Back to the Council watch
Be careful for what you wish: sometimes you get it at your own peril. Cobourg has only been putting up the barebones agenda for years now. But as a result of a request for info, Yep I'm to blame, as of this week the agenda has been put up as a package and includes background material. And it is huge - 226 pages long. But as we shall discover, after Monday's meeting, that package will soon be slashed in half.
One of the items to be discussed is the prospect of the Town throwing bucket loads of money at its Lawyer - Wayne Fairbrother, in an OMB appeal. Dave Tredree, of Radio Shack fame, owns a parcel of prime development land just north of the Hwy 45 ramp on Division St/Hwy 45. He has struggled to get development status for ten or more years at an untold cost, fighting bureaucratic battles and the neighbours protests. Finally just when has managed to get a zoning change favourable to him the Town of Cobourg appeals the decision to adopt the zoning bylaw to the OMB.
So what's the problem? The Town says it is only following policy by objecting to any large scale commercial development on its borders. This development may in the future demand to be serviced by Cobourg. Hamilton Twp, in its defence, says that it is zoning based on the Official Plan. The OP says that land can be developed as "Hamlet Commercial" and only uses defined in the approved list can go ahead. The latest salvo coming from Cobourg says that the way the bylaw is written any of Cobourg's future objections to large scale development taking place on the site will not be allowed, because the bylaw provisions relating to the control of development are unenforcable and denies any opportunity for Cobourg's interests to be discussed.
My take on the business is that this a move by some Cobourg pols (read the Mayor) to protect the Best Western (the Wilcox boys) from competition in the highly competitive roadside Inn business. 401 interchanges are festooned with Holiday Inn Expresses and their ilk, but not in this area. This patch of land is perfect for such a deal. But not in Cobourg, we as taxpayers are going to spend, if the motion to appeal to the OMB goes ahead, piles of money on the Quixotic adventure of trying to stop natural competition.
Tucked away in the agenda is a motion to delegate Heritage applications to the Heritage Planner and his department. This will reduce the wait time for somebody who wishes to do things to a designated property from one week totwo days . In this week's agenda of the 246 pages 119 are devoted to this topic. Thus in one fell swoop the Councillors have reduced their legislative workload considerably. As an observer, it will be interesting just to see what items are now used as filler in the agenda to compensate. Some weeks the only thing to discuss has been items in this category.
In another vein, here is a copy of a letter sent to NToday. It desensationalises the topic of "Garbage in the Park"
Let's inject some realism into the debate about the cost and pain of weekend visitors to the Park and beach. A story published recently mentioned the cost of taking away the garbage bags from the Park after the Ribfest. I would congratulate the weekenders for bagging 1000 bags of garbage, could you imagine that stuff strewn around instead of neatly bagged? And as to the cost of $3000 that is an extrapolation of household bag costs. The Town could never cost the amount properly because although 1000 bags were collected, this weekend (a lot less will be collected next weekend) they go into a transfer bin at the yard and get hauled away at a cost per tonne. The Town schedules two crews every weekend to work a total of fourteen hours and finishes at 11pm. So to sensationalise the story by saying that crews worked until 11pm to pick up the garbage is not untrue but they do that each and every weekend of the summer. If there is anything to be gained in this debate it is not to blame the weekenders for all the trash but to investigate why there are not enough garbage bins, for as we know they are being used. Let's ask how to let all make use of this resource and if it is to be rationed because of demand why not look at the space the events take and work from there
Only the biggie this weekend for the Lib-noms, perhaps they were all eaten out and satiated after last weeks piggin' out? But apparently not as the Big Event was Lou Rinaldi's BBQ, at the Brighton Speedway. No hand went unshaken and no back was not slapped, and all will pretend to play nice. However mark your calendars for the one and only showcase event of the campaign - the All-Candidates meeting at the Alderville Community Centre next Sunday from 2-5pm.
One of the items to be discussed is the prospect of the Town throwing bucket loads of money at its Lawyer - Wayne Fairbrother, in an OMB appeal. Dave Tredree, of Radio Shack fame, owns a parcel of prime development land just north of the Hwy 45 ramp on Division St/Hwy 45. He has struggled to get development status for ten or more years at an untold cost, fighting bureaucratic battles and the neighbours protests. Finally just when has managed to get a zoning change favourable to him the Town of Cobourg appeals the decision to adopt the zoning bylaw to the OMB.
So what's the problem? The Town says it is only following policy by objecting to any large scale commercial development on its borders. This development may in the future demand to be serviced by Cobourg. Hamilton Twp, in its defence, says that it is zoning based on the Official Plan. The OP says that land can be developed as "Hamlet Commercial" and only uses defined in the approved list can go ahead. The latest salvo coming from Cobourg says that the way the bylaw is written any of Cobourg's future objections to large scale development taking place on the site will not be allowed, because the bylaw provisions relating to the control of development are unenforcable and denies any opportunity for Cobourg's interests to be discussed.
