Author: John Draper

Public Input Wanted on CDCI West Playing Field

John Draper

The other contentious item considered at Monday’s CoW Council Meeting was what to do with the now dormant land that used to be the CDCI West playing field. As reported in an earlier post, staff offered two options: A) keep as a park or B) mixed park and affordable housing. Discussion started when Councillor Burchat suggested a partnership with the County on the affordable housing aspect but Councillors seemed unsure about what the public wanted. Mayor Cleveland added a third option when he said that Williams Academy offered to buy the property for use as a football park for their school now occupying the old CDCI West building. It was also not agreed that the Town of Cobourg’s definition of… Read complete articlePublic Input Wanted on CDCI West Playing Field

Council Rejects Sleeping Cabins Idea

John Draper

There was a full gallery Monday night to hear Council debate what to do about the proposed Sleeping Cabins idea.  First came three delegations: 1) Alastair McKeating of Northumberland Sleeping Cabin Collective (NSCC) reported on engagement and governance as previously reported here; 2) Keith Oliver spoke about how the discussion was becoming chaotic; and 3) Anita Turek spoke on behalf of neighbours to the proposed location.  The debate was long but in the end, Council was decisive and came up with a plan although not what was wanted by Green Wood, Missy McLean or NSCC.  Mayor Lucas Cleveland was clear on his position with a statement that is reported below – although this was interrupted from the gallery.  In general,… Read complete articleCouncil Rejects Sleeping Cabins Idea

Council Decision Requested on old CDCI Property

John Draper

In September 2022, the Town announced that they would be buying the old CDCI West playing field on Durham Street.  The purchase price was $2M and the deal closed in December 2022. At the Committee of the Whole meeting on April 3, staff will ask Council which of two options should they proceed with: 1) Keep all of it as parkland or 2) sell part of it to a developer on condition of including affordable housing.  In either case, changes to the Official plan are not required but residential housing would require re-zoning. The 2013 Parks Master plan would favour a park but the 2016 Downtown Master plan would favour the mixed plan. To help with a decision, staff spelled… Read complete articleCouncil Decision Requested on old CDCI Property

County Selling Material Recovery Facility

John Draper

In 2019, Doug Ford’s Provincial Government decided to transfer responsibility for waste recycling from Municipal Governments to the companies that produced the waste. This would save municipalities the cost plus give the producers of the waste an incentive to minimize it in the first place.  The timeline for Northumberland is for it to be fully in effect on January 1, 2024.  There are two parts to this: 1. Transferring management and ownership of the Material Recovery Facility in Grafton away from the County and 2. Transferring blue and grey box pickup to a new organization.  The County has now announced part one: the County has accepted a conditional offer from Emterra Environmental to purchase the Material Recovery Facility in Grafton…. Read complete articleCounty Selling Material Recovery Facility

Sleeping Cabin Engagement and Governance Report

John Draper

At Council’s 28 February Committee of the Whole (CoW) meeting, Council were asked to approve that Sleeping Cabins could be put in the parking lot of the Memorial Arena on Furnace Street. Concerned about public approval and how these would be managed, Council asked the organizers to report back at the April 3rd CoW meeting on their public engagement and their governance. To comply with this, the Northumberland Sleeping Cabin Collective (NSCC) will be presenting their 33 page report at that CoW meeting. No surprise, it is strongly supportive of the proposal and reads as a professional report selling the idea. The report lists community and stakeholder engagements and the results of a survey indicating support and includes a description… Read complete articleSleeping Cabin Engagement and Governance Report

Will Police Heed the Plea?

John Draper

At least one business in Cobourg is concerned about “a heightened public perception of compromised safety and security in Downtown Cobourg, especially after dark”. Ken Prue, of Loft Productions, has emailed the Mayor and the Police Chief with concerns that his patrons will not feel safe at night – especially when leaving shows at Victoria Hall.  Will this be the beginning of the end of a vibrant downtown Cobourg?  Ken says: “The current controversy over the issue of un-sanctioned overdose prevention sites (OPS) has become a sensitive issue and members of the public are speaking out against what is perceived as a ‘laissez faire’ attitude by Council and Police that is creating public risk.”  It is certainly getting a lot of… Read complete articleWill Police Heed the Plea?

Council Acts on Report of Safe Injection Site

John Draper

At the Regular Council meeting on Monday night – March 20 – Mayor Cleveland introduced a “Notice of Motion” to say that Council does not endorse the unsanctioned Overdose Prevention site proposed for Cobourg.  (See Resources below for link to report by Pete Fisher).  This usually means that it would be introduced at a subsequent Council meeting but Council passed a suspension of rules of Order that meant it could be dealt with and passed immediately.  Mayor Cleveland, with support from Council and CAO Tracey Vaughan made it clear they had not been consulted and only heard about it from the media plus citizen communication – at the same time as everyone else.  See the full wording of the motion… Read complete articleCouncil Acts on Report of Safe Injection Site

Letter from a Downtown Business re Safety Concerns

John Draper

Mary Ito, owner of the Northumberland Dental Hygiene Clinic located near the corner of King and Division downtown has sent a letter to the Police Board expressing concern about “unsheltered” people near her business.  The letter is scheduled to be made public at the Police Board meeting on Tuesday 21 March with the staff recommendation that it be received for information.  Mary is not the first person to be concerned about the perceived danger from homeless people in this area – that is, along Division from the Esplanade to north of King and both directions along King as well as West on Albert to the bus shelter.  I have heard reports of bank ATM lobbies on King being locked after… Read complete articleLetter from a Downtown Business re Safety Concerns