A Simon Fraser University researcher found that Terrace's much-maligned downtown is a result of decisions made decades prior.
Titled, "Path Dependency and the Composition of Land Use, Built Form and Establishments in the Downtowns of Northwest British Columbia," Stephan Nieweler studied the downtowns of Terrace, Kitimat, and Prince Rupert for his PhD project. He spent nearly a decade as a planner before getting his PhD in Geography.
"The conditions we have today and the opportunities we have today are very much linked to what we've been left with from the past," said Nieweler, referring to path dependency.
He sought to answer the question, "In the context of renewed economic growth in northwest B.C., how has path dependency influenced planning and development outcomes in downtown areas?"
In the case of Terrace, this refers to the city allowing commercial activity to sprawl outside of the downtown with the mall and big box stores like Walmart and Canadian Tire. Decisions to build a bypass highway and the bridge across Ferry Island in the 1970s allowed this to happen.
"In Prince Rupert, people come here and shop on Third Avenue, walk on the street," he said. "In Terrace, very few people do that. They go to the big box stores. But if you go back to the 1960s, everybody shopped on the main streets in Terrace. The investments in the big box stores changed people's routines of life."
Terrace once had a robust downtown near Kalum and Lakelse leading down to the train station.
"East of Kalum used to be very important because that was the only way to get to the bridge out of town," Nieweler said. "But when they built the new bridge over Ferry Island, that old one lane bridge became less important. Businesses didn't want to be east of Kalum anymore, like Kondolas Furniture which moved to the other side of the tracks."
Businesses like Kondolas and the hotels moved out of the downtown to be in more car-oriented locations.
"Terrace's downtown, it doesn't look very good. We need to be honest with ourselves. Do you want to see positive change? Do you want it to look better? If you do, then maybe you need to start trying to direct the growth and development down there. I don't think it has been a priority for politicians and it has to be," he said.
Nieweler went about conducting this research by both exploring the cities through their development history and by tracking development between 2015 and 2020. In those years, he walked every block of their downtowns, measuring every single change that happened, whether it was a new building or a renovation, or if a business closed or opened. He also interviewed planers, economic development officers, and politicians.
Nieweler looked at the underutilized land in Terrace's downtown. A quarter of its land area is surface parking.
"Why would they put the college at the edge of town when they had all those sites downtown?" asked Nieweler. "It would have helped to revitalize downtown."
"From a policy standpoint, how can you allow big box stores or any new development at the edge of town, when you have so much land available downtown?" he asked. "And then you also have to build new infrastructure when you build at the edge of town and maintain the roads."
"Walmart, Canadian Tire, they have a business model where they want to have a big site next to the highway. Unfortunately, most communities are just excited that big box stores want to come to their down. But they don't ask themselves the question, is this really good for my community?"
"Why couldn't Walmart or Canadian Tire go downtown? Somebody will argue, oh, but it's fractured. Maybe some of the sites are not big enough, but if you look, there are some very big sites. The Co-op department store was torn down in the 1990s. They could have been built there, but those companies didn't want to."
Comparatively, Prince Rupert did not let Walmart build their store by the car dealerships across the highway. They were in a legal battle for years and eventually, Walmart was built in the Rupert Square Mall.
Nieweler acknowledged that not many people live close to downtown or in it.
"Parking is always going to be important to the people there. It's hard to change. You got those three big malls down there, and I don't think you're going to easily get rid of any of that parking without some big pushback from the business and residents."
He brought up improving public transportation as a possible solution.
"I spent a summer living out on the Thornhill side and there were only three busses a day when I lived there and that's not good enough."
Nieweler noted that there is still one area of downtown Terrace that has potential.
"The block of Lakelse and west of Kalum. They're trying to revitalize it. From talking to people from Terrace, that's the one block they're kind of proud of."
The city is in the midst of a revitalization project of the 4600 block of Lakelse Ave that began in 2023. It will transform the area into a vibrant, pedestrian-friendly space. In collaboration with Urban Systems, the Terrace Downtown Improvement Area, downtown stakeholders, and local businesses, they are removing the existing canopy to open up the streetscape, updating the business facades, and adding new sidewalks, seating, and greenery.
Nieweler's research is timely as the city is also currently updating its Official Community Plan, or OCP. Its focus areas include the downtown, a visible and vibrant arts, culture and heritage, a diversified and coordinated economy, social well-being and more.
They are currently in the public engagement stage. By Winter 2024, they plan to draft a preliminary plan. In Spring 2025, council will check-in on the proposed changes. In Summer 2025, the OCP will be finalized and by Fall of the same year, the plan will be formally adopted.
"The City says, 'Would like to have more development downtown,' but then they don't restrict development at the edge of town," he said. "So they leave it to the market to decide. If you want to have more development downtown, you need to make it easier and promote it to happen and make it a bit harder for the development at the edge. There's too much land that's been allocated for urban sprawl in terrace, in my opinion."
Nieweler got inspired to do this project by a friend who moved to Prince Rupert. He came to visit him in 2011 and his friend told him, " There's a lot of development that's coming and we don't know how to plan for it. You should come here and do some academic work."
"I'm probably going to come back in 2025 so I have a 10-year glimpse of how the downtown's changed," Nieweler shared.
