South Side Stories

The viability of Brantford's downtown core as a commercial centre has been in decline for 50 years. Dozens of reports have been written, including a 1969 Central Brantford Urban Renewal Scheme that recommended turning Colborne Street, the core's main thoroughfare, into a pedestrian mall, which became a short-lived reality for one summer.

The 1970's brought the development of two shopping malls on the edge of the city to serve the burgeoning subdivisions, a trend that continues today with the building of 'instant communities' in the city's southwest. This coincided with the loss of thousands of well-paying jobs that came with the collapse of the city's employment mainstay, farm implement manufacturing. Even the completion of large scale development projects like a new Eaton Centre couldn't reverse the spiraling fortunes of downtown Brantford.

In the past decade however, educational partnerships with Wilfrid Laurier and Nippissing Universities have began the process of creating a critical mass of new, knowledge based industries and services that will change the economic base of downtown Brantford forever.

With the growth of post-secondary enrollment has come the need for new housing and student services. Throughout downtown Brantford, many new facilities have been built, and many heritage structures, where feasible, have been repurposed. A noticeable stretch, the south side of Colborne Street, has remained untouched by new development.

The City of Brantford has expropriated 41 properties that make up a three block stretch of Colborne Street in an effort to kick-start new development. The buildings are scheduled to be demolished by the end of March. This radical step has created much debate within and outside the city that I'm sure is relevant to communities throughout Ontario, Canada and beyond.

You might be interested in some of these discussions on the topic:

• An active Facebook group, Save the Southside of Colborne Street, where there are many excellent discussions and links to documents that investigate the debate of restoration versus demolition;
• An article by Christopher Hume, Brantford Aims Wrecking Ball at its Future, in today's edition of The Toronto Star;
• A link to many, many articles in The Brantford Expositor that document the downtown Brantford expropriation process.

Our downtowns and built heritage contribute to the uniqueness and identity of our communities. However, sometimes even venerable buildings outlive their usefulness, and perhaps saving them can stand in the way of creating a new heritage.

It is still uncertain what is planned to replace the soon to be vacant three block stretch of Colborne Street in Brantford. Please feel free to use this space as a forum to let others know of the developments planned for your downtown - successes, failures or best practices that might be of use to your colleagues in Brantford, and beyond.