Lake of Bays Summit Workbook, McSweeney & Associates

Township of Lake of Bays

Economic Development Strategy Summit Backgrounder and Workbook

Prepared by:

July 2017

Township of Lake of Bays Economic Development Strategy

Summit Backgrounder and Workbook

Prepared by: McSweeney & Associates

McSweeney & Associates 201 - 900 Greenbank Road

Ottawa, Ontario CANADA K2J 1S8

Phone: 1-855-300-8548 Fax: 1-866-299-4313

Email: [email protected] Website: www.mcsweeney.ca

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.mcsweeney.ca/

Township of Lake of Bays | Economic Development Strategy Summit Workbook

McSweeney & Associates | July 2017

Table of Contents

1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 1

2 Statistical Overview ..................................................................................................... 2

3 Consultation Process (To Date) .................................................................................... 5

4 Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats Overview .................................... 6

5 Community Strategy Draft Themes and Questions ...................................................... 7


McSweeney & Associates | July 2017 | Page 1

1 Introduction This workbook includes the summary of the findings from the background research (strategic document review, statistics and data analysis, situational analysis) and stakeholder consultation (interviews, online survey, focus groups) portion of the Lake of Bays Economic Development Strategy process. The information contained in this report will be used as part of the Lake of Bays Economic Development Strategy Summit to help the Summit participants prepare for the session.



2 Statistical Overview



3 Consultation Process (To Date)

Method Outcomes

130 Online Surveys

Strategic Documents Review

10 One-on-one

Interviews, Focus Groups

Situational Analysis (including a SWOT)

Stakeholder Summit



4 Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats Overview

Strengths

People living in Lake of Bays

Quality of life (quiet, spacious, natural)

Natural environment (land, forests, water)

Tourists (Cottagers)

Strong volunteer culture

Good infrastructure (roads)

Proximity to the GTA

Three communities to pool resources

Long-term stable resident population

Proximity to hospital and health care services

Weaknesses

Poor high-speed Internet.

Limited available work force.

Not yet Investment Ready

Land use planning and development challenges.

Limited housing types/options

Seasonal economy

Limited variety of businesses

Communications

Lack of branding and image

Lack of succession planning as youth drains Types of local employment available

Opportunities

Improving broadband

Becoming more investment ready

Servicing a tourist economy

Becoming a more cohesive business community

Housing and accommodations/transportation

Coordinated marketing and branding

Workforce development through training and apprenticeship programs

Entrepreneurship development

Threats

Lack of community identity/vision

"Not open for Business” image

Youth outmigration/unemployment

Seasonal economy

Lack of labour force education and training

Lack of tourism infrastructure

Restrictive government policies - Home-based business policies, Secondary residence

restrictions

"not in my back yard" mentality



5 Community Strategy Draft Themes and Questions The following pages depict the five (5) major Strategic themes identified from the analysis and consultation work completed to this point of the project. Your role as a summit participant will be to work within these themes to identify and formulate various actions to help guide Lake of Bays economic development efforts as they move toward a more prosperous future.



Business Support and Development

Small business in a community typically accounts for the majority of the total economic activity. The bulk of economic activity within Lake of Bays is generated through existing small businesses. There is an opportunity for the Township to provide support to existing businesses while also helping entrepreneurs start, expand or grow a business. Questions to consider:

• Who are some of the local and regional partners involved in offering

business support programs (i.e.? Entrepreneurship, business start-up

and expansion, etc.)?

• Is there a support system in place to help existing businesses? Are there

additional actions that can be undertaken to help existing businesses

improve how they do business?

• Are there entrepreneurship programs in place to help new start-up

businesses or people with ideas start their own business? How can

these programs be better communicated and promoted?

• Is there funding available in Lake of Bays for business start-ups

(entrepreneurs) and existing businesses looking to expand?

• Are there additional supports needed? If so what are they?

• Is Lake of Bays Open for Business? If not, what actions need to occur to

make Lake of Bays more business friendly?

