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Grow or die
There is no Wellington without Wellington-on-the-Lake. At least not a place you would recognize as the village today. Wellington-on-the-Lake breathed new life into a depleted and fading place. Wellington had seen its ups and downs over the decades, but when the last canning factories closed, taking away jobs and a ready market for local produce, the village went into a steep and steady decline.
Something had to be done. Village leaders, including Eugene Snider, Rod Blower and Jack Berkhout, pooled their resources to acquire blocks of land on the east and west side of the village— to build homes to attract Ontario’s growing senior population. It worked. Without Wellington-on-the- Lake, there is no grocery store, pharmacy or bank. Likely no hardware store. Certainly no newspaper. No school. No service clubs. No churches. Perhaps some restaurants and inns might have come in any event, but the vital core—the village’s beating heart was in terminal decline.
Wellington-on-the-Lake succeeded in pumping new energy and fresh dollars into the village economy. In turn, it created opportunities for others to build and expand businesses in Wellington—to build a life in this community.
We must bear this in mind as we consider development plans sprouting around the village. Folks worry about a wave of new homes changing our community—about altering the character of this place. They are right to worry, but new homes—at the right pace, in various formats as prescribed in the village’s Secondary Plan, including semis, towns and apartments—are necessary to sustain our village—our school, shops, health care services and bank.
We resist change. It’s natural. We instinctively bristle at the prospect of a busy village on Saturday mornings, of the challenges of finding a parking spot on Main Street, an increasingly popular beach in the summertime. We are so used to having these things to ourselves that it is unsettling having to share.
But the lesson of Wellington-on-the-Lake is that growth is essential. Either we grow, or we die. Prince Edward County is older than most communities in Canada. And we are getting older faster. This path only leads one way. The good news is that young folks want to live here.
New homes bring new residents. New neighbours. New vitality. New energy. They participate in the economy. Buy goods and services. Enroll their kids in school. They volunteer. They proudly join in village events like Canada Day and Pumpkinfest. They help fund waterworks. Libraries. Parks. Arenas.
And then there is the money. New residents deliver revenue to Shire Hall. Lots of it. Wellington-onthe- Lake pays property taxes in the order of about $1.5 million. Each year. Every year.
Meanwhile, Wellington-on-the-Lake residents require few County services. Wellington-on-the-Lake is a cash machine for Shire Hall. They ask little more than to live quietly among us.
But there are other lessons to be learned from Wellington-on-the-Lake, chief among them is that this subdivision was built too far from the core. It’s walkable for some. But most use a car to get groceries, go to the bank or attend church.
When this community met over 2010 and 2011 to rewrite the village’s Secondary Plan, it made clear that future residential development should be an extension of the village core. It had to be walkable. Interconnected walkways and bicycle paths figure prominently in the Plan.
Specifically, the Plan prescribes new residential housing development incorporating “strong linkages to these neighbourhoods should also ease access to the Village Core.”
But it goes further, articulating a vision of new neighbourhoods that “connects with existing neighbourhoods by means of streets, sidewalks, walkways or bicycle paths, and open space. Such connections will provide access to schools, parks, shopping, and work places and integrate new development in the existing village fabric.”
We must be vigilant. We must speak up for our community. But we must keep our eyes wide open. There are trade-offs in life. Always have been. Stamping our feet and hoping it goes away is not a workable response. Change is coming. New homes are coming. We each have a role to play to ensure this change weaves neatly into the village fabric. Or not.
Fortunately, we have Plan to guide us—to guide new neighbourhoods. Please, familiarize yourself with Wellington’s Secondary Plan. Your neighbours wrote it in anticipation of this day. It is the rule book that will shape our village—but only if we insist upon it.
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