Mayor Darrin Canniff is pleased with how 2023 went for Chatham-Kent and is looking forward to 2024.
"Chatham-Kent's doing pretty amazing," Canniff said. "When you go back a few years, we were declining in population and there just wasn't much happening here. Over a few short years, we've flipped that scale."
He noted that in 2023, nearly 300 businesses opened in the area, including dozens of restaurants. "There's a lot of other businesses taking note of Chatham-Kent," he added.
Canniff noted that the previously declining population in the area has also switched course.
"We're growing," he said. "Ultimately, the success factor for a community is 'do people want to live there?' Our population is increasing."
Canniff believes that trend will continue and the municipality is doing its best to ensure that everyone who comes to Chatham-Kent will have a place to live.
"The housing targets that the province has put out to the 50 largest communities, Chatham-Kent is leading the charge. We're exceeding our housing target by 420 per cent," he said. "There's no other community anywhere close to that." Canniff added that percentage-wise Chatham-Kent has built more homes than Windsor or Burlington.
And it's not just homes. Canniff said that a number of projects to attract people to Chatham-Kent started in 2023 and will continue into the coming year.
"We can provide lots of jobs and we can provide reasonably affordable housing compared to a lot of larger communities, but it's the amenities, it's the arts, culture, and recreation that people are looking for," the mayor explained.
Canniff described the park at St. Clair College which will soon get underway. The park will include an indoor tennis dome, indoor soccer, basketball courts, pickleball courts, a cricket field, and an accessible playground.
The trampoline park is another project Canniff is excited about. "They're waiting on some equipment from Europe, but it's going to be a state-of-the-art facility. One of the nicest ones in Canada," he enthused. The facility will be 46,000 square feet in size.
Chatham-Kent residents can also look forward to more outdoor trails, public art, a new museum, a new library, and the inaugural season of the Chatham-Kent Barnstormers. He also hopes to see some solutions for new arenas in the area.
"All those amenities are going to keep people here and serve as attraction points and make people proud to be from this community," he said.
Canniff added that little things that make people smile are things that he wants to see in the community. He wants to see Chatham-Kent as a community known for arts and culture, adding that not only do people like those things but they also benefit people's mental health.
When it comes to things that Canniff wishes may have gone differently in 2023, he said that he regrets that the municipality didn't make more progress on affordable housing.
As an example, he cited 95 affordable units planned for the community that never got off the ground due to lack of funding.
"The municipality has a lot of projects that require federal and provincial money," Canniff explained. "We have over 1,000 people on the waiting list for affordable housing. So, we need more of it, but we can't do it alone. No matter how much progress we make on it, I'll always say that we need more. I want to see everyone housed. I don't want to see anyone living on the street," he added.
All-in-all, Canniff is encouraged by the direction Chatham-Kent is heading in.
"You're going to start seeing more retailers coming here, you're going to start seeing more industry coming here, more people are going to be coming here, more housing announcements. I think you're going to see more of the same... More recreational facilities. We're going to be working on improving what we have and creating more things so that we have virtually everything that a larger community has, but right here in Chatham-Kent," he concluded. "I'm just really excited about the future."