And we're live your worship. Thank you very much, Madam
Deputy Clerk, and good morning, everybody, and welcome. Looks like
it's going to be a sunny day. We've had lots
of rain, which is good. But today's looking good in
Wasababeach. So we'll get call this meeting to order, and
we will ask if you can stand, please do so
for our national anthem.
To. Square. Two.
Very much, everyone, and I will now look to Councillor
DeLayo for the Land Acknowledgement, Councillor. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
Good morning, everyone. The Thawna Wasaba Beach acknowledges it is
located upon the traditional territory of the Anishina people of
the Three Fires Confederacy. We also acknowledge that the people
of the Wyne. nation also inhabited these lands. We acknowledge
that these nations are sovereign nations existing before the arrival
of settlers. We respect the spiritual interconnection among these nations
to the land and to the water. We also acknowledge
that water weighs near us have a long history predating
European arrival. Since time in memorial, waterways with a lifeblood
of the Indigenous people by trade and hunting roots. We
are dedicated to inclusivity of First Nations, Inuit, and MATI
people in our future stewardship of the land and the
longest freshwater beach in the world. In the spirit of
reconciliation, we welcome the opportunity of learning to be sustainable
caretakers of the Land and Waterways for all future generations.
Mewish. Thank you, Councillor Megwitch. We'll now move on to
item number two on the agenda. It's a disclosure of
pecuniary interests. I have none before me at this point
in time. If at some point throughout the meeting a
member of Council Fields, they have a Procurement interest, please
let us know for the record at that time. At
number three is the approval of the agenda, and I
will look to our Clerk Nicole, Madam Clerk. Thank you.
We're shipping good morning, Jersey members of Council. And accordance
with Section 6. 01B of the procedural bylaw, and following
consultation with the chair. Item 6. 2 closed session will
be considered following the adoption of the agenda today. I
would also like to note that item 6. 2. 2
Property Acquisition and Disposition noted for the closed session will
not be heard today and has been removed from the
closed session agenda, and will be reflected in the Council
minutes. Thank you, your worship. Thank you very much, Madam
Clerk. Any questions or comments from Council on those changes?
All right, seeing none, we do have a recommended motion
that the contents of the agenda of August 27, 2026
be approved as circulated. Gonna have a move in a
second, or for this, please. Deputy Mayor Snell, Councillor Tims,
all in favor. That carries unanimously. Item number four is
the closed session with a recommended motion that pursuant to
the Municipal Act 2001 is amended. The next portion of
the August 27, 2026 Special Counsel meeting will move into
closed session to consider the following matters. Destination, Wasaga Initiative,
and you've heard the other item has been removed. Could
I have a mover in a seconder for this, please?
Muy by Councillor DeLeo and seconded by Councillor Ego, all
in favor. That carries unanimously, and we will now go
into closed session.
And we're live your worship. Thank you very much, Madam
Deputy Clerk, and welcome back everybody. A short closed session,
and we will have our clerk to a rising report
on that at the end of the meeting today. So
we'll move on to item number five on the agenda,
which is presentations, and we do have a delegation today
with respect to the destination. Wasaga master plan updates, and
we do have our consultants here with respect to the
master plan that will speak to this, but I'll turn
the floor now to our CEO, Andrew McDealander. Thank you,
Mr. Mayor, members of Council. We are thrilled to be
here today to share the emerging plan that has resulted
from the tremendous engagement with our community, and I think
every consultant team that comes to our community is amazed
just how engaged our community is, and we have not
disappointed through this process. Through all of that amazing work,
a plan has emerged. We are still engaged in technical
studies, market analysis. But I am excited to share that
we are already seeing private sector interest that this plan
is generating. So that is phenomenal for our community. More
work lies ahead. The emerging plan provides strong direction, but
we will continue to advance all the ingredients within the
plan. So this is a vision that you are seeing.
All the components that we'll need to come to life,
they will all need to be studied in further detail.
There will be approvals and permits required. So please, this
is not a fetico complete. There is more work that
follows the vision. Engagement will continue. We are reaching out
to indigenous communities to make sure that we've properly engaged
on that perspective and incorporated indigenous elements into this plan,
alonged with continued engagement with the province, community, our stakeholders.
On that front, we are looking at September 24. We're
going to confirm that date publicly shortly at the Replex.
Many that want to come out to hear our consultant
team come and present the emerging plan to our community
at that time. But today is about to check in
with council, ensure that you're comfortable with the direction that
this plan is starting to take, and then provide an
opportunity for you to ask your questions. Before we get
out in front of the community. So with that, I'll
turn it over to Tim, who I think will take
the lead in the presentation. Thank you, Andrew. And good
morning, Tim. Mr. Tim Smith of Urban Strategies, just for
the record, absolutely no relation to the mayor, Brian Smith.
First time we met was when we started this process.
Tim, welcome, and I'm glad to hear your team believe
that Wasaga Beach is so awesome. So just so you're
aware, are a few homes for sale here. So you're
welcome to join us anytime. Go ahead. Ah, there we
go. Good morning. It's a pleasure to be here again
before you. As we get close to the end of
the Master Planning Process, as Andrew said it will be
the end of a process in about a month's time.
But the beginning of another process, the continuing transformation of
your town, the waterfront in downtown in particular, which will
take a concerted effort in many part. We hope maybe
we can help along the way, but we're very pleased
to be sharing with you today what's emerging in the
destination master plan. I think Mr. May, you refer to
this as of a delegation. Well, it's going to be
one of the lengthy ones. So I do appreciate us
giving this time this morning to walk you through where
we are with the plan at this stage. You see
up on the screen here, what we'd like to kind
of cover today is to start with a quick recap
of what came out of the public engagement back in
April. And that's really that, you know, what we've been
doing in the month since then. And that includes refining
the overall vision, refining the overall concept. Looking at what
we're calling priority initiatives that are merging in the plan
from a kind of feasibility standpoint technical standpoint. And we're
going to finish off with some numbers. We've had NBLC,
one of our members of our team look at the
potential economic impacts that might come from the development that
we are envisioning in the master plan. A little bit
about process very briefly here. We have four phases of
work and you can kind of see there where we
are. It is, you know, as I say, getting close
to the end here. And you see in the bubbles
here where we have engaged the community, the two big
events starting back in November. And then in April, an
open house series of workshops for both of those weeks
that we were here. And then you can see the
outreach to First Nations beginning in July, follow - up
in August. That engagement is going to continue in the
month ahead and even beyond, as we get into the
kind of design stage of implementation, it'll be important for
there to be engagement, both with your existing residents and
with First Nations on some of the details of that
for their input. Stepping way back, you might recall back
in November, we really just kick things off with a
lot of conversations through those workshops in November with your
community around these six themes. And I just, I brought
these back because it's kind of a reminder that we
had a lot to talk about, quite frankly, because these
elements identified in these themes are all essential, really, to
not only creating a four - season destination in Wasaga,
but making your community even more complete. It's a great
place to live now, but it needs more of a
downtown. It needs more things to do on the waterfront.
It needs more connections. Um, and so this is just
to kind of reiterate that the plan to that really
addresses all of these themes. And it will take time
to implement them all, but it will be critical. The
engagement has been really amazing. You know, we, I've been
30 years in this business and I don't know for
community or size that the numbers of people that have
come out I've ever been matched in another community I've
worked in. And it's just to hear the passion for
their community and the excitement about changes. Everyone, I think,
recognise this particularly on your waterfront. It's time for investments
and change and place making and all that. Uh, so
we really appreciated all the participation and, you know, you're
an older community. I think you know that, but it
was so great to be able to reach out. And
this was full credit to staff here to reach out
to your young people in the schools in particular through
a series of workshops. You can see some of the
results of that up on the screen here. This was
the concept plan we presented back in April. And when
you look at the concept plan we share with you
today, you'll see it's not changed that significantly. Certainly there
have been some fine tuning. And that's because we really
received pretty strong support for most of what was in
the plan here. There were some issues, things to talk
about, lots of questions to address. But people like generally
what they were seeing. So since then, what we've been
doing is, as I said, looking a little bit more
closely at some of the specific ideas in the plan.
We brought on CBRE who are experts that tourism market
side of things to look at the demand for hotels.
Look at what we're calling the new Dardanelle. You'll hear
more about that shortly to kind of ensure that it
would be a viable thing that people would come. And
it would see a lot of programming throughout the year.
We've worked with Tatham to look at Proposed Pedestrian Bridge
to Nancy Island as well as a more complete active
transportation network. We asked Mannequin to look more closely at
arts centres in different cities in Canada to see, to
give us an idea of what might work in our
proposed art sub that you hear about today. In main
end, we worked with Tatham again on understand the servicing
needs, uh, and we worked with azimuth, our environmental consultant
to understand better the opportunities and constraints within the larger
provincial park in the south side of town to see
where future amenities there could be added. And, uh, finally
ongoing is a marina feasibility study, a full team that's
looking at the potential for both the seasonal and transient
marina. It perhaps in the bay, perhaps in the river,
these are, this is what's being explored. I can report
that in fact to this day they have confirmed touristics
has confirmed in fact, there is demand for seasonal marina,
uh, in the southern Jarton Bay region. So the real
opportunity there. Okay. One thing we have done is refined
our kind of vision statement that we presented back in
April. One of the comments we got was, well, it's
rather wordy. Could you make it a little bit more
concise? So we have done that. And I'll just walk
you through the tweaked vision statement. And I'll actually, this
is the one slide that I'll read because it is
important to appreciate, I think, the underpinnings of the plan,
what we at a high level are all collectively, we
think, trying to achieve through the plan. Wasababea Beach is
one of the world's great waterfront destinations, a place where
nature, culture, heritage, and community come together to create an
extraordinary quality of life for residents and memorable experience. For
visitors. Anchored by the world's longest freshwater beach and the
breathtaking beauty of Georgia May destination will saga is a
place where people come to relax by the water at
a spa, explore the trails and streets have funneled a
concert or an unzip line and discover a great place
to stay for a weekend, for a week or for
good. And finally, diverse economic opportunities, housing options, and something
I can't read. Underpinned with saga sustainable growth while distinct
character natural beauty amenities. Vibrant festivals and events seen in
many recreational opportunities to have millions of visitors year round.
