Huron-Kinloss

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Bruce County is urging lower-tier municipalities to join its program to "Spruce the Bruce."

County tourism manager Chris Hughes and county planner Kara Van Myall were at Huron-Kinloss council last night (April 19), outlining the program which provides community economic development initiatives.

He said the primary area for most municipalities is the downtown core which often needs a facelift.

"We've spent years marketing Bruce County as a major tourist destination," said Hughes. "If we want to maintain that draw, we need to invest in our communities."

He said some elements are looking a little tired and are in need of improvement. However, most municipalities have limited local resources to make those improvements.

So, Bruce County is providing money and planning and tourism staff to help spruce up the area, he said. This will also help municipalities leverage funding through the Bruce Community Futures Development Corporation and the Saugeen Economic Development Corporation, as well as grants from the provincial government.

Van Myall said the Spruce the Bruce program will do three things: help communities with their branding and identity; get their enabling policy in place; and offer grants to implement the program.

She said Ripley (in Huron-Kinloss) is already well-branded with its recently-completed streetscape project.

To get the community branded requires public input, said Van Myall. This can be done through a simple photo exercise, urging people to take photographs of what they think are the major attractions in their community.

There are numerous grants available for such things as signage, streetscape, tourism promotion and development, facade improvement, and the county's image and branding grant which will be available this summer, said Van Myall.

She urged council to work on a checklist with its county planner, Heather James, and draw up and approve a formal resolution of support.

From there, the township can review the policy framework and make necessary changes or improvements, and begin the community design toolkit process. It's important to involve the community, she said, including committees, chambers of commerce and other interested groups.

Hughes said this program began with the county's desire to have consistent and proper signage county-wide.

"That's important for the thousands of visitors we have every year," he said. "We need a standardized mechanism to direct people around. The county wants to initiate a signage program for Huron-Kinloss concurrently with the Spruce the Bruce program."

Hughes said the tourism department is also working with a fabricator to put together a rural guiding system - it will begin with Bruce County Road 3 between Southampton and Mildmay.

"This whole thing is an ambitious process," he said. "If you're interested, your first step would be to officially approve the process and then start working with your local stakeholders."

Hughes added that the county planning and tourism departments can make this same presentation for other local interest groups.

"Encourage the public to provide you with some ideas of what's important to the community," he said. "That's where you start with your branding and identity."

Mayor Mitch Twolan said he is sure council will be supporting a resolution to begin this process.

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Monday, April 19, 2010