KINGSTON – The founders of a new advocacy group said they hope to bring a new perspective to discussions about the city’s future path.

While still in its infancy, SPEAKingston is an assembly of local business owners, executives and public sector workers who seek to add a voice to the public debate about issues of development, infrastructure investment, job creation and taxes that they said has, until now, been absent.

“There are a lot of good things in this city and there’s a lot of good directional energy in this city, but there also seems to be a lot of strong groups out there with well-established voices that are against growth, against development, against tall buildings,” John Sheridan, retired chief executive officer of Ballard Power Systems, said.

“Our view is that there is a real downside to that. That’s not a path that is going to lead to more business investment; that’s not a path that is going to lead to more jobs in Kingston. That’s not a path that is going to lead to the development of the right housing options that people need,” said Sheridan, who is an investor with the Southern Ontario Angel Network working with tech startups and worked as chair of major gifts for the United Way of Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington.

SPEAKingston is based around four key tenets, including strengthening the city’s physical, technological and cultural infrastructure, growing the economic base by expanding employment and housing options, with competitive taxes, fostering the evolution of Kingston neighbourhoods and urban core to enhance attractiveness, vibrancy and public safety and protecting Kingston’s historical assets and natural environment in responsible ways.

“It’s not development at all costs, but it’s development that is going to improve overall quality of life of those who, live, play, work and invest in this city,” said consultant Sandy Sheahan, who previously worked as manager of capital build projects for Kingston Community Health Centre.

“We don’t fully know what the people of Kingston think, except these certain voices we hear at times coming from different places.”

Sheridan said the new group has some common ground with other community groups that comment on issues such as a commitment to preserve the city’s historic buildings and natural environment. But SPEAKingston, Sheridan said, would bring another viewpoint to discussions that, to this point, have been limited in scope.

“The dialogue back and forth seems to be very, very narrow. As an example, ‘Do we want high buildings or do we not want high buildings?’” Sheridan said. “It’s tough to stop the discussion there, if high buildings are going to be required where they would be a good addition to the city and help jobs and more housing options. That’s something we should consider. We shouldn’t just say no high buildings because they are high.”

To get a better idea of what the citizenry thinks, SPEAKingston has posted a survey at its website, speakingston.ca.

“We have some idea of what the key issues are. The city is on fire, so much great stuff going on. There’s going to be a lot of big issues coming forward in the next couple of years, too,” Sheahan said. “I just think there just needs to be a platform where Kingstonians can talk about some of those things in a positive, collaborative manner.”