Residents get first look at plans to overhaul grounds, streets around Province House
CBC
Charlottetown residents weighed in Wednesday night on plans for a major redevelopment of the Province House historic district.
The city and Charlottetown Area Development Corporation (CADC) held an open house at the Charlottetown library to review the 90-page master plan.
Huge billboards were set up throughout the room where people could take a look at what is being proposed, and post sticky notes with their feedback.
Funding has not been secured for the project, said Aaron Hansen, director of operations for CADC.
In 2022, the redesign was projected to cost more than $10 million. He expects that to have increased to as much as $14 million now, but added the project would be implemented in phases.
Hansen hopes the first phase of the work could start sometime next year.
"It's overwhelmingly positive. Everybody seems pretty thrilled with the images that are shown," said Hansen.
"There's been lots of talk about bike lanes, street trees and ensuring that all of that is addressed. Some people spoke up about the amount of hard surface that's there, and whether there could be more grass instead of hard surfaces and those are all valid points. That's why we're doing this, is to collect that feedback."
The district includes Province House, the George Coles Building and the Confederation Centre of the Arts and all the streets that surround those buildings. Those include parts of Grafton, Queen, Sydney, Great George, Richmond and Church streets.
The plan, which has not been finalized, calls for improved lighting, public artwork, and the entire area to be repaved with concrete and stone.
There would be a series of lights and water fountains in front of historic Province House.
Outdoor patios would be relocated next to buildings, allowing for rain canopies, with larger sidewalks on the outside of the patios.
There would be overhead suspended public art on Sydney Street to tie that street in with the district. Parts of that street would also be closed to vehicles for part of the year.
Gurwinder Singh of Charlottetown was busy posting notes about what he'd like to see in the plan. He said overall, he likes it.
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