Espanola is set to roll out a new blueprint for economic success.
This summer, the town’s economic development officer, Anna Frattini, is leafing through Espanola’s new strategy to develop the municipality into a "full service community."
The northeastern Ontario community of 5,500, halfway between Sudbury and Manitoulin Island, hired McSweeney & Associates Management Consultants to draft a plan to market the town for business opportunities and enhance its quality of life.
As demonstrated in its "Fine Paper Town" motto, the Domtar pulp and paper mill is the backbone of the local economy. It’s also a mainland gateway community for thousands of travellers on Highway 6 headed to Manitoulin Island.
Many residents are either employed at Domtar, or work in retail and health-care services. A good chunk of the population commutes to jobs in Sudbury, about 45 minutes away.
Frattini acknowledges Domtar is a vital part of the community, but more effort must be made to showcase what the community can offer, possibly with an expanded retail hub or tourism packages.
Last spring, when the town organized public feedback sessions to gather input for the economic strategy, very few people turned out.
Much better response in assessing the local mindset came from anonymous sources and from one-on- ne interviews with business owners, government agencies, developers and property owners. The report suggests Espanola is a tight-knit community, but a degree of apathy and malaise has set in.
Frattini admitted to being “surprised” by some public comments on the town’s real or perceived strengths and weaknesses.
"In the consultants’ opinion, we have a lot to offer for a municipality our size and when we've done past surveys with the residents, everyone's satisfied with the services that they're receiving."
Some residents want Espanola to market itself as a retirement town.
Frattini said the town has been trying to do that for three years, suggesting the municipality must do a better job of public communication.
"We may not be informing people well enough,” said Frattini. “We have various methods of informing people, but we're going to have to try harder to reach them."
The strategy proposes partnering with Domtar and other local businesses to find out what kind of support or supply services they need. What’s evident in the all-compassing strategy is how economic development touches all elements of the community.
“Quality of life issues are huge,” said Frattini. “If we're going to get a business here, an owner will assess the town, beautification (efforts), taxes, labour force and recreational opportunities.”
The consultants suggested Frattini should get more face time with businesses owners to understand their challenges and find out how the town can help them.
Frattini said the town scored well in having a light industrial park with available serviced land, but one shortcoming is the limited number of turnkey industrially-zoned buildings.
"I've been focusing a lot of my work trying to get to that level where we're ready for investment. We have a lot of good things to offer and we're definitely on the right track, but sometimes many people and companies don't end up following through...because of little things."
Frattini said there is an across-the-board need for new residential construction in all categories, particularly seniors apartments. In an attempt to attract developers, the municipality extended water and sewer to 16 proposed residential lots in the town’s centre.
"I've been (spending a lot of time) meeting with developers to do seniors apartments or homes.”
When the strategy receives final approval by town council, the consultants will put together a work plan and timeline for short-, medium-, and long-range projects. Frattini said the strategy will likely be put in motion by September.
