With all the talk of the Highway 417 extension, and with visible evidence of this project getting closer to Renfrew, attention must be paid to what happens when people follow this new road to Renfrew, experience it, then decide to live here.
Driving by Arnprior reveals all kinds of residential construction, completed or in progress, as that town absorbs more and more people into its soon-to-be city limits.
As it happens there, it will happen here in Renfrew, perhaps to a lesser degree, but nonetheless it’s going to happen. So one of the key questions to be asked has to do with where these new people are going to live if they choose to reside within the town boundaries.
So where will these new housing developments be located?
A quick look at a satellite shot of Renfrew shows a large tract of land along the south bank of the Bonnechere River, running from the end of Mutual Avenue all the way to where the Public Archives are located near the Best Western Hotel. There’s some depth to this land, and a cursory look reveals what appears to be a luxury of room for residential development done tastefully, even incorporating natural features that already exist in place, like the river itself.
But it’s not that simple. This very land, owing to its proximity to the river, is not suitable for traditional development, with environmental protections and slope stability issues being the primary reasons there will be no residential development, or any urban development, along this section. Fortunately, though, that’s not the end of the matter.
The land is owned, or will be owned by the Town of Renfrew. Town planners are looking into options that might be available for making the land, or significant parts of it, people places, meaning areas for public purposes that coincide with the use and enjoyment of the river itself.
With my own two cents worth, perhaps it can be tied into an even more ambitious project of linking up with properties in and around the McDougall Museum and the Renfrew Hydro location, and crossing Bridge Street to that property on the hill that has sat derelict for the entirety of my thirty-plus years in Renfrew. Maybe extending “people place” concepts all the way to Air Force Park would be possible. I don’t know for sure, but it’s an idea.
As to what a “people place” might be? Well, it’s not another chip stand, or a tattoo parlour, or a cannabis shop. It’s a place where people go to hang outside, to walk, to sit, to chat, to read, or to go to a restaurant appropriate to a site like this.
Imagine that restaurant on that hill. Something with some elegance. The kind of place that people from Almonte would drive to for lunch or dinner as an outing.
They could walk along the length of the development by following a groomed or paved trail. Maybe they could cruise along a traffic route running along the river, like a Parkway.
They can bike and rollerblade and skateboard, all of it along or in proximity to the Bonnechere River.
Just a thought, probably a bit naively ambitious. Maybe just a bad idea start to finish. I don’t know.
As to where new homes might be built if not along the river? According to Town Planner Eric Withers, this subject will be looked at as part of the town’s Official Plan Review and Secondary Planning process. Staff and consultants have to get a sense of possible population growth and identify suitable development locations that will service that growth. Also, as part of planning due diligence, land use types and densities need to fit the appropriate use of any identified sites. And, of course, infrastructure planning must be part of the process.
Towns and cities don’t just appear overnight. Rather, they appear as a result of extraordinary levels of research, consultation and planning done well in advance of the anticipated event. In the Town of Renfrew, those necessary efforts have been underway for years and continue to be in motion at present.
One way or another, these are exciting times here in Renfrew.
NEWSMAGRENFREW 