My take on the business is that this a move by some Cobourg pols (read the Mayor) to protect the Best Western (the Wilcox boys) from competition in the highly competitive roadside Inn business. 401 interchanges are festooned with Holiday Inn Expresses and their ilk, but not in this area. This patch of land is perfect for such a deal. But not in Cobourg, we as taxpayers are going to spend, if the motion to appeal to the OMB goes ahead, piles of money on the Quixotic adventure of trying to stop natural competition.
Tucked away in the agenda is a motion to delegate Heritage applications to the Heritage Planner and his department. This will reduce the wait time for somebody who wishes to do things to a designated property from one week to
In another vein, here is a copy of a letter sent to NToday. It desensationalises the topic of "Garbage in the Park"
Let's inject some realism into the debate about the cost and pain of weekend visitors to the Park and beach. A story published recently mentioned the cost of taking away the garbage bags from the Park after the Ribfest. I would congratulate the weekenders for bagging 1000 bags of garbage, could you imagine that stuff strewn around instead of neatly bagged? And as to the cost of $3000 that is an extrapolation of household bag costs. The Town could never cost the amount properly because although 1000 bags were collected, this weekend (a lot less will be collected next weekend) they go into a transfer bin at the yard and get hauled away at a cost per tonne. The Town schedules two crews every weekend to work a total of fourteen hours and finishes at 11pm. So to sensationalise the story by saying that crews worked until 11pm to pick up the garbage is not untrue but they do that each and every weekend of the summer. If there is anything to be gained in this debate it is not to blame the weekenders for all the trash but to investigate why there are not enough garbage bins, for as we know they are being used. Let's ask how to let all make use of this resource and if it is to be rationed because of demand why not look at the space the events take and work from there
Only the biggie this weekend for the Lib-noms, perhaps they were all eaten out and satiated after last weeks piggin' out? But apparently not as the Big Event was Lou Rinaldi's BBQ, at the Brighton Speedway. No hand went unshaken and no back was not slapped, and all will pretend to play nice. However mark your calendars for the one and only showcase event of the campaign - the All-Candidates meeting at the Alderville Community Centre next Sunday from 2-5pm.
7 comments:
Some years ago the noble citizenry of Hamilton Township rose up against the incidious amalgamation of Cobourg and the township. The avaricious urbanites weren't going to pave over valuable farmland, no siree Bob.
The Township had valuable and developable lands around the new hospital site which Cobourg annexed, with the provision that the business park designation be preserved within Cobourg's planning for that area. Fast forward to 2009 and what we see is one humungous Walmart and a Home Depot adjacent to a new hospital. There are some in this community who believe we missed an opportunity for superior development. All of which brings us to the Tredree conundrum.
A major determining factor for development in this area was, and still is, proximity to and visibility at the 401. Probably one of the few trumps we have.
The historical stalement has considerable traction it seems. The Township surrounds Cobourg on the 3 land sides with the 401 as the northern boundary. Why continue wasting money on lawyers fighting Township commercial development on the 401 when we should be planning for the best, of whatever, for an area, south of the Dale Road at least , which remains one rather small community which ever way you cut it. It would take a local politician with guts, and hopefully some talent, to re-open the Pandora's box on , ( dare I say it ), Amalgamation.
"incidious" amalgamation. Do you mean insidious or invidious?
"Stalement": do you mean settlement, statement or is a malapropism?
Surely a talented politician,with or without guts, would not want any thing to do with further amalgamation. Or are you trying to tell us something?
A talented pol would be able to "sell" amalgamation as opposed to the normal run of the mill, back on their heels wardheeling pol whose every instinct is to say "NO" because that's what untalented pols do - say "NO". Talented pols work to solutions not be obstructions!
One can easily get the impression that the Town of Cobourg is 'not in favour of supporting development on its fringes' as long as the benefits are not all for Cobourg. Our leaders seem to support a strategy that opposes such development long enough to make governing those areas a liability for the township and sooner or later the land owners force the township to turn over the land to Cobourg so that they can get on with their own plans. If Cobourg were to support township development on these fringe lands, the township would be ver averse to giving up those sources of revenue to Cobourg. If that is the case, it's a clever but dishonest strategy and only amalgamation will overcome it in the long run.
Maybe a few more competent and industrious politicians could also solve the problem.
If it's Hamilton's land why should Cobourg expect to have veto?
Why should Cobourg expect to amalgamate or even to take over this bit of Hamilton. Governing a town is quite different from a rural area. Cobourg should forget coveting what is not theirs and perhaps concentrate on planning and running its own town somewhat better.
I live in the south end of Hamilton Township and consider myself, for all intents and purposes, a Cobourger. The 401 is a highway I cross over every day to do my business, not a phoney municipal boundary separating the urban from the idealized rural. Where does the idea come from that Cobourg covets township lands? And the notion that Hamilton Township is all rural is quaint. So entrenched are these feelings that alternatives never see the light of day.
To Anonymous, that's all good and well except that the town eventually ends up on the hook for providing services and that costs the town's taxpayers as well. When costs go up but the benefits don't accrue with them, the town must have some say in what goes on. That much is reasonable under those circumstances.
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