Significant progress expected on all but one strategic plan items in Norwich

Luke Edwards, Post Contributor

Norwich staff say one of the 37 items in the strategic plan councillors crafted at the beginning of this term will be a challenge to make any headway on as they enter the final year of the term, but significant progress or completion is expected on the remaining items.

CAO Matt Smith provided an update on the township’s strategic plan at the Nov. 25 council meeting. Smith’s report found 11 items have been finished, with another 11 he classified as “ongoing,” meaning they’ve been worked on and are the types of projects that never really end.

Another five projects were labeled as “in progress” and Smith said he expected those to be complete or nearly complete by this time next year.

The remaining items that were labelled as “not started” are, for the most part, awaiting completion of the Norwich Secondary Plan and township communications strategy.

“My expectation is by the time of the election next year we would have made significant progress on all of those not started action items with one exception,” Smith said.

That one item is the plan to find ways to reroute truck traffic that’s passing through the village. Smith said there’s been some conversations with their Oxford County colleagues, but the lack of appropriate alternative routes has left them stuck for the time being.

“In order for us to divert truck traffic around the Village of Norwich we would have to have full load roads that they could travel on,” he said.

There aren’t any existing full load roads that are close enough to the village to convince truck drivers to bypass the village. Any alternate route would be too far out of the way for truckers, and limited enforcement ability would likely make those efforts a waste, Smith said.

There was a second item the report noted as in the “not started” category and unlikely to be implemented in this term, and that was a plan to hold council open houses. Staff said it would be ineffective to hold such an open house in the final year of a term, but noted specific meetings could be accommodated. Similarly, an annual strategic plan open house next term was supported in the report.

The 37 action items developed at the start of this council term were based on five priority areas: Facilitate and address potential impediments to sustained growth; ensure that adequate, timely and appropriately serviced property is available for commercial and industrial development; improve pedestrian and traffic safety; continue updating the township’s asset management plan with new information and continue to base capital spending on decisions in it; enhance the township’s communication to and its engagement with township residents and businesses.