Category: News 2021

Council Meeting Report – Feb 22

John Draper

There are two kinds of Council Meetings: Regular meetings and Committees of the Whole (C.O.W.) All by-laws are passed at regular meetings but most debates happen at a C.O.W. meeting.  As a result, the C.O.W.’s are more interesting although decisions are not final until ratified at a regular meeting.  In addition to ratifying decisions from a C.O.W. Meeting, regular meetings also include “Coordinator reports” where councillors provide news from their assigned responsibility.  There was no major news from the regular meeting on Monday 22 February but quite a number of interesting things were decided and discussed.  These ranged from a bit more information about the closing of Brookside, to information on the Beach survey to a vote on the Abbott… Read complete articleCouncil Meeting Report – Feb 22

Cobourg Citizens Lobby Council

John Draper

At Tuesday’s busy Committee of the Whole (C.O.W.) Council meeting, a number of citizens made their thoughts known on three separate issues: Ted Williams presented some facts and ideas about Marina finances, Kevin Burt had an opinion about the construction of sidewalks on Abbott Boulevard and the Accessibility Advisory Committee wanted to revise the policy and service level for Wheels Transit. Council listened to their input and debated the issues with varying results. The Marina is supposed to be 100% self-funding but it’s not clear that Capital projects are included; Kevin Burt asked why was the Abbott Boulevard sidewalk being done given previously raised objections and the Accessibility Advisory Committee want Wheels Transit to return to a more door to door service…. Read complete articleCobourg Citizens Lobby Council

Council Approves Re-zoning of Woodlawn Property

John Draper

Last October, Council was advised that the new owners of the Woodlawn had applied for re-zoning to allow its use as a drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre.  At Tuesday’s Committee of the Whole Council meeting, the results of the public meeting were presented and Council was asked to approve re-zoning to allow the project to continue.  But first, three of the seven members of Council declared conflicts because they owned nearby properties (Councillors Darling and Chorley) or worked for a company that does business with the owners (Councillor Burchat).  This left four councillors to make the decision.  Ryan Guetter of Weston Consulting represented the owners and provided two documents with responses to questions asked at the public meeting in November. … Read complete articleCouncil Approves Re-zoning of Woodlawn Property

Unfinished Business – February 2021

John Draper

Since the last report on unfinished business in November (see links below), not much has changed and many items from last September are still on the list. The idea is good – to make sure that actions and goals don’t get forgotten – but if nothing gets done, you wonder what the value is. Although it’s on every Agenda of both regular and Committee of the Whole meetings, and although the detailed list is a big improvement on earlier minimal lists, recently it has rarely been publicly reviewed by Council. Not all actions are urgent but at some point Council thought it was important enough to ask for action so attention to them would be useful. So let me once… Read complete articleUnfinished Business – February 2021

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