By Edith Cody-Rice
An important event took place at the Old Town Hall on Friday November 1. In the fall of 2023, Learning Again in Almonte organized a speaker series for the Mississippi Mills bicentennial called This Place We Call Home, featuring 7 speakers over 6 evenings. At the end of those sessions, participants asked “Where do we go from here? The answer was the day long Building on Common Ground which filled the Old Town Hall last Friday. In organizing the session, Jane Ellens sought recommendations for speakers and wanted to make sure that the consultations did not interfere with plans made by the town. It was decided that the event would be a community sponsored event and Christa Lowry, mayor of Mississippi Mills and Pierre Dufresne Lanark Leeds Home Builders Association President would attend.
It emerged that residents are worried about the projected growth of Mississippi Mills and want to address it. Although we want to welcome people there is a keen interest in ensuring that development doesn’t diminish the unique culture of Mississippi Mills with non stop anonymous suburbs. It would be good if we could get ahead of the population explosion to build an environment that supports neighbourhoods and economic development based in our community, not bedroom communities whose residents have no strong ties here.
Jane recognizes that at the base of every complaint or worry, there is a wish. She wanted to get past those worries and identify the common values that underlie those wishes. Some of us may love our legion or the mens shed while others are grateful for the library and the coffee shops but both are seeking the common ground of connection to community. 75 people participated in Building on Common Ground which was organized around speakers with 2 break out round table sessions to allow active participation from the audience. A lot of attendees were new to the town and young working people with families who gave up their day to come and participate.
Speaker Dr. Mike Moffatt, Senior Director of Policy and Innovation at the Smart Prosperity Institute and Assistant Professor in the Business, Economics and Public Policy group at Ivey Business School, Western University (he is everywhere these days) talked about the housing crisis: why it exists, and what numbers we can expect to move into this area.
He told the audience that Ontario needs 1.6 million homes in 10 years. People from Ottawa are moving out to Mississippi Mills, principally because of affordability. The draw is the opportunity to be able to afford a home and the culture Mississippi Mills offers. One of biggest groups arriving is young families with children. Many were lured here during Covid when the opportunity arose to work from home and the commute was less of an issue.
The question asked of the morning session was “what do you love about this community and what are values that underpin that”. The participants included many different types of people with varying opinions yet the things they loved and the values beneath them were startlingly similar. In the first of the break out sessions ideas advanced ranged from big ideas like supporting the Ginawaydaganuc Village, a local indigenous project, to smaller ideas with potentially big impact like placing public ping pong tables in local parks.
Among the widely agreed upon answers were walkability, safety, sense of protection for children, preservation of natural heritage and our history. Once the values are identified, the means of getting to them is a starting point for more generative conversation.
After this session, using this approach, the facilitators took the ideas offered and grouped them, identifying the following topics for further exploration in afternoon.
- Culture
- Equity and Diversity
- Heritage
- Innovation
- Natural Environment
- Personal Connections
- Economic Development
After lunch Jennifer Hemmings, Regional Director of NAK design strategies, a landscape architect who has been at the forefront of community design in Toronto and Ottawa for more than 22 years, addressed the participants about how communities are designed, what the process is and at what point a community is brought into the conversation. Her presentation was followed by a second break out round table with each group addressing one of the topics identified above.
A surprise addition to the speakers was Rosaline Hill, a registered professional planner and multi-award winning architect, including “Designer of the Year” for the 2021 Greater Ottawa Home Builders Association awards. She has engaged in extensive research on the patterns and forces governing neighbourhood evolution. In 2020 she founded Walkable Ottawa and now works collaboratively to advance walkability in urban neighbourhoods. She also founded Ottawa Cohousing and is the architect for the Almonte cohousing project Fiddlehead Commons.
Towards the end of the afternoon Christa Lowry and Pierre DuFresne gave their impressions of the day and answered questions about what the town’s and builders’ respective roles are in moving forward.
It was a remarkable day filled with active listening, participation and commitment on the part of attendees and people left invigorated and determined to mindfully nurture Mississippi Mills through this point of it’s evolution so nothing is lost.
Angus Affleck recently published an excellent article in the Millstone which presents in succinct fashion the qualities of our community and the opportunity for creative development that the influx of residents will present. https://millstonenews.com/a-vision-for-the-future-of-our-town/
Further consultations sponsored by the municipality will take place on
November 7 at 2 pm or 7 pm. Venue Almonte Legion – 100 Bridge Street
December 5 at 2 pm or 7 pm. Venue: Almonte Old Town Hall 14 Bridge Street
January 30 at 2 pm or 7 pm Venue: Almonte Old Town Hall 14 Bridge Street
