Cobourg’s Planning department has received a re-zoning application to allow a hotel to be built at the end of DePalma Drive between Home Depot and Walmart.  The specific hotel brand has not been revealed but the company behind the application is DePalma Developments Limited which has been active in Cobourg for some time.  It’s just at the notification stage – there will be a public meeting called before too long and more details are expected then.  The proposed Hotel will “consist of 82 hotel suites, amenity space for hotel patrons including pool, fitness centre, meeting rooms, board room, meal space, and lobby area. Spaces for hotel staff office/administrative and maintenance will also be provided”.  Below is a Google Earth map… Read complete articleNew Hotel planned

With Hurricane Dorian expected to land on Florida’s east coast on Monday, local electric utilities are expecting damage to their infrastructure with many people losing their electricity service.  When Canada has a problem – usually from an ice storm in winter – American Utility companies often help out so now it’s our turn.  This morning (Friday) Cobourg’s Lakefront Utilities sent an electric line crew to Florida – no doubt wise to get there before moving around is difficult or impossible.  They will miss out on any “planned Labour Day family time to assist in whatever way they can for restoration of power.”  Every county in Florida is under a state of emergency as the state prepares for what may be… Read complete articleLakefront Utilities Helps Out in Florida

In a presentation to Council on Monday August 12, Drew Macklin of William Street Brewery Co. (WSBC) plans to say that LUSI accepted their water meter’s reading despite strong evidence that it was giving faulty readings.  The cost to the fledgling craft brewery was $8,050 (plus interest which brings the total to $10,101)  – but the business has also suffered.  The overbilling started when a new water meter was installed in December 2017 and only stopped in April 2018 when the meter was replaced.  WSBC tracks water usage separately and their measurements now agree but during the 5 months of alleged overbilling they were wildly different. No leaks were found and LUSI cannot explain where the extra water went but… Read complete articleLUSI accused of grossly overcharging

Cobourg’s size is at the lower end of the 125 cities surveyed by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) but it’s doing better than many other cities – even better than the City of Toronto and about the same as Belleville.  CFIB says that local governments “control only some of the levers that make cities work. How well these levers are used, however, can make a tremendous difference to local businesses and residents”.  But they concede that “while local governments can influence local economic activity, they can’t usually make it happen directly. For that, they need local entrepreneurs to carry the ball — those who risk their own capital, time and effort”.  But when municipal governments do it right,… Read complete articleCFIB ranks Cobourg for Entrepreneurs