Community voices passion and concern at public meeting

Roger Varley, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Summer holidays and the dinner hour didn’t stop well over 200 people from filling the Music Hall on Tuesday evening for an update on the Township's plans to revitalize the downtown area.

Deputy Mayor Zed Pickering, filling in for Mayor Dave Barton, who was in Huntsville meeting with members of the provincial cabinet, opened the session by saying "the residents of Uxbridge have played a great part in steering this project." The audience showed they are still willing to play a part by asking questions. Lots of questions.

Councillor Todd Snooks (brown shirt) chats with two people who attended a Town Hall on Tuesday evening that gave an update on the activities of the Downtown Revitalization Committee. Photo by John Cavers

Councillor Willie Popp then took over the meeting, hosting a question-and-answer session.

The first question came from the Cosmos, who asked whether the project will see the proposed town square built first before other projects connected with the revitalization. Popp said the town square, with commercial and residential components, will be the main item, but he couldn't say if the square will be built first. He also said he couldn't give timelines for the whole project. Judy Risebrough, project manager for the strategic planning portion of the initiative, said the Township is also incorporating ideas for Centennial Park and for the area around the train station into the Downtown Revitalization plan.

"The (Downtown Revitalization) committee is focused on everything," she said. "The downtown was sad. We needed to make it happy again."

Other members of the audience, which was made up of newcomers to Uxbridge, longtime residents and many local business owners, asked related questions about timelines, to which Risebrough replied: "This is a marathon, not a sprint."

Along the same lines, one audience member wanted to know why potential developers were only given until August 5 to respond to the Township's call for Expressions Of Interest (EOI). Township clerk Debbie Leroux said the EOIs were advertised widely and that the Township has already received a number of responses.

Roxy Theatres owner Cathy Christoff wanted to know if the Township "has people in place to make sure this time we get it right." She was alluding to the problems that arose during construction of the Brock Street culvert. Popp responded that "at least the ball is rolling. It's our job to make sure the ball is rolling in the right direction."

Mark Christoff offered that, since many of the people in the room won't see the project to its completion, "we need input from the younger population." Popp said Uxbridge Secondary School students have already set out their ideas on what they would like to see happen downtown, and noted that Scott Central School in Sandford had held a session on the revitalization project.

Some audience members asked questions about preserving the heritage look of the downtown and Cathy Christoff stepped up to make a point.

"A town's story is in it’s buildings," she said. "Not just what was 150 years ago, but what happened 100 years ago. Fifty years ago. Twenty-five years ago. I think we all have to be a bit more tolerant and analyze the designs (submitted) for functionality."

The session ended with Risebrough saying the revitalization committee "doesn't have all the answers, but your input is important."

That input is still ongoing as other meeting and information sessions are planned.

Information on the Downtown Revitalization Project can be found at myuxbridgedowntown.ca