By John Francis,
Bruce Peninsula Press
There is a narrative out there that life on the Saugeen/Bruce Peninsula is going to hell in a handcart. I must admit to telling that tale myself from time to time.
As the compressed franticness of the tourist season eases once again, we get to look around and take stock of what’s left.
Y’know — it’s not bad, all things considered.
The OPP didn’t charge nearly as many stunt drivers this year as they did last year. It was still crazy out there but maybe not quite so bad? And nobody died…
Highway construction has been a nightmare all summer, but the wider pavement from Miller Lake to Tobermory will make it dramatically safer and more pleasant for cyclists and pedestrians. Will people start cycling in to Tobermory instead of driving? Stay tuned.
The Bruce Trail is the best it’s ever been, with shoreline and clifftop trail routes created or restored in three locations: Cape Chin, from Tobermory to Little Cove and south of Barrow Bay. Kudos to the Peninsula Bruce Trail Club and the Bruce Trail Conservancy for all their efforts. (They didn’t rest on their laurels after their magnificent clifftop coup on the north side of Colpoys Bay…)
There are more and more visitors getting lost in the woods and needing to be rescued, but the Fire and Rescue Department has new tools that make it dramatically easier to find lost people (more on this next issue).
The Municipality is going to get several million dollars to upgrade the arena. No more walking up stairs on skates.
It’s hard for young families to afford a place to live up here, but somehow, quite a few of them are managing anyway. BPDS was the fastest-growing school in Bluewater District School Board from 2018 to 2020, and probably will be again this year.
After threatening to close St Edmunds Elementary School repeatedly 15 to 20 years ago, Bluewater District School Board changed direction and kept the school open during times of very low enrolment. Housing shortage notwithstanding, a few young families have found a way to stay and the numbers at the school are increasing again.
With any luck, the new STA regulations will stop the erosion of our stock of long-term rental accommodation, which will make it a lot easier for young families to stay here.
The final version of the proposed STA Bylaw and the proposed MAT Bylaw are included in the Agenda for the Sept 13 Meeting. Recent changes are highlighted in red, making it easy to see them.
If the Bylaw passes on Sept 27, many property owners will breathe a sigh of relief — it will mean that 2021 was the last year of the wild-west for STAs.
There’s a proposal in the Agenda for MNBP’s Sept 13 Meeting to increase the capacity of Tobermory’s water system and extend it to cover the Bradley Davis Apartments, the Tobermory Community Centre, the Fire Hall, the EMS Ambulance facility and the ball field. Cross your fingers on that one, because once that extension is in place, other extensions (to the village’s commercial core, the former MTO property on Hay Bay Road, the Post Office, the National Park Visitor Centre and perhaps other parts of the village) would be a lot less expensive.
Municipal water would make it a lot easier to apply for grants to build affordable housing. (I’m looking at you, municipal property on Brock Street…)
New parking strategies are in place on Moore Street in Lion’s Head (no parking except at McCurdy Street lot), Big Tub Road (reduced number of spaces), Dunks Bay Road (decreased number of spaces; some spaces reserved for locals with permits) and Grant Watson Drive (no parking at all, except a few spaces reserved for locals with permits). The results have not been perfect, but crowding has been less extreme at all four locations.
COVID 19 pushed our municipality to move forward faster than they intended towards putting municipal meetings and processes online. This has been both wonderful and frustrating, often both at the same time.
Conducting meetings on ZOOM definitely makes it easier for people to attend. But the lack of bandwidth at the municipal office has frequently made it impossible to understand what’s going on. So near and yet so far…
But MNBP is stepping up to the plate. On Sept 13, Council is expected to authorize spending up to $150,000 (of a provincial modernization grant) to bring a fibre hookup to the municipal office and to improve connectivity at the arena and both fire halls.
This will have a number of positive effects. Public participation in consultations will be much easier; with high-quality internet, it will be easy to attend council and committee meetings from home without missing anything. This will make the municipality’s decision-making process much more transparent. Also: emergency response communications will improve.
The modest monthly fees to maintain this will be money well spent.
So, as Brad Inglis reminds us in his final “Lazy Theologian” column (page 17), we have a lot to be thankful for.
Brad, we’re gonna miss you.
