Update · September 25, 2026
A trails plan, a Delaware public meeting, and voting week
Council adopted Middlesex Centre's 20-year Active Transportation Plan at its September 16 meeting, and it's worth a read if you walk, ride or push a stroller anywhere in the municipality. The plan looks ahead over two decades at more than 50 km of sidewalks, about 30 km of multi-use trails, 50 km of cycling infrastructure and eight pedestrian crossings. That's a lot of careful work by staff, and a solid piece of long-range thinking for a community growing as fast as ours. Council also approved revised zoning for eight medium-density units on Caverhill Crescent.
One thing people should know about a plan like this: adopting it doesn't commit the dollars. Each piece still comes forward through the annual budget, so the real conversation every year is which stretch of sidewalk or trail comes first. That's where good data earns its keep, knowing where people actually walk now, where kids cross on the way to school, and where a short connection would link two things that are almost joined already. I'd like us to have that information in front of us each budget season, so the choices are clear and easy to explain.
There's also a public meeting coming up on Wednesday, October 21 about an application for a clinic at 10608 Longwoods Road in Delaware, Official Plan Amendment No. 76 and Zoning By-law Amendment ZBA-17-2026. Services closer to home is a good conversation for that end of the municipality to have. A public meeting is exactly where an application like this belongs, and I won't be pre-judging it before residents and staff have had their say. If you live nearby, the details are on the municipality's page for the application, and the next regular council meeting is October 7 at 9:30 a.m.
That public meeting lands in the middle of voting week, which is a good reminder. Voting in Middlesex Centre is online or by phone from Monday, October 19 at 9 a.m. until Monday, October 26 at 8 p.m. Your Voter Information Letter with your PIN is mailed in mid-October and can look like junk mail, so please don't recycle it. If you're not sure you're on the Voters List, the municipality's Voter Help Centre can sort it out: 519-666-0190 or clerk@middlesexcentre.ca.
As always, the official dates, wards and instructions live on the municipality's 2026 election page. And if walking routes, trails or what's being built near you is on your mind, tell me about it. It all goes into the plan.
— Sean