With the municipal election just a few months away, Innisfil Coun. Alex Waters hopes to continue to represent Ward 4 and will be running for re-election.
Driven by a sustainable and green agenda, Waters is wrapping up his first term on council after previously spending 30 years as a senior manager and educator at the Kortright Centre for Conservation.
He initially ran for council to represent Ward 4 because he wanted to show his kids that after retirement one can still work to have a positive impact on the community, and now he wants to see through some of the projects he’s been working on.
“We have so many projects on the go that I thought leaving now would abandon those projects and I know the staff have put a lot of hard work into making some of these things happen,” he said. “I thought it would be good to stick around for another four years to make sure the green sustainability agenda gets anchored and won’t be taken out by the next council.”
Waters is excited about what has been accomplished in Ward 4 during his first term on council, especially while navigating the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The No. 1 most important thing is we got through the pandemic safely, but in this ward (4), specifically, the boardwalk to Goodfellow School, which has made it safer for walking to the school,” he explained.
He also pointed to the Park Road flood-diversion project, which is almost finished
“It used to get flooded and I’ve been down there twice after major rains, and it looks really good,” he said.
"The park looks amazing now because there’s no longer flooding and there’s a nice stream going through with pocketed wetlands, a bridge, new trees, and it looks gorgeous. People have been waiting for the Ninth Line repaving for years and we finally got it done.”
Outside of Ward 4, Waters is proud of what council has found for the Town of Innisfil as a whole.
“We’ve started the town square at the library, which is going to be an awesome place to visit for residents during the summer, winter, spring and fall,” he said. “We’ve got a lot accomplished. Specifically, we dealt so much with the pandemic. I think we were one of the quickest municipalities to pivot online. Considering all we went through, I think council worked really well together over the last four years and I’m proud of what we got done.”
If re-elected, Waters wants to continue to emphasize the community can be much more energy efficient by keeping up with projects that have already begun and by implementing new ideas.
“The one project we started is we had donated some acres of land on the 25th Sideroad to Habitat for Humanity, and they’re going to build a multi-residential, massive building,” he said. “The house that we live in is a passive house and it’s so energy efficient that we don’t even have a furnace in our house. The Habitat for Humanity house will take the highest efficiency standard in the world (passive house) to a multi-res building, and I’m really excited to see that. I think that will set the agenda with the Orbit and the GO Station once everyone sees how efficient it is.
“And we’re hoping the GO Station will be running by the end of the next term, so it would be really good to see that get going. The multi-lane pathway from Alcona to the YMCA is another big project to allow people to cycle. Something that hits Ward 4 is flooding at the end of Ninth Line and we’ve been working on a strategy to alleviate some of that, and I’d like to see those strategies implemented to keep residents safe because with climate change, flooding will only get worse. To also see Innisfil Beach Road get developed into a true downtown is something I’d love to see.”
With the expected growth Innisfil will see by 2050, Waters thinks it’s imperative to protect farmland.
“Simcoe County is going to be talking about where our new boundaries will be to meet the 2050 population, so maintaining farmland and the green space we have by building denser communities is something I’d love to see so we can keep farmlands for generations to come,” he said.
Having lived in Innisfil for more than 30 years and it being the place he raised his family, Waters said he has a true passion for the community.
“It’s all I’ve known for more than half my life, and for the last four to be able to get more involved has been amazing,” he said. “My roots are here, and it means a lot to me to help my community move forward to build a more sustainable and resilient community. Innisfil has a very bright future and I want to be there to make it happen.”
