We need Superheroes on Thursday at the Special Council Meeting, Councillors with ‘cajones’ who will not buckle under the threat of the “Ontario Land Tribunal” and be able to see through a motion designed to delay. The motion to be debated on Thursday afternoon will be motion to discuss whether to implement an Interim Control Bylaw. Unfortunately the people who wrote this motion for Mayor Cleveland did it in such a way to create two motions. The first part of the motion calls for the  timing of an implementation of an Interim Control Bylaw (ICB) covering the Town. The second part of the motion, which asks the Staff to investigate the wisdom of adopting the first part because it may be appealed to the OLT, seems to cancel out the first part.

The important part of this motion is the first “Further” that reads – “FURTHER THAT the Director of Development, in consultation with the Municipal Solicitor and the Official Plan Review consultant, advise Council on: whether an interim control by-law under Section 38 of the Planning Act is necessary to protect the integrity of the Official Plan Review, ….”

In other words this motion is all smoke and mirrors not a call to action. The dangerous part is that even if Council adopts this motion – to have a report on whether the Town should put in place an ICB where will the three high-rise applications stand? Just remember that this Council is basically useless in this election period. So we have an ineffective Council passing a resolution to produce a report that will be discussed by a new Council way off in January 2027 – at the earliest. Meanwhile three high-rise applications will be in the pipeline.

I would hope that when people read the motion they will realise two things: one is that this is a motion designed for electoral purposes, because it does not solve the immediate problem but looks as though it does and the other is that it will not slow down the rapid pace of development Cobourg has seen in the last month.

As some of you, those of you who read this blog, will know I had arranged to speak at the Summer Council Meeting on August 26th. I prepared a statement that outlined the problems we are having with an outdated Official Plan and a Development Department hellbent on approving high-rise applications that violate the provisions of the Official Plan. You can read it here. It is very straightforward and calls for the Council to immediately implement a Town-wide ICB.

The way I see this meeting structured, by somebody in a big back room buried in the bowels of political skulduggery, is to bury the Council in technical BS about Planning and the new way Planning is supposed to work under the “Ford Regime” also boast about how well the reorganisation of the planning function in the Town, where we have diminished the Planning Department and a Development Department is in ascendancy. It is designed to make the Mayor look good, because he called the meeting and made a motion to decide whether we need an ICB but not actually implement one but will not slow anything down or control rampant development! 

By the time the Council gets to the motion, the way it is structured a few members of Council will have spinning heads. By the time the two part motion is explained the one or two Councillors who really understand should try to simplify the motion into “Pass the Bloody ICB” or forget it; because it has now become very complicated.

As with every issue the BR deals with we offer solutions, so here is a resolution that is simple, comprehensive and understandable. Read it Here. This will do the job!