Borden-Carleton moves ahead
Borden-Carleton building master plan to grow community
Dean Sexton, the Borden Area Development Corporation, and other stakeholders in the Town of Borden-Carleton, are preparing to enter into the second step of creating a master plan to make the town a prosperous area. “We recently completed the Strategic Tourism Expansion Program (STEP). It allowed us to look at what we already have in the area as well as things that we can work on and need,” said Sexton, the BordenCarleton mayor.
Dean Sexton, the Borden Area Development Corporation, and other stakeholders in the Town of Borden-Carleton, are preparing to enter into the second step of creating a master plan to make the town a prosperous area.
“We recently completed the Strategic Tourism Expansion Program (STEP). It allowed us to look at what we already have in the area as well as things that we can work on and need,” said Sexton, the Borden-Carleton mayor.
STEP is an Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) program available to various communities in the region. The study conducted on Borden-Carleton was recently published on the town’s website. It drew on topics like branding, location, and identifying guiding principles that can help the town achieve its goal of “building and executing a successful sustainable tourism community plan”.
The plan discussed 12 details that would help to market and grow the image of the town including, well-themed, essence of the destination, authentic, accessible and sense of place.
The study also stated, “in order to compete, BordenCarleton will need to fully capitalize on the product and experiential development ideas presented in this plan. BordenCarleton needs to think about itself as a true tourism destination area.”
Sexton said he is excited to see the town move ahead.
“I’m looking forward to seeing this town reach its full potential. This isn’t something that will happen next week, but while we work on the master plan, we’re hoping to get some of the small projects we want completed around town in the near future.”
During the process, the town heard from residents of the area saying what they would like to see happen. Some suggestions included creating a tour boat experience, focusing on the Confederation Bridge; establishing a community garden; cleaning up unsightly premises; establishing alternate energy sources; and a new library in any development plans. “We’ve been working on this study for some time. There were three hour meetings and we know this is going to be quite a task.”
Peggy Miles, the tourism development manager of the Central Coastal Development Partnership, brought the STEP program to Sexton’s attention last year.
The organization works with communities across the central and coastal region to help them grow tourism.
Miles sat on the committee during the STEP study.
“There was a lot of enthusiasm. Ideas were flowing. It takes time to come up with a plan and this community really set the time aside and was committed to the process.”
What the community gains from the program is access to a consultant for about a year who will help them guide the community to determine what their priorities for tourism as well as short, medium and long term goals, explained Miles. Now that the initial study is complete and has been released, Sexton and the committee starting work on the master plan, funded by the money the town was given by the McCain fund that was handed out earlier this year.
“Now we’re putting out the request for proposals who would be interested in participating. We are also accepting resumes to for a committee for the master plan and they will be selected in the next few weeks,” explained Sexton.
To view the full STEP study, go to http://www.borden-carleton.ca/files/step_2017.pdf.