Wasaga Vision and Identity.
This is a post I did about 3 years ago. We are down to the wire with and election just months away. A lot of this still applies, and I hope that if we get "change" that this time it's in the right direction.
As the Town is getting ready to review
it’s Official Plan, I would like to see all concerned take a long look at our
history. We have a lot of elements here that made us a successful town and
destination point.
Our beach is the obvious one, but for
almost a hundred years the little “cabin courts” and the white clapboard rental
cottages brought thousands here every year. People stayed for days or weeks and
often for the whole summer! They were an experience found almost nowhere else
when you include the lake, beach, river, parks, trails and forests.
Unfortunately many have fallen into an
irreparable state, have been sold to build big monster homes, or are now wedged
between those monster homes. In one of the Town’s Vision Studies or master
plans it was suggested to do away with them entirely. They just look old and
shabby now. Something has to change.
Change is good. To
change something that is deficient even better!
There’s also times when not changing
is equally good. Cuba hasn’t changed much in 50 years, and that charm acquired
by time, draws millions of visitors to it’s shores every year. There are
villages in Tibet and Bhutan that have remained so unchanged for a thousand
years that they are often referred to as Shangri-La.
It might be wiser for us to look again
at how these “cabin courts” helped put Wasaga on the map and how they gave
Wasaga a unique flavour and charm. The Main Street area should remain as a
welcoming reminder that we are a vacation destination. If you look at the plans
for a new down town core closely, you’ll notice it relies heavily on urban
style high-density development.
That would consist of many over priced
Condos stacked on top of retail units. It would end up looking just like any
other small city in North America. Sterile, void of charm and uniqueness,
brutalistic architecture of glass, steel and concrete with all the same brands
names and labels of any ‘B’ class shopping mall. If I spun you around blind folded and dropped
you there, you’d have no idea where you were! This kind of development in the
long run, only benefits the profiteers and developers, counting their profits
as they sit poolside in their Florida estate.
Wasaga and the main
beach area would loose forever it’s essence, the force that gave birth to this
community. Think about it… there are those places in the world that are “bucket
list” destinations. Dropped off blind folded, you’d know immediately exactly
where you are! Venice, Miami Beach, Marrakech,
Rio, Vienna, Havana, Buenos Aires, Santarini, Bali, (locally) Creemore….the
list goes on and on.
So what can we do to keep Wasaga
unique! How can we rebuild the charms that drew thousands and thousands to our
shores for over a hundred years? Can we identify and rescue those few remaining
original log cabins and rebuild them along Main Street. A mix of old and new?
More and revitalized visitor accommodations?
Two of our other studies or reports
both point out that one of the problems Wasaga faces is that there are almost
no facilities to keep beach goers and tourists dry, sheltered and active during
the often periods of inclement weather. In both cases this observation only
garnered a paragraph or two, so it was easy to overlook.
What did garner a few pages was
traffic congestion on the hot and long weekends. The suggestion there, was for
a couple of new bridges and a round about. It was also pointed out that it may
be 20 to 30 years before we would really need that, and then only if we do everything else right first.
It would be infinitely more cost
effective and financially better to try to attract more visitors and keep them
here longer, during the off hours and days. A couple of simple agricultural
style super structures could be erected very fast and at a fraction of the cost
of regular construction. You’ve seen them around the area it the form of hay
barns or salt cover at public works yard.
In the U.S. they have been very
successfully adapted for use as picnic shelters, horse arenas, 3 season sport
venues, farmers markets and out door exhibition halls. They can be brightly
coloured and graphics easily applied. This is something we could do in 10 weeks
and could extend our season by months.
What the owner of the property by
Subway on Beach Dr. is doing with a few simple shipping containers is another
good example of fast cost effective development. 8 More shops to keep visitors
here and spending a little longer.
We need to support these initiatives
and our local business. The food kiosks at the pedestrian mall are struggling
most of the week. Parking on the main beach area should be free at least
Tuesdays through Thursdays so at very least locals can afford to come down,
have a bite and enjoy our fabulous beach and sunsets.
We won’t loose any revenue because
I’ve never seen more than 10 cars that paid for parking anyway at those times!
The loss of Town revenue does not even cover the cost of parking enforcement.
We will however get enough traffic to rent 6 or 8 more stands and keep all of
them in business.
Let’s please act and think locally and
cost effectively with an eye on immediate returns. Action gets action and
development will follow. However, when that happens let’s ask our selves, what
makes Wasaga unique?
As a kid I had fond
memories of the water slide and little midway on the beach. So does a little
kitch, noise and smell of cotton candy really hurt our image? What was it that
drew you to Wasaga? What would you like for it’s future? Does Wasaga have it’s
own identity?
Can we put architectural controls so
that developers must incorporate elements of early Wasaga style into their
facades? Just look at what Creemore Springs Brewery did with their modern
expansions and additions.
This is not our future, it’s the
future of our children and grand children, so hopefully we don’t have to sell
off our best assets to get change. Hopefully the change is a better “Wasaga
Beach” and not just change!
Robert Bortlisz
Wasaga Resident
