Master Plan up for discussion tonight

Residents will have an opportunity to learn more about and discuss the city's Downtown Master Plan tonight.

The Speak Up Sudbury session is scheduled from 6-9 p.m. at St. Andrew's Place, 111 Larch St. The final draft vision, plan and action strategy for downtown Sudbury was presented to the city's planning committee last week.

According to the city, the vision paints a compelling picture of what Downtown could look like 30 years from now. It foresees Downtown as a destination and centre for celebration, beauty, creativity, innovation and urban living.

The final draft plan and action strategy lays out a comprehensive series of actions and initiatives that the city and community can advance to continue to transform the core into an active, safe and diverse destination for people, businesses, not-for-profits, agencies and new investments in all forms.

The final draft represents the culmination of more than 16 months of work, led by the City of Greater Sudbury and Greater Sudbury Development Corporation. It includes 61 possible opportunities to improve downtown Sudbury, including a multi-use conference centre and four-star hotel, a visitor centre, improvements to the Rainbow Centre, and a multi-use recreation centre that would measure at least 55,000 square feet.

Furthermore, renovations to the Sudbury arena have been identified in order to accommodate larger-scale concerts and conventions, new and improved pedestrian and cycling connections, the extension of Larch Street to the west across the rail corridor and the extension of St. Anne Road through to Frood Road.

The final draft represents the first physical translation of the community’s vision for downtown, Jason Ferrigan, senior planner for the city, said in a press release. The city looks forward to hearing from the public at the Speak Up Sudbury session, with hope that the community will discuss the draft on the project website and on the City’s Facebook page.

The final draft plan is available online at www.growdowntown.ca/blog.

Posted by Arron Pickard