Business View Civil and Municipal | April/May 2022

93 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 3, ISSUE 3 along both sides of the Welland River and the Welland Canal, the city has beautiful waterfront views and a trail system that allows residents and visitors to take full advantage. The Welland Regional Canal includes a large park area with more than 1,000 acres of land, 24 kilometers of trails and 12 kilometers of waterway. The park offers tons of amenities including a community centre, amphitheatre, scuba diving, canoeing, and kayaking, as well as bike and walking trails. “We have a great waterfront community,” Zorbas says. “Our recreational canal provides multi-seasonal opportunities, especially in the summertime. It’s a great body of water for people to swim, canoe, kayak, and probably some of the best pathway systems for biking and pedestrians in the Niagara region.” The City Council has approved a Community Trails Strategy which is master on and off-road pathway plan that will connect the recreational canal paths to existing and new paths and to destinations like the Seaway Mall, which is being redeveloped to include high and medium density condos, a transit terminal, and trails. “The area will serve as a connecting point to the rest of Niagara, as well as Niagara College,” Zorbas notes. And it doesn’t stop there. Welland is constantly working to continue to improve its recreational offerings for the city’s ever-growing population of residents. “The exciting thing with this population growth is that we are already working on the amenities that all those people are going to enjoy,” Zorbas says. “It’s not going to be a situation where we have all this growth and we are trying to figure out what are these people going to do for recreation. We are working on the solution at the same time, and before the growth comes, to make sure we have a plan in place and the infrastructure in place.” With all its recent improvements, Welland is taking back the reins and returning the city to the glory it once had in years past. “We are seeing the return of the economic vitality that the city had back in the ‘40s, ‘50s, and ‘60s,” Zorbas shares. “It’s back in a big way for the city.” highways  roads and parking lots  bridges, structures and pile driving  canals  marine and environmental  wind turbines  hydro generation  radioactive waste remediation  subdivisions  sewers and watermains  industrial and commercial  buildings and condominiums  design‐build and engineering  C  O  N  S  T  R  U  C  T  I  O  N  w w w . r a n k i n c o n s t r u c t i o n . c a  St. Catharines, ON: 905‐684‐1111  Hamilton, ON: 905‐525‐5153  WELLAND , ONTAR IO