for students.
8. Investigate technical requirements and costs for wireless network solutions 9. Determine partnership potential with Acadia University for manageing the network and making Acadia’s Intranet available. 10. Construct the network on Main Street first and Front Street second.
Phase 1 - Wolfville Downtown Revitalization Revitalization of existing properties downtown will take a concerted effort between private land owners and the municipality. The Town needs to show a visible commitment to improving the downtown by instituting some of the many recommendations in this report. One of the most visible commitments would be to prepare and implement a streetscape strategy for the downtown. With this visibly underway, the town should pursue a facade program which will allow individual owners to make their own commitment to revitalizing downtown.
11. Secure funding for a streetscape design study downtown (approximately $40,000) 12. With the streetscape study completed, prepare working drawings for tender and construction (Approx. $30,000 excluding surveying) 13. With construction of the street in progress, implement a facade improvement program for individual business owners on Main Street.
6.1 Funding Sources
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• Strategic Development Initiative provides funding for heritage-based projects that reflect and build upon a community’s assets and strengths. Partnerships are encouraged with archives, museums, community organizations, heritage associations, municipal and regional government departments, and other parties interested in heritage celebration. Contact the Heritage Division at 902.424.7344, [email protected] • Heritage Property Program helps to administer the Heritage Property Act, helping to identify, preserve and encourage built heritage. This program helps to find viable and appropriate uses and the importance of built heritage. Contact the Heritage Division at 902.424.7344, [email protected] or www.gov.ns.ca/dtc • Destination Opportunities Program helps to develop marketing or development programs that highlight an area’s strengths while supporting incorporated tourism in the region. Proposals must be destination or product driven and have 50% private sector financial support. Contact the Tourism Division at 902.424.5000 or [email protected] • Tourism Development Investment covers two programs. Tourism Product Development and Enhancement supports the development and enhancement of tourist attractions, sites and experiences of the Province’s built heritage, culture and outdoor/nature products. The Tourism Market-Readiness program aims to enhance the quality of tourism services, businesses and products. Contact the Tourism Division at 902.424.5000 or [email protected] • Marketing Partnership Opportunities helps initiate advertising for group touring and outdoor / nature activities. The opportunities are listed in the Opportunities Book, published each fall. Contact the Tourism Division at 902.424.5000 or [email protected]
• Canadian Heritage - Museums Assistance Program objective of the program is to provide assistance for Canadian museums and related institutions that treasure our collective heritage. Three applications are available: Access and National Outreach, Aboriginal Museum and Organizational Development. The funding is available to non-profit museums. Application deadline is November 1 for project beginning the following April 1. Contact (819) 997-7982, fax: (819) 934-3201, email at [email protected] or check the website at: www.canadianheritage.gc.ca/pam- map/index_e.cfm
The program is aimed at enhancing economic growth, economic diversification and competitiveness in Nova Scotia. Funding is negotiable and contact Soraya Liscano- Smith at (902) 426-8351.
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• The program promotes urban heritage conservation by communities. Funding is up to $30,000 per year for 3 years. Call Gisele Rucker (514)878-5270
$ & ####!#
• The program pays up to minimum wage for non-profit groups.
!#% ! #% #$ "#!#
• The program provides funding for people to work part-time.
% % !""!#%& % $ $
• Funding for downtown upgrades may be available under Business Development Program or others.
#% ! $ & #!#
• The program provides funding to promote wildlife habitat and wise use of wildlife resources in Canada. Average funding is a few thousand dollars. Call Jan Delman, (613) 721-2286
! & %( '#$ %($# $
• The program supports the creation of special joint venture university-community alliances that foster innovative research, training and advancement of knowledge. Groups can receive funding up to $200,000 per year for 3 years. Contact Peter Levesque (613) 943-1145
!% ! ! & %( & #!#
• The program provides financial support for community groups for projects that have measurable, positive impacts on the natural environment. Funding ranges from $500 to $100,000. Average funding is $25,000. Contact Marc Sheeran, 426-8521.
!& % ! ' #! %#!#
• The program provides funding for land preservation and nature sanctuaries, and local environmental initiatives. Funding r5anges from $3,000-$100,000. Contact Robert Alain at (514)843-4080.
%&#! $#' (!
• The program assists conservation groups to secure ecologically significant areas. Funding varies. Contact the Atlantic Director at (506) 450-6010.
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• The program helps community-based groups undertake projects to enhance and restore aquatic habitats and rehabilitate fish populations. Funding varies with each project. Program provide 50 cent dollars. Contact the director at (902) 644-1276.
• The program is aimed at educating stakeholders towards the protection of aquatic habitats and/or inland fish populations. Groups can apply for funding of materials and professional services. Call the director at (902) 485-5056.
