Considering second industrial park
Thinking long term, Kensington mulling municipal strategic plan
The Town of Kensington is considering investing in a strategic plan as a first step towards building a second industrial park.
The proposal came up at Monday night’s committee of council meeting.
That the town has been negotiating with the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and Innovation P.E.I. in an effort to secure funding for a second industrial park as the current one is full. However, those groups strongly recommended that the community get a strategic plan on the books before moving ahead with such a major investment.
“Hopefully, out of this, we would have some sort of longterm vision and priorities so we can start to move forward in a strategic direction, instead of being reactionary,” said Mayor Rowan Caseley.
City staff said the project would cost the community about $22,000, but added that funding is available from other levels of government to help offset the expense.
Some councillors expressed concern about the cost and whether the community really needs to go through the exercise. “Are we paying $22,000 for someone to write that we need an industrial park,” asked Coun. Jeff Spencer.
But Caseley pointed out that, while an industrial park is probably going to be part of the strategic plan, there are likely to be many other recommendations come out of the process that council has not considered. The plan would set a goal for the community several years or a decade into the future and then offer measured suggestions of how to achieve that goal. The committee voted unanimously to move the decision on whether to proceed to the next monthly council meeting.
If the project is approved, the town would issue a request for proposals for a company to do the work. That would include consulting with local special interest groups, the business community and the public at large.