The City of Wasaga Seashore hopes its newest talks with the Ford authorities will assist to realize traction on its plan to redevelop its seaside.
A delegation from the City met with officers at Queen’s Park on Thursday for a sequence of discussions surrounding its plans to make Wasaga Seashore a year-round vacation spot.
“They (the province) perceive what we’re searching for now and we’ll wait to listen to again from them,” stated Wasaga Seashore Mayor Brian Smith. “Nevertheless it’s been a really constructive day.”
Earlier this summer season, the municipality referred to as on the province to position Wasaga Seashore and Nancy Island beneath the portfolio of the Ministry of Tourism.
At present, the park is managed by the Ministry of Surroundings, Conservation and Parks.
Whereas turning a bustling summer season vacation spot identified for its freshwater seaside right into a year-round vacation spot may be difficult, the mayor stated he believes having the park managed by the Ministry of Tourism may maintain the important thing.
“At one level, Wasaga Seashore was the snowmobile capital in Ontario so it was a winter playground as nicely,” Smith added. “It is about festivals, it is about occasions within the winter time, it is about probably an outside skating monitor that’s maintained and you already know, I may see meals vehicles and different issues taking place alongside the way in which.”
A part of the city’s request is for the creation of a provincial job drive to be instantly struck to assessment all provincial landholdings inside Wasaga Seashore and decide which lands needs to be transferred out of the Ministry of the Surroundings portfolio and put into both the Ministry of Tourism, Infrastructure Ontario, or the City’s portfolios earlier than the tip of March.
The City estimates that hundreds of thousands of {dollars} of fully-serviced provincial land parcels have been sitting vacant and underutilized, not contributing something to the provincial or municipal tax base for over 50 years.
Ontario Chronicle’ request for remark from the Ford authorities was not returned.
