Quote:
Originally Posted by defishel
I think we should be more open to having more stores scattered throughout the residential areas, and have more commercial strips. Wellington Street is decent, but it would be great for Scott and Armstrong, among a few others in the area to be more diversified.
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You see a bit of "just-off" commercial development all along Bank Street in Centretown and the Glebe (commercial properties on a side street "just off" the main street). There's a lot of similar sort of development, in a more car-oriented environment, "just off" Montreal Road.
This sort of thing needs to be encouraged. There is a shortage of small retail spaces available, and many spaces are being lost to redevelopment. This is very bad for the economic vitality of the city.
And yes, new commercial strips should also be allowed, and older ones revitalized and gap-filled. Main Street, Beechwood, Marier, Somersets East and West, etc., etc.
And yes, let small retail operations stay, and be newly-developed, right in the middle of residential communities. As long as it's not a noxious or dangerous industry, let the market decide, not some anal-retentive Ottawa bureaucratic rule. (Anyone remember the baseball bat factory fiasco from a few years back?)