the north grenville
TIMES
Reaching by direct mail 9,000 homes and businesses in North Grenville and Merrickville/Wolford www.ngtimes.ca
Vol. 4, No 17
The Voice of North Grenville
April 27, 2016
Official start of Kemptville Landing
The North Grenville Times is Locally Owned and Operated
L-R Don VanAllen, Sheila VanAllen (condo owners), Barb Tobin, Mayor David Gordon, Gilles Brisebois, Andrew Beveridge (condo owner) by Hilary Thomson There is an excavator on the site of the LA Group’s Kemptville Landing Condominiums in Old Town Kemptville and it looks like it is finally going to be put to work. Municipal representatives, LA Group employees, local business people and future condo owners gathered at the site for the official ground breaking ceremony last Thursday. “I’ve always been a proponent of this project,” said Mayor David Gordon. This is what the town needs. There are no ifs, ands or buts about it.”
The general feeling around Old Town Kemptville is that he is right. John Barclay, the Executive Director of the Old Town Kemptville BIA, certainly thinks so. He says he has been waiting eagerly for the project to get started since he first heard about it 3 years ago when he joined the BIA. “I would go up and down the street saying there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.” John says because it has taken so long to get started, the project has been met with some skepticism by the business owners in Old Town. However, now that it looks like it is finally getting started, people are feeling
more positive and looking forward to any effect it does have on the downtown. Terri and Lee are the new owners of Geronimo Coffee House on Prescott Street. Terri says they are looking forward to the increased customer base the development could bring them, and also having better access to Riverside Park once the building is complete and the fence behind their shop is down. John mentioned the most important thing this development brings to Old Town Kemptville is what he believes is the key to the revitalization of Old Town Kemptville; residential density. There needs to be more
people who can walk to the shops and who don’t depend on the limited amount of parking that is available. He also believes that Kemptville Landing will send an important signal to potential investors that things in Old Town are about to change. “People have been hanging back, wanting to invest in the sense of starting a business and occupying some of the vacant space, but they’re looking for some positive indication that there would be more traffic downtown.” Gilles Brisebois, President of the LA Group, hopes that Kemptville Landing will do exactly what John hopes continued on page 2
Merrickville/ Wolford Times page 18