The Town of Parry Sound wants the public’s input for an update on its Strategic Plan.
Dave Thompson, Director of Development and Protective Services, says the town is hosting two public sessions at the Stockey Centre in the Prelude room on May 18.
“They are focus group sessions for development and amendments to our strategic plan for the town of Parry Sound. These focus group sessions are really about eliciting feedback from the public,” he says.
Thompson says the first session is for the business group and starts at 2:00 PM and the second one is for community members and starts at 4:00 PM.
“For the business focus group, that would mainly be for people who are currently or expecting to be running business in the town of Parry Sound. Whether they’re currently doing it or in the near future to discuss their specific concerns or desires. In terms of the community group, that is really for any resident who wants to have input and to provide some information for us to consider,” he says.
Thompson says they’re looking for feedback on how the community would like to see the town move forward in the next 6-8 years and what they see are priorities for the town to be addressing.
As for what to expect will be discussed during these sessions, he says oftentimes housing comes up.
“Housing is a big issue in the community right now, so we’re looking for input on whether people are seeing that there should be things like less red tape for the development of housing. Are there alternate types of housing that community members would like to see? Do they want to see expanded community borders and different types of housing being able to be provided. What’s important to them when it comes to things of that nature?” he says.
Thompson says from a recreational standpoint, in our community the pool and recreation complex is a fairly important initiative that’s going on right now.
“But what else is important to residents? Do they want to see specific types of programming be added? Maybe programming for children or seniors? What’s the priority in their minds on how we move forward in those areas,” he adds.
Thompson says people who want to participate are asked to RSVP to him at [email protected]