HALIFAX—Crowds will be flocking to Dartmouth Switch this weekend to enjoy a street free of cars, but councillors and advocates say more should be done to bring down the price of road closures and keep the trend growing.

In its fifth year, Dartmouth Switch will be held Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. over a 2.5 kilometre route closed to car traffic, from Alderney Landing up Portland St. and Prince Albert Rd. to Sullivan’s Pond Park.

With three music stages, more than 100 community groups, food trucks, games and more, the event promotes the use of public streets for recreation and active transportation, like its counterpart Switch Halifax.

It has really become the “kick-off to summer” for Dartmouth, said organizer Tim Rissesco.

“We get close to 10,000 people out on the route seeing businesses, and maybe visiting downtown Dartmouth for the first time in a few years,” Rissesco said.

Rissesco, executive director of the Downtown Dartmouth Business Commission, hosts the event alongside The Planning & Design Centre.

But to close the route and fulfill requirements to have Halifax police officers act as security and traffic control, the cost is $12,000, Rissesco said. Plus, they spend “about that” on programming for the event, adding up to a total of around $25,000.

Councillor for the area, Sam Austin, said the cost is certainly a “barrier” for community groups to animate major streets like Portland.

“It seems silly to me that we basically put a cost on the exact sort of activity that we really want to have happen in the community,” Austin said in an interview.

Austin said while it would be nice to shut the street to traffic more frequently for events like Switch, the major cost is policing — yet the province’s Motor Vehicle Act requires the use of police officers specifically.

In March 2017, the Halifax Regional Municipality did ask the province whether the city could use civilian “traffic control persons” to handle road closures for events since the labour cost per hour would be much lower and police resources spared.

But the province declined. Now, Austin said, there’s renewed hope because the MVA is getting an overhaul for the first time in decades. The province’s draft of the new Traffic Safety Act is set to come before the provincial legislature this fall.

Beyond that, Austin said the issue is still definitely on his radar, and the city might be able to find a way to offset the costs, whether that involves tinkering with the police budget or municipal grants.

“I have to do some homework with the civic events folks,” Austin added.

Smaller events like neighbourhood block parties that close off residential streets don’t run into such huge costs because they simply require a permit and a couple blockades for local traffic, Austin said.

It’s quite another thing to close down parts of Portland and Prince Albert, Austin said, since the closure of any “major intersection” requires police to be there.

Austin said while the municipality has worked on making the bureaucracy surrounding event planning easier to navigate because there is a “real public and community good” to having these sorts of events, he knows the cost is the biggest stumbling block.

“(Rissesco has) expressed to me in the past that they would do much more on Portland Street if it wasn’t so cost prohibitive,” Austin said.

Eliza Jackson, sustainable transportation co-ordinator for the Ecology Action Centre, said for a city that has a goal of increasing the percentage of people cycling, walking and using transit to 30 per cent and ensuring roads aren’t just for cars, more municipal money should be going into Switch events.

The city could look at helping out with the road closures and other organizing costs, Jackson said, instead of making Switch organizers foot the bill.

It may be expensive, but Rissesco says you can’t put a price on how much impact and exposure an event like Switch can have for local businesses on the day of, as well as in the future. Many people, he said, discover a new cafe or shop they’ll return to again and again.

“Say half of the people (who attended) each spent $5. So 5,000 times five — that’s $25,000 more than what would have been spent in the downtown on (another) Sunday,” he said.

After the very first Switch, Rissesco said one of the local bar owners walked out onto the road where he was cleaning up “and gave me this big hug,” he was so happy to have the event.

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Switch costs are covered by a combination sponsorships and a municipal grant to the Planning & Design Centre for street closure, Rissesco said, adding that the event is one of their biggest budget items of the year.

“Things that make events like this easier would always be a little bit more money, but that’s true with a lot of things,” Rissesco said.

“When I see all the people on Portland Street, and all the people having a great time, I say it’s worth it.”

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