Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., city council votes to dissolve downtown business group

City council in Sault Ste. Marie has voted to dissolve the downtown business group and have it run by the city.

Last fall, councillors passed a motion to have a closer look at the downtown group and who should be running it. The motion stated the downtown group, known as the business improvement area or BIA, was established in 1976 when Queen Street was the major commercial district in the community. It adds since then, commercial activity has expanded throughout the city beyond the downtown.

A report presented to council on Monday presented three options: the downtown group stay as is, that the city take it over or have the city take control and establish a business advisory committee.

The report also highlighted other Ontario communities that have dissolved their downtown groups, including Oshawa and Wawa.

Nicholas Luck, the executive director of the downtown group, said he disagreed with the city's plan.

"This report is incomplete and not inclusive as it does not align with the originating resolution of city staff to investigate and compare other communities for downtown activation, promotion and marketing and report to council, which is the best direction to accomplish this," he said.

"We feel that the engagement process with the BIA was not thorough or inclusive to members of the BIA."

Luck instead proposed a fourth option: create a hybrid model "in which there is a minimum and maximum levy for members of the business improvement area that found significantly reduce the assessment and financial contribution from each member and the municipality would fund the remaining operating budget."

Luck added he believes the group should get more support and not be rolled in to a city department.

"By dissolving the BIA, you will ultimately diminish its strength, even through a transitional period to a new model," he said. "This should be a time of strengthening the BIA, not removing it."

'Need to do something different'

Coun. Sandra Hollingsworth pointed out that while some communities are getting rid of their downtown groups, others have many, including Toronto which has 85. She said the downtown group in Sault Ste. Marie already has established partnerships with local businesses.

"There's so many times when government feels that it's time to take over and they have the answers. I disagree," she said. 

"As a municipality, we need to keep on focusing on the core reasons of municipality exists: roads, infrastructure and so forth."

Coun. Corey Gardi said the ultimate goal is to improve the downtown core and the city as a whole.

"The last 40 years of downtown didn't work, in my opinion. And we need to do something different," he said.

"I appreciated the tough feelings this may have for some. To the public at large, I would say they probably won't notice a heck of a lot of difference moving forward as to who is overseeing things."

Mayor Matthew Shoemaker, who put forward the motion, said it's time for change.

"The path of least resistance, in my view, is to allow the Downtown Association to continue doing what it is doing and to continue achieving the same results we are currently seeing, which are insufficient in my view," he said.

"If the downtown is a community priority, which I believe it is and I think this council believes it is, and I think most of you who are here believe it is, then it should be funded by the community and not a few 100 businesses."

Council eventually voted to bring the group's work under the city. Hollingsworth was the only vote against the motion.