Bruce County’s economic development team has a clear vision for 2020.
They were present for Monday night’s council meeting in Saugeen Shores. Senior Planner, Dan Kingsbury, said they’ve engaged with the community to find out what’s important to them, and will apply that data to improving Saugeen Shores, and the county as a whole.
“All of that will lead to a new official plan, which is really a monumental opportunity because the last official plan for the county dates back to the 1990's. It’s been some time that it’s been updated in a comprehensive way,” said Kingsbury.
Business and community development, along with affordable housing, tops the list of important issues for residents, and Kingsbury says they will speak to those topics in 2020.
Recently, the provincial government granted communities funds to work on efficiencies to help save money long term and the $300,000 will be going towards a few different things.
“We’re looking at improvements to our application process so it’s quicker and more friendly to the applicant, and also making sure we’re speaking the same language in terms of what the county’s doing and what’s happening at the local level,” added Kingsbury.
He says at this point, there is no firm timeline although they will adhere to the guidelines set by the province.