By Kirk Winter – The Lindsay Advocate, pages 32-34, December 2023 Edition
Wesley Found is president of the Lindsay Downtown Business Improvement Association (LDBIA), which represents more than 160 businesses in Lindsay’s downtown core.
Found believes the mandate of the LDBIA “is to foster a vibrant, vital and resilient downtown.”
“The LDBIA has a vision but our role must be to advocate, brand and promote the downtown. If downtown Lindsay is viewed collectively as an industry or industry area, we have no doubt that we would be one of the largest employers and biggest contributors to income generated in the city.”
Found wants the downtown to be “a destination.”
“Our valued members all have an offering,” Found said, “and collectively the downtown, above all else, offers an experience. The combination of heritage, diverse shops and beautiful setting gives a quaintness that cannot be replicated. This is something I think many newcomers are moving to our community for and which our downtown is uniquely positioned to provide.”
Found told the Advocate that as the town expands, current estimates by the city regarding necessary parking capacity in the downtown core “need to be hastened significantly.”
When asked if the LDBIA is concerned about the potential for significant commercial development in outlying areas of Lindsay, such as that proposed by Flato Developments on Highway 36, Found said that the LDBIA “believes malls and other shopping districts are complimentary to the Lindsay downtown and are not in the same market.”
Found said that malls lack “the quaint experience component where people can walk the beautiful historic streets” offered by Lindsay’s downtown.
“I think many of Lindsay’s new residents are moving away from urban centres in part to separate (themselves) from a more transactional community to a more immersive one. Downtown Lindsay embodies that and is uniquely positioned to provide (that immersive experience).”