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The Citizen, 2012-03-29, Page 6PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2012.Architect questions Blyth’s ‘lack of identity’ Thompson works on centre closure THE EDITOR, During the presentations and discussions about the “Downtown Blyth Streetscape Master Plan” at the public meeting on March 1, I became aware of the master plan’s strengths and weaknesses. The evening’s activities began with a statement that Blyth has a “lack of identity”. Blyth’s strong community identity is a lengthy testament of community and private involvement that holds Blyth in good company locally, provincially and nationally. It is unfair to state that Blyth has a “lack of identity”. The master plan’s concern is about helping to improve the “visual identity” of Blyth’s main street. The primary goals of traffic calming and enhancement of Blyth’s Downtown are worthwhile goals to strive for and achieve. The traffic calming concepts of sidewalk “bump-outs”, appropriate sized and placed plantings, treed landscaping, landscaped buffers around parking lots and paved areas and delineated parking spaces indicating where people should and should not park their vehicles are well-proven methods which will slow down car and truck traffic along Queen Street through Blyth’s downtown. Coupling these proven traffic- calming methods with bench seating and interesting features such as millstones, locally-themed artwork, historical industrial machinery, existing and future memorials, etc. will create an improved village ambiance and a more pedestrian- friendly downtown. Establishing north and south gateways to Blyth’s downtown is a solid idea in the master plan that will go a long way toward enhancement and creation of a sense of arrival into the village. I found the master plan misleading when it stated that Blyth’s existing streetlights along Queen Street are outdated. The existing streetlights along Queen Street are aesthetically and historically appropriate in style, size and scale with the 19th-century Victorian Commercial Block buildings. The master plan was referring to outdated light bulbs which are not energy efficient. If possible could the lightbulbs be retrofitted with energy efficient light sources without spending money to replace the historically appropriate streetlights? The master plan’s idea to line both sides of King Street from Queen Street to the arena with trees is a good one. A fully-treed King Street from Queen Street to the arena would establish a welcome connection between Blyth’s downtown and Blyth’s busy community arena. Once this block has been treed, the master plan proposed banners which advertise events be hung along King Street. Would it not be more appropriate to hang banners which advertise events along Queen Street for everyone who drives or walks along Blyth’s Main Street to see? These suggested banners would be more effectively located along Queen Street with a fully-treed King Street enhancing the walk between downtown and the arena. The master plan’s foresight about using part of the Blyth Greenway for a market is brilliant. The old water tower as a focal point provides a comforting link between the past, the present and the future. When aiming for increased use of this well established Greenway, failure to acknowledge the existing community butterfly garden and the delightful placement of an existing roofed bench amongst the trees by the brook’s edge into the conceptual proposal, causes one to wonder whether or not the master plan understands or respects what Blyth has done well. The evening’s presentation implied that the lawn in front of Memorial Hall is not used by theatre patrons and that only the hard surfaced areas in front of Memorial Hall are used by theatre patrons. The evening’s presentation also implied that the municipal sidewalk on front of Memorial Hall should not be used by theatre patrons. In reality the lawn and the hard surfaced areas in front of Memorial Hall are both used and enjoyed to their fullest capacity by theatre patrons. If a municipal sidewalk is not to be used by people, what then is a municipal sidewalk for? When the link between Memorial Hall and the Festival’s administration building was built the community requested that as much lawn as possible be retained. The green space, that is mostly lawn, on front of the Memorial Hall serves Memorial Hall well, serves the Blyth Festival Theatre well and serves the community of Blyth well. Having lawn on Main Street has been an integral part of Blyth since its incorporation in 1877. It is baffling why this downtown master plan proposed that one of Blyth’s best assets needs to be changed. The first priority set by the master plan is to remove the lawn from the area in front of Memorial Hall and transform it into a hard-surfaced Festival courtyard. This would not reflect the village character of the Blyth community. The second priority is to calm traffic along Queen Street through the downtown core making the downtown more pedestrian friendly. The third priority would see King Street between Queen Street and arena become fully treed and the fourth priority would be to establish a market in the Blyth Greenway. Many people know that if improvements are to be made, weak points and deficiencies have to be identified and improved before strengths are modified. Priorities which would alter one of Blyth’s best existing assets first, creation of a more pedestrian-friendly downtown second and fulfilling a need for a rapidly growing local food economy last seem to be backwards. Needed and desired results would be effectively achieved if traffic- calming toward a pedestrian friendly downtown along Queen Street and creation of a Greenway market were given first priority. Improved landscaping along King Street would be a secondary priority. If these projects were realized before anything was done to the area in front of Memorial Hall, money would be spent wisely toward community improvements and economic development. Yours truly, John Rutledge, B.Arch., D.A.T., OAA THE EDITOR, I wanted an opportunity to address all of my constituents concerning the recent closure of the Bluewater Youth Centre in Goderich. First, I want to express my profound sympathy to all those who have lost their job with the sudden closure of this facility. I want everyone to know the closure of the facility has not gone unnoticed. First, I found out about the abrupt closure the same way many of you did—via twitter on a Friday evening. I was disappointed the Minister responsible or his staff had not notified me before the story broke. Since the announced closure, I Letters to the Editor 155 Anglesea Street, Goderich 519-524-8382 These Country Smokers: ✓Can smoke, grill, sear and bake your food! ✓Full range temperature control ✓Convective cooking, retains foods natural juices ✓Use any flavour of wood pellets ✓1000°F coating, durable all-weather finish ✓Porcelain coated cooking grills Now in stock at Rona Goderich! Continued on page 14