Sarnia has approved a new affordable housing
complex for the former High Park United Church in central Sarnia.
R4 Developments will build about 30
one-bedroom units inside the church building and in a new addition to rise
beside it.
The application now goes to Lambton County
council for final revisions and approvals.
Water and sewer upgrades might also be
necessary before construction can begin, he added.
In a best-case scenario, the developer could
begin work as early as next spring with a fall competition date, said city
planner Jordan Fohkens.
The project is part of a federal Canada
Mortgage and Housing Corporation investment designed to offset rising housing
costs, he said.
The average rental price of a one-bedroom
apartment in Sarnia is $880, but can go as high as $1,500, according to
RentBoard.ca
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It was mid-2014 when members of the senior
management team at Bluewater Power first began scoping out the creation of a
homegrown internet service business, part of what has become the “group of
companies” strategic direction that not only adds value for the municipally
owned enterprise but positioned Sarnia-Lambton for future growth.
Part of that was a visit to Stratford,
Ontario, a community that had become one of the first in the nation to leverage
its local electric utility into a powerhouse of digital connectivity.
While Bluewater Power may have differed from
Festival Hydro in its ownership structure—the Stratford utility was and still
is wholly owned by one municipality, not the six here in Sarnia-Lambton—that
was seen to be largely minor.
But what caught the attention of members of
the Bluewater Power team was the individual that arguably had orchestrated the
creation of Rhyzome Networks, the Festival Hydro subsidiary the visitors from
Sarnia-Lambton were hoping to emulate.
Paul West is the son of a lawyer who had
originally attended Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo with that path in
mind.
Image. Free download.
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Sarnia’s workforce watchdog’s annual report
highlights some troubling trends in the region — and important areas of need
for an aging region flush with employment opportunities.
In brief: there are fewer people working in
Sarnia, and quite a few are nearing retirement.
According to the Sarnia-Lambton Workforce
Development Board, nearly 6,500 fewer people were employed in 2016 than were
employed in 2006. That drop-off, from 63,000 to 56,500, was mostly the result
of older people retiring and younger people leaving home.
“We are really great at keeping people once
they get here. What we’re really not good at is recruiting them here,” Shauna
Carr, executive director with the development board, said.
“They need to go out
and get a broader world perspective . . . we need to really look at strategies
to bring those working-age folks back here.”
Between 2011 and 2016, young and working age
adults — between 18 and 44 — decreased by roughly 2,200 people, leading to a
net loss of more than 1,200 workers overall.
Image. U.S. Army.
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