Council approves Sidewalk Priority Plan

By Cecilia Nasmith

Passionate opposition from residents of Abbott Boulevard in 2017 and residents of Northwood Drive in 2018 to having sidewalks added to their roads underlined the need for objective analysis.

The result is the Sidewalk Priority Plan presented this week at council's committee-of-the-whole meeting.

A staff report from director of public works Laurie Wills said the goal is to determine a logical order to construct new sidewalks each year, and Wills set out criteria for a point system to make the determination.

Councillor Emily Chorley seized on the final paragraph of the policy: “The next steps will be for the town to develop an official policy for the implementation of new sidewalks in the Town of Cobourg, based on the subject Sidewalk Priority Plan.”

“I think we would be missing something if we didn't clarify how this plan is going to be used,” Chorley said, outlining the need for an official policy to be formulated with an active public-engagement component.

Mayor John Henderson noted that the policy already in place in the case of a new sidewalk calls for proper notification of affected residents well in advance. In previous cases, this has proven to be adequate for involving those members of the public to provide ample input.

And, Councillor Brian Darling wondered, “how does the need for public engagement stack up against the need for public safety?”

Having sat through presentations by Abbott and Northwood residents worried about the potential for lost parking spaces and the newly acquired duty to keep sidewalks clear, Darling is familiar with their concerns.

But he also challenged them to walk their children to school and imagine their having no sidewalks to use.

“We are now a modern urban community and, for the safety of everyone, we need them,” Darling stated.

The new policy has been three years in the making, he pointed out, and there have been changes as a result.

“Right now, Northwood's going to be happy – they got moved down the list. Abbott was proposed three years ago, then cancelled, then we developed the priority plan. Now it's first on the list.

“And we still are getting people who don't want it.”

Council voted down Chorley's amendment to develop an official policy with active public engagement, but then voted to approve the Sidewalk Priority Plan as presented.

Cobourg Deputy Mayor announces 1.9% budget goal for 2020

By Cecilia Nasmith

The Town of Cobourg has announced its schedule of budget meetings – all open for members of the public to observe – leading up to the preparation of its 2020 municipal operating and capital budgets.

“This council is committed to refurbishing, restoring and revitalizing our town assets for 2020 with a goal for the budget at 1.9%,” Deputy Mayor Suzanne Seguin announced in the town's press release.

“As we begin this budget process, we must all keep in mind the five key pillars identified in the 2019-2022 Strategic Plan, including people, places, program, partnerships and prosperity,” Seguin added.

Four division-staff presentation meetings are planned, during which directors and managers will update council and the public on potential capital projects, special one-time projects and anticipated request for staffing-level changes. All will take place at 3 p.m. in council chambers.

On Nov. 19, council will hear representatives of Planning and Development Services, General Government Services and Economic Development.

On Nov. 21, council will hear from Protection services (fire and police) as well as the Art Gallery of Northumberland and the Cobourg Public Library.

On Nov. 26, council will hear from Public Works and Environmental Services.

On Nov. 28, council will hear from Community Services.

Thereafter, there are three key dates in the process.

On Dec. 13, a draft budget will be released for public review and comment.

On Jan. 9, a special council budget session (in committee-of-the-whole format) will see the budget reviewed in its entirety from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in council chambers.

On Feb. 3, the final approval by council of the budget as amended will take place at the regular council meeting, which has a special 4 p.m. starting time (two hours earlier than usual).

The Town of Cobourg reminds citizens that on-line engagement is now available through the Engage Cobourg platform, where feedback on the budget will be accepted through a comprehensive Financial Framework Survey and open-ended forum. All comments received by these means will be included in a staff report prepared by the Communications Department for council's consideration.

For more information on the 2020 municipal operating and capital budget, visit www.cobourg.ca/2020budget.

Cobourg council narrows down east pier options

By Cecilia Nasmith

The public-consultation process has narrowed down favoured options for the east pier, and Cobourg Councillor Emily Chorley put them in a motion at this week's committee-of-the-whole meeting.

Chorley's motion called for the procurement of engineering and other professional services to develop drawings, costs and tender documents for the east-pier option that would open up the site to pedestrian and limited light-vehicle use.

The councillor also called for this configuration to have a number of what she termed essential enhancements – seating and lookouts, a pedestrian walkway, and electrical upgrades and pedestrian lighting.

She also classified a number of possible enhancements as optional, to be considered and costed separately – charter boat and deep-water docking, food concessions, accessibility enhancements to the beach, pedestrian access to the lighthouse, and perimeter railings.