• Does Lake of Bays have the most competitive home-based business

policies to support home-based businesses?

• Does Lake of Bays have the proper infrastructure (i.e. Land, buildings,

broadband, etc.) to support the growth of their business community?



Community Infrastructure

This is often the nuts and bolts of municipal services – the hard infrastructure (water and sewer, roads, signage, sidewalks, parks, recreation facilities, library) and soft services (recreational programming, youth and senior’s programs and garbage collection). These assets and services have helped shape the community into what it is today. It is important to consider community infrastructure (e.g. buildable land, roads, Broadband, community halls) not only as community building blocks, but also as economic assets. Questions to consider:

• What actions need to occur for Lake of Bays to solve their

affordable/accessible Broadband issues?

• Outside of solving the Broadband puzzle what other pieces of

infrastructure are needed to help support the Lake of Bays economy?

• Are there areas of Lake of Bays that have extra service capacity (i.e.

Water and sewer) to help support business expansion?

• Are there areas of Lake of Bays that are more suitable for businesses

locations? Do these areas have the required infrastructure? If not what

types of services and infrastructure are needed?



Communications, Marketing & Branding

Made up of several unique communities, Lake of Bays has a special small town feel about it. Often Lake of Bays is looked upon as its individual pieces and not a unified community. Challenges of geographical separation make it difficult to connect with your neighboring hamlet and there are some opportunities to improve how businesses within Lake of Bays communicate and market. What is Lake of Bays? How do people and businesses interact and communicate with each other? How should the outside world view Lake of Bays? Questions to consider:

• What can be done to better connect the various businesses and

organizations that make up Lake of Bays?

• How can the Lake of Bays business community better

communicate with each other?

• Are there actions that can be undertaken to improve how the

Lake of Bays businesses communicate with each other?

• Can the marketing efforts supporting the Lake of Bays businesses

be improved? How?

• Is the Lake of Bays a brand? What is the brand? Does Lake of

Bays need a brand?



Tourism

Tourism is one of the major drivers of the Lake of Bays’ economy. This includes servicing the traveling public as well as the seasonal and local residents and encompasses several local/regional activities such as food and accommodations, retail, festivals and special events, arts, culture and heritage attractions, special attractions, outdoor recreation and other related services such as construction and property maintenance. Lake of Bays is also on the doorstep of one of Ontario’s most visited tourist attractions – Algonquin Park.

Questions to consider:

• What can be done to help grow, diversify and strengthen this

sector?

• Are there actions that can be undertaken by the Township to help

existing tourism businesses do business?

• What can be done to better identify tourism (business)

opportunities in Lake of Bays?

• How can Lake of Bays tourism products (businesses) be better

marketed and promoted?

• Are there linkages that can be made to better coordinate the

tourism activities in Lake of Bays?



Workforce Development, Retention and Attraction

This is literally all about people. Businesses cannot operate without staff. Traditionally the Lake of Bays economy has relied on a seasonal workforce to provide the horsepower to several businesses. In more recent years, issues of retention and attraction of labour have become serious issues that could potentially impact the Lake of Bays economy. Labour shortages, the absence of youth labour force, issues sourcing skilled and unskilled labour are topics that are not necessarily unique to Lake of Bays but potentially could have some major consequences on the local economy. Questions to consider:

• What actions are currently being undertaken to address workforce development issues?

• What can the business community do to help address workforce issues?

• What can the Township do to help address workforce issues? • Are there other partners in the region that can help? • Is it a housing issue or a transportation issue? How can the issues

of housing and transportation be overcome to help address workforce issues?



Other questions to think about…

1. My ideal Lake of Bays economy looks like…

2. The one thing I can do to make Lake of Bays a better place is…

3. The one thing the Township can do to make Lake of Bays a

better place to do business is…

Lake of Bays Summit Workbook, McSweeney & Associates

Documents

Transcript of Lake of Bays Summit Workbook, McSweeney & Associates