Cole Harbour Road business association first step to improving area

By Lori McKay - The Weekly News
Due to somewhat unregulated development, the main commercial strip of Cole Harbour Road has no clear focus. And because of that, the city has decided not to subject the area to community visioning or streetscape design just yet.
Harbour East Council recommended, and passed, a motion last month that staff first review planned unit development policies and regulations within the area and will later look at a vision of how Cole Harbour Road looks and functions.
"Cole Harbour Road has evolved to what it is over the years without really any plan in place," said Cole-Harbour Coun. Lorelei Nicoll, "so we're quick to say it's not streetscaping or anything like that, it's just trying to get people to realize there are businesses there and try to make it more pedestrian-friendly, and to increase the whole means of doing business on Cole Harbour Road."
The major arterial road is made up mainly of strip malls and shopping centres, and there are issues with both aesthetics and pedestrian walkways.
Nicoll said the first step in the process is to create a business association in the area to look at, and evaluate, what the business community needs.
Two local business owners, Don Kyte of Kyte's Pharmasave and Deborah Moulton of Moulton?Optical, have expressed interest in spearheading the association.
Kyte, who has been in businesses in Cole Harbour for 19 years, sees a business association as a way of passing on information.
"I think the goal would be to get feedback from people on the street, like myself, a business owner, on issues like taxation, beautification, traffic, signs, and all of this stuff."
He said sometimes the councillor would be hearing from one person, and that person may not have the same opinion as the majority.
"This gives it a broader scope, rather than an individual's opinion. This way you're getting a cross section of opinion."
Kyte plans to contact all the managers or business owners along Cole Harbour Road, from Caldwell Road to Bissett Road. He says there's more than a dozen potential businesses, and he'd like to see eight or 10 people get involved, but stresses it's not a big-time commitment.
"We're probably best with email and the occasional meeting face to face. Everyone wins in this situation, without overburdening anyone. The worst part of all is overburdening and then they drop off," said Kyte.
Kyte says he hasn't seen a great deal of change along Cole Harbour Road in the past 19 years, with the exception of traffic flows.
"I'm noticing, as a consumer, that I'm happier to do my grocery shopping in the community, because once I go up past MacPhee Pontiac (on Portland Street) I'm into a traffic stall every day ... it's kind of pushing me to stay in the community. And if I want to stay in the community because the traffic drives me nuts, maybe others are in the same boat."
He said it's important for the merchants to be attuned to the wishes of the community in terms of what is needed.
Moulton agrees. "Basically, my idea is that if you don't use the services that are here, you're going to lose them. Literally in Cole Harbour there's every service you could imagine. You don't have to leave the neighbourhood, and that's the idea, to educate the consumer that we're here."
Nicoll said once an association is formed, they can than work with HRM staff and build some knowledge on what they can do for the area.
Things are now in motion, and Kyte said he'd like to have a first meeting by spring.
lmckay@hfxnews.ca