Owen Sound’s city manager reported progress on several fronts to help make the downtown core more vibrant.
Councillors reviewed a report from Owen Sound City Manager Tim Simmonds Monday that provided an update on work by city staff to implement seven initiatives drawn up last year to revitalize the River District — known to many simply as downtown.
“The work council has asked for is underway and moving forward,” Simmonds says.
Increasing by-law enforcement and waste management audits, creating a dedicated River District Project lead and providing additional public washroom access are among the ongoing or completed River District initiatives, which were ordered in 2025 to address “challenges related to aging streetscape elements, as well as the impacts of homelessness on the cleanliness and perceptions of safety in the area.”
Simmonds told councillors the city’s work to expand by-law enforcement levels and foot patrols in the River District is ongoing. He says the city secured a provincial grant for streetscaping and is advancing that work. Enhanced cleaning, maintenance and beautification has been occurring downtown. A River District Action Plan update is underway. Public washroom improvements at the Farmers’ Market commenced this week.
“These efforts take time to implement and, more importantly, time to properly evaluate. Meaningful outcomes, particularly those related to safety, perception, and overall experience in the River District, do not happen overnight and require sustained focus and investment,” Simmonds says in his report. “At the same time, the city continues to navigate an ongoing public narrative, particularly on social media, that can at times reflect unfounded assumptions, stereotypes, and, in some cases, discriminatory perspectives. This is further complicated when discussions in public forums escalate in a way that risks reinforcing those narratives rather than advancing constructive solutions.”
Simmonds says staff plan to bring forward several proposed by-law amendments next month for council’s consideration. His report says these will include updates to the property standards by-law to “establish limits on boarded buildings,” changes to waste management regulations to clarify property owner responsibility and changes to the business licensing by-law to introduce operating conditions for “emergency care establishments.”
The latter by-law amendment that could come before council in July is expected to draw from the Town of Cobourg’s emergency care establishment by-law, which provides a licensing and regulatory framework for emergency and transitional care shelters.
Cobourg’s by-law defines emergency care establishments as institutions that provide immediate, temporary accommodation and assistance for short-term periods, generally less than one week, for the majority of its residents.
“We’ve looked at that. We’ve had discussions with legal counsel about that,” Simmonds says. “The idea is not to bring forward a standalone emergency care establishment by-law, but to look at elements of the by-law believed to have been working to help enforce certain issues such as waste within the downtown.”
“Those establishments, we’re still defining what those would be,” he continues. “And we should have that ready … for those July reports and discussions.”
The city manager adds: “We really need the property owners to step in and start to take responsibility for the trash and garbage.”
POLICE CHIEF: “MORE AND MORE CONCERNS” ABOUT DOWNTOWN
The update from the city manager Monday on River District work followed a special council meeting earlier in the day, when Owen Sound Police Chief Craig Ambrose presented some statistics and took questions from councillors.
The special meeting agenda contained two items. One was a report on Owen Sound Police Service calls to the River District, which paints a mixed picture. The numbers show the total percentage of Owen Sound Police dispatched calls to the River District, relative to the entire city, has been fairly stable since 2023 — ranging between 27 to 29 per cent. But the report also notes slightly increased volume through the first five months of 2026.
The second item on council’s special meeting agenda Monday was a letter from the police services board. It provides notification of a motion passed by the police services board last month, urging council to “take action on concerns…regarding loitering and other social disorder matters taking place in the City of Owen Sound, particularly in the River District.”
The letter signed by Police Services Board Chair John Thomson says the board reviewed “correspondence and broader community feedback indicating residents, visitors and businesses continue to feel unsafe in the downtown area.”
Owen Sound Police Chief Craig Ambrose says the service has been receiving a number of calls and emails from concerned community members “about the downtown, and safety in the downtown.”
Ambrose says the police service also meets regularly with shopkeepers in the River District, and “there have been more and more concerns addressed to them about what’s going on downtown.”
“I’ve personally gone out and met with a number of shopkeepers about some of the issues downtown,” Ambrose says.
Councillors had a 90-minute discussion and asked a wide range of questions to the police chief, about issues such as proactive police enforcement, gaps in services and potential by-law changes to enhance enforcement “tools in the toolbox.”
WHAT IS THE PROBLEM DOWNTOWN?
A 2025 River District report to council described issues downtown as “challenges related to aging streetscape elements, as well as the impacts of homelessness on the cleanliness and perceptions of safety in the area.”
Owen Sound Coun. Jon Farmer mentioned during Monday’s special meeting that conversations about the River District can be frustrating because, collectively, there isn’t agreement on what “the problem” is.
“Some of the correspondence we’re receiving, the sense is people complaining on social media is the problem. Or that people are seeing people unhoused and visibly homeless is the problem,” Farmer says. “Or the fact that people are unhoused is the problem, or they’ve dropped out of the rental market as it has skyrocketed.”
“I think one of the sticking points I’m hearing is we don’t actually all mean the same problem, when we say ‘the problem,’” Farmer continues.
MAYOR: “NOT THAT BAD”
Owen Sound Mayor Ian Boddy and some councillors pushed back a bit on the idea of an “unsafe feeling” for some downtown. They highlighted that some positive correspondences have been received as well, about all of the great things the River District has to offer.
“If you’ve been to Ottawa, if you’ve been to London, if you’ve been to Toronto, if you’ve been to Edmonton, if you’ve been to any of these places, we’re not that bad,” Owen Sound’s mayor says. “There’s some people that think differently apparently.”
“But we’re not that bad,” Boddy stresses. “Go and look.”
Coun. Farmer adds he has observed the River District has been “positively bustling” in recent months “with people out to dinner, heading to shows at the Roxy, Heartwood and the Harmony Centre.”
“I could give so many more examples of great experiences that I and my family, my neighbours and my friends have recently had downtown,” Farmer says. “I just want to state for the record, there are also wicked problems we need to address.”
“But personally, the times I’ve worried for my physical, or the safety of my children in the last five years, have been the result of vehicles … being driven recklessly.”