ELORA – A newly approved interest-free loan will help the Elora BIA light up the downtown this Christmas season.
Approved at a Centre Wellington council meeting Monday afternoon, the Elora BIA said in a report that the $50,000 interest-free loan from the township would be used to replace downtown Christmas light features.
When asked what will be replaced, the township's director of infrastructure services Colin Baker said the BIA plans to replace its wreaths altogether as the existing ones are "getting old" and "breaking brittle" despite changing out the light bulbs a few years ago.
Speaking against the loan, Coun. Bronwynne Wilton asked whether there's been any discussion about the township developing a lighting policy because they've been "seeing a lot of Christmas lights in Elora lately" between the Elora BIA's lighting project and private groups like Kat Florence or Pearle Hospitality.
Staff later clarified the township does not currently have policies on the use of lighting and would need council direction to investigate one.
"I'm just getting a little concerned about how much is too much in terms of lighting from a night light pollution perspective and if the township needs to start thinking about how we have that conversation," said Wilton.
Isabel Buckmaster is the Local Journalism Initiative reporter for GuelphToday. LJI is a federally-funded program
