The Tannery Project began in 2009 and since then: has had three open houses (including the initial Charrette); a special page was created for the Town’s web site; a special Community Improvement Plan (CIP) was created to allow the Town to spend money on it and on Monday, a Council Public Planning meeting considered a Secondary Plan and Rezoning Bylaw which would effectively implement the Consultant’s master plan. See the links below for more detail. Once again, the consultant Matt Reid, presented his plan: over 30 citizens were online to hear what he said and 10 participated – mostly in support. There are two aspects of the plan that generate support: first, It’s “Green” and sustainable and second it promises to provide affordable housing.
Although the Town owned Tannery Property is at the centre of the declared Tannery neighbourhood (or district), the plan proposes major changes for much more than that. See the image below for what is planned. The intent is that future development would follow the direction given in the Secondary plan although the current owners of properties in the district were assured that they can continue as they are – the implication is that if they were to sell, or redevelop their properties, they would be bound by the secondary plan which modifies the Town’s Official Plan for that area. One major property owner is the GM dealership on University right where the Spring Street extension is planned. They have said that they have no intention to move or sell.
But the plan would be implemented in phases (see Presentation) with the first phase limited to the Town-owned land. This would be a housing development with some “park” area. It’s not known how many units there would be or what proportion would be affordable although the overall goal for the district is 25%.
Some of the plan’s supporters urged the Town to participate by paying for roads as well as support per the CIP and others asked for additional constraints on developers. There is no word whether any developers are in fact interested.
Note that to fully understand this project, you really need to study the information available at the links below.
And as Deputy Mayor Suzanne Séguin said, this plan could take 20 to 30 years to be fully implemented.
Although there have been a good number of Public meetings including several open houses, one that was scheduled for November 25 seems to have simply not happened! In any case, it seemed superfluous given the November 29 meeting. [More – see note below]
There was also no mention of land remediation issues which seemed to be an earlier problem for developers.
Although a good number of the public in Cobourg are supportive of this plan, there’s no way of knowing if and when it will proceed. Currently there are no budget implications but there are also no developer applications pending.
[Note: Added Dec 1. The mysterious meeting on November 25 did happen but was only accessible to those who registered and not to anyone who just wanted to see what was said – although I guess you can say you want to participate then don’t participate.]
Resources
To better understand the Tannery project, you need to read at least some of the articles in the following resources. It’s a significant project with a lot of background/history.
Consultant’s Documents
- Consultant’s presentation at both 23 August 2021 CoW meeting and 29 November 2021 Public Planning meeting – includes details of phasing but not schedule.
- Tannery District Master Plan – June 2021 – 144 pages 48MB pdf
Earlier Cobourg News items and documents
- Tannery Master Plan once again before Council – 22 August 2021 – includes a short history/ background.
- Tannery Master Plan Public Meeting – 30 March 2018
- Presentation from Consultants in 2018 – (presented at meeting in 30 March 2018 – previous link)
Town of Cobourg
- Agenda of Public Planning Meeting on 29 November 2021 – see attachments for written inputs from citizens
- Tannery District page on Town’s Web site
- Secondary Plan – This is a supplement to the Official Plan – hosted on Cobourg News Blog
- Proposed Zoning for Tannery District – hosted on Cobourg News Blog
- Memo from former CAO Stephen Peacock about status of Tannery property – Feb 5 2015 – helpful to understand contamination issue – pdf – hosted on Cobourg News Blog
- For further information contact Rob Franklin, Acting Director – Planning and Development Services, [email protected] 905 372-1005 ext 4453
Print Article:
Question: Since the town owns the Tannery district can it not be open just as green space until plans are finalized. Nice for walking or biking?
Much of it was accessible the last time I checked, but very rough terrain with dense bush & weeds. The remnants of the buildings are probably hazardous for strolling and therefore fenced off.
You can get through across the top end by bike from George St. to Ball St. along Princess St. but the lower end is blocked by a fence, so it’s a cul-de-sac there.
Seems highly likely the coyotes we see occasionally in the area have their home base right there. Take heed.
Not having checked previous discussions on this property, I would hazard a guess there may be Environmental issues with the soil?
Would be a nice spot for a ‘walking park’, or something similar!
“It’s not known how many units…would be affordable
although the overall goal for the district is 25%.”
There’s that coy euphemism “affordable” again. “Affordable” to whom? And if 25% are “affordable” are the other 75% “unaffordable”?
If it means that ¼ of the units are to be subsidized by government to make them available to those who would not be able financially to purchase them otherwise, then let’s call it what it is: subsidized housing.
John as mentioned by Miriam the PH did happen but you are correct in saying that the Zoom details were not published, in fact most of the people who wanted to attend had to fight for the details and then circulate them amongst themselves.
One advantage of the public meeting was that the presentation by the consultant was only 45 mins – he took an hour at the PH.
John, the November 25 Open House did happen. Not many people attended. Many thanks for your detailed coverage of this topic. There is also a video on the Town Council meeting web site of the public meeting held November 29.
There is no record of the meeting on escribe nor was there any way to attend available on the Town’s web site. All references were to escribe but there was nothing there. Perhaps you were able to attend because you were in the circle of addresses notified. But for the general public, it did not happen.
Ben and Miriam
It seems that the Town implied it was available via escribe but it was not – instead I think you had to register and then you got the Zoom info. I did not register since one does not have to register to see other meetings organized by the Town.
Perhaps the Town’s protocol for public open houses could change. The open house was not posted on e-scribe, but it is not the first time. There was another public open house for a proposed development in town I wanted to attend earlier this year and I missed that meeting!
Below is the link to the Town’s public news piece with title:
“Residents Invited to Public Meeting and Public Open House Concerning Proposed Official Plan and Zoning Bylaw Amendments for the Tannery District Secondary PlanPosted on Wednesday November 10, 2021”
https://www.cobourg.ca/Modules/News/index.aspx?newsId=d6092f29-45e4-41fc-a14d-36fafd2bc9a2