In September 2020, the ADBIA embarked on a community engagement initiative called 'Imagine Ambleside'. It was our hope to get feedback, ideas and suggestions from the community as to how they would imagine Ambleside - from a more active and vibrant waterfront to a foot passenger ferry to Vancouver, from a boutique hotel to a brewery and wider sidewalks and what types of businesses they would like to see. We secured retail space for three months and furnished the space with dozens of photos from places around the world for inspiration as well as had a 8' x 12' map of Ambleside that allowed visitors to 'pin' and label where and what they would like to see. The end result was over 1000 completed surveys that vastly supported the revitalization of Ambleside to include a hotel, arts centre, brewery, wine bar, wider sidewalks, street beautification and more. After compiling the survey results, we met with community stakeholders to share the findings and next steps included hiring an architect to draw renderings of 'Ambleside Imagined' - what it would look like if we managed to accomplish all that the survey showcased.
The project was a huge success and continues to be. The District is starting the LAP process and has invited the ADBIA to participate in a roundtable series of meetings and will be using our findings as the starting point for the process. In the meantime, one of the most common comments is that there are too many currency exchanges and nail salons in Ambleside. As a result of our survey, we have worked with the District to amend their bylaws to state that only 20% of a block is permitted to be financial (including currency exchange), nail salon and real estate offices. This in itself will allow us to curate the businesses we want to see in our community as we limit the number of banks, real estate offices and beauty (hair and nail salons) per block.
This project is easily adaptable to other communities. It's a grassroots program that encourages community engagement, the opportunity to speak freely and openly and help shape what a community will look like.