Category: News 2021

West Harbour Concerns Close to Resolution

John Draper

In 2019, Town staff commissioned the Lifesaving Society to conduct an audit of activities in the West Harbour to ensure they were safe.  The report recommended some changes but their overall report was criticised by Harbour User groups because they were not consulted and some recommendations would mean they would have to shut down.  Council asked Staff for a report which Director (at the time) Dean Hustwick provided but this just seemed to inflame the situation. (See links below).  One key issue raised by users was that the Town did not have jurisdiction in the harbour.  Instead it was a Federal responsibility because the Harbour included “navigable waters”.  Most recently (July 2020), Council passed a resolution that included a request… Read complete articleWest Harbour Concerns Close to Resolution

Possible Town Land for Affordable Housing

John Draper

Cobourg has a Town-wide Community Improvement Plan that targets affordable housing. Clause 3.8.8 says that the Town could provide some of the land it owns at a low price so as to effectively subsidize such housing and at meetings in November 2020,  Council asked staff to “put together an inventory of potential municipal-owned surplus lands, buildings and/or facilities” to potentially be used for this purpose.  At the Committee of the Whole meeting on April 19, Staff will be providing this requested report.  Based on information in the Town’s GIS System (Geographical Information System), the Town owns “a total of ~226 ha (558 ac) of land within the municipal boundary or just over 10% of the total land area of the… Read complete articlePossible Town Land for Affordable Housing

Two re-zonings requested

John Draper

At a “virtual” public meeting on April 12, about 10 citizens showed up to hear about two applications for re-zoning.  The first was for land on the southwest corner of Burnham St. and DePalma Dr. – the request was to allow a Medical Clinic to be built there although there are no current plans to do so – it would just make the land more attractive for developers.  There were no comments by any of the online public.  The second was to allow a new housing and commercial development on the southwest corner of Albert and Division: stores on the ground floor and residences above.  Details of the plan buildings were presented and a couple of concerns were expressed:  insufficient… Read complete articleTwo re-zonings requested

Police Responding to Public Concerns about Demonstrators

John Draper

Cobourg Police seem to now be responding to complaints from the Public about demonstrators not following the same rules as everyone else.  At a Press conference today (see video below), Chief Paul VandeGraaf, Police Board Chair and Mayor John Henderson re-iterated that they are now enforcing the rules.  Last Saturday, seven offenders got tickets and two got Court summons for obstructing Police.  When asked why now and not earlier, Chief VandeGraaf said that it was his decision. Police attempts to educate were being ignored and people were refusing to comply.  He said their behaviour was bordering on criminal. Mayor Henderson commented that he had received a large number of calls wanting enforcement and he communicated that to the Chief.  It… Read complete articlePolice Responding to Public Concerns about Demonstrators

Committee formed to decide on Memorial Arena

John Draper

In the summer of 2019, Council agreed that because of the cost of continuing to operate the Memorial Arena, that it should be closed (see link below).   Council agreed and directed that an Ad Hoc Committee be set up to decide what the future of that asset should be.  Nothing happened on this until the Committee of the Whole meeting on 29 March 2021 when Council directed staff to start the process to set up the Ad Hoc Advisory Committee.  It had been hoped that the 2019 Cultural Master Plan would provide ideas for its use – but no such luck. (In fact the Cultural Plan has had no noticeable effect on any actions by Council or Town Staff).  Then… Read complete articleCommittee formed to decide on Memorial Arena

Council Reviews Priorities

John Draper

At a special Council Meeting on Thursday, April 1, Council looked at the Strategic Plan that was created at the start of their term in 2019 to see if it still reflected their priorities.  After more than 5 hours of discussion, they made only minor changes but a lot of details were revealed about each councillor’s thinking. The process was facilitated by session leader John Matheson (of StrategyCorp) who spent time with councillors in advance of the meeting to get their ideas.  As a result, the starting point was a chart showing priorities as he understood them – see below.  The comments of councillors in reviewing those priorities pointed to how each saw their role and what they hoped to… Read complete articleCouncil Reviews Priorities

Police Issue Fine – Group Broke Rules on Gatherings

John Draper

For some time now, a group of people have demonstrated in front of Victoria Hall every Saturday; they don’t like the restrictions mandated by the Province as a result of the pandemic.  Police have been patiently warning them and I have declined to give them publicity.  But today they went too far and at around 1:50 pm Police issued a ticket.  According to a statement by Police Chief Paul Vandegraaf, there were between twenty and twenty-five individuals on scene. He said that “Officers spoke with individuals/the group requesting they comply with the Shutdown Zone gathering limits, and the group was educated on the current provincial restrictions regarding outdoor gatherings.”  A previous statement by Police said that “If residents refuse to… Read complete articlePolice Issue Fine – Group Broke Rules on Gatherings

Vaccine Update – 31 March

John Draper

Cobourg is in the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit which is headed up by a Medical Officer of Health (MOH).   This position was held by Dr. Lynn Noseworthy up to her retirement on December 11, 2020 and for the last four months Dr. Ian Gemmill has come out of retirement to do the job in an “acting” role.  He has conducted weekly media sessions that provided good information that could be disseminated but now the new Medical Officer of Health – Dr. Natalie Bocking – will take over on April 5 (see photo below).  At his final media “Zoom” meeting on March 31, Dr. Gemmill gave his usual informative briefing as outlined below.  He continues to stress that… Read complete articleVaccine Update – 31 March