Destination was saga builds on the town's authentic beach town
legacy while creating more reasons to residents and visitors to
enjoy Wasaga Beach in every season. All right. Now, what
we have done, we kind of broke up our very
long vision before into a shorter vision statement. And five
principles. And each of those are supported by a series
of goals. I'm not going to an interest of time
go through all the goals you hear. I hope through
the full presentation, you'll get a sense of actually what
we're trying to achieve in alignment with these five principles.
So the first is to protect enhance and promote vastraordinary
natural environment. We've been saying for day one. And I
think you can all appreciate how incredibly important it is.
You're number one asset, the beach, the dunes, the forest,
the river, the bay, et cetera. We must protect those
while also providing people an opportunity to enjoy them. Sensitively.
Principal two, recognise and celebrate the area's rich cultural heritage.
This covers everything from what you have at the Nancy
Island Historic site, your history is a music destination. And
as a tourist destination, generally, how can we celebrate that
and interpret that in the future design and programming of
spaces of buildings? Principal three, establish was saga as a
unique four season destination. There's not much more to say.
That's obviously a key objective here is to turn you
from a summertime destination into a four season place to
visit. Principal PORE expand the town's range of recreation and
cultural experiences and specifically more things to do. Uh, in
the shoulder seasons in the winter seasons, uh, particularly some
indoor facilities, but also things you can do outdoors. And
finally, in show was saga is a welcoming, inclusive, and
accessible community. This needs to be a place for everybody.
Um, and I think you've done a great job of
expanding your amenities and making your community welcoming to a
more diverse population. And it'll be important to continue to
support that population with more amenities. Also more housing options,
and particularly more higher density housing, which really wants to
be downtown to provide more vibrancy downtown. But you need
more of those smaller units, more townhousing, more affordable entry
level housing and places where young people can. Confine a
place to live. All right. One thing we've been doing
since April is taking some of the materials we share
with the public and refining them and also making them
a little bit more detailed. Now these framework plans are
not the most exciting part of the plan graphically. They're
a little bit more technical, but they are important because
they establish in terms of mobility and land uses and
servicing a very clear understanding about where infrastructure belongs, but
also where we're certain land uses belong. Think of it
a little bit as a kind of, uh, zoom in
on your official plan, uh, kind of, kind of map.
So this is the sort of blobby framework plan. We
showed the public back in April reflecting land uses. The
idea of mix of land uses along Main Street and
in the main end. And clearly highlighting key park spaces
as well as places for improved connections. What we've done
now is turn that plan into First, a Land use
plan, as you see here. Purple areas and red areas
identifying mixed use areas along the waterfront where we see
more accommodation along Main Street where we see more hotels.
But generally, hopefully in many cases in mixed use buildings
where on the ground floor, particularly where you see the
dark red lines, you have shops in restaurants, other active
uses that help to activate the streets in open spaces.
The yellow areas are for lower scale residential neighbourhoods. And
you see the different colours of green very obviously green
spaces to be protected and enhanced. And speaking of green
spaces, now this public round plan takes that to another
level of detail distinguishing the different types of open spaces
to be protected and enhanced as well as, you know,
key street scapes that will provide those sort of green
connections within the public realm framework. We have a servicing
plan that Tatham helped us prepare, identifying existing services. Of
course, you're upgrading, rebuilding new services along Beach Drive and
the other, uh, streets leading to Main Street. So some
services are there, but there will be a need to
upgrade in some cases to support the future hotels and
other anchor destinations. And I need to extend services out
to recalling the point to service the future changes out
there. Tatim also helped us develop an active transportation plan.
It is going to be fundamental over time to make
your downtown in the waterfront much more walkable, much more
bike - friendly. I mean, number one, cycling tourism is
big. So you want to be inviting cyclists from all
over the province to come down into the heart of
your community. But you also want to make the heart
of your community much more accessible to everyone who lives
across the long stretch of wasaga beach, uh, and so
that's about a more interconnected bike network and more pedestrian
friendly streets. So this gives you a good sense of
that network. Of course, we cannot forget about vehicles and
cars, since we've been saying from day one, recognising that
although we want more people walking in bike, most people
are going to continue to come to a saga beach
by car. And so we need to ensure that they
have clear routes to get to where they want to
go. And of course, parking, uh, is fundamental. And if
you recall back when we updated you back in April,
uh, we talked about a parking strategy and moving away
from, and the need to move away from surface parking,
which was occupies about 30 percent of your waterfront today
to parking structures, more on - street parking and broader
parking strategy to free up land for other uses. Uh,
just a little bit more on this, because we know
parking really is going to be a concern everyone in
your community is to just reiterate this strategy that is
about parking structures. We'll talk about that as we go
through the concept to new structures on the waterfront and
potentially on this site in the fullness of time should
town hall move. And we also maintaining, as you'll see
in the concept plan, many of the surface parking lots
on In Beach Area 1 Beach Area 2. There's not
a significant reduction in parking there at all. And the
main street corridor, we're looking at a strategy of more
kind of shared use parking actually encouraging future existing property
owners, future developers to include some public parking as they
redevelop their sites, uh, to share underutilized parking lots. And
then finally, the need to really get creative with how
parking is managed through pricing and incentives to get people
necessarily not all wanting to park right at the waterfront,
but parking a little further away, perhaps taking its shuttle
on those busy weekends walking along a more, more, more
attractive, comfortable streets and trails. And then, but there will
be a need constantly to kind of monitor how parking
is working and not working and adjusting those, these strategies
to ensure that people can find parking when they get
here. All right. Now we get to, I think the
more kind of exciting part of our presentation, what we're
really sharing with you the physical vision that we've been
refining since April. Whereas you recall, we had some very
kind of sketchy ideas to present to you that now
are becoming a little bit more solidified in the emerging
plan. So here is the updated concept plan. As I
said, it's similar to the plan in April. We'll highlight
some of the differences as we go through each of
these six areas that make up the heart. Of destination
was saga, uh, what we're calling the Westwaterfront. I think
we might have called it the West End, but folks
in your community said, well, we already have a West
End. It's way, way west. So we've gone back to
calling it the West Waterfront. We were calling the point,
I think, the spit. Now it's called the point. But
of course main end is at the centre of this
plan. And we will, we will start there before moving
on to the other areas. So here's a much more
detailed conceptual plan for main end. As Andrew made clear,
we are still at a conceptual level of planning. There
will be a lot of details to be worked out
with each of the initiatives that we've identified and highlighted
with the labels you see here. We're going to go
through each of these and a little bit more detail
to explain what we envisioned and give you a kind
of picture of how we see these places being created.
So main end, we've identified here just for reference that
where the site of the Maria Hotel now under construction,
you can see on the left there, the Strombridge mixed
use development. Um, but the real heart of main end
and the place to be concentrating both public and private
investments over the, of the coming years and decades is
what we're calling the fund zone on either side of
Main Street, standing out onto the beach with our proposed
amusement deck. As you can see right at the heart
of this fund zone is what we're calling the new
Dardanella. Uh, it's a really exciting project. It's one that
we've had CBR look at more closely to really confirm
that this is a good idea. This is something that
can anchor, uh, you as a four season destination and
also just be a place your community comes for fun,
entertainment and other gatherings. So we're going to start there.
Oh, and let me just show you a quick 3D
rendering of main end with those labels on it to
give you more of a clear picture of the scale
of development here. And really the extent of transformation we
envision happening potentially in the next 10, 15, maybe 20
years in case of some of the buildings here might
take a little bit longer. But this is what we
see as possible through the concerted effort. And with public
and private investments as what could be achieved in terms
of the amount of development and the types of development.
That will transform the main end. So what I want
to do is turn this over now to Leo Lynn
from GPA architects on our team. They've been looking much
closely at the concept for the new Dardanella and really
looking at how it can be the multi - purpose
event centre that it will need to be and how
it can be that future landmark on your site. And
here's Leo. All right. Good morning, Mr.
Mayor and members of the Council. It is an absolute
pleasure to be here, especially at this time of year.
Uh, and it is really a great treat for us
to be presenting to you at new concept for the
new Dardanella. Um, as Tim mentioned, uh, we're very excited
about the new Darnell out. Like it didn't take long
for us to realise how important and significant the previous
DARNA was. And what an institution it has been. And
so we really wanted to continue that legacy and build
on that fantastic space cultural arts space. So as you
can see here in the area view, the new Dyronella
is really cited strategically. It's, it's what we call kind
of centre ice in the main end. Uh, on the
kind of south side, well actually in this case the
upper part of the image kind of frames festival squares
strategically. And on the north side is the amusement deck.
And it becomes this kind of pivotal, um, glue, if
you will, that animates and facilitates both kind of important
public ground spaces. Um. PETS. Here's another view. This is
actually, uh, you're on the beach drive and you're looking
southward. What you see in front of you on that
second floor is what we call the kind of, uh,
porch or more of an idea, uh, taken from the
previous start now. There's this fantastic photo of the previous
DTNAL is showing all these people sitting out. And this
porch we're designing is over a hundred foot long. Um,
you know, with almost a double height space. It's an
outdoor space that has ability to be spill out from
the indoor, the second floor space, which we will talk
more about. As well as here, you're seeing the kind
of ground floor, which is also another really heightened space.
It's another, you know, another kind of porch that's ground
related. That's very much related to festival square as well
as the new revitalized beach drive. Uh, this will help
to kind of frame. It animates both spaces. And we're
seeing this kind of glass veil on the ground floor.
We're going to call it the living room, as you
will see, that really has an ability for those glass
adores to open up and allow spill out inside and
out. Uh, this, this kind of overhang on the ground
floor becomes a bit of a lowjia. So as Tim
mentioned earlier, uh, we want to extend the seasons. We
want to, we want to capitalize on those shoulder seasons,
uh, as well as winter. Um, so that, that this
becomes a really kind of people's place that they can
inhabit and look out to the beach. Here is a
kind of, uh, a little bit more abstract. It kind
of aerial, we call it exploded axle nometric view, which
you take the three on the left hand side, the
three volumes. And really, the point of this image is
to talk about those relationship between, uh, terminating the kind
of, uh, main street and framing the festival square. It's
important to frame squares, both to kind of, uh, provide
containment and also protection from the climate. And then so
that there's a feeling of, of that the animation all
the way around. At the same time, that glass veil
and the living room that I was talking about earlier
is extremely transparent. So you still see great vista towards
the amusement deck and ultimately two more. It's the beach
and the lake. Um, so that is done very strategically.
