A report on Cobourg News Blog on May 12 described the major changes coming to Cobourg with parking.  Waterfront parking, downtown parking and winter parking were all changed.  But since there were so many changes, there was a degree of uncertainty, especially about overnight parking.  When the by-Law was finally approved at the Regular Council Meeting on May 16, some text changes were made to clarify the revisions.  The changes were mostly to do with Winter parking – a map was added to show which streets had a ban on overnight parking and a new appendix (PP) listed which streets banned any winter parking. Winter is defined as “November 1 to March 31” and overnight is “between 2:00 am and 7:00… Read complete articleParking Update

In December 2020, Council approved a pilot of an On-Demand Transit system to replace the existing fixed route system and at the Regular Council meeting on May 16, Council approved ongoing use of the On-Demand system.  This combines the existing On-Demand Wheels system for disabled users and will soon use three smaller (8 m – 26 ft) buses which will provide service for both Wheels and regular Transit users.  This requires purchase of two new buses like the existing Wheels Bus but Government grants reduce Cobourg’s cost (more below). Council debated changes to service hours but in the end, voted to stop service at 9:00 pm instead of 10:00 pm.  A second suggestion to reduce phone-in time from 10:00 pm… Read complete articleCobourg makes On-Demand Transit Permanent

The Town of Cobourg gets revenue from Taxes, grants from other levels of Government and user fees.  The biggest user fee is for water and sewer but there is no specific fee for Stormwater – its cost is included in taxes.  But some properties result in more use of stormwater drains than others.  For example large paved areas funnel more water to drains than lawns.  Another issue is that up till now, the Town did not know how much money was spent or should be spent on stormwater drains.   To sort out the cost and how it should be funded, the Town hired a consultant to advise them.  At the next Committee of the Whole meeting on May 9, Peter… Read complete articleMore on Separate Stormwater Tax

Cobourg recently lost the Communications Manager Ashley Purdy but without any announcement, we now have a new one: Kara Euale.  Kara is not new to the Town, she was previously in the Community Services Division looking after Marketing and Events but has now been appointed to the Communications position.  Although she has had her name on earlier announcements, she has now got our attention with three surveys: “What’s Next for the Memorial Arena?” and “Potential Affordable Housing Sites Survey” and Phase 2 on the ICSP.   The first two are getting a lot of attention by Council and both open up cans of worms with no simple answers so there will no doubt be a wide range of opinions for both.  … Read complete articleThree New Surveys Issued

On March 30, the Ford Government introduced Bill 109 to reform the processes governing municipal approvals of new housing.  Comments were requested with a deadline of April 29 – however, the bill was fast-tracked through Parliament and received Royal assent on April 14.  But Cobourg’s Director of Planning, Anne Taylor Scott, was not happy with some of the changes and submitted a report to Council at Monday’s Committee of the Whole with the intent of meeting the April 29 comment deadline.  There are two main concerns: 1) late approvals will mean fees charged to applicants must be refunded (details below) and 2) the Provincial Minister will get more power to over-rule decisions by the Town.  Councillors were also concerned that… Read complete articleCobourg Planning Department Calls New Rules Unfair