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Project aims to bring Flour Mill back to its 'historic glory,' and architecture students are helping

Architecture students gathering information on century-old Sudbury borough for future improvements

Improvements to the Flour Mill neighbourhood in Sudbury are coming up, and a team of architecture students are taking the lead in what will be in store for one historic area.

Third-year students from McEwen School of Architecture, along with residents, city government representatives and business owners gathered at the corner of Laforest and Kathleen streets on Sept. 14 to launch the revitalization project of Laforest.

“The goal is to bring the street back to its former historic glory, bring back the quality of life and address social and infrastructure issues we have in the urban core,” said Jocelyne Landry-Altmann, greater Sudbury councillor

The revitalization, she said, will be seen through the eyes of the students as they meet with residents and current and potential business owners to get a better idea of the historical importance of the area and the designs that make the street unique.

The city is giving this project to architecture students primarily for costs. In turn, it provides students with much-needed practical experience.

They will also study the history, which Landry-Altmann said goes back more than 100 years. Some of the homes were built as early as 1914. It was a working-class neighbourhood.

Ted Wilson, professor of sustainable design and third-year coordinator lives in the area, which gives him an intimate view of the street's needs. He said the third year of the degree program focuses on working with examples of Northern communities, broken down into neighbourhoods.

He explained the exercise is to look at the neighbourhood and examine aspects of it, focusing first on this street.

Students will look at it from three perspectives: the street proper and where the traffic is, the pedestrian portion, then the elevations and the facades of the buildings. They will document the current appearance and condition and look for ways to make the street more desirable.

Along with studying improvements, students and the city are looking into elements that make the neighbourhood unique and try to preserve those. Wilson said due to its history, it has a look and culture of an old French community.

That information will inform policies and plans, including incentives for residents to make home improvements.

Melissa Riou, Greater Sudbury senior planner, said the city has a town and community improvement plan that includes the Flour Mill area. That includes tax increment equivalent grants, building permit and planning application rebates, feasibility grants and facade improvement grants.

For facades, like siding and window replacement, they can cover up to 50 per cent of the costs.

“The goal here is to increase the amount of residential development, increase vibrancy and get more people walking around these areas,” she said.

The studies will also provide information for assessments that will help city administration develop new design guidelines for all town centres in Greater Sudbury, giving it a better idea of what to apply to visions when people apply for improvements.

The Flour Mill Business Improvement Area is giving financial assistance for students to work on their studies. President Terry McMahon said the mandate is to improve conditions for the businesses in the area. In doing so, they improve the living conditions for the residents that call it home by increasing the safety and overall aesthetics.

Improvements have been needed for a long time, he said, but the important thing is it is happening now.

“We are ready to move forward,” he said. “There is some homework to be done to bring it back to its original roots, but I feel there will have to be some level of practicality so we can execute that.”

Students will be taking their findings back to class to work on designs and suggestions. They will present their findings to the public Sept. 28 at St. Jean de Brebeuf Roman Catholic Church to get more feedback.

In the meantime, lifelong residents like Jeannine Larcher-Lalande, 84, are reaching out to students. She said it's wonderful to see so many people of different backgrounds working together to improve the area.

“I think it brings closeness, different languages and cultures, and so on,” she said.

Larcher-Lalande said she doesn't think of herself as a historian, but has worked to record the families that have lived in the Flour Mill. She had sent out letters to people in 2,000 with a questionnaire asking for information and has compiled several alphabetical books.

“I asked about where their families came from, their histories, jobs, things like that, and people sent back a lot of interesting information,” she said.

The Greater Sudbury Public Library recently approached her about keeping those records in a secure place. She said it sounds like a good idea to keep them somewhere besides her home.

 

 


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