• The program is a national program to provide financial support for innovative, community base, action-oriented projects that improve and protect the Canadian Environment. Funding doesn’t exceed $5,000. Contact Sheila Butler at (403) 691-2071
• The program provides funding for projects that establish habitat objectives and integrate them into planning, development and land use processes. There is no limit on funding; however, WHC will fund a maximum of 25 to 35% of the overall project budget. Call Jamie Fortune (613) 722-2090.
6.2 Next Steps Forecasting a year by year phasing strategy over a ten year period is difficult without a full knowledge of capital budgets. Setting priorities is a flexible approach that can be adjusted to meet the opportunities that arise from funding sources, timely development and private sector initiatives. The following list outlines a rational approach that can be upgraded once a funding level has been identified.
1. Employ a phased implementation strategy, implement one project in next year. 2. Work through the WBDC to solicit funding and coordinate the various initiatives. The Town needs to identify leadership for all the various projects identified in this report.
3. Implement the Civic Signage Strategy prepared for downtown Wolfville in 2003. 4. Partner with Acadia University to create banners for the Street downtown. 5. Install signs with grand unveiling to promote streetscape initiative.
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6. Prepare an RFP for a detailed streetscape design study for downtown. 7. Commission working drawings and detailed design for streetscape elements and projects. 8. Develop a facade improvement program for buildings on Main Street and Front Street downtown.
9. Prepare an open Space Master Plan for Wolfville working with Acadia University. The plan needs to address possible trail connections on the dykelands. The plan should consider active transportation as a focus. 10. Liaise with other bikeways and trail organizations to determine potential opportunities, constraints, etc. associated with trail and path planning. 11. Establishment of bikeways and trail policy. 12. Seek funding for bike and multi-use path design, construction and maintenance. 13. Establish a Trails Task Force to oversee cycling and multi-use path implementation and monitoring.
14. Establish a stormwater and wastewater management plan for Wolfville 15. Update the Dykelands Management Plan. 16. Investigate wind power potential on the dykelands as part of the Dykelands Management plan. 17. Prepare a Green Streets Plan.
18. Main Street has most of its utility lines on the north side of the street. In the short term, all utility lines and poles should be shifted to the north side of the street. In the long term, utilities should be moved to rear lot or underground for all north side utilities on Main Street. 19. If more parking spaces are created as a result of the Acadia University Campus Plan, the town should pursue simplified parking requirements for undeveloped or underdeveloped land downtown. 20. The town should partner with Acadia to find ways to bring commercial opportunities from inside the campus to the downtown or Main Street. 21. Investigate the benefits of a heritage zone for downtown Wolfville. 22. Encourage redevelopment of 1 storey building lots downtown.
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23. Encourage infilling of lots on Front Street including parking lot at the corner of Front Street and Elm Avenue. 24. Implement the Wolfville WIFI Zone (wireless internet) downtown. 25. Implement Main Street stereo music program as part of streetscape enhancements. 26. Implement the MPS and LUB changes as proposed in this report
27. Work with WBDC to determine other commercial potential uses for the waterfront park. 28. Develop a comprehensive waterfront plan for Wolfville that addresses public and private land issues, conservation, development, and recreation.
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Appendix A: Data Tables
Table A-1 Household Formation: Kings
