Let’s talk about Bond Head.
We’re about to see a lot happening in the area, and it presents risks but also an exciting opportunity to ensure Bond Head is preserved, enhanced and continues to be a beloved place to live and work.
For years, local residents of the historic hamlet have worried about coming housing development. As approved in 2012, we’re on the cusp of a major, 341-unit housing development straddling County Road 27 north of County Road 88, which will fundamentally change the makeup of the existing community. We need to ensure we make the most of what’s coming.
At the same time, town council has been working toward designating the Bond Head “four corners” area as a heritage district, a designation that recognizes a collective sense of place arising from common heritage buildings and streetscapes. Bond Head has a long history—it’s older than Bradford West Gwillimbury itself—and today includes more than 40 buildings over a century old.
Taken together, these two realities mean that change is coming to Bond Head, but town council has a chance to manage that change, to preserve what’s treasured about the hamlet and, if done correctly, to catalyze a restoration of the heritage district itself.
We should have a bold goal in mind: let’s make Bond Head into our version of Kleinburg, albeit with less housing development—that is to say a beautiful streetscape that combines historic buildings with thriving small businesses, walkable streets and carefully considered new housing that matches the aesthetic of the neighbourhood.
There are a number of simple measures town council can take to form an action plan to preserve Bond Head’s heritage character and enhance the area.
To start, it’s does make sense to designate Bond Head a heritage district. This approach is a relatively straightforward means of ensuring town council has a legislative structure in place to enforce guidelines for managing any future development and alteration of existing heritage structures. It will allow council to preserve the unique heritage character of Bond Head.
Further, town council should ensure any new housing developments are not only carefully managed in terms of density, number of units and traffic, but also that the new houses are tasteful and match the aesthetics of the neighbourhood. Coun. Peter Dykie put it well when he said recently that with most developments, "everything is so cookie cutter. I’d like to see something historic, something nice in this hamlet."
As I suggested in a previous column, Bradford West Gwillimbury has benefited from Community Improvement Plans (CIP), particularly for incentivizing seniors’ housing and improvements to downtown Bradford.
If a CIP has worked for downtown Bradford—and no doubt it has, by providing small business owners with discounts and incentives to renovate their properties—it would certainly also help to spur and support businesses in Bond Head. With a great golf course nearby, and new housing coming in, too, there is a unique opportunity for new small businesses—bakeries, pubs, bed-and-breakfasts.
Town council should put in place the incentives to help stimulate this economic development. Town council should put in place a CIP for Bond Head.
Finally, Bradford West Gwillimbury should do its own part to enhance the area, including by further sprucing up the parkette at the four corners and at the community centre. More trees in particular would help further beautify the area.
Bond Head is a wonderful area. Change, for better or for worse, is coming. But we have the chance to manage that change, and to ensure the neighbourhood is enhanced, not compromised by development. Town council can lead this change and make Bond Head even better.
Jonathan Scott is a public affairs consultant and writer, and a former election campaign manager for BWG Mayor Rob Keffer.
