Category: News 2018

Marathon Council Meeting Dominated by Waterfront Study

John Draper

As expected, the Council meeting on Monday was mostly about the Waterfront study.  It went from 4:00pm to 9:30pm, heard 12 delegations on the Waterfront study and had an overflow of spectators who stood at the door or sat on the floor.  The intent was to have Council “adopt” the report so that they would have a “framework” to guide future councils and staff on how the waterfront should be developed over the next 25 years – starting in 2019.  It was said several times that the report was not an implementation plan and that each time a recommendation was to be implemented, it would come to council for budget and approval.  However, the 12 delegations were concerned with what… Read complete articleMarathon Council Meeting Dominated by Waterfront Study

Strong Interest in Release of Waterfront Study

John Draper

The long awaited “Waterfront User Needs Assessment and Detailed Design Study Report” will be presented to Council on Monday June 4 at the Council’s Committee of the Whole (C.O.W.) meeting starting at 4:00 pm.  It was initially planned to have an earlier meeting at 1:00 pm but that was cancelled in favour of including the release in the C.O.W. meeting.  The reason given was to have the meeting at a time better for public participation.  Another difference between a “public meeting” and a C.O.W. meeting is that at a public meeting, anyone can speak without advance notification.  As it happens, 12 people have given notification and are on the agenda to speak on the subject.  They will be speaking before… Read complete articleStrong Interest in Release of Waterfront Study

Province contributes to King Street Vitalization

John Draper

On Monday, Council will be asked to approve receiving a grant from the province for $54,843.19 under the “Ontario’s Main street Revitalization Initiative”.  The money would be used to help with the Vitalization project for King Street.  More details below but the largest amount would be to enhance the CIP project. One option being considered for that would be to direct significant funding to encourage Technology firms to locate in the Downtown core – they would be given an “incentive to lease 1st, 2nd and 3rd story buildings to high tech firms”. Smaller amounts would be provided for cosmetic projects – completion of the Victoria Hall exterior lighting project and extension of the downtown business attraction project ad campaign to… Read complete articleProvince contributes to King Street Vitalization

Solar Panels at Venture 13 Explained

John Draper

At the Venture 13 grand opening on May 17, 2018, Dereck Paul, President & CEO of Lakefront Utility Services Inc (LUSI) announced that Solar panels would be installed on the roof of the Venture 13 building and would save approx. a third of its hydro costs.  At  last week’s council meeting he presented additional information.  A key thing is that it’s not just LUSI involved but a consortium of LUSI, Veridian and Solera.  And LUSI does not distribute Hydro – that’s a sister company: Lakefront Utilities Inc.  The mandate of LUSI includes providing broadband to business as they will do for Venture 13, to manage the water supply for 4 municipalities and to expand their business (see the full presentation… Read complete articleSolar Panels at Venture 13 Explained

Cannabis Facility Chooses Construction Contractor

John Draper

As previously reported, private company FV Pharma has bought the old Kraft Factory and plans to use it to supply the Cannabis Market in Canada.  Initially the market is for medical purposes but legislation to allow recreational marijuana is working its way through the Senate and should be approved in the summer.  The main financing for FV Pharma is provided by public company Cannabis Wheaton Income Corp and on May 15 they announced an update on their “Joint Venture” with FV Pharma.  A builder has now been chosen and a schedule for construction announced.  They also make a point of thanking the “support received and active involvement of the local municipality of Cobourg”.  Help to ensure this building is used… Read complete articleCannabis Facility Chooses Construction Contractor

AGN and Town to partner – at least for 2018

John Draper

In 2017, the Art Gallery of Northumberland (AGN) engaged Laridae Communications Inc. to conduct a community engagement project which concluded that the community clearly values the AGN and wishes to support it. However, Laridae concluded in July 2017 that the organization continues to face structural and chronic sustainability issues that must be addressed if the AGN is to remain viable over the long term. In November 14, 2017, Laridae led a discussion with the Board and two representatives of the Town of Cobourg regarding strategic themes and priorities. Twenty one priorities were developed that called for a review of how the organization was run, an assurance of sustainable funding, a reduction of costs where possible, an improvement of benefits to… Read complete articleAGN and Town to partner – at least for 2018

Ecology Garden gets more Trees

John Draper

Under Spring sunshine, a ceremony at the Ecology Garden on May 24 thanked several donors of trees.  Deputy Mayor John Henderson with Councillors Debra McCarthy, Brian Darling, Suzanne Seguin and Aaron Burchat were there to see Ecology Garden Chair Dora Body and Roma Colbert accept the trees.  In some remarks to the crowd of about 40, John Henderson talked about how 6 years ago, his son got a job with the garden and with John helped create some of the paths now used.  John confirmed that the garden is now “part of our culture” so is assured of ongoing support from the Town.  Roma thanked Town Parks staff Rory Quigley and Jason Johns for their help and she thanked current… Read complete articleEcology Garden gets more Trees

Waterfront Festival Midway to move to Victoria Park

John Draper

In February, the Town announced that the East Pier would be closed to vehicles and events due to damage that needs to be assessed.  One of the consequences is that the Midway for the Waterfront Festival cannot be located there so it needed to find a new location.  After looking at several options, it was decided to put it in Victoria Park – at the South-East end near the pavilion.  Since the Midway “rides” are accompanied by loud “music”, there are potential problems with nearby residents as well as a clash with music in the Bandshell.  It has already been decided that the music will be turned off completely from 1:45 p.m. until 2:45 p.m. on July 1st to avoid… Read complete articleWaterfront Festival Midway to move to Victoria Park