Another puzzle for those interested in Cobourg's planning
Last week we reported that the Director of Planning for Cobourg was bemoaning the fact that the Provincial Planning Statement hadn't allocated enough growth to Cobourg. Stating that Cobourg's projections were twice as much the allocation and mused about how Cobourg could get more. Well on Monday evening a Special Meeting to discuss the rezoning and planning amendments to a new area of Cobourg is being discussed. A Numbered Company has submitted a plan for 600 acres of development. Mixed housing, commercial, schools and parks - the whole enchilada.
The snag is that it is outside of the "Built Boundary". This line on a map is something that the province has demanded the Town produce. The line on a map shows the existing Town development line and the areas outside of it. The Province has demanded in its intensification policies that the Town should be infilling the vacant lands inside the Town before going outside the line. The discussion of what's in and how we handle it is part of the Official Plan Review scheduled to be finished soon. So How does this application to build outside the line fit with the new OP? That's the discussion going on! Can we approve development outside of the line when the policies determining future development outside the line haven't been set yet?
The Planning & Advisory Committee hasn't got a position on this yet and some on the committee think that any development not inside the line is premature and shouldn't be approved. Others are thinking that because we don't have policies that development is allowed. A real cockup! But the bottom line is that if this application goes through the Town is committed to millions in infrastructure upgrades and future maintenance for ever. So what will Council do?
"We can have the Community Centre for little cost to taxpayers" so saith the CAO of Cobourg, Steve Robinson. In this story, the account of a mayor's breakfast (any linkage to a dog's breakfast is mischievous), the CAO explained that because of the Town's investments (Council's Play Money) the final price may be very low. OK if that is true the BR will have to change its stance from a negative to a positive. Being negative was natural because we had not been told that we could get a $30 million dollar facility for next to nothing. Now that we are being told, and it's in the words that many tourists can identify with - "Almost free!", we are going to be more supportive.
In fact we are going to be so supportive that our attitude will be it must not cost a dime in taxpayers money. Following the Robinson principle the money will come from gas tax rebates, 33 cent dollars, dividends from the town's investments and if there is the need for any more there must be a financial contribution from the groups who will benefit - the hockey groups, the soccer groups, the lawn bowling groups and the YMCA who wants to privatise it. Put those monies together and we now have a free facility!
The snag is that it is outside of the "Built Boundary". This line on a map is something that the province has demanded the Town produce. The line on a map shows the existing Town development line and the areas outside of it. The Province has demanded in its intensification policies that the Town should be infilling the vacant lands inside the Town before going outside the line. The discussion of what's in and how we handle it is part of the Official Plan Review scheduled to be finished soon. So How does this application to build outside the line fit with the new OP? That's the discussion going on! Can we approve development outside of the line when the policies determining future development outside the line haven't been set yet?
The Planning & Advisory Committee hasn't got a position on this yet and some on the committee think that any development not inside the line is premature and shouldn't be approved. Others are thinking that because we don't have policies that development is allowed. A real cockup! But the bottom line is that if this application goes through the Town is committed to millions in infrastructure upgrades and future maintenance for ever. So what will Council do?
"We can have the Community Centre for little cost to taxpayers" so saith the CAO of Cobourg, Steve Robinson. In this story, the account of a mayor's breakfast (any linkage to a dog's breakfast is mischievous), the CAO explained that because of the Town's investments (Council's Play Money) the final price may be very low. OK if that is true the BR will have to change its stance from a negative to a positive. Being negative was natural because we had not been told that we could get a $30 million dollar facility for next to nothing. Now that we are being told, and it's in the words that many tourists can identify with - "Almost free!", we are going to be more supportive.
In fact we are going to be so supportive that our attitude will be it must not cost a dime in taxpayers money. Following the Robinson principle the money will come from gas tax rebates, 33 cent dollars, dividends from the town's investments and if there is the need for any more there must be a financial contribution from the groups who will benefit - the hockey groups, the soccer groups, the lawn bowling groups and the YMCA who wants to privatise it. Put those monies together and we now have a free facility!
5 comments:
Hello Ben:
In regards to your comments about the Cobourg Area C - this area is outside the new Provincial Build Boundary for the Town as it was ok'd by the town before the new reg. passed by the province in 2005.
Ken Jansen
Area C is outside the built boundary no doubt about that the question is, with a Provincial mandate to infill within the boundary and the policy still not passed until the OP is passed is this application, clearly within area C, premature? Do we have to accept this application at this time or can we say to the applicant "sorry the policies haven't been finished yet come back later!"
I understand that the province has told the town that anything approved before the mandate to infill will be honored with the old op.
The Province has effectively told Cobourg that if it allows development beyond the scope of the PPS it risks doing so without access to provincial funds in support. Somebody in the Peterborough catchment area has enough clout to get the Province to target most of the growth in that neck of the woods so its no surprise that they seem to be adamant about directing their funding in that direction, at the cost of areas such as Cobourg. The extension of the deadline for bringing our OP into line with the PPS as recently requested by the town seems to be part of an effort to get the Province to revisit its growth strategy and the proposal presented on Monday will quite likely be a significant factor in that exercise. As you say, faced with the hard place on the provincial side and the big rock being rolled into the picture by the developers, what will they do? A risky dilemma, unless they know more than they're telling, which is quite likely anyway. Town hall's not wet behind the ears and they're not dumb so it will be very interesting how they finesse this to get their way.
Is this development any more likely to go ahead now than it was when first proposed 20 years ago? I remember it then and so far, the lovely meadows and creek stand undisturbed.
DJO
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