On the second floor, you'll see the massing kind of
hugs slightly. There's a slight curve along that, that, that,
uh, that Main Street that was done strategically to frame
that view to the beach, um, as well as, uh,
on the third floor, there's an expensive kind of terrace
and patio space. So you can really take advantage of
that view again. The kind of main box or what
we call the kind of performance space is a, is
a rectangle massing and it's done, uh, very strategically, because
for, for the better of the performances. But there's a
slight pitch in the roof. Again, a nod to kind
of the vernacular, um, that we see so much in
Wasyga Beach. Um, the kind of right hand side images
are series of plan. It's, it's maybe a little bit
too small, but basically illustrate what I was just talking
about earlier. The growl floor, the expansive kind of living
room space, which we see has lots of opportunities, uh,
for, for the city to display, uh, lots of events
that are kind of, um, ever changing. And as well
as exhibits, also maybe a little museum for visitors as
well as residents. The second floor, the purple space, which
houses the main kind of, uh, performance venue, which has
a number of kind of convertibility, flexibility that I'll talk
to you about the next slide. And then that kind
of green area just where the curve is, is a
series of kind of event space that could be combined
into one big space as well as a few smaller
spaces that could be bookable as well as open to
the public. And the third floor is a destination restaurant
that has a tremendous amount of kind of spill out
onto a patio space where you're going to be able
to enjoy that, uh, that fantastic sunset. And here's the
kind of, kind of zoom in of, uh, the kind
of scenarios of the performance spaces. So this is, this
is only on the second floor, but all three diagrams
of the second floor. But you can see on the
kind of left hand image, uh, there's a kind of
main in that purple, uh, of, of a space where
there's retractable seating and in 12 rows, uh, the, you
know, roughly, I think 400 people that could sit there
as well as the kind of orange space becomes a
much more open event functions that could house up to
it kind of 100, 200 people. And then the green
private event space that could be separated. The second image
is another scenario, uh, where you're actually the stages turn
around 90 degrees. And it's actually takes advantage of the
view towards the beach. And I'll show you an image
of that. Uh, and this, this one, uh, you're able
to sit a little bit less people, um, but again,
you're able to get that view out to the beach.
And then the third scenario where it's all kind of,
uh, purple is a scenario where all, all the spaces
could become performance space, whether it's much more, you know,
high performance or a little bit more informal cultural and
music venues. And here's a view that I was talking
about in that purple area where, you know, I think
that we heard loud and clear, uh, earlier we had
shown a precedent, I think in New Hampshire where there's
a stage in kind of audience we're able to kind
of view the performance as well as the backdrop of
the fantastic view to the water. And here we're also
able to do that with kind of unfoldable walls and
to kind of become this fantastical, uh, setting backdrop for,
for a great performance. Uh, this is, this is a
view now where outside again, and we're actually on festival
square and we are imagining that there may be a
kind of market a weekend market. In the foreground and
then you're seeing what I was mentioning earlier about the
Dardanella framing the kind of square and providing that containment
at the same time, lots of kind of visibility through
the ground floor to see the view. Of course the
kind of signage, uh, daran Ella on top, uh. Here's
the same kind of festival square. You're actually now on,
uh, Main Street. So you're able to see that kind
of gentle curving, just leading your eye towards the tip
of the kind of, uh, water. Uh, you're seeing that
this is a kind of sunset view. So you're seeing
the kind of space both on a growl floor. And
the second floor lit up. We think that the use
of wood is very, very appropriate. It provides a certain
warmth to the space, especially when it's lit up. Uh,
we thought that the kind of, uh, you know, conceptual
at this point, but the cladding could be very evocative
if it was a bit of a kind of cement
panels, large format that's very, very durable, but it's done
and executed in a kind of shiplap or shingo fashion.
Um, so certainly institutional in scale, but, but, but kind
of brings back the kind of memories of, of lots
of kind of wasaga personalities. And here's another view now
you're at the corner of Main Street and Beach Drive,
uh, very important corner. You're seeing under that kind of
load ja or across from that loja, uh, the kind
of corner, uh, we thought is really important to anchor
it with a feature stare that red spiral stairs that
connects to the second level. Um, and then you're seeing
the kind of elevated porch where people are hanging out
and enjoying the view. And of course, the Third floor
also has a terrorist that has a potential to be
accessed by the public as well as people that are
just going up to that destination restaurant. This is an
interior view on the second floor of that corner that
we were just talking about. You're seeing in the foreground
that kind of spiral feature stare. And then this is
just, uh, one of those events that could be much
more informal. Maybe it's, it's some, you know, drinks after
a conference where people are able to enjoy the kind
of horizon of the lake. And again, that would soff
it really brings into warmth of the space. And then
finally, I'll leave you with this view. Uh, this is
looking back. Those of you that are able to enjoy
from, from the boats, uh, and, you know, it's as
important as some of the views that we looked at,
uh, earlier that when, when this building kind of lights
up, uh, there's a really kind of different, uh, personality,
uh, and Iconography, uh, that really says something about, uh,
wasaga, uh, in the 21st century. Thank you so much.
Morning. Good morning, everyone. Lovely to see you again. So
we're just coming out of a show from the New
Darnella. I'm going to take you for a walk. Around
a lot of the other things that is happening in
main end. So first of all, we think it's crucial
that where main and meets, uh, beach drive and then
you promenade investments that there is an expansion of what
we're calling an amusement decade. A new civic space that's
right on, on the sand. And we see this as
being, being the place where you're midway programming occurs. This
is, this is your new, you know, go to location
for fun activity. There's going to be, you know, the
concession spaces. Perhaps there are permanent revenue buildings that we're
showing ideas of a kind of indoor carousel space. But
this is, you can imagine this is your, this is
your midway right on the beach. But it's designed to
be flexible. You can take a lot of peak crowds,
which we know happens during the high season. But all
the edges we feel should be also designed to be
intimate, um, invite a lot of, you know, gatherings. I
mean, I showed this to my daughter. And she says,
this is where I would go for a date. But
this is like, this is, this is the place where
you really can engage with the community right at the
beach, uh, at stairs looking at sunsets, jumping in the
water. And also as the dart opens up in stores,
the spill space onto the beach would be tremendous. Encounterpoint,
we also think there's, there's places, uh, the small spaces
are really crucial here, especially in the off season. You'll
see that in the plan, we're introducing a series over
calling a mid block Muse, which is the smaller pedestrian
route, which gives, uh, business's seasonal choice. They can actually
have more control over microclimate. They can have places that
work in the winter. And it's also crucial from a
kind of a small intimate walkways that connect major public
spaces. So this is a view literally from the river
going from the new parking structure that we're suggesting to
the DART and the new festival square. Now pairing with
the DARed, we do think this is also an incredible
moment to say this is becomes a cultural, um, anchor.
We really feel that there is a, uh, a place
where the local arts community to have a proper space
and a proper address right on the beach in tandem
with the Darnellic cultural programming. So we see this as
being a one to two story building with a lot
of flexible space for studios, for production, for local artists
to make their crafts. And it becomes a tourist destination
in and of itself, but it also becomes a very
functional community asset. There could be some administration spaces up
in the upper levels. But we do believe that this
together with Act rate programming one could imagine that the
farmer's market comes here for seasonal produce. Um, and this
all spills out into, into both the amusement deck area
and also the, uh, main engine square. We're also planning
that, you know, you'll see in the back, the notions
of accommodation and hotels. These can be, these projects can
be done in tandem with other business partnerships. They can
be done either solo or in conjunction with hotel providers.
And of course in the nature and spirit of fun
at the beach, we are proposing a game. So also
again, there's these trio of destinations that the DART, the
art sub, but also a game's hall really focused on
youth and giving them a place to play for all
seasons. So we're imagining that this is sort of a
reinterpretation of arcades in the past, but with the modern
flair, one can imagine this might have virtual reality spaces.
Perhaps there are some analog programming pool tables. Ping pong
tables to centre, but it's very much about creating a
flexible space that can really reflect the programming that youth
will want to bring to the beach. And again, as
we're going towards the river through that Muse image, we
do believe that there's an incredible opportunity to bring transient
boaters to main end. Once main end grows, there will
be real cause for having voters from all over Georgian
Bay to come right up to maintain Park at the
river. We're suggesting that the riverfront needs a new boardwalk,
new proper infrastructure to provide for both new public PROM
approach that takes you along the point. But also to
give, uh, proper, uh, mortgage for transient boaters. We have
completed a marina study and there is demand. So we
would estimate that at least 50 slips here, right up
main and bridge. It could be accommodated and have the
traffic necessary. Um, it just brings the life of the
river right up. Into, into main end. And of course,
these all work together, uh, to frame and enliven, which
is really the new living room for Slaga. This is
the great public space that was saga needs and demands.
Um, this is showing a view towards, uh, towards the
north, towards the Dardanella. And it's framed by the arts
market. It's framed by smaller scale retail. It's an animate
space. It's lively, but it's flexible. This shows, uh, main
drive. Main street coming right down to the beach. But
it's an idea that Main Street should be flexible, closeable
when the demand is necessary. You can imagine Main Street
being closed. The square, the amusement deck, the Dardanella, the
Arts Hub, these all work together to really create an
amazing space of energy. And commerce. This is really the
future postcard of the main end. Rejuvenation. And on this,
I'm going to pass it to Shady's online.
Hello, can everybody hear me? We can hear you, Shady.
Yes. We just can't see you. Uh, I try to
turn on my video. Oh, it's coming down. Beautiful. But
you want to measure Council members, uh, we are also
equally super excited about the strategies for the public PROM
and the open space that have emerged the intended with
other develop opportunities. Uh, and it's my pleasure to take
you through them. And I apologise. I wasn't able to
attend in person and see all. Uh, so this was
what funds, the point, um, is an important extension of
the waterfront experience. Uh, it begins agrement back with the
last slide that Dennis showed you. And it continues along
the beach. And it wraps around the Easter most edge
of the site all the way to the waterfront bloke
and creates those significant opportunities, both for, uh, environmental perseveration
for education, for hospitality and full recreation. Um, and as
a continuation of the West waterfront book, uh, and, uh,
multi - purpose pathway, it's integrates of programmed outdoor spaces.