Councillor Nicole Beatty was surprised Chorley saw accessibility enhancements as optional, asking that it be reclassified as essential. Chorley agreed that this would be a good idea.

Mayor John Henderson made the same request for perimeter railing. Given the distance between the pier's surface and the water, he said, it should not be optional. Chorley agreed this too could be reclassified as essential.

Henderson returned to the basic question of the configuration of the pier, playing devil's advocate to ask whether the option of pedestrian and limited light- and heavy-vehicle use might be preferable. Otherwise, he wondered, how would it support a crane to lift out or otherwise assist boats?

Henderson also pointed out that council has no way of knowing what future generations of users would want for the pier – maybe they'd like to see the midway return to that location on Canada Day or perhaps they might want to see a restaurant open in this prime location.

“We are not building a pier for our term, and certainly not for the next 30 years,” he said.

“What would the 10th council from now say about wanting a restaurant? We would need a pier to hold that kind of structure.”

Still, he acknowledged the financial realities. While council may speculate what may happen a century from now, they can only afford what is feasible now – and the difference could be as much as $3-million.

“I believe what is recommended is both attainable and realistic,” Henderson stated.

Director of community services Dean Hustwick acknowledged that cranes lifting out boats are able to operate in an increasingly small footprint at the waterfront. But even going for the heavy-reinforcement option would not prevent some degree of settling over many years.

Councillor Brian Darling, a retired firefighter, said firefighting vehicles are becoming lighter and more compact over time, and expressed confidence in the light-vehicle option.

Four People Arrested After Drug Warrant Execution

On Wednesday October 15, 2019 members of the Peterborough/Northumberland Detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Community Street Crime Units (CSCU) with the assistance from Durham Regional Police Service, various OPP specialty units and uniform members executed three Controlled Drug and Substance Act warrants.

The warrants were executed at a residence in the town of Colborne, a residence in the city of Oshawa and on a vehicle found to be at the Colborne residence.

Investigators arrested four individuals and seized quantities of suspected crack cocaine, fentanyl, magic mushrooms, cash and various other drug trafficking related items.

Randy WEBSTER (age 35), Dawn Marie CURRAN (age 47), and Robert Donald BREMNER (age 41) of Cramahe Township, Ontario, were arrested and charged with:

• Possession of a Schedule I Substance – Cocaine.

• Possession of a Schedule III Substance

CURRAN was additionally charged with breaching a court order.

Nathan Kumar PERSAUD (age 23) of Oshawa, Ontario was arrested and charged with:

• Possession of a Schedule I Substance – Cocaine

• Possession of a Schedule III Substance

• Possession of a Schedule I Substance for purpose of Trafficking

• Possession of a Schedule I Substance for the purpose of Trafficking – Opioid (other than heroin)

• Possession of proceeds of property obtained by crime under $5,000

All four accused were released and are scheduled to appear at the Ontario Court of Justice in Cobourg on October 30, 2019.

Cobourg council reviews insurance bill

By Cecilia Nasmith

Cobourg council agreed at this week's committee-of-the-whole meeting to a renewal of its insurance, albeit at a 6.3% increase in costs.

Council agreed with the recommended action in a staff report from treasurer Ian Davey to renew the comprehensive insurance program with the Frank Cowan Company, covering the period of Oct. 1, 2019, through Oct. 1, 2020, at a premium of $568,840 (including all applicable taxes).

The insurance is provided through the McDougall Insurance Brokers agency on a fee-for-service basis. This renewal represents the second year of a five-year agreement with McDougall.

“In addition to assisting municipal staff with questions regarding coverages and claims, our insurance broker reviews our policy renewal to ensure that coverages are adequate to protect the municipality and that premiums are fair,” the report said.

“Earlier this year, we added our first Cyber liability policy to our insurance coverage. The Cyber policy is separate from our comprehensive policy being considered in this report. The Cyber policy runs from Aug. 6, 2019, through Aug. 6, 2020, with an annual premium of $6,426, including all applicable taxes.”

This year's costs represent an increase of $33,709 or 6.3%, based on increase coverage in the areas of general liability, property and automobile.

A McDougall representative was present during discussions, identifying some of the triggers to the increased cost.

“The society we live in, unfortunately, is getting more and more litigious – more claims requiring more actions with larger payments,” he said.

Claims are mostly health-related, he added, but these costs are rising as well.

Even simple automobile claims are more expensive as the cars of today are more sophisticated and more costly to repair.