Perce nt Kings Chan 1991 1996 2001 County ge 1991 - 2001 Numb % Numb % Numb % er Share er Share er Share Total Private 20,33 21,97 22,91 Households 0 100 5 100 0 100 12.7 Persons in 55,01 58,38 58,01 Households 5n/a5n/a0n/a5.4 Persons per Household 2.7 n/a 2.7 n/a 2.5 n/a n/a Private Households - By Size 1 Person 3,910 19.2 4,405 20 5,160 22.5 32 2 Persons 6,810 33.5 7,585 34.5 8,405 36.7 23.4 3 Persons 3,735 18.4 3,930 17.9 3,865 16.9 3.5 4-5 Persons 5,305 26.1 5,525 25.1 4,975 21.7 -6.2 6 or more Persons 575 2.8 535 2.4 500 2.2 -13 Private Households - By Household Type One- Family 15,44 16,49 16,86 Households 576075573.6 9.2 Multiple- Family House holds 150 0.7 150 0.7 205 0.9 36.7 Non- Family Households 4,735 23.3 5,335 24.3 5,835 25.5 23.2
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Table A-2 Investment Intentions
Kings Value/ Start Finis Status Contact County Size Date h Date Projects Institutional or Government Construction
Acadia - Life $42.0 million Announced 04'2005 $18 1: O - Acadia Science Centre million biology building, University Wolfville $8 million refurbishing of existing building and $1.5 million link between structures (part of $75 million campus upgrades) Acadia - $1.0 million Preliminary design 1: A - Lydon McConnell Hall to26,260 sq.ft. underway for renovation Lunch Learning 03'2005; tender and Commons construction schedule Wolfville expected 06'2005 Acadia - $11.0 million 2001 2006 Part of $75.0 million 1: A - Harvey & Residence 300 units five-year update plan MacKenzie Building Update with 2006 completion; 9 Acadia University of 11 residences Wolfville renovations & 6six new 100-bed residences & five common buildings; at 09'2003 $11.0 m project half finished & $3 million new residence planned; at 02'2005 possible tender & construction schedule by late 2005 Assisted Living $2.0 million At 06'2005 costing 1: O - Wolfville Complex 78,000 sq.ft., underway by architect; Nursing Home 2: Wickwire 60 units construction schedule A -William Property Wolfville expected fall 2005 Nycum School - $3.15 million Spring 2005 2008 Master Plan completed 1: A - Harvey & Gaspereau Valley 03'2005; tender & scope MacKenzie Elem. Renovation dependent on funding; Greenfield Road construction schedule #2781 Wolfville expected summer 2005 Multi-Type Construction Retail Condo 3 storey, 30 Planned 05'2005 Project - Rail unit Town Refuse property on waterfront Wolfville Residential Construction Condo - $10.5 million 02'2004 11'2003 planned Whispering Creek development changed Main Street focus from condo due to Wolfville low interest
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Condos - The 2 at 18-units & Fall 2003 At 02'2004 land 1: D - Bill Breakers West 20 single lots development underway Young End (former Bruce Whidden property) Wolfville Unknown Construction
Development 40.5 acres; 34 Contemplated 11'2003, 1: D - Peter Woodman Fruit single & six proposed plan 05'2005 Polley Farm property apartment Wolfville buildings Source: Nova Scotia Construction Activity, July 2005, by County and Type of Construction, Nova Scotia Department of Finance
Table A-3 Household Formation: Wolfville
Percent Wolfville 1991 1996 2001 Change 1991 - 2001 Number % Share Number % Share Number % Share
Total Private 1,651 100 1,775 100 1,747 100 5.8 Households Persons in 3,791 n/a 4,034 n/a 3,861 n/a 1.8 Households Persons per 2.3 n/a 2.3 n/a 2.2 n/a n/a Household Private Households - By Size
1 Person 532 32.2 574 32.3 586 33.5 10.2 2 Persons 585 35.4 627 35.3 659 37.7 12.6 3 Persons 222 13.4 266 15 214 12.2 -3.6 4-5 Persons 262 15.9 284 16 256 14.7 -2.3 6 or more 44 2.7 27 1.5 29 1.7 -34.1 Persons Private Households - By Household Type One-Family 968 58.6 956 53.9 986 56.4 1.9 Households Multiple- Family 5 0.3 0 0 2 0.1 -60 Households Non-Family 681 41.2 823 46.4 760 43.5 11.6 Households Total Private 1,651 100 1,775 100 1,747 100 5.8 Households Persons in 3,791 n/a 4,034 n/a 3,861 n/a 1.8 Households Persons per 2.3 n/a 2.3 n/a 2.2 n/a n/a Household
Table A-4 Percentage Change in Household Formation, 1991 to 2001 Kings Wolfville Kentville Berwick New Minas Nova Scotia County Total Private Households 5.8 11.3 14.2 13.4 12.7 11
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Persons in Households 1.8 4.9 7.6 2.1 5.4 1.7 Persons per Household n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a Private Households - By Size 1 Person 10.2 24.9 27.7 32.2 32 32.7 2 Persons 12.6 22.6 17.2 27.5 23.4 24.2 3 Persons -3.6 1 3.3 3.9 3.5 1.7 4-5 Persons -2.3 -8.1 -4.5 -19.4 -6.2 -10.8 6 or more Persons -34.1 -15.3 0 -11.9 -13 -29 Private Households - By Household Type One-Family Households 1.9 8.2 11.2 8.3 9.2 6.2 Multiple-Family Households -60 52.2 n/a 81.8 36.7 56.9 Non-Family Households 11.6 19.5 18.8 25.4 23.2 23.1
