Author: John Draper

Brookside has Closed

John Draper

Last Summer, Councillor Nicole Beatty moved a motion that was passed by Council to ask the Province for a report on what was happening at Brookside Youth centre at 390 King Street East. She was not the only one concerned.  Many people have asked MPP David Piccini the same question since it was no secret that occupancy was dropping.  As Mayor Henderson said at today’s Zoom announcement, in 2014 the Auditor General asked about the low occupancy and in fact occupancy at the facility has dropped 81% since 2004/05.  So now the Province has acted and today the facility was closed and the youth were re-assigned.  All staff will be able to continue working for the Provincial Government although not… Read complete articleBrookside has Closed

Covid-19 Update by HKPR District Health Unit

John Draper

Our District’s Acting Medical officer for Health, Dr. Ian Gemmill, is very helpful in providing regular information on the pandemic. To do this, he holds weekly media briefings and next week will also hold a Virtual Town Hall for the public. With the lockdown to be eased on February 16, there is quite a lot of information to be disseminated this week.  Next Tuesday (the day after family day), Cobourg will move out of the “stay at home order” and into a zone – and according to Dr. Gemmill this will most probably be the Orange zone – see details below. The decision will be made by the Province and announced on Friday. He also said that another 1000 vaccine… Read complete articleCovid-19 Update by HKPR District Health Unit

Cobourg’s East End Continues to Grow

John Draper

There are five housing developments in Cobourg’s East End either currently being built or planned.  Supporting commercial developments include a plaza housing a Tim Hortons plus a supermarket at Wilmott although as usual there is no firm timeframe on these. As well as the County’s affordable housing re-development at 265 – 327 Elgin, East Village phase 5 is ongoing, the Mason Homes development at 425 King East has started, the Nickerson Drive development is proceeding and there are indications that the large development at Elgin and Brook is being started.  Called the Villages of Central Park or the Rondeau lands, it calls for 1500 to 1700 homes in six phases with the first phase of 144 to 216 homes on… Read complete articleCobourg’s East End Continues to Grow

Next Step on Harbour Repairs

John Draper

Last December, Council had a special on-site meeting to review what should be done to repair the harbour and enhance the East pier (see photo and link below).  The problem is that it’s not just the East Pier that needs fixing, it’s the whole harbour.  And these repairs could cost around $12 million – without even doing the much discussed enhancements to the East Pier.  In October 2020, an RFP was issued for design work to implement the Waterfront plan including enhancements to the East Pier and the harbour generally but it was withdrawn “due to staffing and funding concerns”.  It seems it was premature given the need to first do repairs.  East Pier enhancements are now not expected to… Read complete articleNext Step on Harbour Repairs

Managing High Volumes of Visitors at Victoria Beach

John Draper

One of the things Council has wrestled with in the past year is the ongoing concern in the Town about the use of Cobourg’s Beach.  It is on Lake Ontario and is one of the Province’s best beaches and is wide open for anyone to use – resident or not.  Town Staff and a number of others see Cobourg as a Tourist destination with the beach being a prime attraction but not all residents agree.  After all, maintenance is paid by taxes and there is a debate as to whether beach goers bring a benefit to the Town or even whether they should bring a benefit.  The beach is not crowded on most days but on some weekends in a… Read complete articleManaging High Volumes of Visitors at Victoria Beach

Presentation to Council about On-Demand Transit

John Draper

As part of the 2021 budget deliberations, Council authorized a year-long trial of an On-Demand Transit system.  This would improve service and probably increase the number of users.  If successful, it would allow bus sizes to be reduced and reduce costs.  At Monday’s regular Council meeting, the proposed suppliers made a presentation to Council with additional details.  The current Transit Contractor, Pacific Western, plus their software partner Rideco, listed other municipalities using or planning to use their On-Demand Service – both Pacific Western Transit (PWT) and Rideco are Canadian companies although Rideco has several US customers including San Antonio, LA and Houston. They also demonstrated their App and gave a timeline for the Trial.  PWT has 35 Transit Contracts in… Read complete articlePresentation to Council about On-Demand Transit

Many Old Municipal Documents No Longer Available Online

John Draper

At the beginning of this year (January 1), legislation passed in 2005 required new standards for accessibility for web sites provided by Ontario municipalities (amongst others). This means that online documents must meet standards that were not previously mandatory.  But Northumberland County and probably the Town of Cobourg have thousands of documents that don’t meet those standards.  Since this is a significant amount of work, the county has taken these documents off-line as has the Town although for a different stated reason.   That means that the public can only access most bylaws or earlier agendas and minutes by emailed request (details below).  The County is asking the Province to change the legislation and the Town is saying that the issue… Read complete articleMany Old Municipal Documents No Longer Available Online

Tim Hortons Coming to East End

John Draper

The owners of the property at the northeast corner of King Street East and Brook Road North first applied for approval to develop the property in 2014 and despite getting approval, never proceeded to build.  But in April 2020, another application was made and has worked its way through planning with several changes.  I reported on one version in August 2020 – see link below – but the final site plan was up for approval at the Committee of the Whole Council meeting on January 25.  Council approved the application.  Development will be in two phases with a gas bar and Tim Hortons in the first phase.  The plan includes two spaces for Electrical Vehicle chargers and a second phase… Read complete articleTim Hortons Coming to East End