There's a special meeting Monday night in Essex to discuss a major revamp of the Essex and Harrow Centres.
Councillor Sherry Bondy says streetscaping plans have been put together by previous councils, but money have never been allocated to move forward with them.
The proposal coming before council calls for $4.6-million in Harrow and $3.8-million in Essex for a total of $8.4-million.
Bondy says she'd like to see the work begin now.
"Council will discuss about do we want to put some big dollars behind our urban plans and actually see real results in our downtown cores? I'm hoping that people will come out and we'll start really getting excited and talking about what do we want our downtown cores to look like in the near future?"
Bondy tells AM800 News the streetscaping discussion will be handled separately from budget talks.
"We pulled it aside from budget because it's a lot of money," says Bondy. "So the normal budget process is already working its way out. This is additional. So maybe we're funding it through reserves, maybe we're funding it through long-term debt. So it's a separate entity to our budget."
The proposed timeline for streetscaping projects in Essex Centre and Harrow Centre (Photo courtesy of essex.ca)
Bondy adds the work is well overdue.
"Absolutely it's time. Our infrastructure is outdated and I think it would give a real stimulant to our eco-tourism down here," says Bondy. "It would let investors know that the town is serious about investing in the downtown core and we need to keep up with what our other municipalities are doing. We kind of have lagged behind."
Bondy says council wants to hear from the public as well and is encouraging residents to come out to the meeting.
A proposed timeline for the work has construction beginning in Harrow in the summer of 2020 followed by Essex in the spring of 2021.
If council approves, administration would then prepare a report outlining a detailed funding model to get the projects completed — that would then have to come back to council for final approval.
— with files from AM800's Rob Hindi