CEC

 

List of Possible Projects:
This list is a record of every idea (feasible or not!) suggested by residents & members of our Community Enhancement Committee. What else should be included? Email me or send me a message via Facebook to share your ideas & I’ll post them here!

Infrastructure

• Further develop internal trail systems (in addition to East Coast Trail).
• Relocate Tourist Chalet on main highway.

Lower Pond Beach

• Repurpose existing tourist chalet to accommodate puffin patrol.
• Construct puffin launching station at Lower Pond.
• Build a large-scale Seabird Interpretation Centre at Lower Pond.
• Videocameras on Great Island with real-time footage of the burrows and the birds at the Ecological Reserve.
• A Puffin Museum.
• Eco-centre with an aquarium containing brown trout.

Lower Pond

• Install benches around the Pond.
• Boardwalks on Lower Pond.

The Tolt

• Stairs going up to the Tolt.
• Signs leading to the Tolt.
• At the summit, install a pole for miscellaneous signs.

Upper Pond/Main Beach

• Repair the Upper pond area.
• Replace bridge & repair finger wharves.
• Add a picnic area near Upper Pond to entice people to stop.
• Place the skeleton of a humpback whale near the main beach.

Gallows Cove
• Open up Dennis Cove (currently blocked off by gravel).
• Identify safe parking spot.
• Install signage.

Clean-Ups

• Organize a successful long-running Adopt-A-Spot program.
• Encourage participation in the Kinsmen’s Community Clean Up.
• Encourage beach cleaning (team up with CPAWS – Upper Pond cleanup).
• Clean-up side shoulders for walkers.
• Clean up around & beautify the old Graveyard and the road leading to it.
• Tidy up properties on either side of Southern Shore Highway after the sign.
• Ditch area between Main Highway and Old Highway on the Pinché

General Beautification
• Select an official Town Flower and invite everyone to plant it.
• Beautify church grounds.
• Encourage heritage architecture and colourful paint colours.
• Encourage tree planting & green spaces.
• Focus on sites most in need of improved curb appeal (Town Council Building; Rec Centre, ball field & pool area; Fish plant; Home Hardware; Graveyard road).
• Re-condition the Town’s swimming pool as a local attraction.
• General landscaping; Flowers/Plants/Shrubbery everywhere.

Enforcement

• Enact a beautification by-law.
• Enact a noise by-law.
• Future subdivisions should have proper roads/sidewalks/curb & gutter.
• Car wreck clean up.
• Increase and enforce buffer zone along ponds, streams, rivers, and the sea.

Work with Existing Community Groups

• Puffin Patrol (Encourage participation; help organize big launch party).
• Organize business beautification initiatives.
• Form partnerships with the schools to access students.

Sustainability
• Recycle/use crab shells.
• Christmas tree recycling program.
• Composting (per household / MMSB program).
• Energy-efficient and seabird-friendly street lighting.
• A community garden initiative.
• Encourage gardening.
• Adopt-a-Spot (roads & neighborhoods).
• Organize speakers’ series on sustainability.
• Install community garbage cans (to encourage less litter).
• Invite speakers to Community Enhancement Committee meetings.
• Focus on the creation of sustainable & green businesses.

Businesses
• Encourage existing businesses to enhance their aesthetics (How? Tax incentives?)
• Attract a good quality year-round restaurant.

Awards to Encourage Beautification, Community Spirit & Sustainability
• Award for businesses & individuals who promote environmental sustainability.
• Award for best Christmas & Halloween decorations.
• Possible prize: Free pizza party at Recreation Centre (including 3-hour rental).
• Award for most original house number.
 

ABOUT TIDY TOWNS
Each year, Municipalities NL hosts a contest between all the municipalities of the province. The winning towns get local, national and international recognition. This can be a great boon for a town’s economy. For Witless Bay to keep standing out, we have to help make the town as beautiful as it can be. We also have to demonstrate a strong sense of civic pride & environmental responsibility.

Involving the whole community in the effort is one of the key elements judges consider, which means that the Community Enhancement Committee seeks to work as a partner with all other community groups and organizations. This committee of Council will aim to be a keystone, uniting the various community groups in a common cause and assisting them in achieving their various goals.

For more information on Tidy Towns, please visit the Municipalities NL Website:
http://www.municipalnl.ca/?Content=Tidy_Towns/About_Us

 

A Great Read

This article, titled “THIRTEEN WAYS TO KILL A COMMUNITY, is by a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, and is really worth reading! It informs a lot of the work that our Community Enhancement Committee is doing, and clearly demonstrates a number of the things we should be focusing on! “A community’s success,” the author writes, “is determined more by its people and their determination to succeed than anything else.”

 

Activities & Events
The CEC’s Tourism & Marketing Strategy
A SWOT Analysis for Witless Bay