Comment
Of rabbits and men
Fewer folks live in Prince Edward County than did 10 years ago. Our population is shrinking. Not by much, but two successive StatsCan reports demonstrate the trend is heading the wrong way. This fact tends to confuse people who see a steady influx of new folks in their midst. Less surprising is that we are also older than most other communities. And, as a demographic, we are getting older faster. These trends are a disaster in the making.
We are facing the prospect of more school closures, empty playgrounds and rinks. Provincial funding for healthcare and longterm care is at risk of being choked off at a time we need it most— because our population is falling, rather than growing. Forget about our crumbling roads and bridges. Without growth, the County will wither to irrelevance.
It feels like it is an issue we should talk about. Perhaps we could consider plans to address this dangerous trend?
Yet, too many of us rarely look beyond the here and now. We grumble about parking spots at the peak of our summer tourist economy. Or the thoughtless behaviour we infer upon these folks who fuel our economy. We imagine these irritations amplifying. Then we stew. And contemplate ways to hobble our economy—tolls, taxes and restrictions— to discourage the attractiveness of the County’s offering. There are some who seek to redistribute the earnings from those who have invested in this economy and worked to build a business in order to compensate those who can’t find a parking spot on Main Street in July.
It is all so short-sighted.
It is an attitude that finds purchase in some corners of Shire Hall—where our municipal leaders tend to view their job as guardians of the here and now. They believe there is something so precious and unique about this moment in time that they must squeeze it tightly—think Lenny suffocating the warm and cuddly rabbits in Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men.
There is a much bigger threat to our community.
Rather than playing defense all of the time, perhaps our planning, development and council members might spend more energy on considering a vision for a growing community. Instead of successive roadblocks, perhaps we work with investors and builders to discover what could be? How we can grow?
Port Picton Homes will be an interesting test. It is an attractive development on what is largely vacant land hugging the south side of the Picton Bay. It imagines the redevelopment of the elegant and stately Claramount Inn. It promises a range of housing forms— apartments, townhomes and single detached dwellings. It features an appealing layout and design that will open up access to the waterfront where little currently exists.
Project planners have compiled volumes of data about the project—road networks, plumbing, topography—in order to satisfy municipal guardians. They have gone so far as to have prepared simulations of the effect of shadows—mostly trees—on the subject property at various times of the day, over several months of the year. It is a thoroughly researched plan.
There will arise legitimate questions—and these will need good responses. But some will be of the ‘I-don’t-want-change’ variety. These must be dispensed with as the shortsighted clutching it is.
Neither council nor Shire Hall can afford to continue to erect roadblocks in front of builders—no longer can they hide behind the vain high ground of over-caution.
It is time for vision. It is time for council and Shire Hall to be bold. Not reckless—but assertive.
Yes, a noisy contingent will arise to complain that this is the worst thing to happen to their community. They will insist we preserve the status quo, to protect the here and now.
But municipal leaders know the data. They know the demographic trends that are making life unaffordable for so many folks in this community. They understand that Port Picton is, in part, a remedy. Alan Hirschfield’s Fields of Wellington project. Kaitlin’s Country Club Estates. Rollin’s residential development in Picton.
We can certainly have a discussion of how much is too much when the County’s population stabilizes. Until then, the greater risk is that we hug this rabbit so hard it stops breathing.
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