Category: News 2018

Homelessness Plan for Northumberland

John Draper

Until recently, Transition House provided housing for people in Northumberland who were in emergency situations – or otherwise simply homeless.  But on December 5, 2017 a client assaulted a worker and caused “considerable structural damage” to the premises so it was closed December 22 – supposedly temporarily.  The County is responsible for social services so they organized alternative emergency shelter – I understand in conjunction with the Salvation Army, Cobourg Police and others.  News is sparse – seemingly because of a decision to not provide information to the media – but separately the County is now making public their plans to provide a new Emergency Shelter System. In mid 2017 a consultant was hired to review housing the homeless so… Read complete articleHomelessness Plan for Northumberland

County Reduces Tax on Apartments

John Draper

Taxes for both the Town and the County are spread amongst classes (categories) using ratios.  Residential has a base of 1.0, so if a class has a ratio less than 1.0, then for a given valuation, taxes will be less.  As an example, the farm ratio is 0.25 so valuations of farms will be 4 times that of a residence for the same tax. But “multi-residential” was previously set at 2.2160 and “industrial” class was set at 2.6300 so their taxes were more than double for the same valuations. However, both multi-residential and industrial were deemed to be too high so will now be lowered to 2.0000 and 2.4800 respectively for 2018 taxes.  This means that taxes for multi-residential will… Read complete articleCounty Reduces Tax on Apartments

Green Party Nominates Jeff Wheeldon

John Draper

In a meeting at the Cobourg Community Centre tonight, the Green Party of Northumberland Peterborough-South elected their candidate, Jeff Wheeldon, for the provincial Election in June.  Although there was only one person on the ballot, in the interests of democracy they had a ballot with the alternative being “none of the above”.  But the vote was unanimous by the 10 members present (of a membership of 32).  The meeting featured the leader of the Provincial Green party, Mike Schreiner, and he spoke to the faithful (and media).   Mike has been leader since 2009 and this will be his third election – this time he feels there is a good chance of a few Green Party M.P.P.s and they could even… Read complete articleGreen Party Nominates Jeff Wheeldon

East Pier closed for Vehicles and Events

John Draper

It seems that the high water levels last year caused damage to the East Pier but confirmation will require a “condition assessment” conducted by an Engineer.  The result of that will be a report “indicating what repairs, if any, are required and an estimate of their associated costs.”  The inspection is expected to be done in the Spring but meanwhile, in the interest of safety, the Town has closed the pier to “community events and vehicular access until further notice”.  Pedestrians will still be permitted but not vehicles. Further, Deputy Director of Public Works Laurie Wills asks that “all planning of community events moving forward go under the assumption that the East Pier will not be available.”  That includes the Waterfront… Read complete articleEast Pier closed for Vehicles and Events

Housing in Cobourg

John Draper

There is a shortage of Rental accommodation in Cobourg as shown by the apartment vacancy rate of 1.3%.   But the alternative of owning is not cheap –  house prices are starting to increase again after a peak last May.  There’s action for renters; because of the tight rental market, Cobourg will be eligible for a Provincial program which pays for a rebate of development charges to builders of rental units.  Port Hope is also eligible so they are joining with Cobourg to ask the County to administer the program for them since the County has the regional mandate for social services including housing. More details on Cobourg’s rental vacancy rates and costs were given in this post last December. As… Read complete articleHousing in Cobourg

Do Advisory Committees work?

John Draper

Towards the end of 2017, a survey was distributed to members of Cobourg’s advisory committees asking questions about satisfaction with their contribution.  The results are now in and the only apparent actions are that members will get more training, their role will be more clearly defined and they will get a “user guide/manual”.  Yet a significant number of committee members felt they were not making much difference.  See the link below to download the full questionnaire complete with “long answers” – text responses that give an insight into the thinking of committee members.  It’s likely that some committees work better than others but the survey lumped all responses together. At the risk of highlighting the comments of negative individuals, I… Read complete articleDo Advisory Committees work?

A Political Party with a Difference

John Draper

The Trillium party of Ontario would let their MPPs vote according to their Riding needs even if that meant they voted against each other.  They are adamant that they would not have a party whip whose job it is to direct MPPs how to vote.  That’s what Bob Yaciuk, Party President, their lone MPP Jack MacLaren and Northumberland Peterborough-South Trillium candidate Derek Sharp all said at a meeting tonight.  The meeting was in Gilligan’s Pub in Colborne where Derek Sharp lives.  At the meeting, it was announced that they now have a Riding Association so can organize volunteers and accept donations.  They are a new force in Ontario; their MPP, Jack MacLaren, quit the PCs last May because he was… Read complete articleA Political Party with a Difference

Venture 13 Update

John Draper

The media were invited on Friday Feb 9 to review progress on the construction work on the Venture 13 building and to get more details on how the space will be configured. Already 26 entrepreneurs have expressed interest in participating, 190 events have been booked and 5 groups want to use the MakerLab.  The tour included the second floor where the Police services group will be located.  Dalren project managers said that the project will be finished by mid-April – on time and on budget.  The building will be owned and managed by the Town although recruiting and managing the Entrepreneurs will be by Northumberland CFDC. The second floor will have security similar to the Police Station although one end… Read complete articleVenture 13 Update