 |
OVERVIEW
In the early 1990’s Moose Jaw was an aging city of
nearly 35,000 people with perceived diminishing opportunities.
There had been little or no urban economic development within a
declining agriculture and resource based economy. Downtown Moose
Jaw was in decline in an era of enclosed malls, cross border
shopping and also at a competitive disadvantage living in the
shadow of a larger city a mere 40 miles away.
The R/UDAT process served to catalyze uncoordinated efforts and
engage the community voices in a shared vision for meaningful
development that has turned historic Moose Jaw in the leader in
expanded tourism activity in Canada.
The award winning Mae Wilson Theatre
restoration.
Image: RAE
Back to top
BACKGROUND
About R/UDAT
Since 1967, the American Institute of Architect’s
Regional/Urban Design Assistance Team (R/UDAT) program has used a
grassroots, charrette-style approach to help create livable
communities. R/UDATs combine local resources with the expertise of
nationally recognized professionals to assist cities in dealing
with specific local issues. The team conducts an intensive four-day
workshop onsite, engaging all members of the community in creating
a vision for the future. To date, 138 R/UDATs have been completed
in communities throughout the United States and Canada.
Back to top
PROCESS
Precedents
Moose Jaw began as a divisional point to service the
Canadian Pacific Railway in the 1980’s. Starting as a
railroad town, railway connections east, west, north and into the
United States were developed. Moose Jaw evolved as the
transportation hub and industrial centre of southern
Saskatchewan. It was the largest centre of population in the
area with the largest number of manufacturing firms at the turn of
the 20th century. The selection of Regina as the provincial capital
in 1905 and Saskatoon as the University centre in 1909 - according
to former Moose Jaw Mayor, Don Mitchell - “destined Moose Jaw
to be an also-ran, too close to Regina to grow as an independent
market area. Over the decades the city has not grown dramatically.
It simply held its own and changed character.”
An earlier study “the Mayor’s Task Force on Downtown
Revitalization” recommended revitalization of downtown through
use of the area’s history and heritage architecture. In 1988,
Heritage Guidelines were developed as a policy for the management
of their architectural heritage resource. In 1990, Tourism Moose
Jaw Inc was developing a heritage theme focusing on the City’s
transportation history and its large architectural inventory of
heritage buildings preserved by years of slow economic growth. In
1992 at the time of the R/UDAT study a projected geothermal spa was
being proposed as a major boost to Moose Jaw’s tourism
Industry with a raging local debate as to location and public
benefit.
Challenges
Prior to the R/UDAT Team visit in October of 1992, Moose Jaw had
spent considerable time and energy at introspection. A need to
address a meaningful future had pervaded nearly every sector of the
community in the attempt to determine the appropriate mix of
initiatives. In the words of Jim Penrod, City Commissioner of the
day “As a consequence of the recession and discouragement
related to unsuccessful initiatives in the past decade, there
exists an element best described as a ‘siege mentality’.
As a consequence, each proposed new initiative is often viewed with
a degree of skepticism combined with an element of quiet
desperation. The result is that almost every proposal becomes a
means to survival for different groups, in different ways, and
often considerable competition and polarization occurs”.
Goals
The R/UDAT application prepared by the public and private sectors
citizens of Moose Jaw prior to the Team visit requested that the
team assist the community in:
1. Developing a comprehensive economic development strategy for
future action.
2. Revitalizing downtown activity.
3. Developing a comprehensive tourism strategy.
4. Linking up the open space network
5. Recasting Moose Jaw’s image, defining the vision
6. Developing implementation tools and tactics.
An international eight person R/UDAT team lead by Jim Christopher
FAIA was formed that included an economist with community
development experience, urban designer, a director of city
planning, a city commissioner, landscape architect, developer and
real estate consultant. Throughout the four days, Regina
architects, local architectural technology students, city officials
and numerous volunteers assisted the team. The event concluded with
a public meeting at City Hall with the presentation of the
Team’s assessment and formal submission of the Team’s
written report.
Analysis
The R/UDAT team began their visit with a comprehensive
tour of the community that included a birds eye view by helicopter
facilitated by the local air force base. The group heard a number
of Community presentations from school officials, community
associations, Boards, Service Organizations, local businessmen,
various public sector civic leaders and various interest groups.
The R/UDAT team spent a great deal of time listening to these
stakeholders and interest groups.
Recommendations
The team purposely did not make itemized and definitive
recommendations in its final report however they did offer comment,
suggestions and observations on a range of topics.
The conclusions reinforced the earlier assessments made by city
initiated reports and delivered the message that the strong quality
of life that exists in Moose Jaw could be maintained and the means
to do that had already been defined in an earlier Mayor’s Task
Force Report. All that was required was “to let the leaders
lead and the followers follow”.
Numerous observations and recommendations were made about the
physical environment of Moose Jaw that included “gateway”
features on the image routes into the city, green belts and
pedestrian linkages.
The R/UDAT Team was singularly impressed with the quality of
downtown Moose Jaw stating that “the city had the best intact
historic main street in Saskatchewan and a multi-faceted downtown
improvement program that compares with the best in North
America…”
The R/UDAT Team was unanimous in its opinion that any community and
economic strategy should underscore the importance of a strong
Downtown. The Team commended the City of Moose Jaw for its obvious
recognition of the fact that “a city without a strong Downtown
is a city with a heart condition”. The Team’s main
message was simple “Keep up the good work…the job’s
not done.”
