By Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberland
Cobourg makes a good-to-excellent overall first impression, council’s Community Protection and Economic Development Standing Committee heard at its meeting Wednesday in a presentation on a new project – the first-ever First Impressions Community Exchange between Cobourg and the City of Brockville.
The back-and-forth visits took place in September, and Brockville Economic Development Manager Dayna Golledge shared her team’s findings based on their visit that took place Sept. 10 to 15.
Golledge described the exercise as similar to a secret-shopper exchange, with the goal being to gauge the first-time impression a visitor may get. The team approached Cobourg from both Highway 401 exits and on County Road 2 to check out the town’s entrances, then spent time exploring the community from a variety of perspectives.
Their visit had begun with advance on-line research on the town website, so that was rated. Upon arrival, they rated the community entrances, then went on to housing and residential areas – beautifully maintained homes and condos, she said, but not a lot of regular apartment houses or affordable housing apparent.
Local government services got a big thumbs-up (once they paused at the windowless doors of Victoria Hall debating whether they should actually go in or not), with friendly and knowledgeable municipal staff.
Looking at education, health and community services, they found the Cobourg Community Centre well designed and well used, the schools well located and the hospital easy to find. While there were a lot of spas, however, there was not a lot of information on physicians’ offices and health-team offices.
They were, however, very impressed with the CCC right down to its little touches “like public art, and the little lending library was a great idea.”
And the downtown brought raves.
“We were blown away,” Golledge said, listing the curb appeal, beautification efforts and flower baskets. What she termed the cafe culture was a delight to explore.
She also applauded tourism, recreation and culture assets, including the easy availability of public washrooms and the fact that the fountain turns into a skating rink in the winter.
Golledge waxed poetic on the sights, sounds and tastes of their visit, and shared comments like, “felt like coming home” and “I could live here.”
“It’s a friendly and welcoming community” she said.
“The residents feel safe living here, and most people love where they live.”
That said, the team did report a number of residents’ concerns, such as the lack of professional employment opportunities, the disruption caused by summer visitors, the cost of living and homelessness.
In the end, however, the team’s rankings conducted on a wide variety of criteria almost uniformly fell into the satisfactory, good and excellent columns.
Golledge provided a list of “quick wins” such as removing advertising from the lifeguard huts and using one of those question-mark “information” signs at Victoria Hall and the Marina to indicate that, yes, you can come inside.
The team also suggested more winter activities and the opportunity for kayak and stand-up paddleboard rentals at the waterfront.
She told the committee that the goal is to create the kind of impression that makes a first-time visitor want to return. In that, she said, Cobourg had succeeded.
“My mom, my sister and I have an overnight trip booked to Cobourg next Friday,” she reported.
