Mayor: Lucas Cleveland
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By: Dan Jones, Northumberland 89.7 FM News, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter.
Lucas Cleveland has unfinished business in Cobourg, as he seeks re-election for mayor. Cleveland, who has previously committed to being a one-term mayor, said he has not accomplished his goal of leaving Cobourg in a better position than he found it. He explained that he was first drawn into politics as he saw Cobourg becoming complacent in its attitude towards drug use, activity and homelessness. “What I was noticing was that a lot of people were starting to get real fed up with the expectation that helping people somehow meant that we had to have an unsafe community,” he said.
Cleveland admits for the first 12-18 months of his first term, he wasted, focused on listening to the vocal minority in town, burning bridges and not addressing the real issues affecting the community.
That all changed in June of 2025, following a community town hall over the emergency shelter at 310 Division Street and an open letter he wrote to the community.
He explained the community demanded change, after several people voiced grave concern about the safety around the shelter and drug use in public parks. The shelter quickly changed its rules, moving to a higher-barrier facility, where staff are now focused on housing options and helping those in an emergency situation.
15 months later, Cleveland is proud to say the shelter is operating in the proper manner. He believes in addictions treatments, offering help to those ready for it. The shelter does have treatment beds, but he contends the beds are not being used, believing that some people are not wanting to follow the shelter rules or are not ready for treatment.
He has proposed a respite centre at Building 18 to allow for a warming/cooling room during the daytime. If this project is approved, it would augment the overnight warming room operated by Northumberland County, but also provide an intake process for those who need support services.
“I do support treatment options, I do support recovery, I want to see people get better. I don’t want to see the safety and security of this community sacrificed, waiting for them to get ready,” said Cleveland.
After two and a half years of laying the foundation to achieving his goal of safer parks, streets and the community, Cleveland has a six-pronged approach. No Homelessness, Addictions, Recovery, Treatment (HART) Hub in Cobourg. He previously attempted to introduce a motion to Cobourg council this summer, but it was not debated.
Nothing publicly has been considered, but Cleveland suggests that the County could be examining such a facility within the Town. He does not want to see a tiny house village for those with addictions and no normalizing drug language or use.
He referenced the draft Parks Master Plan, which suggested installing used needle containers in parks and that parks may see encampments. Council later removed any such language to this in the Parks final report.
“I’m not stigmatizing people, I’m not judging people. But, what we saw attempted in our parks master plan was unacceptable,” he said. “Making it more comfortable for people to commit criminal drug acts in our parks and on our beaches, is not something I will ever support.”
The three things that Cobourg must do are; ensuring the homeless shelter continues to operate, provide respite for those in need and for police to enforce the law. If elected mayor, Cleveland said he would sit on the Cobourg Police Services Board, calling it a mistake for him not to sit on it this term. Cobourg has a new Police Chief Chris Leather, who has taken a tougher position on drug use and criminal activity by enforcing laws, but Leather stressed this enforcement in parks and on the streets is only based on behaviour, not someone’s status in the community.
Cleveland is pleased with this new approach and wants to sit on the police board to further assist and support Leather in his work.
Cleveland admits that over the past few years, he has not signed many new development deals to increase housing options in Cobourg. This is done by design, he said, claiming the previous council signed many development agreements to which there was no plan to help support the new construction. He points to the need for a new water tower, which is now complete, and increased water and sewer infrastructure needed.
Cleveland said he understands the frustration over housing, but that Town Administration and behind the scenes work were needed to accomplish development going forward.
Cleveland, through Strong Mayor Powers, appointed a new Development Director, complete with engineers and other staff to help assess proposed developments within new provincial timeframes. Those timeframes he said used to be approximately one-year, have now been cut to 105 days. Ontario is also changing planning rules for municipalities to prevent obstructionist councils from blocking development.
This Council has expressed opposition against two developments recently, that of a residential/commercial development at 202 Second Street. That project has been referred to the new year to allow the proponent time to consult the public.
The second development is a large long-term care facility on Kerr Street West, located on County land. While Cleveland abstained from that vote, it was recorded as a no. The project was recommended by municipal staff to proceed, but some councillors were concerned that traffic flow in the area would be an issue. Cleveland hinted that the County may put a HART Hub on that land as well.
“I’m not proud of not being the development mayor. I look forward to helping do that,” He explained.
Both projects are most likely headed to the Ontario Land Tribunal for a hearing, in which Cobourg may lose on both accounts.
There are at least five housing developments underway, but Cleveland concedes those projects were approved before his time as mayor. Going forward, Cleveland wants to revamp the Official Community Plan, with public input for clarity on future developments.
Property taxes in Cobourg have increased approximately 23 percent over the past four-years. Taxpayers are getting frustrated with the increases, questioning how and where these dollars are spent. Cleveland’s platform does not have a municipal tax section, nor did he provide measures he would take to ease frustrations and concerns. He did state cost sharing of services with other Northumberland municipalities might be one way to ease the tax crunch.
“When I ran four years ago, I promised to leave Cobourg in a better place than what I found it,” Cleveland remarked. “I’m going to continue what I started four years ago and get the job done.”
“Its about having a community where I feel safe.”
