The Association of Municipalities of Ontario's (AMO) annual conference has wrapped up for another year, and representatives from Collingwood are hoping their presentations could reap returns.
Collingwood Mayor Yvonne Hamlin, and the town's chief administrative officer, Sonya Skinner, as well as other town councillors and staff attended the three-day conference in London, Ont. this week and participated in three delegations with ministers to ask the province for help with some key Collingwood priorities.
“I think we created a lot of interest in Collingwood,” Hamlin told CollingwoodToday. “A lot of our MPPs didn’t realize how much was going on in Collingwood and South Georgian Bay.”
“It was really good for that,” she said.
Provincial ministers, associate ministers and parliamentary assistants held about 600 meetings with municipalities and municipal organizations from across Ontario at this year’s conference. They discussed priorities including skilled trades, public health, housing and homelessness supports and transportation infrastructure.
Collingwood requested delegations on three topics: a South Georgian Bay regional transit approach, Collingwood’s water treatment plant expansion and Collingwood’s Grain Terminals revitalization project.
“There’s lots we would like some provincial help (with), making sure we can bring to fruition,” said Hamlin.
The AMO meetings, according to Hamlin, were just a preliminary step toward getting that help. The local mayor noted the ministry representatives didn't make any promises.
“They were non-committal,” said Hamlin. “I think, they sit there for three days getting wish lists from the various municipalities and then they’re going to have to sort it.”
On Monday, Hamlin said she met with transportation ministers alongside three other South Georgian Bay municipalities regarding a regional transit approach for South Georgian Bay.
“We included the need to do a regional transit study,” she said. “We were asking for the minister of transportation to take a lead role in helping plan transportation for our region.”
“We can’t plan transportation on a municipality-by-municipality basis,” said Hamlin.
In regards to Collingwood’s water treatment plant expansion, the expansion is expected to cost $120.9 million according to most recent estimates from the town which is currently being shouldered by Collingwood, the Town of the Blue Mountains and New Tecumseth.
“This is such an expensive project. It’s a huge infrastructure requirement for growth in our community, and New Tecumseth,” said Hamlin. “We wanted to let the ministry know what kind of growth we need to accommodate and whether they might consider providing some assistance.”
Plans for the Collingwood Grain Terminals revitalization were first presented to the public in March by developer Les Mallins of Streetcar Developments Inc., with an expected price tag of $200 million overall for the project.
The project, done in collaboration with Dream Unlimited Corporation, includes a 24-storey condominium tower, commercial spaces, a hotel, and redevelopment of the public park at Millennium Point.
As part of the project, the town has committed to improving the public realm lands, such as expanding the roads, shoreline work, improving the marina and running infrastructure along the spit on Heritage Drive. The current estimate for costs for that work which will be born by the town’s coffers comes in at $15 million.
“We told the ministry we thought it could be a good investment for the province, and told them about what a spectacular project it will be,” said Hamlin.
Following the delegations, Hamlin said she’ll be waiting to hear back from the province on the requests, but work will continue on the regional transit item alongside Collingwood’s neighbouring municipalities.
