Sarnia residents will get to experience a pedestrian street in the city's downtown during this month's First Friday festivities.
The City of Sarnia is hosting a pedestrian street pilot project on Lochiel Street February 7 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. to gather feedback on the concept.
Director of Community Development Stacey Forfar said city council endorsed the project at its December 9 meeting.
"We did receive a motion from council in support of this initiative -- they had brought it forward to sort of ask city staff to investigate some opportunities for this type of an event, and we decided that given the timing, with the success of the First Friday events downtown, it would be a great opportunity to tie it to that proposal and get some early feedback from the community," she said. "People are out and about, and they travel to different communities and think, 'Hey, why don't we have this here in Sarnia,' and I believe [the idea] just came from an avid interest by council to help bolster our downtown and provide some different cultural programming opportunities."
Forfar said the closed portion of Lochiel, between Front Street and Christina Street, will feature programming, illumination, and other potential features of a pedestrian street.
Overhead view of the intersection of Christina Street and Lochiel Street in Sarnia.
She said it's a great way to get a feel for what residents want.
"The event is really meant to be sort of a visioning and kind of a test case with the community, say 'Hey listen, what do you think of this idea? Where do you think this could be located in Sarnia? What type of activities and events would you see on a closed pedestrian street?' That kind of idea," she said. "So it's really meant to sort of test the waters, and given that the traffic and folks are coming downtown, and so many other events that are on, it was a good time to sort of capture public feedback."
Sarnia residents and business owners unable to attend will also be able to provide feedback on the city's public engagement page.
