The City of Moose Jaw is taking another shot at implementing the Downtown Local Area Plan that was passed in 2017.

City administration will work with stakeholders such as the Moose Jaw Downtown Association to develop a specific, achievable, realistic and timely strategy to implement the plan and come back to city council with recommendations.

With the exception of the Facade Grant Program, very little has been done in regard to the plan.

In January, Coun. Crystal Froese brought forward a motion that the parking reserve interest is used to implement projects in the downtown plan.

“The cost of the plan was close to $100,000 and somehow there is always this gap between creating a great plan with all these wonderful ideas and not aligning it with a budget process or strategy without implementation,” Froese said.

James Dixon, Manager of Economic Development, said there is a precedent for using parking funds to improve the downtown.

“The thought was, the motion that was put forward, was that parking meter recipients and fines would be used to fund the various downtown improvement enhancement initiatives,” Dixon said.

“This has been done in the past. If you go back to the 80s when a lot of the street enhancement program and initiatives, paving stones, lamp standards, trees, all those things were implemented.”

Froese added that “The 80s you could have shot a cannon down Main Street it was so empty” and that the funds invested made a huge improvement.

In his report, Dixon said the parking reserve interest earned $49,000 in 2017, $51,000 in 2018 and $55,000 in 2019.

However, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, city administration believes there will be no investment earnings from the reserve for 2020.

Coun. Brian Swanson was the lone councillor opposed to the plan, saying in the 1980s the city stopped putting money into the downtown because of spending fatigue and he felt stakeholders need to help fund these projects as well.

Coun. Dawn Luhning countered that saying, until the pandemic hit, the downtown association was collecting memberships in order to contribute to the downtown plan.

The main components of the plan include heritage conservation, infill strategy, a public realm plan, character areas and implementation strategy. Recommendations were also included for streetscape improvements, public art and wayfinding.