Gateway plans makeover
Borden-Carleton will deliver final draft of its new master spatial plan on Dec. 5
As the first community tourists see on P.E.I. via the Confederation Bridge, BordenCarleton wants to make a better first impression.
And, on Dec. 5, the community will get a sense of what that revamped vista might look like with the unveiling of the final draft of the town’s new tourism master spatial plan. The meeting takes place at the legion at 7 p.m.
“We want it to be the ‘wow’ factor,” said Mayor Dean Sexton. “We’ve got to create a reason why they want to come here.”
The new master spatial plan was developed by Halifax’s Ekistics Planning and Design. It qualifies for funding under ACOA’s Sustainable Tourism Expansion Program (STEP) – a program that helps communities grow tourism.
“We want to start making it the town that it always had a history to be – one of the vital links to the Island.” Barbara Wood
Some of the concerns are that visitors either bypass the community altogether on their way to other destinations or only stop at Gateway Village (the complex of tourist shops and eateries) and don’t visit the rest of the community.
“We know we have them because they have no other way to get here. We know they’re coming through. And, we have to catch them on the way in or catch them on the way out,” said Bonnie Martin, a member of the Destination BordenCarleton group.
“I think what we’re going to see from this plan is, what are the projects. Where do we go and where do we start?”
Work on putting a plan together started about two and a half years ago. Sexton said the economic development and tourism plan will begin small and develop over the next five to 20 years.
And 20 years from now, Sexton said Borden-Carleton will be the envy of P.E.I. “and the gem” of the Island.
But Sexton also wants to see the town cleaned up and revitalized. The organizers noted that some “eyesores” are the chain link fence that tourists see when exiting the bridge and the old liquor store.
“The first thing people see is this town that really needs to be revitalized somehow. It’s not a
very good first impression,” said Sexton.
Barbara Wood, also a member of the group, said the town is segregated from Gateway Village.
“We’d like to tie the community into Gateway Village,” she said.
“We’d like to take our downtown, which we’ve lost, and recalibrate it to where it would be associated with Gateway Village.”
One way she wants to see the village connect to the rest of the town is with two looping and connecting trails that pass by places like the fabrication yard (the community’s version of Stonehenge, where the building blocks of the Confederation Bridge still loom), the waterfront and the marsh.
“It’s just that our community is a cute little community. We don’t want to see it sit like this any more. We’ve gone through all those transitions of jobs in, jobs out; people feeling like ‘where are we going with all this?’ We want to start changing things. We want to start making it the town that it always had a history to be – one of the vital links to the Island. We want to be a household name.”
The group and the mayor are excited to see the unveiling and what is possible for the town. They are hoping to build on recent successes of Bridge Fest and Canada Day celebrations. They’re also impressed by the support from the community.
“People want change. I think they want to be a part of it,” said Wood. “And, people are getting anxious. They want to see something.”