Arnprior, Ontario

159 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 12 but it’s still very active.” Suggesting that COVID has changed the trends, he adds, “I keep in touch with the developers and who they’re selling to. It used to be 50/50 between local people upgrading their homes and people coming from the City of Ottawa. Now they’re coming from Vancouver or the Yukon. It’s just amazing.” Strong internet and proximity to the capital city add to Arnprior’s attraction as an ideal work-from-home location. With no new apartment-type additions to the town for over a decade, Arnprior is excited to see the completion of the Sawmill Flats development, which will add two new buildings, at the entrance downtown. The Marshalls Bay Meadows subdivision, which is now in its third phase, will also bring a 60-unit apartment building to the community, along with a wide selection of single-family and multi-family options. This centrally located development sits at the entrance to the town and will offer a variety of amenities for residents. Another project, known as Fairgrounds Subdivision is also underway, bringing over 150 new single, multi-family and townhomes to the community. “Fairgrounds subdivision is rightly named because for 160 years it was where the local Arnprior fair was held,” asserts Stack. “It’s right in the heart of town, and it borders right on the back of our Nick Smith Center for recreational purposes.” Infrastructure improvements are ongoing, as Paquette reports, “We have a really robust road rehabilitation program here in Arnprior, and every year we try to maximize our dollars by trying to complete major infrastructure rehab on two streets at a time, right from the infrastructure up to the street level. We try to keep up that program on a regular basis to ensure our assets are well managed and up to date.” Water and sewer capacity has been expanded at Arnprior’s treatment plants, in order to handle current and future growth with no concerns. “By doing those underground works we are constantly working on separating older storm sewers that enter into our sanitary system, to increase the capacity of our plant, and make sure it’s got what it needs for the new development that’s happening. So, that program really helps us with our capacity levels without having to spend major infrastructure dollars on an expansion of those plants again, in the near future,” she maintains. Valued partnerships within Renfrew County are important for the Arnprior community, who rely on the county for a variety of transportation and health services, something that became even more important during the pandemic. In the town itself, Arnprior Regional Health is a valuable resource. “That includes our hospital, family care teams, and the Grove Nursing Home that they operate, we work really closely with them,” explains Paquette. “We are an aging community, and we have a very robust Age- Friendly Community Plan. We work with the Our Seniors at Home Program, the Dementia Society, and a lot of organizations around providing services to our seniors to make sure that we’re an accessible community for our residents.” Partnering with the Seniors Active Living Center, the town is able to provide recreational and social opportunities, which she admits is “a