WELLINGTON NORTH ‒ Updating infrastructure is high on the priority list as development continues to swell across the township.
Sharing a report on the CMHC Housing Accelerator Fund during a council meeting, CAO Brook Lambert explained that the fund is intended to facilitate various initiatives and actions related to increasing the housing supply.
Using the 10-year capital plan to identify several capital projects required to support their anticipated growth, Wellington North's application included upgrades to Arthur's water supply, both water towers, and the Mount Forest Aquatics Centre.
“The township has been very proactive in a lot of measures over the past several years related to housing,” said Lambert. “What we're finding now is that we have done a lot of work that puts us in a good position to actually build housing if we can support it by building the infrastructure that's also needed.”
Based on these factors, Lambert said Wellington North’s application focuses primarily on using the funding for housing or community-related infrastructure.
“Hopefully we’ll be recognized for some of the work that we've done and we can just get some funding to help with the infrastructure needs that we know we are going to require over the next several years,” said Lambert.
Mayor Andy Lennox used the recent emergency room shutdowns in Mount Forest as an example of the growing need for housing in their community.
“I think we have a lot to be proud of what we've been able to accomplish,” said Lennox. “We need to keep up the work though if we're trying to build not only meet our provincial target for growth but meet our communities needs.”
At the recent AMO conference, Lennox shared there was a lot of discussion about alternative ways for growing municipalities to fund their needs
“When they tell us (Wellington North) is in the large urban stream, I think some of us might find that a little harder pill to swallow,” said Lennox. “But if you look nationwide, there are many, many communities that are much smaller than ours.”
Coun. Penny Renken wanted to know if there has been any recent interest from developers in constructing more affordable housing.
But Lambert said that they can't accept any proposals until the province has set a deadline for affordable, attainable housing.
"On one hand, absolutely people are looking forward to receiving some relief on development charges to build that housing," said Lambert. "But we need to know what that definition is first so that we're not providing incentives for housing that isn't affordable.”
However, Lennox was optimistic that Wellington North's community growth plan has put them ahead of the curve, citing the diversity of housing being built.
“At some point, if we're going to build the housing that the province says we need, and I believe that we do…all municipalities are going to require this support to accommodate the growth,” said Lennox. “We're not going to get to one and a half million homes province-wide if rural communities aren't able to contribute.”
Isabel Buckmaster is the Local Journalism Initiative reporter for GuelphToday. LJI is a federally-funded program.
