GUYSBOROUGH — As the Municipality of the District of Guysborough (MODG) plots the shape of its future – with major investments and a shiretown revitalization project underway – a new enterprise hub serving area businesses may be hovering just beyond the horizon.
In a majority vote during council’s committee of the whole (COW) meeting Dec. 4, elected representatives chose to keep a proposal for a full-scale business development centre – to consolidate office space, consulting services and retail premises targeted for the municipality’s small enterprises and tourism sector in one Guysborough location – on the table for further consideration.
The concept – which stems from recommendations contained in the strategic planning report produced for the MODG by Alberta-based community development consultant Doug Griffiths more than a year ago – has the support of both the MODG’s Warden Paul Long and its Chief Administrative Officer Barry Carroll.
“We can have all the large developments in the world but, if we don’t have facilities and services for people to come and live and stay here, we’re not going to be able to keep those people,” Long told The Journal in an interview last week following the vote.
A briefing note for council, dated Dec. 4 and signed by Carroll, stated: “The MODG business development centre ticks a lot of boxes to help build our community going forward.”
That report also noted that the proposed business centre “is about taking revenues from our larger industrial projects and initiatives, and redirecting them to the growth of our small business and tourism sector. By locating economic development agencies from all levels of government in one space, we are creating a recipe for success. It will help grow the small business and tourism sector right across the entire geography of the Municipality of the District of Guysborough.”
At the same time, it said, “We are providing a space that will provide much-needed supports to our not-for-profit community groups who struggle to find a home in our communities. By supporting our volunteers with this new support space, we will grow our volunteer base and help them advance causes that are important to all of our residents. And, finally ... building new retail spaces that will provide and fill a significant need in our community ... will be very rewarding for our residents and those who may decide to live here.”
If and when it is approved, Long said, the centre would to be located “somewhere within the village of Guysborough, itself, but the opportunity is [municipal wide]. I was in Canso the other day and people were talking about the need to have somewhere where we can do virtual training. This type of thing would be the perfect place for something like that. Something [like this] needs to be in a central area, and then radiate out from there.”
As for the price tag, he said, it’s too soon to speculate, but that “the intent would be to have all three levels of government involved ... there is the federal potential for 50 per cent of funding, and we would probably have to come up with the other 50 per cent.... We haven’t approached any other level of government yet because it’s hard to approach them without having total buy in or, you know, a motion from council to go forward.”
The MODG has already paid Halifax-based economic planners ATN Strategies approximately $100,000 to flesh out the concept for council’s consideration.
“People are entitled to informed decisions, and that’s what councillors are here to do,” Long said. “You have to give it due time. This has to be done right.”
The proposal is expected to come to another council vote sometime in the next few months.
