Wawa-news.com You can't hear the 'big picture'!
The Municipality of Wawa has received funding from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs under the Rural Economic Development Program (RED), to support the development of a new Downtown Wawa Community Improvement Plan (CIP).
A Downtown Wawa Community Improvement Plan encourages physical improvements to both public infrastructure and private properties through a variety of ways including recommending financial assistance programs for owners who build new commercial or residential space or improve downtown buildings. The CIP would permit Municipal Council to potentially provide tax assistance, grants or loans to business owners to improve the overall atmosphere of the downtown core, motivating both local and visitor spending in downtown businesses. With support from the Economic Development and Tourism Advisory Committee (EDTAC) and interested community members, there are many opportunities for residents to share ways to bring Broadway back to beautiful!
A downtown tour and visioning workshop took place on October 24, 2023, where the CIP Consultant toured the downtown area between the Lady Dunn Health Centre and United Church with staff and residents, to discuss ways to make the street and areas like the Wawa Goose Nest Market more appealing. The walk was followed by a visioning session with great input from participants.
The next opportunity for input into the downtown beautification is a public survey which launched November 1, 2023. The Downtown CIP Survey may be completed on-line or on paper. Copies are available in the Library, Town Hall and Wawa Goose Club or go on-line at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/wawacipcommunitysurvey. Complete a Survey and win a chance at three cash prizes of $150, $100 and $50. Call 705-856-2244 ex. 232.
This project is funded in part by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.
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I was thrilled to read about the proposed plan to bring “Broadway back to beautiful”. Although I was not born in Wawa, I spent fifteen years in the area during the eighties and nineties. My wife and I fell in love with Wawa when we first sat on Wawa beach, enjoying the most beautiful sunrise we had ever seen, having driven all night from Southern Ontario to make it to a job interview. As luck would have it, I was successful in being offered a position. Wawa was indeed a busy place back then and the downtown was packed with great stores that sadly no longer exist. The rejuvenation plan is just what Wawa needs to return to better times. I now spend my summers in Wawa as a retiree, and property owner, and look forward to seeing this plan come to fruition. There is one issue that has always puzzled me, however, that being the excessively high property taxes in Wawa. Perhaps many more young families would choose Wawa and its abundance of employment opportunities if the taxes were reasonable. With taxes on many residential properties exceeding ten thousand dollars a year there is very little incentive to relocate in Wawa, an otherwise idyllic place to live and raise a family.