And, he noted, storms are more severe, with more damage resulting.

Cobourg receives Cultural Master Plan

By Cecilia Nasmith

Cobourg council got a look at the town's new Cultural Master Plan at this week's committee-of-the-whole council meeting.

Lauren Millier represented MDB Insight in making the presentation, saying her firm had done more than 50 cultural master plans previous to Cobourg's.

Such a plan is a process of identifying and leveraging cultural resources, strengthening their management and integrating those resources across all facets of decision making, Millier listed.

This includes community cultural organizations, cultural enterprises that create and produce art, cultural and heritage programming, cultural spaces and facilities that host such programming and activities, cultural- and natural-heritage sites and resources, and festivals and events that showcase local talent and animate public spaces.

The numbers were amazing – 424 cultural assets (across a broad range of categories), major cultural activities in the downtown, 40 cultural organizations (mainly focusing on music and visual arts), 270 cultural organizations and enterprises (including individual artists), 49 cultural-heritage assets (mostly heritage properties) and 760 buildings on the town's heritage registry.

During the process, Millier added, “we engaged with well in excess of 500 individuals from a wide range of demographics.”

Consultation opportunities began more than a year ago and included telephone and on-line surveys, stakeholder interviews and focus groups. Millier is confident that the recommendations that emerged reflect what they heard from the community at large.

These include a number of governance recommendations that include establishing a Cultural Advisory Committee and holding an annual cultural summit.

Six strategic directions are also set out – embracing and communicating a shared vision of culture across the town, improving communications and collaboration within the cultural sector, promoting the town's rich history and heritage, growing culture-led economic-development programs, strengthening tourism products by leveraging unique cultural assets, and increasing communication and engagement among youth and volunteers.

“I didn't know there were so many arts-and-culture places and organizations in Cobourg,” Councillor Adam Bureau said.

“That is one of the reasons why I think this plan is good. It's going to bring them together so we can promote each and every one of them as a team instead of in silos.”

Cobourg continues supportive tradition with Habitat For Humanity

By Cecilia Nasmith

The Town of Cobourg has traditionally given Habitat For Humanity Northumberland a 50% break on development fees and charges for the affordable housing they build.

At this week's committee-of-the-whole meeting, council voted to continue that tradition with a similar break on the four-plex they will construct at 22-24 University Ave. W.

This amounts to a total of $21,555 that will be saved in applicable building permit, planning application, parkland fees and development charges.

The building now standing at that address is an older duplex, council heard. A rear two-storey extension will be added to ensure four qualifying families can be housed.

“Historically, council has been very supportive,” Habitat executive director Meaghan Macdonald said.

“Habitat wouldn't exist without the Town of Cobourg and the leadership we have seen.”

Advisory committees review past year and look ahead

By Cecilia Nasmith

The advisory committees that serve the Town of Cobourg got their moment in the spotlight at this week's committee-of-the-whole council meeting, as each submitted 2019 annual reports and 2020 work plans to council.

Written reports were received from the Accessibility Advisory Committee, Heritage Advisory Committee, Sustainability and Climate Change Advisory Committee, Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee, Transportation Advisory Committee and Planning and Development Advisory Committee. However, council was also able to hear in-person presentation from most of the committees.

Susan Caron of the accessibility committee spoke of continuing transportation challenges, relating an occasional lack of accessible taxis and unavailable Wheeltrans buses.

Her committee hopes to establish an on-line database of concerns and suggestions to address them, and advised council of plans for a role-playing event during Accessibility Week (May 25 to 31).

Graham Andrews of the heritage committee said they had approved 54 heritage permits last year and put a representative on the Community Improvement Plan and Cultural Master Plan steering committees. In the works, Andrews said, are plans for a new heritage-conservation district recognizing the Corktown area where Irish immigrants settled in the 19th century.

Minnie deYoung said the sustainability and climate change committee is primarily focused on the reduction of greenhouse gases, driven by a rapidly narrowing window of time yet available to avoid catastrophe. They hope to effect this by influencing decisions in such areas as infrastructure, development and transportation decisions.

This detracts from their efforts to set up an Integrated Community Sustainability Plan, she said, but that is still on the back burner.

“For every $1 invested in local resilience projects, you get $6 in cost avoidance,” she said.

Beth Bellaire represented parks and recreation to describe their work on such projects as the east pier and campgrounds, west harbour, parkland supply and trail connectivity.

Goals include increasing the tree-canopy coverage to 35% from 27%, pursuing age-friendly-community designation and possibly establishing a youth advisory committee.