Downtown Neighbourhood Plan

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Downtown St. John’s is a vibrant neighbourhood, recognized and appreciated for its unique and colourful residential neighbourhoods; its walkable business corridors; its popular arts and entertainment scene; its working port and cruise terminal; its unique collection of heritage buildings; and more recently, its world-class culinary offerings, among many other things.

Like much of the province, however, Downtown has been experiencing change:

  • Economic and business activity has wavered;
  • Many companies have relocated to other parts of St. John’s, leaving behind large, empty office spaces in the downtown area;
  • Retail storefronts are struggling to compete with online shopping, hybrid retail, and the ever-present challenge of big box development;
  • Businesses in general are facing a new reality as employees adopt working from home or other alternate live/work scenarios;
  • Long-term social changes due to COVID-19, such as increased awareness of hygiene and social distancing, have created challenges in the current compact urban environment;
  • There is a need to respond to impacts of a changing climate and improve the resilience of new and existing buildings, roads, and stormwater management infrastructure to extreme weather.

These challenges, among others, raise some big questions: What does all of this mean for Downtown? How do we tackle these concerns and ensure that Downtown St. John’s remains a desirable place to live, work, invest, and play in the future?

Finding the answer to these and other challenging questions is part of this Neighbourhood Plan.

The Downtown St. John’s Neighbourhood Plan will focus on the area highlighted on the following map:


Downtown St. John’s is a vibrant neighbourhood, recognized and appreciated for its unique and colourful residential neighbourhoods; its walkable business corridors; its popular arts and entertainment scene; its working port and cruise terminal; its unique collection of heritage buildings; and more recently, its world-class culinary offerings, among many other things.

Like much of the province, however, Downtown has been experiencing change:

  • Economic and business activity has wavered;
  • Many companies have relocated to other parts of St. John’s, leaving behind large, empty office spaces in the downtown area;
  • Retail storefronts are struggling to compete with online shopping, hybrid retail, and the ever-present challenge of big box development;
  • Businesses in general are facing a new reality as employees adopt working from home or other alternate live/work scenarios;
  • Long-term social changes due to COVID-19, such as increased awareness of hygiene and social distancing, have created challenges in the current compact urban environment;
  • There is a need to respond to impacts of a changing climate and improve the resilience of new and existing buildings, roads, and stormwater management infrastructure to extreme weather.

These challenges, among others, raise some big questions: What does all of this mean for Downtown? How do we tackle these concerns and ensure that Downtown St. John’s remains a desirable place to live, work, invest, and play in the future?

Finding the answer to these and other challenging questions is part of this Neighbourhood Plan.

The Downtown St. John’s Neighbourhood Plan will focus on the area highlighted on the following map:


  • City and First Light to Hold Community Feast

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    The City of St. John’s and First Light are partnering to host a Community Feast on Thursday, March 21, 2024 to collect ideas and feedback from the urban Indigenous community that will help inform the creation of a new Downtown Neighbourhood Plan.

    The Downtown Neighbourhood Plan will create a community focused, land-use plan to guide development of the downtown core in the future, define opportunities for growth, protect and enhance cultural and historic assets, and identify opportunities for economic development and community connections. This event will support the City’s broader public engagement plan which has been carried out over the last year to inform the plan. This is the final public consultation event in development of the downtown plan.

    “In its 2020 Declaration in Support of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, St. John’s City Council made a commitment to work in partnership with the urban Indigenous community to decolonize public spaces,” said Stacey Howse, Executive Director of First Light. “The creation of a new Downtown Neighbourhood Plan is an opportunity for us to bring the community and our allies together to identify specific, actionable things that the City can do to ensure that the new Plan delivers on that commitment.”

    This Community Feast, focused on the theme Indigenize Downtown, is a step toward realizing the 42 Calls for Change put forward by First Voice Urban Indigenous Coalition in February 2023. Input gathered at the discussion-based event will help shape implementation of several Calls for Change that fall directly within the City’s jurisdiction.

    “It is crucial that we listen, learn, and take action alongside our partners to help advance the Calls for Change put forward through First Voice,” said Mayor Danny Breen. “We are proud to partner with First Light for this event to demonstrate our shared commitment to advancing systemic change on urban Indigenous issues here in St. John's.”

    The event will take place at the First Light Centre for Performance and Creativity located at 42 Bannerman Street, St. John’s from 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. A meal prepared by Inuk chef Justin Igloliorte will be served. There is no cost to participate. As capacity is limited, those who wish to participate are invited to register in advance by visiting firstlightnl.ca/indigenizedowntown.

    For those interested in providing feedback but are unable to attend, there is an online survey that can be completed. The survey will remain active until Friday, March 29, 2024.



  • What We Heard released

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    What we Heard report is available. In total,144 people provided feedback through this project page, surveys, email or by phone. Consultation also included a pop-up event downtown and meetings (in-person and virtual) with residents, key stakeholders and City Advisory Committees.

    Feedback suggested that downtown has a lot to offer with its local shops and businesses, unique buildings and sense of community and place, however several challenges were also identified. There is a perception that downtown lacks security, accessibility, affordable housing, childcare options and convenient parking. Participants shared a desire to see an inclusive, vibrant, accessible, multi-modal downtown with more public spaces in the future. This feedback will assist in the creation of land use policies in the Downtown Neighbourhood Plan, to be drafted and released in 2024.


Page last updated: 14 Mar 2024, 11:30 AM