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