The Town of Brome Lake’s new strategic plan maps out ambitious goals for 2024-2028, addressing key issues like protecting the environment, improving residents’ quality of life, ensuring harmonious development of the territory, and promoting dynamic, sustainable economic growth.

Importantly, the plan lays out a vision to steer how the town goes about achieving these objectives. For example, recognition of the town’s heritage and commitment to bilingual services; a commitment to ensuring a great quality of life, safety and cleanliness, and continuous improvement of public services; enrichment of cultural and community activities and spaces; and building an environment that encourages innovation and progress and embraces sustainable practices. The plan also lists the values that will drive decision-making and actions: respect, transparency, integrity, resiliency, and leader- ship. The product of a consultative process over a year-and-a-half, the plan is an impressive roadmap.

The challenge now is how the plan is implemented. The five-page “action plan” that accompanies the strategic plan document holds some indication. But the devil is in the details.

Some actions are pretty straightforward. For example, the plan promises to review speed limits across the territory, and analyze the possibility of installing photo radar. It promises to create a safe pedestrian crossing between Ecole Saint-Edouard and Veterans Park, install electric-vehicle charging stations in town parking lots, and to develop an architectural guide aimed at enhancing the town’s look and charm. Bravo! These are concrete actions that can produce results that residents want.

Other action points are less well-defined, like “Update and overhaul the urban plan to adapt it to new economic, demographic and environmental realities” or “Modify municipal regulations to better control the types of business in the heart of the village and urban perimeters”. These are vital issues, but it is not clear from the plan where we are headed. Same with the promise to enhance recreational activities and facilities. Will there be indoor public tennis and pickleball pro- grams like in Waterloo? Something else? Not clear.

Other action points sound more like day-to-day management responsibilities than actions that should be part of a five-year strategic plan. For example, “Remove non-compliant connections to the sewer system” or “Complete the installation of generators at pumping stations”. Others are things that should already be happening, like “Implement the measures recommended by the road safety commit- tee” or “Complete the heritage trail and sculpture trail projects”.

Lots of unanswered questions still. But overall, the strategic plan is a valuable document that will help guide the town’s priorities and decision-making. It is a great starting point on many fronts. Now we just need to get to work on making it happen in the way that residents want and that make Town of Brome Lake an even better place to live.