Uh, if you look at the site starting from reunion,
the H basically curves around the protected piping plymer habitat.
And that's where it creates opportunities for stewardship and environmental
education. And then it connects and why is besides the
eco resort with additional program spaces adjacent to the ecocenter.
Uh, and then it gets close near to the, uh,
festival park, the bird walk continues parallel to the multipurpose
pathway where the recipe open space, uh, can accommodate
seasonal events, but also really large crowd concerts and gathering
spaces. Uh, and further east before it turns around the
point is to create a complete loop and a complete
experience. The bill block has an opportunity to have an
observation tower to take it to the other dimension because
the views to the leg are all amazing in here.
And then allow the southern egg, it continues along the
river and it completes the root and supports both the
transient marina and becomes part of that riverfront. It worked
that Denice was showing some night images of that with
the marina. Next V, please. So this is like an
aerial view of what I just explained in the parent
forming. If only provides I feel it better on the
standing and a clear understanding that how the site presents
itself as a really integrated landscape and open space which
allow for all these recreational and opportunities, uh, to be
created. It starts from the abusement. It just wraps around
the Python cable environment gets itself to the eco centre.
You may be able to the sake of shell. It
becomes parallel with the, you can see the image, the
multipurpose pathway. And then you can see that the recre
shell is this amazing, beautiful space for large crowd size
vents, but it has two supporting elements to it, which
is the open space in the back, but also the
parking lots that can contribute and create that additional facilities
when the space is in food function. Next image, please.
I think the one jump. Okay. That's okay. Uh, so,
um, a closer kind of visualization of our ecocenter as
we're proposing a very contemporary timber pavilion. We feel that
wood is very appropriate here. Uh, which is embedded between
the bill walk, the beach and also the protected with
light in the back. Um, I feel the design acts
as that transition between ecology and activity, you can see
it's part environmental learning centre, uh, part hospitality and part
waterfront destination. The form and the massing really echoes the
surrounding sandals and has the opportunity to create the forms
that people, when they pass by, they feel it's shaped
by the landscape. And again, the wood and that room,
uh, natural effect that there's cloud in the booms into
this, uh, it really takes it to the next level
because it's adjacent to the wood love and gives it
that informal character. It's a vision to have the opportunity
to be in two levels because it creates the other
dimension of being able to view the wood life, view
the point and view back to the amusement death. But
also at great at ground floor patio, it's that extends
the building program. All the way to the edge of
the boardwalk and to the edge of the beach. Next
to VPs. Uh, I love this photo. I love really
the atmosphere of love being there. I've been part of
what it's trying to create. Uh, it's a, it's a
concept and it's sculptural. It's a, it's a sculptural open
air performance pavilion that we feel it's architectural needs to
grow from the surrounding landscapes. How we envisioned it as
the series of sweeping structural ribs that creates this enclosure.
And when we look at it, the field, it's a
shell. It's a wave. It's a wind shaped gene. The
tinder expression again here creates that warmth and gives the
value a natural character and connects it with the waterfront.
The performance lawn is shape as a broad, gently sloping
amphitheater that it rises gradually away from the shelf. Um,
and I think the landphone, it creates, it provides beautiful
sidelines to the stage. And it allows the large crowd
to sit and conf me, um, experience the venue. We
also think that the land form that we're creating around
it, uh, supports that movement, flexible ground circulation and enables
the place to function as an everyday park. And then
the events are on as, as that place that it's
truly memorable and activated. Next slide. Please. Okay. I'm jumping
in on this one. Um, so we are suggesting that
we reimagine the approach to the river mouth as an
arena discussion. Um, and as the slight suggests, um, this
is, this is a very bold, bold approach. But we
think it's something definitely worth investigating and further detail. And
we're taking three approaches to the river mouth. Um, obviously
everyone's familiar with the river. It's unpredictable. It has silting
issues. Um, it impacts life up towards the town itself
as far as how it's managed. And the expenses of
dredging, et cetera. And the first intervention we're suggesting is
introducing a new channelization of the river mouth, stabilizing the
river mouth from swinging back and forth along the beach.
Um, with, uh, with two new groins. Um, that in
theory should allow for, for the river to self manage
itself as far as, uh, cleaning the sediment deposits, et
cetera. And so doing the second intervention is that if,
if the, the groins are successful from a perspective of
managing the river, managing it from a, from a boning
perspective and access perspective, um, there is a lot to
say there is a potential for a bayside marina. And
further to our marina studies, there is demand regionally around
the bay that we could estimate between 250 to 400
slips for seasonal slips here to be integrated. So this
is in combination with the transient slips that we're suggesting
at main end. Now once this is all here, um,
the, the really wonderful opportunity is to say, well, can
we now bridge, uh, bridge the mouth of the river.
And actually finally connect the full 14 kilometers. Of the
beach into an incredible community amenity. It is also an
incredible landmark. It puts wasaga on the map from a
perspective of this becomes a three hour promenade from, from
one end to the other experience the beach and all
the different communities along it. So it's an incredible opportunity
to create a true landmark for Wasaga that has a
functional role as an infrastructure piece. Um, needs to say
anything here has to be truly vetted with environmental, um,
restrictions and study and technical study. But we would hope
that it does a few things. One is that it
could expand the plumber habitat and the beach creation here
could actually expand and make this a more hospitable area.
Um, we also want to make sure that Sturgeon and
fish habitats anything that is built in here would actually
improve and foster growth in those, uh, environmental, um, investments.
And then back to shady. Thank you, Denice. And continue
here. Uh, so now we're at the West Waterfront. Westwaterfront
starts from the Third Street and the cultural park and
the vision for it, which we heard a lot from
the community is about a year around citi landscape that
can incorporate all gathering waterfront environments. And always coming together,
uh, which also can provide, uh, in the future, um,
some kind of, um, collection with the enuncia island and
the Nancy Museum and being able to work with more
curated artists. Uh, the word of film itself, it emerges
as series of outper rooms. They're all elevated and wrapped
around the protected forges. Uh, and along the southern edge,
always flanked by the multiple paste pathway for cycling that
connects all the way from west to the east waterfront
to the point. Releasing the PLOT and parking and facilities
have been maintained in this scenario. And there's also an
opportunity for a future TREFOP trekking operator to use part
of the existing woodlock where you see the label, uh,
aerial attraction is. The next slide, things. Again, in any
of you of the proposed waterfront park, uh, the east
to west remains, uh, the most important element defining both
movement and where people can leader. And that I think
that language defined both these and best waterfront. It remains
starts along the DUN landscape and allows the public, um,
access while limiting disturbance to the sensitive DEA vegetation. Uh,
it's broader. Uh, it curves around the forebooms and brings
parallel to the signed beach, which you can see it
features the outer wounds with sitting areas with the potential
food trucks coming in. It has two major, bigger, as
you can see the image. Outer wounds. One is the
community deck, which is an elevated part of the boardwalker.
It direct access and accessible accesses and ramps since there's
two to the beach suitable for gathering, a potential splash
bag, uh, a themed playground and some spilaxos for any
future possible, uh, beach bar operators. And as you can
see, a new bike path, multiple spike path is a
dedicated pathway and runs along the boardwalk, under southern edge.
And it runs through the green buffer on both sides
and creates that faster moving effect at the same time
along the beach and constantly looking at all the activities
in the beach. And you can see again in the
background, the wood lots have been preserved. There's an opportunity
for an aerial attraction, a trekking tab to accommodate and
also maybe a future government that will give that three
- dimensional really higher up view of all these attractions
which can be quite amazing. Next slide, please. It's a
type and just, uh, this is an example. It's a
type of an attraction that can be accommodated in the
woodlock. It really benefits from being in the mature good
block because the seasons that was not used, it can
be kind of the structures can be combined with denatural
elements. And it's something that really doesn't know how, it
doesn't matter how old you are. It's an exciting, I
think, uh, opportunity for folks in all ages. Next slide,
please. So, uh, this is a closer look at the
proposed character for the community. Deck. And it is the
vibrant waterfront hub where recreation social activity beach experiences. They
all come together. Uh, at the heart of it, uh,
it can include an interactive, a very theatrical water feature
experience. Kids always enjoy it and families as well. Being
the closer to the beach. It can be flanked by,
uh, theme playground structure. Uh, and really goes open gathering
spaces that constantly are, uh, in between the beach and
the other activities that can happen on this community there.
And adjacent to it, we can see that dedicated multipurpose
pathway that supports the cycling walking. And in general, I
would say active lifestyle. Which it's quite important, it's quite
critical for all folks and old ages. Uh, but at
the same time maintained that safe, really comfortable, uh, separation
from a more social and pedestrian, um, focus spaces. Um,
I think this relationship really reinforces the waterfront board as
both a movement corridor and also a place to lay.
Thank you. Thanks. And this few illustrated proposed gateway through
the waterfront. It's right at the intersection of the Third
Street and the cultural part to the North. And the
beach drive and it features again one of those ex
pounded elevated decks. A few spaces provide opportunities for more
social gathering and enjoying the doomspate environment. This intersection, it's
really important because that's where it's the introduction to the
rest of waterfront and can create a strong identity for
it. Both creators opportunities for public art, indisgenous partnership, uh,
storytelling interpretations and cultural expressions in the public firm. Late
town plantings and shade trees and naturals last few areas,
uh, are quite critical to soften the edge. And kind
of create that transition between the public run and a
more sensitive beach environment. Next slide. Please. This view presents
the cultural park as a real, that real year round
public destinations that it is meant to be. It shows
how the activities can be extended beyond the traditional reach
season. Uh, and it's conceived as that flexible cultural landscape
environment. It brings together gathering spaces, public art, uh, opportunities
for First Mission Envelopment. Uh, to create that, uh, VCs
and, uh, opportunities. It also includes that integrated doomscape environment
to it and the ecology and puts them at the
forefront. Why creates these small pavilions, uh, these sheltered outdoor,
uh, gathering areas that can support year around community gatherings.
