SHUNIAH -- By the third public consultation for Shuniah's 2016-2020 Strategic Plan, all options are still on the table.
Although GCK Consulting won't digest the data untill the online survey closes on Sept. 30, it's already clear that opinions on development are divided.
"There were conflicting opinions on whether or not you should be developing tourism, whether or not you should be trying to attract business so we're definitely going to be looking more into that when we do our analysis," said GCK's Lisa Haessler.
Consultations with permanent and seasonal resdients of the bedroom community east of Thunder Bay ended in a drop-in session at the MacGregor Community Centre on Saturday.
Although Shuniah has next to no commercial or industrial tax base, it also has no centralized waterworks or garbage pickup. With road maintanence as the municipality's central responsibility, taxes are rising but remain significantly lower than those in Thunder Bay.
Shuniah's interim CAO Paul Greenwood pointed out the municipality deliberately made the consultations broad but the response crosses the spectrum.
"We've had some people saying we need more businesses and large industry to help reduce our residential taxes but do you want to have our municipal tax levy relying on two or three businesses? That has its own risks as well," he said.
"Some people are saying, 'just leave it the way it is. We want to enjoy our quiet community.'"
Many residents have voiced support for more activities at the community centre and more community events. Haessler intends to revisit residents to ask whether divisions are polarized or whether she can find common ground.
"It's surprising sometimes what people's barriers can be," she said.
"One person's impression of tourism can be different than another person's. You can say, 'what if we had a fishing derby?' 'Well, I'd participate in that. I don't think of that as tourism.' Sometimes there's additional investigation that needs to happen to find out what the concerns really are."
On other issues like trail development, however, Greenwood can already foresee compromise taking more effort.
"I think a lot of people are supportive of the trail system," he said.
"It's just developing a trail system to make everybody happy. In the wintertime, you're going to have the snowmobiler and cross-country skiers. In the summertime, you're goign to have the ATVs with the runners and cyclists.
"It's silent sports versus motorized sports. We might have additional work we have to do to find out how we meet the needs of both."
