Wasaga Beach's gateway makeover a go

Wasaga Sun

Wasaga Beach council members have said they agree with the main beach gateway design recommended by staff and a landscape architect is to proceed with the project.

A week after seeing four concepts for the redesign of the gateway the intersection where Main Street meets Mosley Street and four landscape design plans for the area, councillors came to a consensus Tuesday (March11).

The project is meant to beautify the area so that visitors coming over the Main Street Bridge get a good first impression. It also aims to lead people to Festival Square, an open-air event space being created in the parking lot.

The preliminary cost estimate pegs the project at $595,111 ($370,762 for the gateway design and $224,349 for the Mosley Street landscaping).

The price includes coloured concrete paving, raised concrete planters, soil, trees and shrubs, a shade structure, decorative benches, banners, flags, waste receptacles and other design elements.

I think its attractive and I think it will attract people. Its easy to look at, its easy on the eye and I think certainly, from Mosley Street, its going to be very impressive, said Mayor Cal Patterson.

He said there are still some issues being worked out but the work will proceed. There is still some work to be done to determine the best material to build a shade structure so that it is sure to withstand the elements year-round and how best to incorporate pedestrian crosswalks in the area.

We are going to take a closer look at the crosswalks in terms of safety and traffic flow but the whole concept was accepted, said Patterson.

The redesign of the main beach area started with a number of visioning sessions that drew hundreds of participants. Festival Square and design improvements to the area are a direct result of community input.

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Wasaga Beach's gateway makeover a go