June 2018

184 185 SMALL TOWN LIVING AT ITS BEST 2018 OCCUPANCIES STILL AVAILABLE 1.866.528.9618 www.newamhersthomes.com HOME S N EW A MHERST Visit our sales office at 950 New Amherst Blvd, Cobourg, Ontario sales@newamherst.com l Customize your detached home on a park front lot. l Interior bungalow townes 2019 sq ft – 3 remaining. l 3-storey Live-Work townes on the Boulevard, allows you to work from home. New Amherst - Business View fnl_9x.qxp_Layout 1 2018-05-07 3:02 PM Page 1 PREFERRED VENDOR n New Amherst Homes www.newamhersthomes.com COBOURG, ONTARIO campground, and beautiful sandy beach, has a number of user groups vying for space. Because it is a finite area with so many demands on it, the town is in need of a waterfront master plan. So, they hired a consultant to determine what the uses should be. “Because we only have one op- portunity to get this right,” says the Mayor, “and we want to accommodate as many of the needs as possible. They had four public meetings, two hands-on workshops, and conducted a survey–of which we had 2,000 respondents. For a town of 18,500, that’s unheard of! Now they’re putting together the information they gleaned and will give us a list of priorities that people are asking for along the waterfront.” The town’s expanded Planning and Sustain- ability Advisory Committee offers input from a sustainability point of view on everything from industrial and residential development to desig- nated greenspace. That includes James Cockburn Park in the heart of town– a conservation dis- trict under the auspices of the Ganaraska Region Conservation Authority– and Victoria Park on the waterfront. Cobourg also has an arborist on staff who’s working on an urban forest plan. Every effort is being made to make natural areas avail- able to the public, but also clean and green. “Most importantly,” says Brocanier, “is we’re a very progressive community.We’re looking to the future and trying to attract young people with families to come to Cobourg for the quality of life we have to offer because they are the ones that stimulate the economy and keep a community vibrant. People stop me on the street every day– some have been here six months, others 40 years – and they all tell me the same thing, that life is wonderful here.” secured permanent anchor tenants with the Cobourg Police Services Business Department on the second floor, and first-floor tenants, including the Northumberland Community Futures Development Corporation (CFDC), the Town of Cobourg Economic Development Department, and the Northumberland Man- ufacturers Association (NMA). Consolidating resources and infrastructure within a single accessible and collaborative space, the Centre will create more than 70 jobs in the commu- nity. Mayor Brocanier reports, “I’m so excited about this! There was a building in the in- dustrial park we own that was used as a call center.When that moved out of town, we had this empty two-story building costing us about $70,000 per year just to keep it going. After looking at the options, we partnered with our local CFDC, the Northumberland Manufactur- ers Association, and Northumberland Makers to create a regional technology center – a soft landing spot for entrepreneur and start-up businesses. There are private offices available, and open collaborative and drop-in space in the Maker Lab, where people can actually create a prototype of their idea.With all of this, and an ADC common lecture room, we developed an important relationship with Sir Sanford Fleming College. They recently made a $100,000 commitment to the facility.We’ve also met with the University of Ontario Insti- tute of Technology and Durham College about partnership opportunities and how they can help us with what we call ‘jobs of the future’, as we try to attract the next generation of companies. Venture 13 is all about technology and entrepreneurship. That’s the future.” Cobourg’s claim to one of the nicest water- fronts on Lake Ontario, replete with marina,