The Team recommended work to be done that focused on a defined
portion of Main Street, modest but ongoing improvements in streets
and public spaces and ongoing support of programmed events. The
Team expressed opinions on the River Street Project and
public/private cost sharing formulas.
The strongest message delivered by the Team was that economic
development isn’t someone else’s business –
it’s everyone’s business.
The Team outlined a Tourism Development Strategy for maximizing the
great potential of tourism for the City included developing
leadership and organization, assessing products and markets, and
marketing. The Team reinforced the strong start of Tourism Moose
Jaw Inc. in all these areas. The Team offered suggestions on a
number of specific tourism issues including the “Mac the
Moose” logo and developing a stronger highway presence through
stronger visual information and a more accessible tourism
information booth.
Other Development Strategies were suggested based on supporting and
expanding public sector initiatives and existing local businesses.
A “Go with what you know” strategy. The pending
development of Providence Place, a long term care, geriatric
assessment and rehabilitation centre was illustrated as a potential
asset to aggressively market it as a comprehensive health and
wellness centre suggesting this initiative could help revitalize
downtown Moose Jaw through it’s economic spin off.
Implementation
The team recommended an implementation strategy that reinforced a
lead/follow theme and making continuous efforts to build consensus
and cooperation. Consensus building would then lead to a community
and economic development strategy.
At the time of the Team’s visit the hottest and most
controversial revitalization issue in Moose Jaw surrounded the
proposed new health spa utilizing the recently researched potential
of a geothermal source for the water. As part of the Team’s
theme of consensus building they choose to “wade into the
water” and expressed the opinion that the Spa should be
located in the downtown area and that any proposed change to
location would merit a formal review process.
Back to top
OUTCOMES
The R/UDAT process probably can not take sole credit for this
economic revival however it is undeniable that the R/UDAT visit had
a beneficial impact on the City ameliorating the widespread
skepticism, adding credibility to earlier strategic plans,
supporting local leadership and helping to build consensus at a
very important time to a community in transition.
Several initiatives sprung out from the momentum and
recommendations that the R/UDAT facilitated. One of the first
developments in the downtown area following the R/UDAT study was
the opening of the 160 bed Providence Place long term care facility
in 1995. As suggested by the R/UDAT Study the economic spin-off has
been substantial and has revitalized the downtown in a surprising
way. This low rise facility covering two city blocks was designed
with a heritage theme complementary to the older downtown district.
This building subsequently won the Municipal Heritage Design Award
for sensitive infill.
Temple Gardens Mineral Spa. The RUDAT
Study Team was instrumental
in having it built in the downtown location. It has been the
catalyst for the
economic revitalization of downtown Moose Jaw.
Image: Temple Gardens Mineral Spa.
In 1966 the Spa opened, as strongly recommended by the R/UDAT Team
in a downtown location ½ block from City Hall. Recently the
Moose Jaw. Temple Gardens Mineral Spa opened an $8.2 million
expansion, which includes 86 new rooms and a skywalk connecting the
new hotel to the spa. Since the opening of the Spa, thousands of
spa enthusiasts have come to Moose Jaw. In fact, in 2003 alone
there were over 113,000 visitors. The spa has significantly
influenced the growth of Tourism in the community.
Since 1966 Casino Moose Jaw opened a $13 million project, creating
100 jobs, making it one of the top 10 employers in Moose Jaw. The
Casino, also designed in a heritage theme is located across the
street from and connected by a skywalk to the Spa. The Moose Jaw
Cultural Centre opened $8.3 million performing and visual arts
facility in 2004 in the former Merchant's Bank and Capitol Theatre
buildings on Main Street. This project also won a Western Canadian
design award as an outstanding heritage restoration project.
Tourism Moose Jaw, prior to the R/UDAT visit was in the process of
developing a heritage theme focusing on the City’s
transportation history and it’s large architectural inventory
of heritage buildings preserved by years of slow economic growth.
The visit by the international R/UDAT Team confirmed the
city’s intact historic main street and related programs
rivaled the best in North America.
Downtown sidewalks show a considerable
attention paid to streetscape.
Image: REA
The Moose Jaw Regional Economic Development Authority Inc. reports
that today Moose Jaw leads the nation in expanded tourism activity.
Diverse and expanding tourist attractions contribute to Moose Jaw
as a destination point for travelers with projections to increase
visitors by 150,000 per year:
• There were 2,020 residents of Moose Jaw employed in tourism
related industries in August 2002. This is an increase of 25.3%
over the 1,612 employed in August 1997 and an increase of 37.2%
from 1994. There are 74 tourism businesses, attractions, and events
in Moose Jaw. This is an increase of 32.1% from 1997 businesses and
events, and does not include restaurants, gas service stations or
the majority of retail business operations.
• Travellers spent an estimated $37.4 million directly in
Moose Jaw in 2001, an increase of 95.8% over their 1997
expenditures in the area and an increase of 165.2% from 1994.
• Growth in tourism expenditures is five times that of the
provincial growth and six times that of the national growth of
tourism expenditures during the same four year period.
Back to top
RESOURCES
Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan: Wikipedia
Entry
City
of Moose Jaw
Regional/Urban Design Assistance Team
Program
View Communities by Design Built Works: Moose Jaw, Canada R/UDAT (requires Google Earth)
Find Communities by Design Built Works: Moose Jaw, Canada R/UDAT (Google
Maps)
R/UDAT Built
Works:
- Austin, TX R/UDAT
- Salt Lake City, UT R/UDAT
- San Angelo, TX R/UDAT
- Springfield, IL R/UDAT
|
