BORDEN-CARLETON – Residents and staff of Borden-Carleton have big plans for the town’s future, thanks to some help from Ekistics Planning and Design.
On Tuesday, Matthew Brown, one of the consultants from Ekistics, presented the draft plan that was created after months of working with the town’s oversight council.
“Although it is extensive, it lays out which concepts are key priorities to carry out in phases,” said Brown.
The presentation outlines feedback from a public survey, as well as challenges the town faces, how Borden-Carleton can relate to global precedents and how to capitalize on the assets the town already has.
It also shared a spatial draft plan that covered areas such as first impression, re-establishing the core in Gateway Village, a central waterfront, connecting outlying areas like Noonan’s Shore with the community and repurposing the fabrication yards.
“In the next two to three weeks, we will take the information we received tonight from questions and feedback to insure the plan answers the concerns or touches on the feedback that was given back to us. We will also work with the oversight committee to finalize the plan.
“Then we will write the implementation chapter and lay out the steps the of how the plan should be implemented. Each project will have a budget with line items and we will help outline what things need to be implemented first.”
Charlie MacKenzie and Barb Wood sit on the oversight committee.
“We’ve been working on this process for two and a half years. It came from the STEP program we completed earlier this year,” said MacKenzie.
Wood added, “It’s a big plan and it will take possibly 20 years to complete. But with the spatial draft it has provided us a guideline if a business or residential area were to develop in the area, and that will help us grow in the future.”
