Courtoreille Street could be getting a makeover.
On Monday, town council approved a $20,000 budget for engineering firm Stantec to draft a redesign of the downtown strip.
The idea is to convert Courtoreille Street into a one-way street with angled parking and wider sidewalks that could accommodate benches, planters and trees.
A new and improved Courtoreille St. is part of the municipality's efforts to revitalize the town centre.
The town has not given Stantec a budget for the project, but it does have a wishlist that includes wider sidewalks, improved accessibility and the same or a greater number of parking spaces, Judy Goucher, Hay River's senior administrative officer, said on July 10.
"It would be, I'm going to say, transformational to our downtown to have something like this," said Goucher.
"It's a far more urban-type approach."
Mayor Brad Mapes called the proposed changes to Courtoreille St. "a great idea" at Monday's council meeting.
Mapes said wider sidewalks would allow for businesses to hold sidewalk sales and would add "a bit of flare to the community."
Coun. Steve Anderson said converting Courtoreille St. into a one-way street would make the town centre safer for drivers and pedestrians.
"(The) one-way, that's going to be even better for Woodland Drive because turning left on Woodland Dr. is an issue, even turning left onto Courtoreille St. from Capital Drive is an issue," he said.
Council budgeted $2.3 million for standard road work on Courtoreille St., but is only spending about $1.4 million, said Goucher.
"So they do have room in the budget to complete the one-way concept," she added, which would include extending the sidewalks to six metres on the retail side of the street, and to three metres on the highrise side.
Construction on Courtoreille St. to repair underground infrastructure, replace the sidewalks and raise and resurface the road began on July 2.
If council approves the redesign, the sidewalks will slope gently up to meet the front doors of the street-facing businesses, meaning all the Courtoreille St. shops will be more accessible.
Goucher said the town has also purchased benches and bike racks and is ready to install them when construction is finished.
Downtown road work is expected to wrap up about a month from July 9.
Nikki Ashton, co-owner of La Dee Dah Boutique on Courtoreille St., is happy the town wants to improve the street's accessibility.
"People with strollers, wheelchairs, they really struggle coming in because of that step (outside the building)," said Ashton.
She said the proposed changes would benefit all of the block's shop owners.
"We're going to be able to have sidewalk sales and She Takes the Cake could put tables out there," she said.
"It's going to be great for us all."
A July 9 report to the town states that the Wright Centre, Jensen building and drugstore building owners were consulted and are supportive of the "concept in principle."