Table A-5 Household Ownership Percent Wolfville 1991 1996 2001 Change 1991 - 2001 Number % Share Number % Share Number % Share
Total Occupied 1,648 100 1,776 100 1,749 100 6.1 Dwellings Type of Occupancy Owned 813 49.3 835 47 884 50.5 8.7 Average Major Monthly 701 n/a 654 n/a 731 n/a 4.3 Payments ($) Rented 838 50.8 945 53.2 864 49.4 3.1 Average Gross 533 n/a 534 n/a 594 n/a 11.4 Monthly Rent ($) 000000n/a Type of Dwelling Single Detached 862 52.3 830 46.7 934 53.4 8.4 Houses Semi- Detached/Row/ 246 14.9 329 18.5 345 19.7 40.2 Duplex Apartments 534 32.4 610 34.3 474 27.1 -11.2 Movable 3 0.2 0 0 0 0 -100 Dwellings Average Value of Dwellings 113,520 n/a 143,632 n/a 160,546 n/a 41.4 ($)
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Table A-6 Education Wolfville 1991 1996 2001 Number % Share Number % Share Number % Share Total Reporting 3,170 100 3,408 100 3,016 100 Less than High School 831 26.2 619 18.2 498 16.5 Less than Grade 9 230 7.3 186 5.5 170 5.6 Without secondary school 601 19 433 12.7 327 10.8 graduation certificate High school graduation 148 4.7 189 5.5 137 4.5 certificate College/Trades certificate 36 1.1 56 1.6 239 7.9 or diploma Some college education 399 12.6 573 16.8 489 16.2 University 1,759 55.5 1,969 57.8 1,667 55.3 Some university education 430 13.6 434 12.7 324 10.7 With certificate or diploma 231 7.3 218 6.4 98 3.2 With bachelor's or higher 1,098 34.6 1,317 38.6 1,245 41.3
Table A-7 Household Income
2001 2001 Kings 2001 Nova Scotia Wolfville Number % Share Number % Share Number % Share
Individuals
Total $28,795 17,990 24,974 18,617 26,789 19,840
Male $38,502 27,548 31,223 26,093 32,966 26,518
Female $20,795 14,544 18,757 14,282 20,750 15,493
Families
All Families $65,135 55,665 50,764 44,220 54,786 46,523
Non-Family Persons
Total $19,356 12,991 21,117 16,273 22,900 17,057
Male $22,802 12,987 24,049 18,890 25,442 19,404
Female $17,574 13,059 18,886 14,718 20,939 15,822
Households
All Households 45,205 38,222 48,457 39,908
Table A-8 Labour Force 2001 Wolfville 2001 Kings 2001 Nova Scotia
Number % Share Number % Share Number % Share
All Industries 1,939 100 28,575 100 442,425 100 Agriculture, forestry, 67 3.5 2,385 8.3 22,910 5.2 fishing, and hunting
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Mining and oil and gas 10 0.5 60 0.2 3,370 0.8 extraction
Utilities 2 0.1 55 0.2 2,720 0.6
Construction 59 3 1,655 5.8 26,755 6
Manufacturing 124 6.4 3,515 12.3 44,195 10
Wholesale trade 40 2.1 940 3.3 16,440 3.7
Retail trade 181 9.3 3,560 12.5 54,645 12.4 Transportation and 12 0.6 980 3.4 20,065 4.5 warehousing Information and cultural 77 4 535 1.9 10,640 2.4 industries
Finance and insurance 49 2.5 630 2.2 13,935 3.1 Real estate and rental 85 4.4 365 1.3 6,680 1.5 and leasing Professional, scientific 97 5 850 3 18,850 4.3 and technical services Management of companies and 0 0 10 0 315 0.1 enterprises Administrative and support, waste 45 2.3 905 3.2 20,400 4.6 management and remediation services
Educational services 505 26 2,305 8.1 31,660 7.2 Health care and social 206 10.6 3,080 10.8 49,045 11.1 assistance Arts, entertainment and 40 2.1 270 0.9 8,120 1.8 recreation Accommodation and 180 9.3 1,990 7 31,955 7.2 food services Other services (except public administration) 82 4.2 1,375 4.8 21,895 4.9
Public Administration 85 4.4 3,105 10.9 37,825 8.5
Industry - Non applicable 32 1.7 440 1.5 8,955 2
Table A-9 Occupations 2001 Wolfville 2001 Kings 2001 Nova Scotia
Number % Share Number % Share Number % Share
Total Reporting 1,978 100 29,015 100 451,375 100 Management 148 7.5 2,655 9.2 42,305 9.4 Business, finance 170 8.6 3,370 11.6 70,735 15.7 and administrative Natural and applied 100 5.1 1,320 4.5 22,580 5 sciences Health occupations 125 6.3 1,500 5.2 26,850 5.9 Social Science, education, 466 23.6 2,410 8.3 33,375 7.4 government and religion
ekistics planning & design • telephone: 902.461.2525 • fax: 902.465.3131 • www.ekistics.net p. 84 Town of Wolfville commercial development plan
Art, culture, 176 8.9 585 2 11,125 2.5 recreation and sport Sales and service 483 24.4 8,010 27.6 120,290 26.6 Trades, transport and equipment 106 5.4 3,890 13.4 66,095 14.6 operators and related Primary industry- 94 4.8 2,395 8.3 24,825 5.5 specific Processing, manufacturing and 68 3.4 2,445 8.4 24,245 5.4 utilities Occupation - Not 32 1.6 440 1.5 8,950 2 applicable
ekistics planning & design • telephone: 902.461.2525 • fax: 902.465.3131 • www.ekistics.net p. 85