Following employment opportunities, respondents had written concerns for challenges with aging municipal infrastructure, low population growth, and lack of core retail services.
“It’s pretty common things in small towns right now, trying to keep commercial alive and keep the town viable,” said Leah Richardson, Naicam’s community enhancement co-ordinator, adding that once a community starts to lose people, it reduces the number of children, which in turns affects how viable the school is.
This will be Naicam's first community plan since 1985. Richardson said their priorities have not remained the same since then.
“It was so out of date to the point where I don’t know what kind of community plan that was developed back then,” she said.