Sechelt council had two lunch meetings with developers this week in an attempt to gain input from the business sector, and there are more lunch meetings to come.
"We're going to meet in the future with retailers, we're going to meet with other industrial people, the chambers of commerce, anybody that would like to meet with us," Sechelt Mayor John Henderson told Coast Reporter. "The reason for these meetings is to pick their brains. We want to understand from all these different quadrants or components of our community what things will help make Sechelt more attractive for business."
Henderson said council is also looking for new ideas to revitalize downtown Sechelt.
The first round of meetings with business members has been by invitation only.
"It's not to exclude anybody, but also we want a candid informal conversation. It isn't about taking out a front page ad and having 30 people there. This is really about these segments of our community giving us the benefits of their ideas," Henderson said.
One idea council plans to look at implementing in the future is a one-way designation for Cowrie Street.
"We're committed to revitalizing the downtown and that's been in our strategic plan from the beginning. One of the common concerns is a lack of parking so we go to one way and we can have angled-parking," Henderson said.
He noted the change wouldn't happen without warning and that it would only be on a trial basis at first, but that if it works, the change could stick.
"We just need to do something to push the envelope a bit," he said.
While council is working to engage different segments of the business community now, the mayor said other groups could be next.
"This doesn't mean we're not going to meet with arts and culture or sports or anybody else but these lunches are first and foremost to get insights from the community on what things we need to do better," Henderson said. "Step one is the developers."
