Kevin Berger
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Clark’s Crossing Gazette
A vision report detailing how Main Street in Martensville could be transformed into a centre for commerce and culture — in short, a more traditional “Main Street” — was recently presented to City of Martensville councillors at their May 20 meeting.
The report was presented by Alan Wallace, planning director of the Saskatoon-based Wallace Insights in Saskatoon, one of the firms contracted by the city when Martensville was updating its Official Community Plan (OCP) in 2019.
In fact, as pointed out by Wallace, the OCP itself talks about the city wants to transform that traffic corridor, with the intention of transitioning low density residential to a livable Main Street that supports higher density development.
“It’s been an idea that’s been in the community for a long, long time,” he said.
But what is a Main Street? Wallace indicated they are unique places that blend commerce, residential uses, commercial uses and spaces for community gatherings.
The report itself suggests that Main Streets are at the heart of community identity, holding a special place in the lives of community members and reflecting shared interests and passions.
“You’ll hear people talk about experiential retail; that’s really what we’re talking about here. It’s not simply going into a store, buying something and leaving. It’s a place where people want to linger. They want to spend time; they want to socialize … It’s places where they want to return,” said Wallace.
He said they also contribute to a municipality’s fiscal performance by bringing in more commercial tax revenue than most residential neighbourhoods.
“It builds on a thriving Martensville, where you want to live, work and play. Simply put, Main Streets are good for the wallets and good for ways of life,” he said.
With that in mind, what is Martensville’s Main Street currently like? The vision report focused on an area approximately 28.5 acres in size and 872 metres in length, running from Centennial Drive in the west and 8th Avenue in the east.
Considering the new Martensville Recreation Centre is on one end and a proposed regional service node is slated to be on the other, Wallace said this basically guarantees this street will become a busier roadway over time.
As well, this section has a road allowance (or right-of-way) of 30 metres, giving lots of room for parking, sidewalks and boulevards without impeding traffic flow.
Furthermore, a significant number of properties have their frontage along Main Street, which Wallace noted would provide a sufficient lot depth to accommodate redevelopment.
One challenge is that there are many properties located along the north side of the street where the side yard (flanking) runs along Main Street; multiple flanking properties are needed to achieve a reasonable lot size for redevelopment.
“So it’s a little more challenging on the north side, but certainly reasonable on the south side,” Wallace said.
Wallace highlighted a couple of examples where the character of a street changed over time and with the guidance of a municipality.
One such example was Broadway Avenue, which had been the main shopping area for the east side of the city up until the 1950s when new malls pulled businesses away, which resulted in the area’s decline.
In 1986, a Broadway Business Improvement District was created, and it helped fund a major upgrade to the street. This ultimately sparked a turnaround.
“It’s a much safer environment today and a much more pleasant retail street, but it was trending the wrong way.”
In terms of further implementation, Wallace said the first goal is to share a vision for Main Street and get buy-in from the majority of private property-owners.
“They should be aware of this plan. They should be aware of the direction that the city wants to go,” he said.
The city must also demonstrate a commitment to this transition by adding key projects to the capital budget, and there must be changes to the zoning to allow this transition to happen, such as reducing the minimum site area from 550 to 225 square metres to encourage development on narrow lots.
The report indicated the logical starting point for this project would be the west end of Main Street, specifically an area of about 300 feet.
“The message we’re repeating here is that it’s an opportunity, not an obligation,” Wallace said.
“As you get to be a bigger community, I think demand will grow for a place like Main Street.”
