Vision 2050 Report Part 5: Missed Opportunities Owen Sound Residents Want Action On
City of Owen Sound survey results show consensus and impatience: residents want action on long-standing opportunities.
In Part 1 of our Vision 2050 report, we released the City of Owen Sound’s 2024 ‘Vision 2050’ community survey responses and dug into responses on whether Council’s existing priorities should be reframed.
In Part 2, we explored additional priorities community members want to see reflected by Council. Part 3 asked what strengths we’re underusing, and Part 4 looked at characteristics of our city that are uncomfortable to speak about or offer a significant opportunity for improvement.
This week’s focus is on Q13: “What is one significant missed opportunity that, if embraced, would positively impact the city?”
What Residents Agree On
A total of 789 respondents provided answers to this question, offering hundreds of detailed ideas and critiques on how Owen Sound could move forward. Their responses highlight untapped opportunities in waterfront development, downtown revitalization, housing, tourism, and local jobs.
Across the responses, five main themes dominate:
Waterfront development and tourism
Downtown revitalization and business attraction
Affordable and attainable housing
Economic growth and local employment
Youth engagement and retention
Dozens of residents also spoke about cleanliness, beautification, and civic pride, alongside public transit, arts and culture, and the need for more inclusive community planning.
You’ll find every response to Q13 in full in Column E of Owen Sound Current’s copy of the Vision 2050 raw survey results, obtained from the City via an information request under MFIPPA.
Five Concrete Moves Residents Keep Repeating
Rather than broad visions or abstract goals, most respondents focused on practical, visible actions the City could take now. The ideas aren’t new, and many have surfaced in public consultations and council discussions before — some over decades.
However, residents say they remain unfinished and stalled, or they’re frustrated by the slow implementation.
Many also pressed for better everyday mobility (longer bus hours/links, safer cycling, and even a second bridge), cleaner public spaces, and a steadier slate of festivals and events—ideas that often tie back to the five moves above.
What stands out in this question is how often people repeated the same five themes, describing them as obvious, long-overdue steps toward making Owen Sound a place that works better for everyone.
1. Make the Waterfront Walkable and Social
Residents repeatedly describe the harbour, river, and bay as Owen Sound’s “sleeping giant” — citing restaurants, public spaces, trails, and water access as practical steps, alongside brownfield cleanup and stalled-site action.
“Our waterfront is under utilized. We should look at making it a place where boaters would like to dock for the night and charge a fee”
“The waterfront. It still blows my mind that we have a FHT, GBPH, and mechanics shops located on the river and harbour, and dilapidated ruins of old buildings begging to be remediated. We have such a tremendous opportunity to build parks and restaurants and walkable waterfront areas on the east side of the river if someone is willing to invest.”
“Develop our waterfront! Attract developers to finish the job (bankrupt building across from Bayshore) From the harbour all the way to the soccer complex. Condos, restaurants, patios.”
“Waterfront development/cleaning up brown space so it can be develop.”
“The waterfront area could be beautiful and attract tourists. Also, shopping and more opportunites on sundays.”
“We are a waterfront community, spend the money to enhance our waterfront.”
Residents overwhelmingly identify the waterfront as a once-in-a-generation chance to define the city’s future around its natural setting. Many envision patios, restaurants, trails, markets, and safe swimming areas connected by walkable public spaces. Again and again, respondents call for leadership to “wake up the harbour” and make the water a daily, social part of city life.
2. Clean and Activate the Downtown
Calls to revive the core centre on cleanliness, safety, consistent hours (especially Sundays), pop-ups and grants to fill storefronts, and stronger enforcement of property standards.
“Allowing the businesses on 2nd Ave E to open on Sundays. More people downtown means more money for small businesses and local owners and a more vibrant neighbourhood. It’s wild to explain to folks visiting that they can’t get a coffee on Sunday unless they go to a multinational like Tim’s or Starbucks”
“Downtown is under utilized. Stores had irregular hours. Some open, some not. Empty storefronts.”
“Clean up and revitalize the downtown core. Provide housing for the homeless and work towards reducing loitering.”
“Property standards! People being proud of their space and enforcing lawn maintenance at the very least! Businesses to clean up outside their place so that’s it’s welcoming and creates a level of confidence in the establishment. First impressions are important. Focus on cleaning up the west end plazas where many tourists stop for their needs before heading up the peninsula.”
“Rent breaks on the downtown commercial spaces to encourage businesses to open up there. Ensuring that when projects begin, they will be completed - IE the sydenham or the other building across from the best western. Large projects that weren’t completed. Purchase of the old court house and jail went through but nothing is happening with it - just another vacant building. Legate building purchased and held vacant, not maintained at all. These are serious issues.”
“Public bathrooms open to all in the downtown core.”
Respondents describe downtown Owen Sound as both the city’s greatest liability and its biggest opportunity. Many say that without clean streets, visible activity, and reliable business hours, especially on weekends, the core cannot recover.
They call for tougher property standards, incentives or grants to fill vacant storefronts, and better follow-through on stalled developments. Several connect these issues to safety and civic pride, arguing that a consistently open, well-maintained downtown signals that the city values itself and welcomes residents and visitors alike.
3. Accelerate Non-Market Housing (Co-op, Tiny Homes, Infill)
Respondents connect affordability to downtown vitality, safety, workforce attraction, and basic dignity — and they point to tools the City can use: zoning for more density, supporting co-ops, tiny-home and modular infill, and locating housing near services.
“Affordable housing”
“Affordable housing would go a long way to qlleviate poverty, keep downtown nicer and therefore more small businesses could flourish. Really would be a huge benefit for the entire ecosystem of the city”
“Affordable, and I mean “affordable “ housing! Then we would have more young families stay here and not be known as a place for seniors and the homeless.”
