The city’s Sparks Street revival project receives generous feedback

By Sarah Tsounis

The lack of visitors to Sparks Street on weekends and evenings makes it tough for business owners like Stephanie Appotive to stay afloat, she says.

Appotive is the director of operations at Howard Fine Jewellers — a store that has occupied a place on Sparks Street since it became a pedestrian mall 50 years ago.

“It is extremely difficult right now to run a store on the street,” she said. “It requires a tremendous amount of clientele-ing to encourage people to actually visit us.”

Appotive was among about 40 Ottawa residents and business owners to attend the Jan. 13 Mayor’s Town Hall on the future of the street, and she joined in the brainstorming for ideas to revitalize Canada’s oldest pedestrian mall.

The City of Ottawa launched a project to revive the retail district in November, and is currently asking citizens what the street’s future should be.

“What we want is for Sparks Street to return to the bustling gathering place it once was,” Mayor Jim Watson told the crowd, adding he wants to see it function as a “year-round destination.”

Somerset Coun. Catherine McKenney said a major issue is getting more people to live in the area while also maintaining the attraction for tourists.

Some participants focused on making Sparks Street a greener place, including the planting of more trees.

The second stage of the Sparks Street Public Realm Plan begins in February, according to urban designer David Atkinson. He said this is when the planning team will decide which ideas suggested by residents will actually work.

During the first quarter of 2019, a final plan will be brought to city council and the Sparks Street Mall Authority for approval, Atkinson added.

Appotive suggested opening the street to vehicular traffic — perhaps with very slow speed restrictions at limited times of day, like the shared street model being piloted along Halifax’s Argyle Street — as the answer for Sparks Street’s struggling businesses.

Watson, however, said he would like the street free of all vehicles, and there was talk of constructing a bike path.

In 1994, there were about 165 businesses on Sparks Street, but there are only 65 now, according to Kevin McHale, the executive director of the Sparks Street BIA and Mall Authority.

“The BIA is just looking for something to help businesses succeed,” McHale said.

Attendees also pitched adding more green spaces, art installations, warming pits for the winter, and year-round seating.

Sarah Gelbard, a Centretown resident who also spoke at the town hall, shared her experience walking along Sparks Street with her father, a stroke survivor facing mobility issues. She said he has trouble walking several blocks without resting, but coffee shops were the only place to stop.

Gelbard, who is also pursuing a PhD in urban planning at McGill University, said she hopes the plans for a renewed Sparks Street will prioritize and increase accessibility for visitors.

“Very tiny details that I noticed walking with my dad is that he has trouble walking on slanted sidewalks, so the unevenness of the paving was actually real hard for him,” she commented.

With asphalt patches, chipping paint, rust, and cobblestones coming up, McHale said the infrastructure on Sparks is at “end of life” because it hasn’t been properly maintained over the years.

Sparks was last renovated in 1989, and other rejuvenation projects haven’t happened because of limited resources, he added.

“In the past, the easiest route has been: take it away,” he explained. “ ‘Oh, this monument got damaged. Let’s not fix it — just tuck it away.’ ”

This time around, he expressed assurance that the BIA and the Mall Authority are committed and financially prepared to maintain the mall’s infrastructure over time, and find what design works best though trial-and-error.

Watson said now is the time to revitalize the mall, with the potential for the two nearby light-rail transit stations to bring thousands of residents to Sparks Street.

“It still has a long way to go,” he said. “I am cautiously optimistic that we’re in for better times.”

With files from Robert Worrall

Sarah Tsounis, Centretown News.