What will Government Street look like for the next 50 years? The City of Victoria is hoping public feedback will help shape its direction as it prepares to develop a long-term concept for the pedestrian-focused street.
The section of Government Street between Pandora Avenue and Humboldt Street has remained largely unchanged in more than 50 years, the city said in a news release Tuesday.
“The street furniture and street trees, traffic signals and other streetscape elements are nearing the end of their life and will need replacement over the coming years.”
In the first of three phases of public engagement, the city is turning to the public to help inform a draft design that will be shared in the fall for community feedback.
Members of the public can go to engage.victoria.ca until July 11 to fill out a short online survey and submit ideas, illustrations, images and videos on how to improve Government Street with a goal of making it “one of the best streets in Canada,” according to the city.
In the second phase, the design will be refined and shared for more feedback in January 2022, before going to a final concept presentation at city council later that year.
“Making Government Street a people-priority street is an action of the City’s Strategic Plan and other planning guiding documents,” said Mayor Lisa Helps. “We want to continue to support downtown businesses impacted by the pandemic and build on the success of the City’s Build Back Victoria program.”
The concept design will help the city financially plan for the upgrades, and will also factor into other planned improvements such as a watermain replacement in 2022-23.
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