Saint John is exploring the idea of temporary street closure initiatives as a way to help with economic recovery.
But senior city staff say more work needs to be done to determine just how many businesses would be on board.
Phil Ouellette, deputy commissioner of growth and community planning, said closing streets to vehicles is something other communities are already doing.
“For us, we are reviewing these options. We are not going to dive in and say there is a right option yet. We believe there is more work to be done,” Ouellette told the city’s growth committee Thursday.
The initiative is one of more than three dozen ideas the city is looking at to help with economic and community recovery, said Ouellette.
Coun. John MacKenzie, who represents Ward 2, said temporary street closures are “imperative” to help uptown restaurants survive.
“Right now, they’re required to open at 50 per cent capacity. It’s impossible, absolutely impossible. I think waiting another month, I think we’re gonna lose businesses,” said MacKenzie.
“I know you don’t want to jump the gun on this, but at the same time, we’ve gotta reduce the risk of people losing their businesses. … I’m really not comfortable waiting another month before we come up with a possible plan.”
City manager John Collin said the reason they want a bit more time is to get more input from those who would be affected.
Collin said businesses seem to be “evenly split” on whether street closures would be a good thing.
“They’re very much concerned that a street closure may affect their pick-up and drop-off capability that they’ve currently established, where cars literally drive up, someone hops out, grabs the stuff and drives away,” said Collin.
“It’s not that we’re dragging our heels on it at all. I think it’s just a little bit too raw right now for the business owners to make their determinations.”
Committee members gave their support for the idea, which will now go before council. If council endorses it, staff would return to the committee in June with more direction.
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