PEMBERTON DOWNTOWN ENHANCEMENT

A rehabilitated downtown core provides a welcoming and vibrant public space, encourages investment, supports existing businesses and accommodates the future growth and development of Pemberton.

Client: Village of Pemberton

Location: Pemberton, BC, Canada

Project Type: Municipal, Landscape Architecture

About This Project

The Village of Pemberton retained ISL to provide design and construction services for its downtown enhancement. The project proceeded after the Village received grant funding (with ISL’s assistance) to upgrade and improve the municipal infrastructure, roads and overall streetscape on Prospect Street, Aster Street and Frontier Street with the ultimate goal of building community resilience in the face of climate change.

As one of the fastest growing rural communities in Canada – within a region that is also growing steadily – Pemberton has experienced tremendous pressure on its aging and undersized infrastructure. In addition to residents’ demands on the infrastructure, the downtown core sees roughly 20,000 tourists per year – a number that promises to grow considerably. To serve this increasing demand, the Village required, at minimum, functional infrastructure and improved roads. A rehabilitated downtown core provides a welcoming and vibrant public space, encourages investment, supports existing businesses, and accommodates the future growth and development of Pemberton. Meanwhile, investing in the replacement of the aging infrastructure with innovative green infrastructure (i.e. harvesting, biofiltering, and storing downtown stormwater for irrigation purposes) will help prepare the community for the imminent impacts of climate change.

ISL adhered closely to the previously approved downtown master plans and create a structured communication plan, including regular communication with the public and meetings with business owners directly impacted by the proposed improvements.

Providing a new, larger parking at-grade facility on the periphery of the project limits to maintain the overall parking stall counts and create attractive, safe and direct pedestrian connections to and through the downtown core.

ISL used the introduction of permeable pavers and strata cells for accepting surface drainage to supplement street tree irrigation systems, reuse of collected surface runoff for irrigation systems and addition of infiltration swales and bioswales.