Wellington North is planning to hold a live public information session on "Growth, Housing & Development."
CAO Mike Givens says they're aware of the challenges around housing in municipalities everywhere, and they want to share Wellington North's plans to address that at the session.
"We want to keep people engaged and aware of what that's all going to look like. Whether it's transportation, recreation, types of housing, housing mix, density, social services associated with all that. So we're trying to take a broad perspective and present all that information to the community."
Givens says Wellington North Mayor Andy Lennox put together a meeting a few years ago involving local businesses to try and get their angle, as well, and their voices will be a key part of the presentation.
"The mayor created a roundtable back in 2018 where we brought in the main employers in the area, as well, and we had conversations with them about the challenges they were having. One of the things that they brought to the mayor's attentions and the community's attention was that they were struggling to find employees."
After that session, Givens says that the employers wanted to ensure that the municipality was aware of those issues going forward and that they keep them in mind when addressing the ongoing growth and housing issues that face Wellington North.
"They wanted us to be engaged in making sure there was the right housing mix, that there was attainable housing, rental housing, and all those type of things so that they could prosper and remain active within Wellington North and even expand in some circumstances."
Being able to attract people that can afford to live near their employers is a huge undertaking given where the market is, and Givens says Wellington North is as aware of that as other areas around Canada.
"Having houses that are only single family dwellings or only like 4,000 square feet, that's not just what the community needs, there needs to be a mix. Whether it's rental apartments or housing, or town homes, and we think that having that supply mix, that's something we focused on locally and we feel will help."
The meeting on "Growth, Housing & Development" from Wellington North will be held Wednesday, April 13th in the rec hall at the Arthur Community Centre.
Givens says they are hosting it as a fully live in person event, but they may consider recording it and streaming it potentially for those who can't attend.