A foolish proposition
I have recently noticed a car with the personalised plate MR MOR1. I don't know what it stands for, only the owner does, but it struck me as "Mister Moron". With that in mind I checked out the driver and it was not the current moron - Councillor Bob Spooner. He gets this accolade for his silly suggestion that we establish a tire recycling plant in the middle of town. This idea may go down well with the group of old and conservative men, who meet daily in the Dutch Oven, where global warming is poo-pooed and other staid and stale opinions abound.
In another connection I attended the open house that was discussing the sewage treatment plant options. Just to put my opinion on the record - current taxpayers must not pay one penny toward the cost. I did discover that the present sewage capacity on the Kraft site, which is large enough to forestall the need for another plant for many years is not being released into the total capacity and is being held in reserve by Council. So we have the possibility of building a new plant whilst retaining capacity in reserve!
In another connection I attended the open house that was discussing the sewage treatment plant options. Just to put my opinion on the record - current taxpayers must not pay one penny toward the cost. I did discover that the present sewage capacity on the Kraft site, which is large enough to forestall the need for another plant for many years is not being released into the total capacity and is being held in reserve by Council. So we have the possibility of building a new plant whilst retaining capacity in reserve!
5 comments:
I hear the Feds. are looking for a new marijuana grower for folks with medical certificates.
How about that for a business for the Kraft plant? We have lots of local experts who could advise on the growing process.
Ben, when you learned that sewage capacity at Kraft was being held in reserve by Council, was there any reason provided by Council for this decision? Was this just a tentative decision by them, or is it their intent to hold it in reserve indefinitely?
Wally, I took the comment for what it was and put it down to the idea that the site is much more attractive to a buyer with the capacity. The problem is that unless the buyer is an industrialist that needs the capacity, e.g. another foodie, then the capacity is a big goodie for a housing developer. What we should do is hold it in reserve for a limited period of time to attract an industrialist and then release it into the general capacity and forestall the need for a new plant.
If any large developer wants to build residential in an industrial zoning then they should have to purchase the capacity at a price large enough to compensate the taxpayers who will have to build a new plant as soon as the Kraft capacity is built on.
Ben, if a large developer wants to build housing there, can that developer not use that capacity to serve the housing development itself, rather than plugging in to the public capacity?
He surely can. But the Kraft capacity serves two purposes: one, if it put into the general capacity it gives us more capacity and forestalls the need for a new plant and two if the use of the capacity is not industrial then there should be a premium put on it so that this residential should cost more. The reason for that is - do we really need more houses in Cobourg without the corresponding jobs? Bedroom communities, or retirement ghettos for Torontonians cost the Town in services over sustainable jobs. And who is coming after the boomers to buy these retirement abodes? I fear this idea of helter skelter residential filled with city fleers has not been thought out very well, and present taxpayers are being asked to pay for their new infrastructure.
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