| Looking ahead to 2001 |
| By Morgan Ian Adams |
| Enterprise-Bulletin (Tue, January 2, 2000) |
| WASAGA BEACH - The town's mayor expects another strong year
for growth in 2001. |
| "The way its going, when we're looking at new
subdivision proposals and commercial projects, it should be another strong
year for growth," said Walter Borthwick. "I don't see a
slowdown. |
| However, while the mayor - now entering his 24th year as
mayor of Wasaga Beach - is looking forward to the growth, he acknowledges
that growth brings a couple of challenges to one of the fastest-growing
communities in Ontario. |
| "If I was to prioritize some of these things,
certainly a lot of front-burner issues are infrastructure," he said. |
| Borthwick said one challenge is to improve transportation
in the community. In 2000, council received a transportation study
which recommended expanding several main roads - especially Mosley and
River Road West - to four lanes to handle both local traffic and the
massive influx of tourists which visit the provincial park during the
summer. |
| Some work on the roads has already gone on in the east end
of town, especially to ease any traffic problems around the commercial
development which includes the IGA. |
| "It (transportation within the community) is not going
to get better until we do some long-range fixes," Borthwick
said. "We're facing heavy traffic all-year round now. |
| "While it's probably not viewed as much of a problem
by the people who are just moving here from areas such as Toronto, we want
to make sure we're doing the right things now to avoid problems in the
future." |
| There's also the matter of infrastructure under those
roads. Toward the end of the term, council passed a motion to apply
for sewer and water infrastructure funding from the province's Super Build
initiative in the neighbourhood of $40 million to upgrade services on the
east end of town. |
| "We're hoping for a positive reaction (from the
province)," Borthwick said. |
| One other project on the front burner for 2001 is a new
community centre, and what form that community centre will take
considering there is also interest - backed by a feasibility report - to
build a YMCA in the Beach. |
| "I suspect there will be a flurry of activity as
reports come in on the community centre and the Y," he said. |
| Borthwick is also eying the province's recently-announced
$300 million initiative for recreational facilities as a way to kick-start
a community centre facility. |
| Borthwick noted he's fortunate to have some fairly
experienced people around the council table. While he and Deputy
Mayor Cal Patterson were acclaimed, councilors George Sheffer, Tony
Cinapri and Time North were returned to the table. Mike McWilliam,
who had sat on previous incarnations of council as deputy reeve, was also
returned to the table in November, along with local real estate agent
George Watson. |
| "It's not going to take a long time (to get up to
speed)," Borthwick said, noting while McWilliam and Watson were not
sitting at the council table during the previous term, both men are very
involved in the community and have a good understanding of the issues. |
