City-Wide Retail Strategy

Thank you for your question. While the Retail Strategy doesn’t speak to the "15-minute city" concept directly, the goal of the Strategy is to provide a framework for commercial districts that are hives of economic activity, social diversity and cultural expression, and where residents can find their shopping needs met within New Westminster. Given New Westminster’s relatively small population, along with its compact nature, the Strategy seeks to support existing commercial areas and Great Streets foremost, and not require more retail floorspace than can be supported. 

The city is fortunate to have a diversity of commercial areas within walking distance of most residential neighbourhoods. The Retail Strategy cautions against requiring additional retail space in all new large developments, and recommends exploration of options for non-retail commercial uses (e.g. arts and culture spaces, child care, community uses, or commercial indoor recreation uses) outside of core areas of Great Streets to help support vibrant retail districts. 

Thank you for your question. The Retail Strategy identifies safety and cleanliness in retail areas as important factors in the comfort level of customers. The longer a customer ‘dwells’ in an area, the more money they are likely to spend. Both reality and perception of safety are important as they both impact comfort levels. An area can become stigmatized in a long-lasting way if there is a real or perceived issues with crime and personal safety, and this stigma can stay with an area long after actual issues are reduced or eliminated.

Achieving clean, safe, and friendly retail areas requires coordinated efforts from multiple parties, including the City, local businesses and property owners, and BIAs / business associates (where applicable). Some of the key goals are: 

• Clean level sidewalks and alleyways to promote walking and rolling 
• Seamless interfaces between streets and buildings 
• Safe crossings to connect both sides of the street and encourage cross-shopping 
• Street trees to mitigate climate impacts and improve pedestrian comfort, while not interfering with business visibility. 
• Generous public realm for merchandise displays, seating and queueing 
• Good lighting to extend shopping hours and improve comfort particularly during the winter 
• Generous pedestrian weather protection

Two related recommendations included in the Strategy are: 

• Continue to make investments in quality public realm and related maintenance and programming. This includes: i) Safety and cleanliness ii) Compact walkable areas iii) Quality interface between public realm commercial spaces iv) re-establish street entertainment program v) Cycling infrastructure.
• Ensure expectations around routine maintenance of buildings and properties are clearly articulated to property owners, and that ground level commercial units are filled in an appropriate and timely manner.

Related, the City has been implementing the Downtown Livability Strategy, which includes a number of actions and investments in support of addressing livability in downtown. You can find more information on the project page here.

Thanks for your question. The draft Retail Strategy recommends prioritizing active uses at grade on core stretches of Great Streets (eg. Columbia Street, 6th Street, E Columbia Street etc.). However, it is recognized that important services, some of which are office-based, exist at grade in some areas, and need to be permitted to remain in locations that are accessible for those with mobility challenges. Implementation of the recommendations around active uses would need to carefully consider this issue.

With regards to supporting active transportation, the Strategy recognizes that people who are walking, wheeling, or rolling contribute to the vibrancy of retail areas, and modes of transportation like biking and scootering need to be accommodated in the streetscape. Ensuring that streetscape design provides for accessibility continues to be a City priority.