Um, I think this cultural play features, important, it's very
important installations in this park. That's where it moves a
lot with food. The recreation and culture. And that's where
it invites exploration and interpretation. Uh, andy formal play. Uh,
and I think these places all together should be seen
as a cohesive element with cohesive languages. Uh, that distinctly
identify the public grant strategies for the safe approach. Thank
you. Good morning, Mayor and Council. It's been a pleasure
to work with you and your staff and community on
this project. It's been very fun and exciting. When our
team started about a year ago, one of the first
big opportunities that we saw was, uh, what we've been
calling the discovery corridor. If you look at, uh, wasabi
Beach from above, you realise that some of its greatest
assets really are, uh, kind of aligned. So there's beach
area two just adjacent to the main end. There's the
Nancy Island historic site, which we all know is being
reinvested in by the province. And then on the other
side of the river, there's the Provincial Park. A bit
of a hidden gem in the community. So we see
a tremendous opportunity in physically linking all of these spaces
as well as creating new destinations along that corridor. So
Shadi just walked you through the culture park. Uh, there's
also an opportunity to, uh, reimagine this site, the town
hall site in the longer term if town hall finds
a new home in the community. So I'll walk you
some, uh, through some of the key opportunities that we
see along this corridor. But first and foremost is the
physical connection. A pedestrian bridge over the not Ozaga River.
And this isn't a new idea. It was actually proposed
in the original master plan for the provincial park back
in the 1960s and 1970s. Uh, the idea was to
not just link these, um, these major destinations back then,
but it was also to relieve some of the traffic
pressures to provide an opportunity for people to park and
walk across the river. What we're seeing differently here though
is that the bridge is not just about a physical
connection to the beachfront. It's meant to be a piece
of civic infrastructure in and of itself. So you can
see in the rendering, it's a very beautiful piece of
architecture. And you can imagine seeing it from the main
end bridge, uh, sort of as the backdrop to the
sales structures that are on Nancy Island. We also see
it as a bit of a destination in and of
itself. Deniz spoke about the transient marina. People are really
drawn to water, the activity along a river. You can
imagine people stopping here and to just watch the boat
activity going by. Uh, we have had Tatim, our engineer,
a look into this at a more at a very
sort of pre - feasibility level, just to understand how
it is functional from different perspectives in terms of the
length of the span, uh, making sure that an accessible
connection can be made across the river. But also to
ensure that, uh, there's enough of a span and height
to ensure that this doesn't disrupt boating activity along the
river. This of course would need to be, um, worked
through in more detail, uh, particularly with, uh, HPP on
the Nancy Island Historic site. Along Main Street, uh, the
focus of our work has really been, uh, the main
end in terms of building up a number of anchor
destinations to really drive animation, uh, throughout the year. Um,
but we did talk a lot about Main Street through
public engagement. Um, what we heard from the community was
that they wanted to see a lot of, um, sort
of mixed use developments, shops and restaurants with new residential
uses above. Main Street is a very long street. And
I think that type of development will take decades to
happen. Uh, what we've done in the master plan, the
emerging master plan is really focused on two nodes along
Main Street. The first is what we're calling village square
sort of focused around the intersection of Main Street and
Backstreet. So we're calling these two, uh, anchor mixed use
developments, um, which would essentially introduce a significant amount of
density, uh, rate on Main Street helped to sustain local
businesses and services, uh, feed on the street, for example,
but also to sort of set the scale, um, and
set the scale and the quality of design for future
development, uh, long Main Street. At Stonebridge Boulevard and Main
Street, the other sort of node opportunity, uh, another site
where the town does own property and there are other
properties that could come into play. Uh, this is an
opportunity for what we're calling a civic bloc, some sort
of civic use commercial use as well. But also mixed
use development along Main Street. The opportunity here and why
we consider this a strategic site. Is it really is
a lot of people's first impression to Wasaga Beach. So
coming down River Road and into Main Street. This is
people's first experience. So to, um, highlight that with great
architecture and an enhanced public realm, uh, would create a
first, great first impression from the get - go. This
is a rendering of a potential development along that village
square node, which comes with a civic space along with
it. Um, of course, this would go through more detailed
design and the design and look of it would evolve.
What we've tried to visualize here is something that captures
a more small town, um, or wasaga character, uh, that,
uh, kind of more authentic to the local environment. We
also talked a lot about the Provincial Park as an
opportunity through public engagement. And I think what we heard
from people is that, um, it's a hidden gem, uh,
everyone knows about the beach, not enough people know about
what the Provincial Park has to offer. Uh, so there
is a lot that could happen here. And this would
be subject to discussions with, uh, province about how to
enhance it as a destination and not just in the
summer, but, uh, throughout the year. Uh, some of the
ideas that we've put forward for discussion are an enhanced
Nordic centre and spa. So building on the Nordic centre
that is there, creating an opportunity for people to spend
the day skiing or snowshoeing, um, enjoy a day at
the spa or drink at the end of the day.
So enhance lounge areas, dining areas, for example. Opportunities to
actually stay in wasogabeach Provincial Park. So, um, opportunities for
camping and glamping, but also, uh, potentially paddlin campsites ski
and campsites. At different locations within the park. On our
first trip here, the town team took us up to
monument hill. Incredible views across the bay and to the
escarpment. Um, the opportunities to leverage that. We've put forward
ideas about viewing platform to enhance that view and expand
that view. And then an adventure park. So shady showed
some examples of opportunities to get up in the trees
in an ecologically sensitive way. Um, for, for youth, but
also for adults to sort of interact more intimately with
the natural environment, uh, in this part of town. Just
a few precedents of other places across Ontario and beyond
that have introduced these kinds of elements in provincial parks.
Then on improving connections, Tim mentioned at the outset that
we've had Tatim, our transportation engineer, uh, look more broadly
across the town in terms of, um, connectivity. One of
the things that, uh, came through that is that, uh,
there are strong cycling connections to saga beach, but actually
getting through wasogach beach, uh, is a bit of a
maze in terms of, um, they're not being a very
clear and direct connection. Um, we have mapped out a
potential crosstown cycling route and identified, uh, the specific improvements
that would be required to implement that, uh, building on
density and bridge across an Ottawa Saga River. That could
potentially be part of that connection. But there is an
opportunity along River Road east to facilitate that as well.
We've looked more broadly at the whole town recognising that
people's experience, uh, in Wasaga Beach begins the moment they
arrive. Uh, so we've provided recommendations on enhancing gateways and
approaches. So the main places of arrival opportunities to improve
this with landscaping, uh, coordinated tree planting, for example. The
18th Street were veterans way bridge. This is a bridge
that has been studied through in EA as being necessary
to help alleviate some of the traffic pressures that, uh,
the main end in particular experiences. So the master plan,
the emerging master plan lends support for that notion of,
uh, what would first be, uh, an active transportation bridge
and then expanded to a full vehicular bridge in the
future. And then finally, uh, Mosley Street Improvements wrecking this,
recognising this corridor as, as one of the key corridors
into the heart of Wasabab Beach, something that could be
enhanced with, uh, with streetscape improvements as well. Uh, Tim
mentioned that there'd be a lot of ongoing technical studies.
Um, there are some that he would like to report
now in terms of some of the environmental review and
the initial economic impacts of the master plan. I'll just
wrap up with a few more slides. Again, thank you
for your patience. I hope you can tell through our
lengthy presentation that not only is there a lot on
the plan, but we're quite excited about many of the
ideas. So a lot of them are potential proposed. We'll
need more, more study and refinement. But we think collectively
they could really have an incredible impact and achieve our
objectives. Uh, just briefly, I want to talk about the
environmental review that Azamith undertook on the emerging concept plan.
So we wanted to ensure that what we were proposing,
because the lot of change, as you can tell, uh,
that it's emerging in the plan. And we've got to
look at the potential impacts of that, of the development
of the public realm improvements, the infrastructure. Um, we have
been, as you might recall from day one, conscious of
where this environmental features are, as it went through a
very clear line about, this is where you can go.
This is where you should not go in terms of
any significant changes. And they are satisfied through their review
that we have respected those lines. And they have flag
no major concerns in terms of environmental impacts. Noting, however,
that, you know, the devil will be in some of
the details. And that as the more detailed design happens
from any of these projects, there will be need to
look more closely at features, maybe a requirement to kind
of adjust some of the footprint subjects. For example, the
boardwalks that Shelley described for you, some of them do
go on the beach and partly intentionally to kind of
manage, um, where people go on the beach. In fact,
try to protect the DuN environment in particular and the
piping plenty of habitat. But it might be that we
have to adjust the alignments of those kinds of features.
Um, and as with also pointed out that implementation of
the plan is about actually better managing human activity, so
those areas are protected. And in fact, enhancing habitats as
changes occur particularly on the waterfront. I want to share
some numbers. We have MBLCO on our team who have
undertaken a preliminary economic impact assessment of the emerging plan.
Let's kind of begin to understand what impact is going
to have. We've got to make the case to the
province and others that there's a lot to be, to
begin here and a big impact that can happen locally,
regionally, and province - wide. We're looking at probably with
the development that's envisioned, conceptualized in the plan, perhaps about
two billion dollars in construction spending. And that translates to
over two billion dollars and actually boost to the province's
GDP. 26 over 2, 600 construction jobs over the next
10 to 15 years when we would hope that much
of what we were showing can be built. Uh, in
terms of the tourism impact, you're at about two million
visitors, two million last year. And I'm guessing you're probably
around 2 million dollars this year. We see that going
up to about 2. 6 million over the next decade.
That's going to translate into about 91 million dollars in
additional tourism spending. That's not an insignificant number. And in
terms of jobs, tourism related over 600 and close to
600 other permanent jobs, about 1, 200 in total. And
of course, it'll be interesting in the tax revenues that
will come about from new development, looking at things at
the regional county and municipal level. It's 23 million dollars.
Once things are built out in almost half of that
coming to the town of Wasaga Beach. So I think
pretty impressive numbers there. And I also want to balance
the kind of economic impact with recognition that there's also,
we think are going to be a really significant improvement
to the quality of life for resident with saga beach
with many of the changes that were proposing in the
emerging plan. And you really see them summarized here. We've
talked a lot about the improvements to access and mobility.