“Make the option of building tiny home villages available for the homeless, and separate ones for young couples/singles who are trying to get in the housing market. Not everyone needs a huge million dollar home to live in!”
“We have vacant space in the downtown core that could be used for modular housing such as tiny homes, container homes, or other affordable accommodation that would be mixed use. It could attract younger people looking for a welcoming community, as well as provide housing for those transitioning from temporary housing. This type of housing should be right in the core so that people do not need a vehicle to access basic services.”
“realizing that affordable housing is a necessity and is part of the city’s mandate to rezone areas so that options other than single family dwellings are allowed in R1 (for example). Increase density. Allow forms of co-living, coorperative living, eg Glassworks”
Residents frame housing as the foundation for nearly every other local challenge — from labour shortages to downtown decline. Many urge the city to move faster on zoning reform, density, and alternative models such as co-ops, modular builds, and tiny-home villages.
Some also link affordable housing directly to public safety and economic vitality, arguing that until people can live securely and affordably near work, transit, and services, other renewal efforts will struggle to take hold.
4. Recruit Employers and Talent
Many want a clearer plan to attract higher-paying employers and reduce red tape — from incentives for industry to leveraging Owen Sound’s remote-work potential.
“Industry. Some factory that could come and provide stable jobs.”
“We need Industry back with good paying jobs”
“Bring in more industry/employment opportunities.”
“Trying to attract industry to the area. Give incentives to good paying companies to bring professionals to the region.”
“Do like other cities, and contact Costco and give them free taxes for 5 years. That will create more jobs and become a destination for people. Remember how industries like PPG were enticed to the town? Give them incentives.”
“Remote work boom is here post COVID. Return to work will face challenges but unfortunately companies are having a hard time justifying why it’s worthwhile to come back to the office. All of the global studies prove that remote work is better. So how, with high speed internet and the beauty of Owen Sound area, the missed opportunity is housing availability to attract remote workers for the region. People can’t afford Toronto, and want to live in places like Vancouver and Halifax, but they can’t afford that too. Why is it so impossible for Owen Sound to be the happy compromise for people to stay in Ontario? It should both the council on how much of a golden opportunity they’re sitting on but can’t fix / action.”
Residents repeatedly call for a bolder, more coordinated economic strategy — one that mixes traditional industry recruitment with modern workforce trends. Alongside appeals for factories and stable, higher-paying jobs, many urge the city to streamline approvals, market itself as a remote-work hub, and partner with local institutions to attract and retain skilled professionals.
Without that mix, they warn, the city risks remaining dependent on low-wage sectors and losing working-age families to more dynamic centres.
5. Keep Young People Here (Engagement, Spaces, Pathways)
Residents warn that without visible investment in youth, Owen Sound risks becoming a city that people age into, not build a life in.
“The biggest missed opportunity is not putting efforts into keeping young people in this city engaged and give them reason to stay here and continue to help this city grow. Also homelessness.”
“we need a university campus here! higher learning! retain youth, cultivate critical thinking and life long learning”
“Investment in youth - youth council, youth coalition, youth spaces”
“Young adult incentives - housing is already difficult enough, especially for young adults who want to start a family, find an entry-level job, decent food prices and affordable housing. Although these are federal issues as well, if there are any possible opportunities for funding that could be sent out to main universities for students within a specific geographical radius, this may support recruitment and leverage the return of youth once finished post-secondary.”
“Empowering the voice of the youth.”
“Encouraging our young to come back home - home town pride!”
Residents urge the city to make youth retention a core strategy, with more investment in education, housing, and civic voice so young people can see a future here.
Several respondents also called for better recreation options, affordable gathering spaces, and creative industry jobs, warning that without visible pathways and a sense of belonging, Owen Sound risks continuing to lose its next generation.
What This Adds Up To
If Part 5 (Q13) brings you a bit of deja vu for Part 4 (Q12), you’re not alone. The results we reviewed last week read like a diagnosis, while this week brought the to-do list —and the overlap is striking.
The same issues—downtown safety and cleanliness, affordable housing, youth flight, addiction, and the underutilized waterfront—reappear, now reframed as actions: clean and activate the core, build non-market housing, make the waterfront walkable and social, recruit employers, and keep young people here.
That repetition isn’t a lack of imagination; it’s consensus and impatience. Residents are effectively saying: we know the problems, here are the fixes, please move now.
Several respondents contrasted Owen Sound’s pace of change with faster-growing neighbours such as Collingwood and Port Elgin, pointing to visible waterfront, housing, and downtown investments elsewhere.
The frustration isn’t just about vision, but also about execution, and the sense that Owen Sound continues to study and discuss ideas long after other municipalities have already acted.
If City Council wants to demonstrate that it has heard community responses to both questions, the next step is to move from consultation to delivery. Publish a 24-month action list with owners, timelines, and quarterly progress reports on these five actions.
None of these moves require a reinvention of Owen Sound’s identity; they ask the City to leverage what already exists: water, walkable blocks, heritage buildings, community spirit. Overall, respondents urge the municipality to take action where it has the necessary tools, through zoning, property standards enforcement, incentives, approvals, partnerships, programming, and communications.
Next week, we’ll explore the main themes and suggestions from Q14 in the City’s Vision 2050 survey: In one to three sentences, share your idea for a prosperous, connected, vibrant and safe Owen Sound.
You’ll find all responses to this question in full in Column D of Owen Sound Current’s copy of the Vision 2050 raw survey results, obtained by our publication from the City of Owen Sound via an information and access request under the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA).
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