GORE BAY— As part of the municipality’s strategic plan, Gore Bay councillors outlined what they would like to see included as priorities in the town over the next few years.
“We have been working on this plan since last fall and have had a number of meetings with LAMBAC, who are facilitating the plan, (town councillor) Jack Clark, Scott McDougall, (town clerk) Annette Clarke, and (member of the town office staff) Anastasia Carr,” said Mayor Ron Lane at a recent meeting. “We have been working towards and getting closer to a draft plan, although we have a ways to go yet.”
Mayor Lane pointed out a visitor survey had been carried out in the town last summer and a similar study was circulated to local residents this past fall. “We haven’t seen the results of either, although we will be looking at and dealing with them at our next meetings.”
“I just thought we should take the time tonight to give everyone on council the chance to provide input as to what we should be prioritizing and to have this feedback provided at the committee’s next meeting and then proceed from there,” said Mayor Lane. Once a draft of the strategic plan has been completed, it will come back to council for further comment as well as from local groups in town.
“We are looking for a general discussion on where the town should be going and the direction we should take for the next five years,” said Mayor Lane.
“The boardwalk is important to be maintained, and possibly expanded, and the new trails being set up will be good for the town,” said Councillor Dan Osborne. “The downtown area is beginning to get a nice facelift. When one business takes this initiative it can spur on other business owners to spruce up their buildings.”
“We need to try to educate our local residents on the importance of supporting local businesses,” said Councillor Osborne. “When a business closes everyone else has to pick up the slack, in terms of taxes lost and having that business located here. One other thing I would like to mention is that several years ago the farmers market relocated to the waterfront because of the arena renovations being carried out. I agree the market is drawing people to the community, but not the main street. If we want to revitalize the downtown core maybe the farmers market could be set up on the main street. Other communities close off their main street for a few hours every week for this type of market, and everyone in the downtown area benefits.”
“When the market was at the arena the downtown area was a lot busier than it is now,” said Councillor Osborne.
Councillor Larry Eirikson said, “I would like to suggest a town committee-working group be set up to look at a sports complex for a new town arena and swimming pool, along with a play area for kids be established. We need this type of facility—especially for seniors. We need to look at this before another community on the Island comes up with this first.”
“It would probably take many years for this to be carried out, but we need to look at this plan and whether it could be feasible,” said Councillor Eirikson.
Councillor Eirikson continued, “we need a tourism plan developed to bring more people to town. One thing we desperately need is for a place where people can stay in town while they are in their recreational vehicles; instead of having people drive into town looking for an R.V. parking spot, seeing none and leaving. I’ve seen small towns that have 10 spots in town for people who pay so much to park their R.V. for a night. We have to entice people to visit the town and stay overnight when they get here and we need a place where (those in R.V.’s) can get water and dump their sewage water.”
“Something tangible needs to be done with the pavilion building,” stated Councillor Kevin Woestenenk. “We need to look at a plan for the arena, the current one is pretty old. As well, we have to keep taxes in check. We need to develop plans on revitalizing the front street.”
“We need a community improvement plan that looks at downtown revitalization,” said Councillor Clark. “I would like to see us develop an economic development group, including an economic development officer, recreation officer and tourism officer, and work with and incorporate all six municipalities on Western Manitoulin-working with all of them on these initiatives. The office could be set up in say Kagawong, or any of the other municipalities on the west end, wherever there is the office space. This can all be put up for discussion, as long as we are marketing the entire area in terms of economic development, recreation and tourism.”
“We have to deal and come up with a plan for the future of the pavilion building,” said Councillor Clark. “The same for our old municipal building, we need to evaluate it and make decisions concerning its future.”
Councillor Clark also said a needs assessment should be carried out, looking at things like snowplowing services and other services provided by all communities on Western Manitoulin. “I think there are big efficiencies we can be looking at in partnership with other municipalities, the fire hall partnership with the town and Gordon has gone extremely well. I think we need to be creative in other services that
we all provide, such as combining snowplow work and other services.”
“I’m hearing lots of good ideas and some repeating themes,” said Mayor Lane. “I believe we need to have an ongoing commitment to improve infrastructure; roads and sidewalks for example. We have to maintain our streets by doing some paving and replacing some sidewalks every year. We need to look at what our most important buildings are and prioritize them for work to be carried out on them. For instance I don’t think this building (town building-office) has had any money spent on it since it was first opened,” continued the mayor, “and for other buildings not being used we need to look at whether we are going to sell or lease them.”
“I think we also need to improve our ability to market ourselves and all of Western Manitoulin,” said Mayor Lane. “What is good for Western Manitoulin is good for Gore Bay.”
“One thing I hoped we would have done more in this process is to consult more with seniors in town,” continued Mayor Lane.
“We need to look at the appearance of the town as a whole, especially main street. We started with enforcement of property bylaws, and we need to continue this,” continued Mayor Lane. “The main street is the focus of business for the town.” He said the town needs to look at what options are out there to expand residential opportunities in town, housing in terms of apartments-condominiums and the like, adding that a welcoming business section needs to be a priority as well. “The more development and activity we have in town the larger the tax base and it allows us more opportunities to do things.”
“I think all the suggestions made here tonight are good,” said Mayor Lane. “There will be more opportunities for council to comment on the strategic plan before it is completed and circumstances change. But we need a strategic plan. The last one we had is 10 years old and it focused on the waterfront and we have done that. We need to move forward.”
