June 19 - Local News & Weekend Events
Plus: While Committee agrees Vision 2050 document is a good start, they want to see a better-defined vision for our future.
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First up today, before we get to the news: an update on the City’s strategic visioning process.
EDITORIAL
The City of Owen Sound’s Strategic Planning Ad Hoc committee met yesterday to review the “Future Owen Sound: Vision 2050” consultant’s report and staff’s initial implementation plan.
The ensuing discussion revealed a real lack of alignment among committee members on what they expected from the report, as well as differing opinions on how Vision 2050 was intended to be utilized.
However, the expertise and real-world knowledge of committee members (particularly those members of the public who volunteer their time to be there) contributed to an insightful and clearly challenging discussion, too.
The biggest issue that surfaced was: What does a strategic vision actually entail?
(It’s disconcerting that wasn’t clear to all involved before now.)
As a few committee members (specifically Steve Lowe, Clark McFarlane, and Deputy Mayor Scott Greig) pointed out, statements like this one are aspirational but don’t provide a clear vision, as there are no measurable outcomes to tell you how you’d know you achieved it:
By 2050 Owen Sound will… be connected by a comprehensive transportation network, accommodating multiple types of sustainable and accessible ways of travelling through the city.
That’s not a vision, it’s a dream state.
Staff were resistant to the idea that measurable outcomes belonged in the visioning document and advocated for an implementation structure of continuing to develop the vision, metrics, and action items over many years, meetings and (you guessed it) staff reports.
And listen, some of that work needs to happen, too. Perhaps it could be more streamlined than what was described yesterday, which sounded awfully time-consuming at every step. But staff will absolutely need to take direction from this document and then action the decisions and priorities set by committees and Council, in consultation with the public.
So first, we need a shared vision of what they’re driving towards.
And the above aspirational statement doesn’t tell you what that is in any actionable or measurable way.
A fully articulated vision, based on the above report theme, “A City That Moves,” could look something like…
By 2050, Owen Sound will:
Provide residents access to public buses 7 days a week from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Ensure 15-minute wait times or less on main routes during peak hours.
Ensure 95% of residents live within a 500-metre walk of a transit stop.
Equip 100% of buses and transit infrastructure with accessible features (e.g., low-floor entry, auditory and visual stop announcements).
Transition 100% of the public transit fleet to electric or low-emission vehicles.
Develop and maintain dedicated cycling lanes across the city.
Establish a multimodal transit hub that links buses, bike-share programs, and regional transportation options.
Increase public transit ridership by 50% compared to 2025 levels.
Reduce pedestrian and cyclist injuries in transportation corridors by 75%.
Implement traffic-calming measures in 100% of school and senior zones.
Provide subsidized or free transit passes for low-income residents, seniors, and students.
That is a vision you can work towards over the course of 25 years. Those specific, measurable outcomes are essential for guiding the next six Councils in their decision-making and prioritization, and staff in implementation.
And don’t worry; those things can change. Twenty-five years is an awfully long time. But no matter, because effective leadership can adjust and adapt as society and technologies evolve.
We still need to start somewhere.
Owen Sound has lacked a coherent vision for the future for far too long. Are we trying to be a retirement town? A tourism destination? An industrial powerhouse? A work-from-home hub (remember that one) famous for stylish pyjamas?
Ask 10 Owen Sounders and you’ll get 10 different answers.
In the end, the committee agreed they needed more detail. They voted unanimously to accept the report for informational purposes, but to send it back to staff for revision and expansion.
It was the right call to recognize it as incomplete, with one important caveat: it’s not staff’s job to set the vision and decide where we’re headed.
A consultant can’t give you that, either.
They can help gather data and conduct consultations — and they have.
Having a vision and getting buy-in for it is purely a leadership function.
It was clear yesterday that at least some of the people on the Strategic Planning committee expected they would be responsible for this. Why else would you create an ad hoc group including the Mayor and Deputy Mayor — leaders of Council — and community leaders, if not to have them… lead?
As committee member Suneet Kukreja pointed out last night, we can’t just keep hiring more City employees to do more things. They’re busier than ever doing all the things — just ask them. And yet expenses and taxes keep going up while services decline.
That’s not “where you want to live” and certainly isn’t attracting new people to join us.
We need a concrete, shared vision driven by the community and enabled by Council. Only then can it be executed by staff.
It’s good to see the work to create that shared vision being done, and heartening that the committee didn’t settle for Utopian aspirations.
Now, it’s time to get aligned on what we want to be when Owen Sound grows up, and stop the wasteful hamster wheel of directionless busywork, one-off campaigns, pet projects, and endless layers of process.
Council has approved $200,000 in budget for Vision 2050 already, and that doesn’t include the countless hours of staff time that have been spent on this over 18+ months.
Now, it’s time for our leaders to lead. The studies are done, the data is gathered, the staff reports are written and the people have spoken. Establish the vision and lead.
You can watch the approx. 75-min meeting video here (and I hope you do, given the impact this process and work-in-progress deliverable will have on our shared future).
There’s your homework. We’ll discuss the shared vision being developed for our city in greater detail in the weeks ahead. Stay tuned!
Public Notices
City Council will hold a Special Meeting on Monday, June 23, at 12:30 p.m. in Council Chambers at City Hall.
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