On Thursday, May 25th (2023), the Saugeen Shores Chamber of Commerce hosted a ‘Breakfast with the Mayor’ at Kingsway Arms of Elgin Lodge retirement home.
Approximately 60 people, primarily from the business community and Town Staff and including several retirement residents, attended the breakfast and later listened as Mayor Luke Charbonneau presented a power-point presentation on his vision of growth for the community.
“We are very fortunate that the Town has had a really great working relationship with the Chamber of Commerce,’ said the Mayor. “We have had dozens of businesses that together we have welcomed to the community. Our community is very successful with a successful business community through the Chamber of Commerce.”
He went on to explain that his presentation, ‘Growing with Purpose’ lays out five guiding principles – Managing Growth; Building Quality of Life; Environmental Sustainability; Fiscal Responsiblity; Housing for All.
“Growth has been the key word for the last decade and will be at least for the next decade as we are the fastest growing community in our region and one of the fastest growing in Ontario. The reason for that is we are one of the best communities in the world to live.”
“People want to live here and they are coming here,” he added. “The question is, as a community and municipality, what do we want out of that growth? You can let growth simply happen or you can have a purpose. You can build the community you want to build or have a vision of the community you want to build and try to make that happen. So, it’s ‘Growth with Purpose’.”
According to the Mayor, included in the vision for growth is: to have an unparalleled quality of life with recreational amenities, health care amenities, long term care homes, education and all those things needed for a great quality of life. We also want to build a community where everyone who wants to can find a home, where everyone can work and live and raise a family no matter what your socioeconomic status is.”
He also added that in addition to the foregoing, he wanted to have it happen in the context of the local environment. “The reason people want to move here is because of the environment. We have great beaches, a provincial park, a river, an agricultural community which is beautiful and we want to protect that environment. Therefore, when we talk about ‘Growing with Purpose’, we are going to continue to grow but grow in a way that achieves that purpose and builds from our vision.”
“Our population has increased by 16 per cent with over 2,200 people since 2016 and another 5,000 residents expected. According to the 2022 census, there are 17,000 people who make Saugeen Shores home and it is expected to increase by 2041 to 24,000. While this will create 2,200 new jobs, it will also result in a lot of challenges and implications.”
He said that Saugeen Shores is becoming a regional hub for Bruce Grey and Huron counties and by 2041 the population is expected to be at 21,830, or the size of Owen Sound. “Owen Sound is the hub for Grey County and that is the kind of hub that we will become in Bruce County. More than half of all the housing units constructed in Bruce County will be here in Saugeen Shores by 2041.”
He went on to say however that the municipality is prepared for the growth with infrastructure in place thanks to the work of previous Councils and staff in the 1990s and before. “Frankly, one of the reasons we are experiencing growth is because we are ready for it and to remember that all of this development has been a long time coming and the plans for infrastructure have been in place to accommodate the development.”
Last year, there was $129.1million in new construction with 111 new family dwellings, the second highest on record behind 2021 where there were 333 homes at $154million in construction value. There were also 40 multi-family developments and an increase in secondary dwelling to 18. “To date in 2023, there has been $29 million in permit value,” said that Mayor, “which remains a significant amount in development activity in spite of high interest rates.
According to the Mayor, an area of crisis being experienced locally and across the county is a shortage of housing that is affordable and attainable. “In Saugeen Shores, 75 per cent of housing is single-family dwellings and the medium price has increased over the last five years by 130 per cent and average rent has gone up by 68 per cent over the last 10 years, three times the rate of inflation, while wages have not increased to keep up. Therefore, we are not only in a housing crisis, we have a worsening housing crisis. There is a shortage for seniors, young families and service workers and it’s a problem we need to address.”
In the Mayor’s view, he explained that a better mix of homes will increase supply, especially for those who work in the retail and small business sector.
The result of the growth in population also has created an opportunity in commercial investment. “Commercial values in 2022 were at $25million, a 236 per cent increase over the previous year to provide the services that the increased population expects and this is a trend we expect to see continue in 2023. There are large commercial investments planned such as the new LCBO at WalMart and Jarlette’s doubling of the size of the Southampton Care Centre. Therefore, there is large-scale institutional investment accelerating in the community and I believe 2023 will be a banner year for commercial growth in the community while residential growth will back off due to increasing interest rates and the building that has happened already.”
He went on to say that the town will continue to grow and the question he raised is “what kind of community do we want to live in”. “We are leveraging that growth to make the community even better … there are intentional things that can be done to make life better and that’s the approach the Town wants to take and we have begun.”
“Leveraging our growth will absolutely improve our quality of life,” said the Mayor.
The Mayor also recently presented his ‘Growing for Purpose’ to the Saugeen Shores Men’s PROBUS Club … to view, CLICK HERE
