Nova Scotia Main Streets Initiative
Cluster future development to reinforce a thriving Main Street.
Vibrant pedestrian-oriented Main Streets arise when there is a critical mass of destinations within walking distance.
Tactical projects can bring life to empty spaces in the short term, adding to the density of destinations and testing future land uses.
Planning land use by-laws to encourage clusters mixing housing and commercial use to build a community hub in the long term.
Inexpensively built pocket park that enlivened a vacant site on Port Coquitlam's Shaughnessy Street.
Get creative with “opportunity sites“.
Main Streets are always in a state of transition. It’s natural for there to be vacant lots and empty buildings. While these sites can make a Main Street feel empty and disjointed, they are full of opportunity.
Collaborating with property owners, empty lots can be park spaces or farmers’ markets, vacant storefronts can be home to pop-up shops.
Activating dormant spaces brings them to life and can be a chance to test out different uses for a space before committing to a full overhaul.
Plan ahead to shape future development.
Opportunity sites won’t stay vacant forever. Proactively setting design guidelines will allow you to shape development. Working with your municipal government, you can set zoning bylaws that encourage desired land uses.
New development can be an opportunity to provide a mix of housing, retail, civic, and open spaces to build a community hub or enhance an existing one.
Ensuring new development promotes walking can bring new energy to Main Street as a whole. Locating amenities such as libraries, recreation centres, and health and wellness clinics in walkable locations further enhances quality of life and makes these essential services more accessible.
Communities should continue to ensure that there are places to independently live near Main Street. Families with children, seniors, people with reduced mobility, and those who prefer to drive less will benefit from land-use planning that enables development of accessible, affordable, and market-rate housing close to the shops and services of Main Street.
Through the engagement, we heard from residents who had moved from outlying areas to live near the amenities on Main Streets as they aged.
Approaches
Foster retail and services in walkable locations through municipal land use planning.
Municipal Planning Strategies lay out the long term plan for development in a community, while the Land-use Bylaw goes into further detail on what can be developed within zones of the municipality. Land-use Bylaw contains requirements for building use, size, design, and location on the site, as well as things like parking requirements and materials. Municipal Planning Strategies and Land-use Bylaws have a large role to play in what (and if) new construction happens on Main Street.
Design at the human scale.
Smaller store fronts, pedestrian scale signage, reduced front setbacks and reduced parking requirements, building articulation requirements, and pedestrian-scale signage.
Enable development of new housing on or near Main Street.
This can include townhouses, apartments for seniors, family housing, accessible, and affordable housing. Nearby residential density is key for successful Main Streets to have a customer base. Housing for seniors and those with disabilities located close to Main Street makes walking and using mobility devices a realistic option for day-to-day needs.
Reduce big box sprawl.
Communities and regions should reduce the tendency for big box stores to locate on their periphery. Such development can suck life out of Main Streets and the local economy.
Imagine potential “activity hubs”.
Communities often have identifiable locations on or near Main Street that are expected to redevelop. Their use, design and location can play a large role in making an area vibrant.
Invest in amenities located in walkable locations.
When there is potential for public space or new amenities to be created, every effort should be made to locate that hub in an accessible location that people can walk to.