A recent email obtained by the BurdReport from one of Cobourg’s candidates for Mayor – Max LaMarchant lays out a compelling case for the sudden rush of Zoning Bylaw Amendments by developers working in Cobourg. Three development applications in three months with a multitude of high-rise buildings that if ever built will change the character of Cobourg, as we know it now.

As you know the BurdReport has been railing (in the words of posters on another local website) about the horrendous moves by Developers who seemingly have discovered Cobourg. They have been aided and abetted by the Town’s Development Division as they consider the application at 202 Second St. as “Good Planning”, even though the public outcry has been dismissed, as one presenter at the meeting described as “Cavalier”.

So read this email it raises very good points about the need for consistent planning based on an Official Plan that is up to date and reflects the Community’s values.

The Email:

It struck me as odd when two major development proposals — the 8-storey high-rise behind Town Hall and the 256-bed LTC development on Kerr Street — were brought forward and scheduled for consideration at the July 22, 2026 omnibus Council meeting, particularly at the beginning of a municipal election cycle.

However, now that this is being followed by further major high-rise development proposals scheduled for August 26, and then the approximately 970-unit Brookside proposal, including four high-rise buildings, scheduled for September 16, I believe the situation is becoming increasingly clear.

These are not routine planning matters. Collectively, these proposals have the potential to fundamentally alter the character, density and future development pattern of Cobourg.

There is another very important issue that makes the timing and manner in which these developments are being advanced even more concerning: Cobourg does not have an updated Official Plan within which these major decisions are being considered.

The Town’s present Official Plan originates from a planning framework that is now approximately 15 years old. Yet rather than first undertaking the comprehensive Official Plan review necessary to determine how and where Cobourg should accommodate future growth, density, height, infrastructure, transportation, environmental protection, heritage and community character, these extraordinarily consequential development proposals are being considered individually and piecemeal.

Collectively — and arguably even individually given the size and scale of some of these proposals — they raise fundamental questions that should properly be considered through an updated Official Plan for the Town.

The question should first be: What is the long-term planning vision for Cobourg?

Only then should individual development applications of this magnitude be evaluated against that vision.

Instead, the comprehensive Official Plan issue has effectively been left in abeyance while individual projects capable of substantially reshaping the Town are being advanced for approval one at a time.

This risks allowing individual development applications to establish Cobourg’s future planning direction rather than having an updated Official Plan, developed through a comprehensive and transparent public process, establish the framework against which those applications are evaluated.

The Mayor has significant authority over the Town administration under Ontario’s strong-mayor framework. This includes powers relating to senior municipal management and, in prescribed circumstances, the ability to direct municipal staff. With that authority comes responsibility and accountability for how the administration is being directed.

Against that background, I do not believe it is credible to suggest that this concentration of major development proposals — together with staff recommendations supporting their approval — is being rushed forward immediately before a municipal election without the Mayor’s knowledge and complicity.

The evidence is the pattern we are witnessing.

Two major proposals were advanced at the July 22 omnibus meeting. Further major high-rise proposals are scheduled for August 26. The approximately 970-unit Brookside proposal, including a cluster of high-rise buildings, is scheduled for September 16.

The critical issue is not simply how the Mayor ultimately votes on these applications. The more consequential issue is the position being formally established by the Town’s professional planning staff.

Staff endorsement and recommendations for approval can become extremely important if an application subsequently goes before the Ontario Land Tribunal. If Council refuses an application that its own professional planning staff have recommended for approval, that favourable staff recommendation and the supporting municipal planning record do not disappear. They can become significant evidence before the OLT and make it substantially more difficult and costly for the municipality to defend a different position.

This creates, in my view, a very troubling disconnect between political appearance and practical consequence.

The Mayor can publicly vote against a development and receive political credit for opposing it, while at the same time the Town administration under his leadership delivers something potentially far more consequential to the developer: a professional municipal planning recommendation supporting approval.

The project is then positioned for an appeal to the OLT with the Town’s own planning staff already on record supporting it.

This is why the timing is so concerning.

Development proposals that could fundamentally change Cobourg are being advanced to the point of formal staff recommendations immediately before residents elect a new Council — and they are being advanced in the absence of an updated Official Plan establishing a comprehensive vision for the Town’s future.

Once those recommendations and municipal planning positions have been established, they will carry forward beyond the election.

A newly elected Council may therefore inherit not simply undecided development applications, but an established municipal planning record supporting their approval. Reversing or defending against those positions could then become extremely difficult and potentially very expensive for Cobourg taxpayers.

In my view, residents should therefore be asking two very simple questions:

Why are so many major and potentially transformative development proposals being rushed forward with staff recommendations for approval immediately before a municipal election?

And:

Why are developments of this magnitude being considered piecemeal before Cobourg has completed an updated Official Plan establishing where, how and at what scale the Town wants to grow?

There is no compelling reason that I can see why decisions of this magnitude need to be pushed through in the final months before an election rather than allowing the incoming Council — and the residents who elect it — a meaningful opportunity to establish a comprehensive planning vision for the future of their Town.

These decisions will shape Cobourg for generations.

Given the Mayor’s authority and responsibility over the municipal administration, I do not believe he can reasonably separate himself from responsibility for this process. Nor do I believe it is credible that this sequence of major applications and recommendations is occurring without his knowledge and complicity.

This should be very concerning for the residents and taxpayers of Cobourg.