I remember when I was a kid how I’d spend time with pencil and paper and sketch out my development plans for our family home and property should we ever strike it rich by finding oil in the backyard.  I guess it was all part and parcel of being an introvert, and therefore a loner.  And I guess it passed the time on those summer holidays of my youth.

So when Eric Withers, Renfrew’s Director of Development and Environment/Town Planner/Deputy-CAO — a truly acronym defying title — opens his microphone to reveal planning progress involving development of town lands, my interest in a town council meeting literally sky-rockets.  It’s worth the price of the ticket right there.  If they let you in.

Director Withers shared with council plans for the development of an area of town referred to as Renfrew East, a quadrilateral parcel of lands bordered by O’Brien Road to the northwest, Gillan Road to the southwest, the town boundary to the southeast, and Highway 17 to the northeast. So, basically, from a person-on-the-street perspective, go to the Walmart/No Frills corridor along O’Brien Road, and sort of look the other way, across the street, at the lands on the other side.  Or maybe even better, take a walk down the Algonquin Trail, which runs right through the centre of the proposed development.  These two descriptions are not completely adequate or accurate, but it’s enough to give one a general idea.