St. Marys council approves downtown beautification plan during 2026 budget deliberations

By Galen Simmons, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

During St. Marys council’s first 2026 budget meeting on Oct. 21, councillors approved the first phase of a plan that will see further beautification of the town’s downtown streetscape beginning next year.

Speaking to council amid capital project presentations, tourism and economic development manager Kelly Deeks-Johnson and public works director Jed Kelly described the proposed downtown beautification plan, a multi-year strategy to enhance the streetscape and public spaces in the downtown core and aimed at supporting a vibrant commercial environment and improving accessibility, walkability and visual appeal.

“This is a very comprehensive report giving some history of the works that have been done for our downtown, basically since 2016 … and then also gives an indication of what we project we’ll need to do over the next 10 years in regards to service improvements and infrastructure upgrades that we want to invest in, such as new planters, some new lighting, some new seating, while trying to balance the operational costs and service levels that we are currently doing.

“The recommended approach going forward is a phased implementation of our beautification projects, particularly in the downtown, with the flexibility to adjust based on budget and any grant funding coming in and overall community and BIA input.”

With a total of 18 projects planned from 2026 to 2034 – some of which will be implemented over several years – projects included in next year’s draft budget include:

- The purchase of four new downtown garbage receptacles at a cost of $11,500 to replace the current receptacles, which have been deemed confusing because they appear to accept both garbage and recycling despite there being only one garbage bag in each receptacle. Additional receptacles, which would be a single container with a smaller opening marked for garbage, would be purchased in 2028 and 2029 for a total of 12 downtown, according to the beautification plan.

- The purchase of six, self-watering tree planters at a cost of $7,000 so staff can test whether large trees in planters would work downtown. If successful, additional tree planters would be purchased in 2031 and 2034.

- The replacement of existing downtown planters with self-watering urns at a cost of $30,000 split evenly between the town and BIA. The urns are intended to save money on annual watering costs and additional urns would be purchased in 2029, 2030, 2031 and 2033 for a total of 60.

- Replacing the former hanging baskets with seasonal banners at an estimated cost of $2,000 for the town plus $3,000 contributed by the BIA. Banners would be purchased again every two years to replace the originals after they wear out.

In addition to the above projects, Deeks-Johnson said staff are looking to enhance the floral displays in the town’s planters by having them started in a greenhouse before being planted so they look more mature, and to partner with the BIA on seasonal displays and the purchase of new garbage receptacles next year.

Projects in this plan scheduled for future years include Millenium Park seating, seating at town hall and the library, the installation of a seating area with tables and a bike rack at the east side of Victoria Bridge, new garbage receptacles at town hall, the cenotaph and the library, colour spotlights at town hall, and bench-style seating at the southeast side of Victoria Bridge that look out over the falls, among others.

“This has come out of some conversations with the BIA about some needs and things from a sustainability and beautification (standpoint),” Deeks-Johnson said. “We’ve been working with them for the past two years to kind of enhance that plan and make sure we’re working towards the same goals. So, we did embark on a kind of brief, what I will call, a guide with GSP Architects to create a bit of vision for how many planters we could foreseeably have downtown, some kind of direction on public art, as well as some options for seating, receptacles, etc. that the BIA has worked with us on, and that’s included in this report.”

“Really, coming from the GSP report and all the conversations we’ve had with the BIA, they’re definitely receptive to sustainability,” added Kelly. “We did remove the hanging baskets that were costing us upwards of $26,000 (a year) with all the watering. They are receptive to those kinds of initiatives. At the last (BIA) meeting, they talked about the self-watering planters, so we’ll look to have those implemented in 2026. That would be a labour reduction; we don’t know by how much, but we assume, if it works, it would help us optimize the (annual watering) program. Everything you see (in this plan) works with trying to create that streetscape while being mindful of the service level it’s going to cost to do it.”

Speaking to the plan as council’s representative on the St. Marys BIA board of directors, deputy mayor Brogan Aylward told councillors the 10-year plan would do a lot for beautification downtown.

“I’ll say that a lot of the stuff here in your 10-year plan is very good,” he said. “I think it captures a lot of the hopes and dreams … of the (BIA’s) beautification committee and … especially when it comes to the tree planters, I think that’s brilliant. That’s something I’ve heard about from many a business owner downtown; they reminisce on the old days when we had trees (downtown), so I commend staff for being flexible and looking to try something in that regard.”

In total, the plan includes roughly $250,000 in proposed projects over the next decade, with roughly $36,000 in project costs estimated for 2026.

“I think it’s good that we have a plan to work towards, and I think it’s certainly well thought out, so I’m certainly in favour of it,” Mayor Al Strathdee said.