From their side of the Table.

I've been trying to get as informed as possible on a variety of issues. I see that a lot are interlinked with our neighbours, so I have been try to gather some of their perspectives

Here was an exchange with former Collingwood Mayor, Chris Carrier. 

Hello Chris, hope all is well. I have been meeting and talking with various groups and invested partners of Wasaga Beach like RTO7 and the School Board. I was hoping to call on your experience as Mayor. 

Can you share your thoughts on a few issues you encountered that effected both Wasaga and Collingwood mutually? It can be helpful to get a perspective from the other side of the table. Many thanks.Robert

Chris Carrier	1:54 PM (22 hours ago)
to me

Hi Robert, I have been busy with work and I am catching up on other matters.

When I was served 1997-2010 and especially when I was Mayor (2006-2010) it was critical for Collingwood, Wasaga Beach, Clearview and the Blue Mountains to work collaboratively in order to get the funds necessary to complete major infrastructure projects. Hwy 26, SR 27/28, Poplar SR and other traffic areas were identified as small R regional issues that if the communities worked together they could present to the Ministry in a way that would better the odds of getting funding than if we competed against one another for limited funding.

I certainly see the local hospital as a significant area that the local communities can work together to see funding dollars realized for the Poplar SR location.

The Collingwood Regional Airport has been sold so it is no longer an issue.

The local EDC “Educational Development Charges” is one area that WB, CVT and Cwood can cooperate. Clearview does not have a Catholic School at all and WB still does not have a highschool. The school boards should be charging area specific charges and not a jurisdictional wide charge which is what they have proposed. Essentially all growth is subsidizing the building of schools in Barrie and Innisfil. In those high growth areas builders should be paying a higher fee than in areas with lower growth. Several hundred dollars in larger subdivisions is prohibitive for developers especially when communities are asking for them to build more affordable units.

County Development Charges should also be waived for community infill projects that are geared towards needed development such as affordable housing along bus routes, near employment centres and public services such as a medical centre. When you add local dc’s, school dcs and county dcs it really makes new housing far less affordable. Medium density builds especially if it is an infill project has the potential to give seniors and others with modest incomes more choice than the current limited housing stock. They also need to be built to a higher energy standard so people can live in units and still afford to heat them and cool them when required.

Local community development charges should allow expansions of in-law suites or in-home apartments with little to no development charges and can be designed to further incentive property owners along bus routes and near employment areas. The model of one size fits all approach needs to be done away with. Look at the neighbourhoods near your largest employment areas and offer incentives to get them to help build affordable apartments or coach houses on their properties.

Cwood, WB and Clearview could look at purchasing vehicles collectively especially for parks & rec or by-law enforcement, building and planning as they are common type vehicles and perhaps looking to the only car manufacturer in Simcoe County for a special rate for cars and small suvs or even hybrids. With the threat of tariffs from south of the border governments can purchase from Ontario manufacturers and our communities could purchase from Honda whenever possible.

The local medical services is an area that you could discuss with the planning department to see if their list of fees for development can be waived by Council for specific services such as a medical clinic not physio-therapy but the type of medical services your community identifies as a strategic necessity.

Local subdivisions where speeding occurs can be dealt with by utilizing traffic calming measures such as speed bumps (not very popular), better plantings at intersections so it seemingly narrows the roadway without actually narrowing the roadway. The more narrow a driver thinks the road way the slower they – it really is a matter of perception. Google traffic calming measures.  Bike lanes and trails should be designed and believe it or round a bouts instead of traffic signalized intersections and stops signs are better for the movement of cars.

Our 3 communities pay a lot to the County for Economic Development and I was never keen on that. The County has 16 members and I believe our 3 communities know better how to invest for local economic development initiatives than competing with the 13 other communities.  There used to be data that showed how much the 3 economies (4 if you include Blue Mountain) were interlinked. We share people for both employment and or housing – it does behoove us to cooperate more effectively than we have these last 8 years to solve some of the bigger issues.

Chris

  

Thank greatly Chris. Your experience offers good insight, much appreciated

Robert

Urban Planning

Vast urban subdivisions are a uniquely North American thing. Part of the reason our suburban dream seems to have failed is because planners study plans and other planners. Sociologists study people and places.

We have at least 4 suburban housing developments covering huge swaths of land in Wasaga Beach. I do not know of a single little convenience store, fruit stand, green grocer, bakery, cafe, pub or ice cream shot anywhere with in them. 

Our Planners tend to favour "service plazas" as the solution.

