Thoughts from away

txMy wife and I have just spent a few days in the Niagara region, followed by a trip to Ottawa to visit family. Both visits made me think about Wellington.

On our first trip, we visited Niagara Falls and Niagara on the Lake, just as most tourists do. Niagara Falls was duly impressive. The lilacs along the Niagara Parkway were in full bloom. The butterfly conservatory is an experience you cannot grow tired of, although I found it quite easy to get tired of the number of people taking selfies with butterflies lightly perched on their limbs or torsos.

But then we visited Niagara on the Lake. It was picture perfect; not a hair out of place. The municipal workers came by with scissors in hand to micro-trim the plants in the street planters, and rushed to sweep up any stray piece of litter that had fallen from a tourist’s wayward hand. The stores—the Christmas shop, the Irish shop, the Kitchen shop, the Hat shop, the Candy shop—were all lined up in a row presenting elegantly understated displays to lure you in off the street. In short, it was all too neat and tidy for me.

If you want neat and tidy, you can have it; I prefer a little bit of grit and grime with my heritage touristing. I’d sooner visit St. Catharines to see the lake freighters go through the Welland Canal’s narrow locks than watch the yachts at the Niagara on the Lake marina. Or go to nearby Thorold, a municipality whose heritage main street helped it win the Prince Charles prize for municipal heritage leadership in 2017, even though it has its share of tattoo parlours and derelict buildings.

It makes me appreciate Wellington all the more. It’s a place where we are not unafraid to mix and match—to open a chic motel right across the street from a slaughterhouse, for instance. It’s a working village at the same time as it’s a tourist attraction. It’s got a mix of heritage homes and newer homes, of everyday homes and mansions. It’s real. It needn’t change just to suit the visitor who wants neat and tidy.

And then we visited Ottawa. After the city has been busy this year surviving tornados and floods, a pleased-looking mayor announced last Friday that it had officially grown to a million residents. Others we talked to were more sanguine: they noted just how poorly the roads infrastructure has kept up with the increased traffic in the city, and how the public transit system’s light rail upgrade has still not been activated after more than a year’s delay and four missed deadlines.They also spoke of accelerating housing prices and a surge in violent crime.

The lesson? Be careful what you wish for; a population increase carries baggage.

I realize the County is not in Ottawa’s league, and I doubt a surge in violent crime is anywhere near our horizon. Countywide, with a current population base of 24,735, according to the 2016 census, we should be able to pass 25,000 and, if all goes well, maybe hit 30,000 in a few years. Wellington will be pleased when it makes it up from the seemingly permanent 1,700 announced on our welcome signs to 2,000; 2,500 is perhaps a stretch target.

This paper has published numerous commentaries emphasizing the need for growth in our tax base, and it is surely true that planning not to grow is a route to certain decline. Fortunately, there are two new 400-plus-unit developments at the north end of the village ready to move off the drawing board—the “Fields of Wellington” by Alan Hirschfield and Beth Johnson; and “Illusions: Country Club Living” by Kaitlin Corporation.

Putting the infrastructure in place to handle that development will be a challenge. Will the County be able to shape infrastructure costs so that the burden will not fall entirely on the current tax base? On the other hand, will the County be responsible enough to incur the necessary costs to meet the expected demands of an increased population?

There is probably a natural limit on the population that Wellington can handle—whether it be determined by physical plant constraints, farmland preservation concerns, limited road maintenance budgets, service shortages or other factors; but I don’t imagine that we’re at it yet.

There may also be a limit at which tourists begin to resist the lure of Wellington when they see subdivisions around the quaint little village that they were drawn to precisely because it didn’t have any subdivisions to speak of. But heck, if you can tolerate a slaughterhouse across the street, you should be able to tolerate a subdivision or two.

dsimmonds@wellingtontimes.ca