Eight hours

Tom Coke heads the County’s new downtown revitalization project.

Breathing new energy into the County’s downtown spaces

What are you going to do with your other eight hours?” asks Tom Coke. He has recently been appointed to coordinate the County’s downtown revitalization initiative. Coke has a clear idea about the goals of his assignment and is eager to get started.

He explains: we work for eight hours and sleep for another eight hours. Coke wants to make downtown Picton, Wellington, Consecon, Bloomfield and Rossmore places that draw us to come and spend at least part of the remaining eight hours in our days.

Coke comes to the County after a similar downtown revitalization project in Napanee. There, he worked with business owners and the municipality to restore vitality to a tired downtown—weakened by the retreat of retail chain stores to the town’s edge. When he began his assignment, 40 per cent of Napanee’s downtown sat empty. Currently, less than three per cent of the downtowns space is idle.

Coke is quick to say the success achieved in Napanee is less about him and more about a community that decided to work together to restore and revitalize its downtown.

“It is also a rejection of the big box retailer,” says Coke. “People want unique shops, services and experiences, along with great customer service. That is what downtown Ontario has to offer. I see that is already present in Prince Edward County.”

The Downtown Revitalization project is jointly funded by the province and the municipality over two years. Unlike his past assignment, which focused on a single community, in the County Coke has been tasked with providing a boost to five towns and villages—each posing different challenges and opportunities. Picton has a well-developed downtown business association, while at the other end of the spectrum Rossmore is just beginning to think about the possibilities of its commercial core. Bloomfield, Wellington and Consecon are somewhere in the middle of the spectrum.

Coke says the sophistication of the community’s marketing efforts is less important than its willingness to work together to improve it. He is encouraged by the enthusiasm represented on the steering committee, comprising business owners brought together from each of the five communities.

“There are opportunities in each community,” says Coke. “I am optimistic that good things will come of this project for each town and village.”

Using a template developed by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs in similar projects in Cobourg and Bancroft, the work product will be a strategic plan devised for each community plus a County-wide plan. It will assemble principles and practices learned over the next two years into a plan that may be applied to other County main streets.

But Coke stresses the critical factor determining the success of this project is the willingness of the community, including County council in partnership with business owners and residents, to work together, doing the hard work to turn the plan into concrete action.

“This is a volunteer-driven process,” says Coke. “I worry about plans that get created that go nowhere.”

Public sessions will soon roll out across the County to explain the project, hear from residents and encourage participation from a broad sector of the community.

“Downtowns belong to everyone,” says Coke. “They are where we gather, meet and celebrate. This isn’t an urban issue—it’s about preserving and invigorating a vital part of Ontario’s history and traditions.”

Where do you want to spend your eight hours?