Bradford working towards revitalizing its downtown core

After years of work and many false starts, the Town of Bradford West Gwillimbury is working towards revitalizing its downtown core.

The town's downtown revitalization committee has been meeting recently and is currently preparing an environmental assessment, evaluating the potential plans and how they could be put in place.

Currently, much of the work focuses on the revitalization of Holland Street.

"The idea is to restore it to what it once was in terms of being a shopping and dining destination in South Simcoe County," says Jonathan Scott, Ward Two councillor and chair of the Downtown Revitalization Committee.

"Right now, it's the main artery through town, and between the ring roads that the town's constructed and the Hwy. 400 /404 link we are going to be able to put this back into being a downtown district."

Scott is optimistic that things are different this time after several false starts.

"I represent the old end of town, and we've seen a new end of town grow up that's brand new and shiny, and we'd like to make sure that there's attention paid to revitalizing the old end of town as well," he says.

While plans are far from finalized, Scott says the idea is to use the upcoming Bradford Bypass extension to help alleviate vehicular traffic from the city's core, turning Holland Street from a thoroughfare to more of a main street, centered around attracting people.

"That means rebooking at the road with wider sidewalks, tree-lined sidewalks so people can walk, have a place to sit down and enjoy an evening out," says Scott.

Brian Hayden has operated Experience Toys and Games for the last three years on Holland Street.

"If people are attracted to downtown, they can browse and shop, and that's sort of what people always want to see the cute, quaint downtown areas of what Bradford is trying to do and then that will just bring in more people and more business," Hayden says.

Nancy Young is very familiar with this project, which could cost up to $20 million.

The downtown business owner, who has operated Nancy's Nifty Nook for more than 30 years on Holland Street, had previously served on the revitalization committee but ended up leaving, frustrated by the lack of concrete action.

"We need more things downtown," says Young, who isn't confident adjustments to the road infrastructure will be enough to solve the issue. "We need shoe stores. We need dress stores. We need it like Bradford used to be when I was a kid. Everything was here then. We didn't have to go outside of Bradford. We could get everything in Bradford."

The town will be holding public consultation processes on Feb. 17, one from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. and a second from 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Scott says he's hopeful council can approve plans from a consultant by June of this year.

If successful, construction could begin in phases by summer 2023.