During the evening of Wednesday, January 26, 2011 a very positive and forward thinking public meeting took place at our local school. A partnership between The North Kawartha Community Development Corporation (NKCDC) and the Township of North Kawartha (NK) enabled Apsley to take part in the First Impressions Community Exchange Program. This provincially run initiative offered through the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) pairs two communities with similar characteristics to complete ‘secret shopper’ type visits in each town to discover the first impressions a community conveys to visitors, including tourists, potential investors and people looking for a place to live.
Our community was matched up with Kinmount and the visits took place last summer and fall. The findings and observations from the NK visit were presented to nearly 100 residents at the public meeting. The hour long presentation highlighted our community’s strengths like the beauty of our natural surroundings, the modernization our infrastructure and the variety of available services like social, retail, health and education. Some of the challenges identified were lack of signage both directional and promotional, limited employment opportunities for youth and young families, and limited accommodation for visitors. The report also suggested potential opportunities for us like expanding our tourism economy to four seasons, coordinating promotional activities such as branding, marketing and heritage potential, and attracting retail opportunities through the development of a signature event (e.g. a trade show and/or festival).
The completion of this project dovetails perfectly with the creation of the ‘Community Planning’ Committee of Council (CPC). The committee members are me, Reeve Whelan and Councillor Brown along with community members Lilit Malins, Roman Miszuk and David Wease. One of the first business items for this committee is to develop its terms of reference which I hope will include the creation of a detailed strategy for North Kawartha to be a sustainable and thriving, four season destination. I am looking forward to addressing the issues identified through participating in this most worthwhile provincial program and making our community an even better place to live, work and play! For more info on the Apsley/Kinmount exchange please contact me at (705)656-9453 or at bacouncillor@northkawartha.on.ca . For more information on the First Impressions Community Exchange Program contact Judy Coward at OMAFRA at 1-705-324-5715 or visit www.omafra.gov.on.ca .