Hub Staff

The Saugeen Shores Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours took place at Piper's Glen Golf Club on October 15 with refreshments and door prizes.

Saugeen Memorial Hospital Foundation Campaign Chair, Tony Sheard represented a special award to Piper's Glen owner Rod Rice for making a $50,000 pledge to the Hospital Foundation. “He came to our donor appreciation evening and yesterday we were happy to award Piper's Glen and Rice Developments with a token of our appreciation for the pledge that Rod made,” said Sheard.

Rice has been involved with Piper's Glen since 2008. “We know very much that hospitals are a key component to any community and a good hospital, a dynamic hospital allows for a healthy community in so many ways,” said Rice. “We want to show our support and that's what we wanted to do with this pledge.”

Coming from a family who does land development and property management, Rice explained that they are moving forward with the development of a residential community around Piper's Glen called The Westlinks, which Rice described as 'a front porch community'.

“We're really pleased to have been working with the municipality over the last several years to get planning approvals and we're ... on the cusp of being able to move forward.”

The Westlinks is going to be a community of some 140 townhouse condominiums parallel to County Road 17 and about 67 single family homes along Mill Creek; the first phase being 40 townhomes and 15 single family homes. A soft launch is planned for this Fall with an official launch next Spring and the houses will be marketed with Jason Steele and Kate Cammidge-Irwin of Re/Max Land Exchange in Port Elgin.

“We're very excited about this development ... Saugeen Shores is one of the fastest growing areas in the whole Grey Bruce area so we're thrilled to be part of that,” explained Rice, adding that it will be a lifestyle community to the extent that it's oriented around the golf course. “It will appeal to a wide demographic we think and the golf course is a great amenity around which to live.”

Piper's Glen General Manager, Brad Mercer said that the course is reducing from an 18 hole to a 12 hole course. “It seems to be a new trend in the industry as time becomes more of a factor in people's lives. People don't often have five hours to play anymore. They have to get home to see family, they have work commitments,” he said.

The next Business After Hours meeting and Christmas social will be held at The Walker House in Southampton on Wednesday, December 3 from 5 to 7pm. Donations for the Iota Phi Christmas Toy Drive will be appreciated. The Chamber Board elections will follow.