Anyone who has traveled through Europe and their small towns know this. Stores are typically attached to or built into local homes. There is one or 2 on just about every street. You are never more than 2 blocks from "something".

This works in Europe because the business owners, own the building. Lower over all cost means the can earn a little income with much fewer customers.

In North America we shy away from this model, because we like neat and orderly. Then there's always a few that will strongly object to what they see as a nuisance factor.    

If Wasaga truly wants to be more family friendly and more "walkable" we need to take a serious long look at the European Village model.

We just do not have enough people and traffic year round to make Mom & Pop business sustainable if the have to pay commercial rent in plazas!   

Have you been to towns like this around the world?

What was your experience like in them.

Would you be OK with a little convenience store or barber opening a half block down the road from you?

Have you though you'd like to start a little summer ice cream bar out of your double car garage?

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

Why I think the "Letter of Intent" is not a good deal.

https://www.wasagabeach.com/town-hall/council#cnclAgenda
COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE (Special Meeting) Report Friday July 6, 2018 at 2:00 p.m. held in the Classroom, see; Schedule "A" to By-law 2018-60

• Read the letter over a few times. I do not see any guarantees that any of the promised perks for our town will get built.
• Unlike all of the other developments around Wasaga, this is the only one I know of where the town is paying for the necessary infrastructure. Water/sewer/road improvements. Talk to any local builder to see if the ever got such incentives?
• The Town is further offering rebates or waved fees on development charges. Part of these fees normally go towards parks/playgrounds and other community projects.
• There is no clear time table, and the Town can end up holding lands for 20 years or more. If these lands sit vacant there is no tax collected on them, and the town will still have to pay county & school levies on these lands. A huge cost.
• A single developer gets control of a very large portion of our Tourist area. There will not be a lot of diversity in building/design styles. Having at lease had 3 developers working on various phases, work could proceed at a faster pace, and we would see more variety.
• Read the part about purchase price:"such price shall be in a range between $500,000 and fair market value", "assuming any required zoning has been completed". Not only is the developer being exempted from having to go through a planning process they are also getting pricing below market value.
• Non of these costs can ever be fully recouped through the completed development, so the rest of the citizens in Wasaga will be bearing these for many many years to come.

Please add your thoughts or comments....
 

Building a Better Wasaga

Published by Robert Bortlisz · July 11 at 11:20 AM · 

It is customary that when lands are severed or developed 5% of the land or a cash equivalent is paid to the town for parkland dedication. There are vast areas of Wasaga that have been paying these fees for many years and have yet to see a single park bench, swing set or sand box. Have a look at the map, and where you live. Is there any town owned and managed parkette or playground within a walkable distance of you?  While Framm is getting a "sweet heart" deal for the proposed down town, there are other vast areas in Wasaga that have been paying into the system, but have got very little back for their money.

https://www.wasagabeach.com/Maps/WB%20Trails%20eMap.pdf

While the "Big Talk" is about the proposed Down Town development, there is lots of room for growth in improving services and infrastructure. These are two of many discussions I have reviewed on this topic.; http://secure.amcto.com/imis15/Documents/Resources%20and%20Pubs/Plant,%20Continuously%20Improving%20Municipalities%20to%20Achieve%20Strategic%20Success%20.pdf.

E:\Investing Sustainably in Infrastructure.html

Applying some of my thoughts I looked back at our new Fire Station, to discover we built on land we lease from WDI, here's what I see:

Fire station, land leased from WDI

At about $22,500 per year plus CPI annual increases.

Term 20 years, plus two 10 year options.

Value of land at start of lease about $220,000

Total cost of lease over full 40 year term about $ 1,400,000

Or 3.2 times the mortgaged cost of purchase!

Building becomes chattel to the land, (we do not own it)

What happens to our fire station if we sell WDI, will the new owners cancel the lease at the end of the first 20 year term?

Cost to purchase and hold a mortgage for the same period, $409,085, and we own it all!

Is the same kind of thinking going to be applied to our new Community Hub?

We Build it, then sell the land and lease it back to recover our over expenditure?

News paper articles

 Enterprise-Bulletin March 2011 Efforts over the years to

establish garden allotments in Wasaga. 

 Enterprise-Bulletin June 2017  bit of a miss quote on the caption,

Was talking about some diversification in building styles.

Enterprise-Bulletin March 2017 Fight to save Wasaga Hydro.

Wasaga Sun July 2017

Asking Council if they will act in a benevolent and helpful way

should expropriation become necessary.