Find out where I stand on these important issues.

What are your plans for our waterfront?

Clear, concise vision is now required. Strategic plans are a process. Yet before any strategies can be established, a defined vision is needed. The future of Kingsville's waterfront requires a clearly defined vision. By using valuable input from the community, a strong vision can be envisioned by all. When a vision has been agreed upon, then sequences of strategic events can be planned and completed that share both residential and commercial interests and concerns. Our Harbour has incredible potential and deserves to be worked on. Obviously, this isn't a new idea and has been stated many times in the past… but to see it entirely through requires a dedicated team of people who work tirelessly and agree that this is their council's priority and their community's goal. Our beautiful town of Kingsville needs a strong, committed council. An active council. One that is part of the solution. Ideas, dreams and goals must be shared, combined and addressed.

This council must efficiently navigate multiple levels and forms of government; improve and maintain healthy ecosystems; preserve history; improve experiences, and provide safe environments, all while calming stakeholders and increasing economies.

Splash parks, walkways, and green spaces (or even a trendy yet traditional Fisherman's Wharf-type boardwalk) are all ideas worth considering. Longer-term leased shops, cafes, etc. can be mainstay places, while those who wish to try their hand in new ventures could lease smaller short-term units. Our council should recognize and encourage new business owners to launch their businesses. The opportunities at our waterfront for everyone is endless. However, Kingsville requires a council that can navigate and wisely invest in its waterfront's deserving and bright future. A council that appreciates the residential and business needs of its community and can successfully guide us towards our exciting shared vision is the first and most important step.

How do you plan to keep Kingsville's rural lifestyle while supporting future development projects?

Change is coming. Will Kingsville adapt… to only just cope… or will we adapt to win? Sprawl is inevitable. Canada’s population is expanding, and people are naturally drawn to lovely small towns like ours. But surely, let’s not invite an uncontrolled haphazard chaotic sprawl. Our councillors need to identify Kingsville’s strengths and weaknesses. We need our residents, our businesses and our tourists to power the town’s economies. Any new urban areas will wisely be built on the foundations of Kingsville’s past. By considering our values, respecting and enhancing our heritage, honouring our history and preserving Kingsville’s old buildings, easy-to-follow boundaries and guidelines can be offered to developers who will, in turn, appreciate the clear direction of our town’s objectives. Any developer who approaches Kingsville will know us by our core values, the protection of our streets, our farmlands, our water systems, and our wet and wildlands. Let’s ensure that portions of tax revenue normally spent on our existing neighbourhoods, roads and community services are not disproportionately allocated to the new development.

Making wise investments in our downtown core will:

• help the small businesses thrive
• offer safe walkability & bikeability
• encourage small & medium businesses to locate to Kingsville to offer accessible employment
• have our residents find work-from-home opportunities for those that wish to slow their pace and stay put in their surroundings.

What do you believe would be the best use of the high school property?

Let's embrace a vision for the high school property as one of mixed-use zoning. We all know that the downtown core is changing, our population is growing, and that can be a positive, beautiful thing. It's great that we can share our magnificent town with many people. But all growth requires careful planning. Many of you have concerns about downtown taking on more traffic than it can sustain, and I hear you. Through careful supervision, a highly involved and passionate council, and planned controlled growth, we can create a vision for the high school property of an aesthetically pleasing place where residents are living well, businesses are thriving, and the surrounding community can exist together harmoniously.

What are My plans FOR the greenhouse industry?

Living in a rural community, many of us have concerns over how farms, growers, and greenhouses affect the environment around us. We are fortunate in Kingsville to already have bylaws to help reduce the impact these necessary industries can have on our community. My vision for the council is a vision of cooperation and coordination for the future of Kingsville. I plan on working with all levels of government to ensure that our farms, workers, water systems and greenhouses can continue to operate safely and support our community and environment. This is a deeply complex issue, and if you have further questions, please don't hesitate to contact me directly.

How Do You Expect to Pay for Additional Town Services?

We currently have an excellent, fiscally responsible budget. Everything should be based on services; obviously, if we want more, we pay more. I feel a lot of organizations can start contributing to our town in a greater way. That said, what we currently have is running quite efficiently, and I would like to see better planning ahead of time to avoid issues that bring about more costs. We must be more proactive than reactive, as seen repeatedly in many other communities. I'll be the first to acknowledge that I don't know all the answers and don't expect to.

I believe that the role of a councillor is to take in as much information as possible, make balanced and informed decisions, and communicate to the public: the good, the bad and the not-so-good.

I hope we can build a strong united team whom we can all rely upon to help our community win, rather than struggle or compete against each other. It may get expensive. It may get prohibitive. It may succeed. It's you; it's me, it's everyone… We are that team.

What are your plans for Traffic and URBAN Development?

In an agricultural community, we all have experienced growth. Just like the tomato plant needs support for its stalks, Kingsville needs support for its main streets. One of the biggest problems concerning urban sprawl is the lack of education. When communities are educated about the negative impacts of urban sprawl, they are more likely to take action to prevent irresponsible development. 

Planners and architects who promote smart growth are directed to create a stronger sense of place through a more compact, less car-reliant, safer way of development, known as mixed-use. Mixed-use development combines residential areas along with places of employment and commerce. Instead of isolating individual areas, mixed-use allows for more pedestrians and convenient public transit instead of increasing traffic and pollution.

My vision for downtown is one of beautiful storefronts, green spaces, and thriving communities. We can create spaces that encourage safe, accessible and active transportation like walking or biking. By focusing on these issues and creating a cohesive, functional plan, we can work with city planners and developers to ensure that we keep our small-town charm while creating opportunities to support families and businesses.

I have a vision of a beautiful Kingsville that thrives as it grows with a safe main street which is the core of that vision. The only way to build that vision is through listening to what the residents of Kingsville need and providing diligent planning. How well do our existing policies adhere to positive, healthy growth? What are our solutions? An expensive bypass? Tolls? Higher car/fuel taxes? Large isolated outside areas of development causing land degradation?

Let’s all work together to create safe, liveable, walkable, workable areas and thus save our wonderful Kingsville from the many typical environmental, economic and community costs associated with urban sprawl.