Town calls truce in big box war.

Hunstville -- Fighting Wal-Mart has almost become an industry in itself. The familiar act plays itself out in every community wrestling with the issue of big box development.

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High-priced consultants for the developers and hometown merchants either paint rosy pictures of upscale shopping environments, or depict doomsday scenarios of downtown decay, replete with tumbleweeds.

"Nobody really wins," says John Finley, development officer for the Town of Hunstville. "Not the developers, the town or merchants, nobody wins. Only planners and lawyers win."

Huntsville has chosen to embrace new retail development while at the same time give its central shopping core a major facelift.

Through some deft negotiating by a local realtor, Huntsville has struck a three-way partnership between the municipality, down-town merchants and a Wal-Mart developer to assemble a plan to put the community on the map as a regional shopping destination.

"We want to see every credit card maxed out when people leave here," says Finley.

Highway 11 has been the town's economic lifeblood for 20 years. But the four lanes furthered the temptation for shopaholics to head south to power shopping outlets in Orillia and Barrie.

The new vision put forward by town council will allow a new highway big box development to stem the estimated exodus of $1.7 million in annual consumer spending to larger centres, as well as strengthen marketing efforts to promote the downtown core.

"The greatest asset of this partnership is everyone involved is from Huntsville," says Finley, adding that the so-called "evil big box developer" is Claude Doughty, a well-known Huntsville realtor, a major downtown property owner and stalwart community volunteer.

"He has developed some marvelous projects in the past," Finley says. "The community knows Claude and knows the Claudex Inc. development style."

The town is embarking on a dynamic $11.5-million strategic plan, a blueprint for the future, that examines every aspect of community development and quality of life. Huntsville is taking steps to re-sculpt store-front facades, restore heritage buildings, install new signage, add more parking, build waterfront walking trails and ensure that retail activity will be shared by all. The plan is being led by Mayor Hugh Mackenzie and more than 100 volunteers, including Doughty.

Thanks to Premier Ernie Eves, the former MPP for Parry Sound-Muskoka, the region's inclusion as part of Northern Ontario allowed the municipality to tap into $3.5 million worth of FedNor and Northern Ontario Heritage Funds to finance a good chunk of the plan.

What they have in mind is to create an "exciting people place" for gathering and socializing in the downtown, beginning with the ground breaking this summer on a proposed 17,500-square-foot civic centre addition onto a town hall that will include a 450-seat community theatre.

The old waterfront Huntsville Planing Mill will be converted into parking and green space connected to the town's trail network. Further plans are afoot for some light commercial space for stores, boutiques and condominiums.

A streetscape program and facade improvement will provide new three-dimensional signs that can be seen from Main Street and by boaters on the Muskoka River.

"We believe we achieved a really good balance between keeping our community vibrant and having a soul in our community, which is the downtown," says Mackenzie.

Located in the middle of cottage country, Huntsville is known as a gateway to Northern Ontario. The town is built on a hillside with winding streets and elegant Victorian-style wood framed homes, and its economy is supplemented by one million visitors a year.

It is also growing faster than any other community in Muskoka. Huntsville's picturesque and bustling downtown is choked with cars even on an early June weekday afternoon.

Long-recognized as a regional commercial hub, the town's population has been steadily inching up over the past decade as a significant number of affluent baby boomers semi-retire to the area, boosting the population from 14,997 in 1991 to 17,345 in the 2001 Census.

But with that growth comes economic pressures, and one was in the form of an application filed by First Professional Development for an 85,000-square-foot Wal-Mart at the junction of Highways 11 and 60 in the city's north end.

Scheduled to open in January 2004, Wal-Mart will anchor a big box outlet mall known as Muskoka Commerce Court that will include an 80,000-square-foot Independent Grocers and a combined 44,650 square feet of smaller free standing tenants.

The $30-million to $50-million investment will provide more than 300 jobs in the first phase of what will be a larger highway commercial corridor.

"If you don't realize that retail shopping is becoming regionalized, you've got your head in the sand," says Doughty, a Huntsville dentist turned realtor, who sold 27 acres of his 150-acre parcel to First Professional and found support for big box development from downtown merchants.

The development is well positioned at the junction of Highway 11 and 60. Doughty convinced Huntsville Business Improvement Area it was in the town's best interests to keep retail dollars at home.

Doughty says towns that shun big box development are marginalizing themselves and are dooming themselves to a slow death.

"Other towns win, we lose. Standing still is not an option. I felt it would be imperative that Huntsville maintain its dominance in Muskoka," says Doughty, who has plans for more highway development around Wal-Mart, including home improvement-type stores, fast food restaurants, gas stations and possibly a hotel.

Initially Main Street merchants like Kevin Holloway had some misgivings about the development. He was not so concerned about Wal-Mart itself, but of the mini-box stores and strip plazas surrounding the Wal-Mart development that had the potential to "cannibalize" the downtown.

"Strip plazas are the death of a lot of downtowns, and Orillia is quite that case," says Holloway, the owner of a souvenir and trophy shop who also serves as chairman of Huntsville's Business Improvement Association (BIA). "And that's what we didn't want to see."

The options were to fight Wal-Mart and give the developers an opportunity to move the project to a nearby town, or "keep them in our own backyard," says Holloway, and potentially, as a retail magnet, attract new customers to Huntsville.

Though the Wal-Mart application worked its way to an Ontario Municipal Board pre-hearing, and $1 million was spent by the developers to independently peer review the Wal-Mart file, Doughty worked out an arrangement between First Professional, the BIA and the Huntsville Place Mall to allow room for expansion.

Part of what they worked out was a joint cross-promotional package with Doughty and First Professional contributing close to a $250,000 for signage to direct people downtown, in downtown facade improvement and towards a joint marketing campaign.

Doughty and Holloway both say the downtown and big box have unique products and services to offer consumers.

The face of the downtown itself has made a retail transition in the last few years, says Holloway, into very niche-oriented markets with fine restaurants, boutiques and souvenir gift shops that sell the Muskoka experience.

"My Main Street philosophy is complement, not compete," says Holloway, who pays credit to Doughty as a community-minded developer who understands the local business climate. "Any town in Ontario should be happy to have a developer of that caliber."

"Main Street Huntsville is very much a recreational shopping experience, almost a Niagara-on-the-Lake transitioning, while big box is a place to buy essentials," says Doughty. "Really our downtown is already ahead of the game."

www.town.huntsville.on.ca

By IAN ROSS 

Northern Ontario Business