Mapleton Mayor Gregg Davidson says he’s excited about the next 4 years for the community.
Davidson was acclaimed before this year’s elections, and he says the last council term saw Mapleton keep a 3 year average of 0 percent in terms of tax increases, and they also implemented some summer and after school programs for students.
“We’ve now expanded that into programs also for the morning at the Drayton High School. We opened a new park in Drayton, and we’re still working on expanding that park, but we’ve opened that up, and of course we’ve started and almost completed the new water tower. So we’ve done all that over these last 4 years,” Davidson shares.
Davidson says they now have to look at managing incoming growth in their communities, which will require more infrastructure. On that note, he says the water and wastewater master plan will be a major focus, and he says it will cost upwards of 30 million dollars to bring the municipality’s water systems up to standard.
“We have received some funding, around 6 million in provincial and federal funding to continue on with what we need to be doing there for water and waste water. Not only for the community we have now but for the future growth for Mapleton. We know that the growth is coming, we have applications for homes to be built in the hundreds,” adds Davidson.
He also says there is another big challenge to tackle locally in Mapleton.
“Childcare. We don’t have a licensed childcare facility, and with growth comes a lot more families, and we have to look at a licensed childcare and work with the province to get that on board. We know that we’re gonna have challenges with budgets in the next couple of years, just because of what we’re all experiencing with the rise of inflation,” Davidson notes.
Davidson says that it will also be challenging to try and ensure that affordable homes are available over the next few years so that the municipality can continue to thrive and grow. He says they are trying to work with local developers to ensure there are more affordable homes in the area.
“Can you build homes for young families just starting out? Can you build homes for seniors that are looking to downsize? Of course, we also need rental accommodations. So we’re trying to work with the builders in the community coming in, to say look, we need this kind of housing. But we have to understand that the price of land has gone way up that these builders are paying. So we’re trying to work with them as much as we can to see if we can keep prices low enough that the housing is affordable. But as we know, this is nationwide, it’s not just Mapleton, it’s everywhere. This is something that the federal government and the province have also got to get their hands into,” Davidson concludes.
