Now that paving has been laid down along 50th Avenue, Uptowne Olds committee chair Leon Durand is hopeful more improvements will be made before winter hits.
He's also looking forward to even more progress next year.
“I am ecstatic that we have pavement out front,” Durand said during an interview with the Albertan.
Workers began laying pavement down along 50th Avenue between 50th and 52nd streets on Thursday.
“It's nice to see some finishing touches being put on the pavement. I'm looking forward to having parking again in the Uptowne core,” Durand says. I'm sure our customers will be happy to see it. I know a lot of retailers are happy to see it.”
Durand is holding out hope that the old-fashioned-style lights planned for Uptowne will be installed this year as well.
The committee had also been hoping that new Christmas lights could be strung across the street, especially now that plans call for street lights to be installed on both sides of 50th Avenue, instead of just one side of the avenue as in the past.
However, Durand says that may not happen this Christmas season because Fortis, which is looking after manufacture of the new lights, wants to know how much the Christmas lights will weigh and what strain that weight will put on the lamps first. Those specs may not be known in time for this year's season.
Durand can't wait for other planned improvements in Uptowne, like new benches and bike racks, as well as garbage and recycling containers. Town officials have said the exact shape and style of those things will likely be determined over the winter.
Durand is also looking forward to having trees planted in Uptowne next year, although he notes not all retailers in the area feel that way because some fear those trees will block their signs.
In fact, Durand has a specific type of tree in mind – something tall and relatively slim, so customers can see around them to see retailers' signs.
“My thoughts are that we should get those columnar aspens that grow 30 or 40 feet tall but they only get three or four feet around,” he says.
“Mike (Fix, owner/manager of Gotcha Jeans) and I, we would like to see the tree that's missing from the front because it did add some shade and added some warmth, if you will, to the Uptowne.”
Give it a few more years and people will be surprised how much more visible our Uptowne core is,” Durand says.
“I think that's the key – an Uptowne is the heart of a small community. It doesn't matter how many malls or how many power centres you build. In a small community, the Uptowne has to be viable. It has to sustain that busyness that we've always had, and this is just a step in that direction.”
