Tag: Municipal

Town to Now Start Billing Stormwater Fee

John Draper

In November 2021, a consultant reported to Council that not enough money was being spent on stormwater management.  The new asset management plan makes it clear how much should be spent so in future, we can be assured that drains, pumps and storage areas will be properly funded.  This led to a discussion as to how the money should be collected and council approved a new method: instead of the cost being included in taxes, there would be a fee in the same way that water supply and sewer management is funded.  The fee would depend on the type of property and the area it covers – this approximates to the actual cost for each property although there is one… Read complete articleTown to Now Start Billing Stormwater Fee

First look at New Strategic Plan

John Draper

At the Committee of the Whole (CoW) meeting on October 16, Council will be asked to approve asking the Public for feedback on the “Strategic plan for 2023-2027 and Beyond”.  After getting feedback and making (hopefully) minor changes, the plan will come to the CoW on November 6 for final approval.  Guided by a consultant, work started on the plan with a two day meeting of Council and Staff on 27 and 28 June. There are a few things different about this plan (apart from being 9 months late):  It’s less ambitious (it has only three “Strategic Priorities” and the five “Pillars” are not used) and it avoids giving Operational directives (e.g. specific projects).  It was noted that the Town… Read complete articleFirst look at New Strategic Plan

Short Term Rental Accommodation in Cobourg

John Draper

Originally thought of as “Home-Sharing”, AirBnb, VRBO and others have turned Short Term Rental Accommodation (STRA) into big business where investors buy properties specifically with the intent to rent them out for short terms – less than a month and as short as a day or so.  Neighbours are usually not happy with this; they say that renters often cause problems with community safety, parking, noise and litter, as well as degrading property values and destroying the sense of community.  There have been delegations to Council asking for action – in October 2021 and at Monday’s Committee of the Whole (C.O.W.) meeting. At Monday’s C.O.W. Grant Hayes, president of Guardian/Genedco Property Management, representing a large proportion of Cobourg’s Condo Owners,… Read complete articleShort Term Rental Accommodation in Cobourg

New By-Law for Taxis and Uber

John Draper

The Town of Cobourg currently regulates Taxis but does not explicitly include Uber, Limousines or Designated Driver services. One of the items of unfinished business on the Council’s agenda is updating the Taxi by-law to include these services and a proposed by-law which includes them will be offered to Council for approval at the next Committee of the Whole meeting on 25 September. It’s proposed to get more feedback from the Public and operators but the proposed by-law  is comprehensive and will require Uber and Designated Driver (D.D.) service drivers to be licensed with the same requirements as Taxi Drivers. Nomenclature is introduced or clearly defined (see below) and, no doubt to be in line with variable Uber fares, fares… Read complete articleNew By-Law for Taxis and Uber

Update to Council on Encampment

John Draper

At the end of regular Council meetings, there is a section where Councillors report on what has been happening. At Monday’s meeting (September 11), instead of giving a report, Mayor Lucas Cleveland invited Councillors to ask any questions they wanted re the encampments happening in Cobourg. He was doing that in his role as Cobourg’s representative on County Council and this would be his report back to Council. He acknowledged that he, and other councillors, were getting deluged with emails – this last week alone he received 780. Brian Darling wanted to confirm that if an email had on the address line the Mayor and all Councillors and possibly others, that it should be the Mayor who was responsible for… Read complete articleUpdate to Council on Encampment

Unfinished Council Business

John Draper

There has been no official tracking of “Unfinished Business” this year but there are a number of items badly overdue:  2023-2025 Strategic Plan; Governance review; Regulation of short term rentals; Taxi and Uber regulation and fares;  update to Zoning by-law. The general excuse provided is that Council has been busy with other matters like the illegal encampments and it hasn’t helped that Brent was short-staffed.  Brent has now filled the vacancy for Deputy Clerk – the new person is Kristina Lepik – but one person will take a while to make a dent in the backlog.  Meanwhile, Council is in reaction mode with no Strategic plan for guidance and no structure since the Governance issue has not been resolved. Let’s… Read complete articleUnfinished Council Business

Council Acts on Encampments

John Draper

At the regular Council meeting on Monday 21 August, a last minute addition to the Agenda was debated.  Brent Larmer worked through his vacation to write a By-Law that modified the Parks By-Law (022-2016) to essentially do two things: 1) enhance the clauses about enforcement and 2) delegate primary responsibility for looking after the homeless to the County – specifically, the county will decide if a permit should be issued for camping on Parks (or Town land). (The West Beach encampment is on Town property). Such a permit (just one) will only be issued in an emergency – that is, because there is no suitable place for campers to go.  So the Town will now enforce their Bylaws and the… Read complete articleCouncil Acts on Encampments

No visible action by Police, Town or County on Homeless

John Draper

Editor’s note: Shortly after this article was posted, the Town and County issued a statement – see update below. It’s been several days since the Town deemed the encampment by homeless people on the West Beach to be illegal and they decided to do nothing.  Since then drug dealers have tried to sell them drugs and fired shots (well, just one) causing a Police presence but still no word from any of the parties responsible.  There are several news items on Today’s Northumberland and a large number of comments by the public on this blog and the Town’s Facebook page.  I’m certain that councillors are getting deluged with emails from the Public but there’s been no reporting to the public… Read complete articleNo visible action by Police, Town or County on Homeless