We're maintaining protecting existing PORPN on the waterfront and adding
to it, enhancing it, adding more recreational amenities. I think
you've got a very clear idea that there's going to
be many more cultural spaces and facilities for a whole
range of programming. Commercial Metis that will come through the
mixed - use development restaurants, shops along Main Street and
main end. Uh, educational opportunities, particularly with the Eco Centre,
but also the investments in nasty island. Clearly, these will
be bigger destinations, not only for tourists, but for school
groups. And finally, we all have a time intending to
see built more housing, particularly in downtown. That will take
the form of townhousing and apartment buildings along Main Street,
which we really would kind of give you a more
balanced supply of housing citywide to support your more diverse
population. And that. Really takes us just pretty much to
the end. So here you see an outline of our
next step. We have an update to the community at
the, uh, public forum this evening that Andrew will deliver.
We're going to be continuing to engage with the community.
As you saw in one of the early slides, indicious
engagement was initiated earlier this summer. Uh, and we'll continue
that relationship will be important as the plan is implemented.
Conversations are kind of ongoing with the province. And we
want to make sure that there are kind of supportive
of many VIET ideas here. As I think you can
appreciate. The Province will have a role in implementing parts
of the plan. And then we'll be refining, fine tuning
the master plan over the next month before we bring
it back to you and to the public at an
open house on, as Andrew said, September 24th is the
target date for that. And then it's on to the
next phase of work. More detailed design, more detailed feasibility
studies. More detailed environmental reviews, approvals. And execution. Thank you
very much for, uh, listening to this like. Uh, to
pro - reference as we address what request questions you
may have comments you may have. Thank you. Well, thank
you very much, Tim Dennis Leo Shady online. If she's
still with us and James, I think it's the first
time we've been together that we really haven't seen, Sarah
Ning, but I'm sure they're busy at the office working
away on this. So thank you again, Tim, to you
and the team for coming out today and giving us,
uh, this presentation as everyone can see. This is, this
is a big project. And it's complex. And, uh, it
takes time and it will continue to take time. But
I, I certainly think we're on the right path. Before
I go any further, I'm going to look to our
CIO and any other staff we have comments. Then I'll
go to members of Council Andrew. Mr. Mayor, I had
two additional slides. I know you're busy. You've been writing
down a bunch of questions. We're slightly, Andrew. These are,
these are good ones. These are fun ones. Go ahead.
Can I add more can you please put up those
two other slides.
There we go. Um, before we get into the detailed
questions about the master plan, I wanted to share. Um,
what I believe is exciting news. Um, you may have
noticed in one of the renderings, there was a gondola
shown. Please, that is just a conceptual drawing that came
from urban strategies. I'm excited to announce that, um, this
morning council actually approved entering into a letter of intent
with Doppelmire and gondola ventures corporation. Um, gentlemen over my
left shoulder, represent both companies, uh, DOPEMIR, Canada, uh, will
be working with us over the next little while. This
is the result of a request for expression of interest
that the town put out a couple of months ago.
Um, DOPLmire and GBC came to the table. They are
partnering on this. And, uh, what we're going to do
with them is explore the potential for, um, aerial gondolas,
uh, within wasogabach as a recreational asset. As you can
imagine, this would be an incredible tourist draw. That's also
a way for our residents to get around our community.
So we're going to be exploring potential alignments as early
as tomorrow. We're going to spend, uh, bunch of time
on the ground, uh, walking through wasagi beach and what
we can connect to. I will share with you that
these are, uh, world renowned companies. I recently returned from
Portugal and wrote one of their gondolas in Madeira. So,
uh, wasabi Beach has world - class assets. We are
now attracting world - class investors who are looking to
work with us to create, uh, a destination worthy of
our reputation. Um, so we're excited about this. Uh, the
work will include looking at potential alignments as well as
the creation of a business case. Uh, for how this
gets funded, um, DOPLMYR GBC have incredible international connections with
respect to financing. Um, so we're looking to unveil that
shortly. And, uh, again, more, more to come on that
front. And if you could share the second slide. In
Shadi's images, uh, she identified an area that we thought
would be appropriate for some aerial attractions. Climate courses, the
coasters, uh, zip lines, et cetera. Um, we're trying to
look at layering the fund back into wasabich. Historically, we
had a lot of this kind of stuff. Uh, the
village at Blue has climbing courses, et cetera. As part
of our request for expression of interest, we had a
company come forward known as EcoTech. They are a local
company. They built the ropes course at the Village of
Blue. They are interested in working with us to actually
create these types of fun attractions in the short term.
We are actually pursuing and hopeful that we can actually
get some stuff in the ground for 2027. Um, maybe
2028, but, uh, we're trying to do this quite quickly.
Uh, so again, uh, we hear the community loud and
clear that you want the fun brought back. We're on
it. And we think in addition to ecochek, uh, working
with top of myer and GBC, we're on the right
path to bring some of that fun back to wasababach.
With that, I'll turn it over to questions. Thank you
very much, Andrew. And yes, truly very exciting and exciting
that, uh, you know, with all that's happening here with
Destination with Saga, as you mentioned, Andrew, we are attracting
world - class. Developers and organisations who want to be
a part of the longest freshwater Beach in the world
and what we have here. So, uh, any other comments
from any members of staff. I'm not seeing any. I'll
look to members of council. Council Belanger. Through the mayor,
thank you very much for the presentation. Truly exciting. I
was already hearing many comments from a residence as we
see the very limited finishes that are coming out of
the ground at the Beach Front as they try to
envision the final product. And this just is going to
be such an assistant, says, uh, to understand the project
completed. And the detail you provided has been amazing. And
certainly, we will become a world - class international tourist
destination. And thank you very much. Yes, Mary. You're very
welcome. Yeah. It's been a pleasure to work on this
project. Thank you, Councillor. And I'll go to Councillor Tims.
Thank you, your worship. I just want to say that
I'm confident that a very full and complete consultation took
place. I really like the emphasis on the natural environment
aspects. I think it's wonderful. Um, I see so many
opportunities with the new Dardanella, not only just to activate
that space, but to bring us conferences and meetings. And
things that can give us a full cultural activation as
well and really see that as a, uh, definitely a
12 month active space at our Beach French. I would
really probably just like to say that I won't be
surprised if I see some architectural awards in the future
days ahead. And, um, I'm quite excited about the cultural
park and the, uh, consultation with our indigenous communities, our
First Nation communities. And I really, uh, like that expression
better managing human activity. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor Andrew.
Yeah, thank you. Councillor Tims through Mayor Smith. The importance
of the Dardanella cannot be understated. That is a critical
piece of our revitalization. Um, it is a key catalyst
that will help drive further investment. I also want, uh,
picking up on your comment about conventions. Um, it's also
very important to recognise the significance of having the numeriat
in close proximity to that building. Um, we know sun
rays quite excited. Uh, we shared the image of the
DARD fairly recently with them. So they're excited about this.
They're interested in working with us in some capacity to
help make it vibrant. And ensure it's run properly. Um,
but sunry is looking at convention facilities in their hotel
three to 400 folks. The DART can also handle equal,
if not more. So that allows us to compete for,
we're not going to attract AMO to wasababeage. But the
Ontario Professional Planner's Institute where I'm going to be speaking
in a couple of weeks with Trevor and I know
the team from Urban Strategies will be there. Um, that's
the kind of convention that we can attract to a
Saga Beach that I'm quite confident that they would be
keen to come here. So that changes the equation for
us. And we can bring those in the off season
to help drive business and visitation. So those assets are
really important. Thank you, Andrew. And now go to Councillor
DeLeo. Thank you through your Mr. Mayor. All reserve a
lot of my questions when we have a regular council
meeting on this. The presentation was fabulous. Thank you. I
really enjoyed that. Um, the Darednella. When historically, the Dardanella
was a venue for music. So this is not technically
the same. PENTS. So through you, Mr. Mayor, it absolutely
is. So it's a flexible venue that absolutely can be
a music venue. And it is intended to be a
music venue. It's just flexible that it can do more
than just music. So it's flexible to be able to
host receptions, conventions, but the core function of that building
is about music. That's our identity. We're bringing the name
forward because that's what we want to recreate. Um, the
DARDNELA, quite frankly, it was a bar. This is a
sophisticated venue that allows us to compete within Ontario. And
let me explain a little bit what I mean by
that. There are larger concerts that go on in southern
Ontario at the Rogers Centre. You name it. There's a
bunch of venues down there. In central Ontario, there is
a lack of really high quality performance venues. This would
really separate us from the crowd and provide the ability
for intimate music performances. That's what CBRE has shared with
us. That's our sweet spot where you can come and
see great Canadian bands, Bear Naked Ladies, others, uh, in
a venue of 800, 000 people where in Toronto you're
seeing them with crowds of 20, 30, 000. So it's
much more intimate. And that can really be historically what
we've always been. You've been able to see those in
a small venue. So we think there's a strong market,
but I just want to emphasize music is core to
that building. What wasn't the arena also built with the
same idea of bringing music over there. Then we have
the community theatre at new school. Then we have the
band shell that's going to be built. Is that not
supposed to be for the larger? I'm seeing all these,
do we have that many people going to come? And
sorry to interrupt. Um, council has challenged us to become
central Ontario's live music capital. Uh, when you go to
places that have, have gone after a title I got
like Austin, Texas. You need multiple venues. Uh, and they're
all serve a little bit different function. So the new
community theatre is 300 seats. This would have flexibility 11,
1200, uh, at the new DARD. When you're doing an
April wine concert that we did a couple years ago
with 15, 000 people, yeah, that would be out at
the new band shell on the point. If you're doing
a concert in the middle of winter for a couple
thousand, then we have the arena. So we have flexibility
depending on the talent that's coming through. To tailor it
to a specific venue. I envisioned the new dared would
be the highest quality sound acoustic, et cetera, uh, but
again, uh, the wrong with having multiple venues, uh, when
you're trying to recreate the music icon that we always
were and still continue to be. Yeah. And I think,
I think it's important to clear up a couple of
things. The Darknella actually was built to be a dance
hall. In a bowling alley in the basement. Uh, it
was never meant to be a music venue. It turned
out over the years to become more of a music
vendor, uh, venue, especially once, uh, once, you know, new
ownership took over and then it became the hot spot
and so on and so forth. And then with respect
to our arena, uh, there are no was never built
and designed to hold concerts. Uh, it was built as
an arena. Um, this council decided to do our best
in order to host concerts there to raise dollars to
hopefully help pay for that 60 million dollars that we
need to pay off on that building. But it was
built as an arena. It was never built as a
music venue. Sandra. Through your worship. Absolutely. And so I
just wanted to flag a couple of keywords here of
what is being proposed. And one is purpose built. We
do not have any purpose built large indoor venue that
could serve 365 days of the year four seasons. Right.
