Puslinch councillor Susan Fielding has said she believes taking a “community hub” approach might provide a more cost-effective means to provide services to local residents.
On March 8, Fielding outlined some of the information gleaned from seminars at last month’s OGRA/ROMA (Ontario Good Roads Association/Rural Ontario Municipal Association) Combined Conference.
One seminar focused on community hubs – which can be made up of many things, such as churches, community centre grounds, schools and other places around which events are centred. Fielding said community hubs create central areas providing a bit of a village atmosphere “where you can do more than one thing.”
Fielding noted the community of Greensville near Hamilton is working on a community hub around its school.
“In retrospective, it would have been nice to have a plan like this in place.”
While Puslinch has a lot of good things, she said it is sad that Puslinch now has a beautiful new library and a lot of money spent on the library at Aberfoyle Public School – but the two facilities “are mere feet apart (a three-minute walk).”
She said the community hub approach would not only be nice for the community, but provide cost savings in the end.
“You can get a better product for less money because the money is being pooled for a single project,” she said.