And so this would be a purpose built performance venue.
The other thing that word that I wanted to really
sort of highlight when we talk about what is being
proposed here is the idea of destination infrastructure and demand
generating infrastructure. So when we think about a venue that
can a purpose - built venue that can provide, uh,
year - round programming, uh, that is, uh, that helps
to create demand for visitation that then spills out into
our community with our local businesses helps get bums and
beds. And so of course the plan proposes many things.
And of course, you can see that obviously hotels need
bums and beds. And that's part of what we do
to create that demand. Just with regards to the other
ideas, uh, and concepts that are proposed right now. Also
there is, uh, weather is a factor. So you have
to sort of look at how you're balancing your destination
infrastructure down at the waterfront. And I think that's one
of the considerations that we're always keeping in mind is
how do you create that iconic outdoor under the star's
festival, that thing that is really much in our DNA
here in Wasaga Beach and balance that with our goal,
which is to become a four season destination. And so
there has to be the right mix. I think that
we're working at still figuring that out. And, uh, but
those are important considerations. Thank you, Sandra Tim. Yes, if
I may, Mr. Mayor. The question, because, you know, when
we look at a project like this, you do have
to look at the feasibility of it. Is it going
to work? It looks great and sounds great to recreate
the Dardanel. And we, we debated, is that the right
name for? Because it's inspired by the Darednella, but it
was going to be much more than that, as you've
heard. And what I like to want to report to
you is that we did have CBRE, as I mentioned,
look at a pre - feasibility study and look at
all the competition regionally, and even beyond, to see how
this would slot in and work at its own facility.
And I just want to share some numbers. So their
projection is that within a few years of it being
built, it would accommodate probably about 85 concert type events.
And then close to about 80 other conferences and meetings,
those kinds of events. And at least once a week,
more than 50 kind of social events, weddings, that kind
of thing. So just about every week, there'd be a
pretty major event in one of the spaces that Leo
described for you. Um, so it's going to be well
used. There's no doubt about that. And as well, you've
got on top, the third floor, you know, a restaurant
that's going to be a fantastic amenity and a revenue
driver. Uh, as well as retail space, a long beach
drive. So that actually makes it a little bit different
too. And, you know, on those times where maybe you're
not generating a lot of revenue from events, you will
through those spaces. So economically, it should be feasible and
have the impact that you've heard Sandra and Andrew described.
Thank you, Tim Councillor. So it's going to be open
all year round, right? Like the views look awesome. So
can anybody just walk in without pain? Is it free
for the residents to walk in when they won and
go to the views and enjoy it? In the concept
we have now, as they are described, that ground floor,
that very open space with all the windows is really
meant to be a public kind of indoor space. And
that was our thinking is that right now in the
winter, there isn't really a place to go and just
sit in the harsh weather and enjoy the beach. So
that's going to provide a kind of sitting area, if
you will, in a closed kind of public space. It
will be a programmable space, so it might be where
you, there are some events that are occasionally held. You
may have displays in there. You may have a little
bit, I think Leo mentioned a kind of mini museum,
if you will interpret some of the heritage of the
town in that space, some other kind of cultural programming
can happen there. It's a very flexible space, but really
meant to day - to - day just be a
space of the public can walk in and enjoy and
then enjoy the views from it. I'm just walking without
pain, correct? Like the public can use that? That's correct.
Correct. Leo. That's a jump in here. Sorry, gentlemen, I'm
just going to ask turn the microphone back on there.
Great, thank you. Yes. So the program is absolutely key
here, and especially it's a really great question. Um, right
now the ground floor is conceived to be as, you
know, what we call the living room. This public is
possible. Um, you know, in recent years, the kind of
performance spaces being built, but more and more, um, the
technology has advanced to now performance space that's adoptable, that's
flexible, that's transformative. It's like a SWIS army knife that
it can do many things, but it can also, uh,
have very high performance spaces. So that's the kind of
space we're looking for here, that it's, it's agile. It's
able to adapt. Um, and, and still be able to
give you what you need. And open and free to
the public. PES. Go ahead, Councillor. This is for Andrew.
Um, the gondola. It's great. But can you tell the
public that Dublimayr and GVC will be maintaining and paying
for it? It's not going to cost us taxpayers or
anything. So through you, Mr. Mayor, we have just announced
the letter of intent to begin investigation about roots and
the business case. We're not at the level of detail
of knowing all the details yet. However, in discussions with
DOPLmire, I believe the intention is that this would be
a privately financed operation. Um, so that's, that's what we're
shooting for. But again, we need the time to review
the business case. Uh, we haven't got to the detail
of whether they would design build own operate. That is
certainly an option. Again, let's let the work take its
course and give these gentlemen behind me the opportunity to
come up with what they recommend as the best approach.
Thank you, Councillor. So just to be clear for the
public, cause I'm sure in five minutes from now, it'll
be all the towns paying for a gondola, uh, we
are looking at the business case, uh, we're working with
the best of the best in this industry. Just as
we are working with the rest of the best with
urban strategies to ensure that we come up with the
best plan, uh, for the residents of esoga beach and
the taxpayers of was saga beach. All right. Now going
to Councillor Eagle. Thank you. And through your worship. Thank
you very much for these proposals is an incredibly exciting.
And I know we spoke a lot on the dart,
but I had notes on it because I was ecstatically,
or what I, would I saw that presentation really? And
the big thing that jumped out at me is that
view. Optimizing that view across our bay is incredible. And
people I know travel worldwide to see that sunset that
we have 24 seven, 365 days of the year. So
to have that alone optimized on is huge in such
a beautiful, beautiful venue. I noticed the first one was
in the soft protection is what I called it in
the summertime, how those canopy roof, whatever you want to
call it. So I could see that in light weather
even that people could still kind of gather there. The
way that comes out over. Just, you know, in our
sprinkly days, not our gales, but, you know. So the
points to it, but I think you've really gone above
and overboard on the dart. I can't imagine. So thanks
for that. Um, what section you called it. Dell at
the Midway, would I pick up there was all that
step seating is what I call it around. I love
step seating. I'm little. I could sit down. My feet
reached the next level. And kids and families gather on
them. I'm a huge fan of it. So you've really
incorporated that step seeding for parents and their children playing.
It's just amazing. And, uh, the whole market kind of
reminded me of Byward Market or Halifax Harbour or people
are walking and chatting. It's compact. And yet open. So,
um, I couldn't help resist it on that. And, uh,
and the game's all, of course, for the weather. We
saw that on the kids mural is a biggie for
them to have that space where they can hang out
and be their winter, our lousy off days. And it's
what people want is some interaction and be it inside.
Okay, I guess I made a note here. I've lived
here quite a long time. And I went, we've gone
from parking lots to people place is what I saw.
There's a lot of greenery still there, a ton of
greenery. When you look at that whole canopy. And the
grasses and the dunes and people sitting out there, that
materializes. I know it's all proposed. But it's really soft
and inviting. There's nothing harsh about it out there. And
then on the, uh, I kind of mentioned that the
natural greed I was looking at the shell there and
the, um, the waterfront hub. Oh, yeah, that waterfront hub.
Do you have a water feature there, like a little
pool. I saw that for the first time this year
at Australia. And it was, I think in weight having.
So you've got a really fierce ocean. Down there. And
then you don't see it, but it comes up. And
then it's at the back of the town where the
stores are. And they have this huge area that is
just like that. And people were laying out on the
grass and enjoying the water. Without being in the ocean.
And so when, when I saw that in there, I
was really excited about it. Cause it's, it's, um, a
windy days. You can still be at the water and
not be in buffeted by the wind. So you can
still be there and enjoy the outdoors in a more
gentle setting. And what else do I have here. Uh.
Oh yeah, the cross town cycling moved. I have a
lot of friends that have, when I campaign way back,
this lady was at me about it. So, um, to
see that is we do have a lot of people
coming here to bicycle. And so that's really important. I
agree. And, uh, in the visitors. So I'm just going
to wrap it up that we've talked a lot about
visitors, but I really, really focus on the residents and
the families. Of course, I have grandchildren and that have
come here and I've been lucky my environment. But I'd
have people complained to me. Our kids don't come visit
me. I said, well, this, we will have your kids
will come visit you. Your family's in friends will want
to come here. We have something for them. So thank
you very much. Thank you, Councillor. Any comments from staff,
sorry, Sandra. Through you, your worship. I just wanted to
say to your comment, uh, Councillor Ego about, you know,
a place for people down at the Beachfront. And for
members of the public, uh, I know that council's familiar,
but you know, we, one of the interesting learnings that
has come out of this process, certainly for myself has
been at 42 percent of the land in the main
end has been dedicated to vehicles, to surface area parking
So just the massive amount of land that is currently
dedicated to cars. It's just been, it's fascinating. And I
wanted to share that statistic with everybody. And so the
plan here is to reduce that, go up of course
with cars and parking, but reduce that land mass of
parking and make that more green and healthy for our
ecosystem, our plovers and everything else. So, uh, that's great.
Okay. Deputy Marshnell. Thank you, worship through you. Um, wow.
Uh, very, very, very impressive to go from sketches to
solid renderings of, of concept, um, congratulations to your team.
You've done a tremendous amount of work. That's, that's clearly
shown into our staff as well. And getting us to
this point and a huge appreciation to the province for
funding this process, um, you know, we are very, very
blessed to be starting this vision. With such detailed design
and a detailed process and being able to pull in
all of the experts that you have to leave no
stone unturned in terms of creating the very best plan
for our residents and future visitors. I really applaud and
appreciate a lot of the design elements and being so
naturalized with the wood and the steel and the steel
roofs and the abundance of glass to really take in
the natural environment and to be mindful of long -
term sustainability with what can be harsh weather environments, especially
in the winter. And I just want to recognise too
that, you know, as you, I, you mentioned one of
the key anchors, um, in the plan is festival square
and how beautiful that is going to be for our
staff to be able to program and to be able
to activate and become a magnet of for people, residents,
visitors to gather. And to recognise that sun ray is
paying for that. So again, we've already brought so many
great partners to this process, even at its elementary stage.
So, um, again, thank you to Sunray for that. I
think also too what I heard when you got to
the arts hub and to the games room area is
really attractive investment opportunity potentially from the private sector. Um,
all I heard in my head was ding, ding, ding,
ding, ding. Because when you have that many people clustered
and brought to an area for so many different reasons,
um, that's just naturally going to be such a successful
element, I feel, um, so thank you for, for that.
And, and the dart for me is extra special because
it's actually what brought me to a saga beach. I
had never been to a saga beach before. And it
was to see Colin James, 22 years ago. And, um,
so it has an extra special spot in my heart.
And I think that to be able to have that
type of venue in the absolute, one of a kind
environment that was saga Beach offers. It's going to be
a bucket list for anybody who's travelling, uh, throughout southern
Ontario and Ontario as a whole. Thank you very much.
Love the presentation. Thank you, Deputy Mercinell. Any other comments
from members of the council. See, none. Uh, team, thank
you so much. Uh, what an amazing presentation. And the
extending part for me is seeing this and to make
it as public as we have, uh, not only the
public participating, uh, you, you folks have talked to hundreds
and hundreds of members of our community. Not anyone outside
our community, but our community. The residents who live here
full time, who have told you what it is that
they want, what they desire, what they loved about was
saga of each before and what they'd love to see
it become. And you've taken that to heart. You've taken
it back to the drawing board. And you've come back
with a few different reiterations, if you will, and then
we get to see today still not the final. But,
uh, a project that is just outstanding and exciting and
has so much for so many. Including, uh, the folks
who visit our community on a regular basis. You know,
we've had quite a few concerts and whatnot this year.
And I get the honour and privilege to get up
on stage and thank everyone for being there. And I
always ask the question, how many people are visiting wasugabach?
And what I can tell you, uh, is often, uh,
it's 50 - 50 at best. Residents attending these events
versus visitors. Um, and the, the last couple have been
probably 75 percent more at these concerts. Our full -
time residents, people who live here, who pay taxes here,
who, uh, eat in restaurants here, who have their doctors,
their denses, their lawyers, uh, you know, they, they buy
their products here, anything they can, um, and the rest
they go outside of town for because they have to.
Not because they want to. And this is helping us
to create a complete community where we don't have to
leave this community not to go to school, not to
shop for anything we may desire unless it's something real
specialty. Um, and create a complete community where we can
all gather together in so many places, uh, to celebrate.
Uh, not just our community, but who we are as
was saga beaters. And, uh, this is, um. This is
extremely exciting. You know, I've been here 61 years. And,
uh, and I've seen some really exciting, fun times in
Wasaga Beach and I've enjoyed a few of those, maybe
a couple at the dart that I remember maybe don't
remember. But, uh, you know, I can think back, uh,
and reminisce about, uh, you know, the owners of the
DARD that, that I can remember as far back, which
was, you know, Jack and Mary Timlock, who just did
such a phenomenal job in making that location, that place,
a special, special spot, uh, not just throughout SIMCO County,
but throughout the Province of Ontario, people come there from
all over, all over the world for that matter to
see bands and, and, and to dances and stuff, uh,
and then of course 18 years with a very good
close friend of mine, Rick and Michelle Saipe, who, you
know, changed it up a bit, modernized it. And, you
know, brought in, you know, maybe somewhere modern things and
great Canadian bands. And, you know, the dark became known
upstairs as the hot spot. Where people travelled from all
over again, the country and some from the world to
see, you know, really great Canadian bands and productions there.
Um, and you know, you, you walk around this town,
if you went out and asked a thousand people, uh,
that are from wasaga beach, some of their best memories.
Uh, they would say it would be at the Darden
Elliot in the summer. And, uh, so, you know, to
see that new building, although it is, it is quite
different than what was there. But that's, that's evolution. Uh,
it is going to be no doubt in my mind
and anchor again in this community that the dart has
been for over a hundred years. And, and I can't,
uh. I can't stress enough how grateful I am that
that concept is the concept that you folks are bringing
forward. And then add the mayor out of hotel. Which
is kind of going to be the wind jammer, if
you will, or the capston in, the biggest building down
there, uh, that is going to put bums in beds.
And, you know, then to look throughout this whole plan
and it's focused on putting bums and beds and people
in seats, in restaurants, in the theatre, um, which is
only going to enhance and make our local businesses not
just in this area. This is downtown. This is, this
is no different than young street downtown Toronto or, or,
you know, Dunlop Street downtown Berry or here Ontario street
downtown Collingwood. This King Street downtown Midland. This is, this
is the focal point. This is where the masses will
come and visit. But they don't stay there. They stay
everywhere else in the community. And this is going to
enhance the business community success rate exponentially. Uh, and you
know, to see the numbers at the end that you
presented to him of construction jobs and full - time
jobs. And the dollars that are going to come into
this can be 91 million dollars. Annually. That is, that's
where massive amounts of input and influx in dollars to
our local businesses that are here today. And, um, so
it's just great. It's, numbers are staggering. It's very positive.
I'm looking forward to the final, uh, rendition to present
this to our public. And what I can tell you,
I've talked to a lot of people in this community,
especially over the last, uh, month or two. And I
hear all the time, um, from all different way. I
love it. I've loved it from the beginning. I don't
like it. I hate it. Uh, which are few and
far between. But what I hear more and more often
is, you know, I wasn't sold in the beginning. But
as this is evolving, you know what? There's some parts
of it I still don't like maybe, but wow, it's
going to be pretty spectacular. And I'm here to tell
our residents today, give it some time. Let us get
it moving because I believe once you're able to go
down there and touch it and feel it and walk
it and see it and see the infrastructure coming out
of the ground and see, you know, the hotel being
built, you see the dardonella coming to fruition. I think
everyone here and around the world, when they come here
is going to fall in love with was saga beats
like they have for, you know, the last century and
a half, uh, and they're going to create memories to,
you know, to use Sandra's tagline here to use memories
to create memories that are lasting a lifetime. We've got
it happening. We've had it happening. And we're going to
enhance it and continue it happening. So thank you, team,
for all of your hard work and this. And for
those of you who think that maybe you know better,
find me a team. World class who has done these
projects all over the world. Like Urban Strategies. And then
maybe I'll agree you might be able to do better.
But, um, the most important part, I'll just end with
is that, um, I'm so happy and proud that. You
spoke to our residents, you listened to our residents. When
I look at the amount of green space that is
still left down there, or being created, that isn't there
today. Uh, the paved jungle, if you will. It's amazing.
And, and I'll just reiterate, uh, Deputy Mayor's point. Thank
you to Premier Ford and the province of Ontario for
coming to the plate and joining us as our partners
and creating destination with saga. This is going to be
something that not only us here in Wasaga Beach, you're
going to be proud of for generations to come. But
so is the province of Ontario. I'll end with that.
And I see Sanders chomping at the bit to say
something, Sandra. Thank you, your worship, your excitement is contagious.
Uh, I just wanted to pick up on a couple
of things that you mentioned in your, your remarks right
now. One of them is teamwork. Again, I just want
to also personally hear thank the team at Urban Strategies.
Thank the team at the province that is right there
next to us working alongside us very collaboratively as we
move forward. Um, and I do also just want to
speak again, also to your point about it not being
final. Um, we have come an incredible distance since this
work began. And now we do have this much clearer
revision for destination with saga that is supported by extensive
community input and a significant body of technical work, which
you've seen some of that today. Um, but this is
not the end of the process. These are concepts, um,
this represents an important milestone. There's more work to do,
uh, we are going to continue to move forward with
meaningful, indigenous engagement. We're going to continue to align with
the province and develop individual projects, uh, but we have
a very strong foundation here for the next phase as
we continue our work. So thank you. Thank you, Sandra.
And sorry to our guests, but last but not least
and most importantly, uh, thank you to our staff. Uh,
for all your hard work and dedication. You know, council,
it's great and easy, quite frankly, for council to come
up with ideas. Um, but it's these folks that make
it happen. And, uh, we couldn't be more proud of
our staff here in the town with Saga Beach and
the hard work and dedication that you all put into
everything we do and accomplish your every day. So thank
you. All right. We'll move on. And I do have
a, uh, motion before me, uh, with a recommended motion
that the report title Destination was SAGA master plan update
to the Special Counsel meeting of August 27, 2026. B
received for information. Can I have a move in a
second on this please? Councillor Belanger and Deputy Mayor Snell
all in favor. That carries unanimously. Thank you very much,
team. Appreciate it very much. And safe travels. Idle number
six on the agenda is Deputations and we have no
deputations today. Idem number seven is the closed session rising
report. Now now look to our clerk Nicole for that.
Madam Clerk.
Thank you, worship. Just allow the crowd to disperse there.
Council entered closed session at 10. 04 a. m. to
discuss the following matter. Item 6. 2. 1 destination wasaga
initiative. And accordance with section 239 2K of the municipal
act. As a result of that, uh, meeting and discussion,
the CAO provided members of the public with an update
on that initiative. And the following motion is before Council
for consideration. The mayor that the mayor and clerk be
authorized to execute the letter of intent for the development
of a gondola at wasaga Beach with DOPLmire Canada Limited.
If we can get a mover in a secondary worship.
Thank you Madam Clerk. You've heard the question mover to
Second Councillor Tims and Councillor Eagle. All in favor. That
carries unanimously. Thank you very much, Madam Clerk. And now
moving on to item number eight, which is our bylaws.
And we have a recommended motion at the bylaws B
received and to be deemed have been read a First,
second, and third time in past number 2026 - 58.
Could have a mover in a second for this bylaw,
please. Move by Councillor DeLayo, seconded by Councillor Eagle. All
in favor. And that carries unanimously. And this meeting is
adjourned.