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Agenda, BOCC, By-Law, Capital Investment, Finance/Taxes, Infrastructure, parry sound, Pool, Rezoning, Town Council, Vision, Water Management
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I thought this was going to be a “nothing burger” agenda package until I took a look at the attachments. Item 9.3.2 provides an overview, with architectural drawings of what is now referred to as the “West Parry Sound Area Recreation and Culture Centre”, 49,000 square feet and $32 million. The funding request submitted to upper tier government is for $23.5 million leaving the seven municipalities and two First Nation communities on the hook for $8.5 million. While I would normally suggest you go to the Town’s website to download the full agenda package I have clipped the proposal portion of the agenda package and made it available through this link.
Beyond that the agenda is a nothing burger. No, wait, there is Item 10.2.2, Lighthouse Official Plan Amendment (OPA) and Zoning By-law Amendment (ZBA). This includes the report from outside consultants regarding the proposed condominium development on Salt Dock Road. Once again, I have clipped the appropriate section from the agenda and made it available through this link. (It’s 226 pages in length.)
I will not present my opinions on either of the two items, but I will note that if the West Parry Sound Area Recreation and Culture Centre is in fact funded and developed it will fundamentally transform the Town of Parry Sound and the surrounding communities. On both items I plan to keep my opinions to myself. There are enough opinions out there already. I will focus on the numbers and the implications that are not so obvious.
Closed Session
c) a proposed or pending acquisition or disposition of land for municipal or local board purpose, (property matter)
e) litigation or potential litigation, including matters before administrative tribunals, affecting the municipality or local board, (update on litigation of cases with the Town)
f) the receiving of advice that is subject to solicitor-client privilege, including communications necessary for that purpose, (update on litigation of cases with the Town)
j) educating or training council members and no member shall discuss or deal with any matter in a way that materially advances the business of the Council (municipal finances)
Correspondence
4.1 – District of Parry Sound Violence Against Women Coordinating Committee. Request that the Municipal office flags be lowered to 1/2 mast on December 6, 2019 to mark the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women and specifically to remember the lives lost on December 6th, 1989 of 14 young university students at l’École Polytechnique de Montréal.
4.2 – Climate Action Parry Sound. They are a grassroots organization of concerned citizens committed to limiting and mitigating the effects of human-caused global warming introducing their group to Council.
Deputations
5.1 – Glenda Clayton and Monica Moore, Parry Sound Area Food Collaborative. Community Oven.
Resolutions and Direction to Staff
9.3.1 – BOCC Championship Banner Display Policy. Resolution. That Council approve the Bobby Orr Community Centre Championship Banner Display Policy as attached as Schedule A.
9.3.2 – West Parry Sound Area Recreation and Culture Centre (Wellness Centre and Pool Complex). Direction. That the update report on the West Parry Sound Area Recreation and Culture Centre (Wellness Centre and Pool Complex) be received for information purposes.
9.3.3 – Parry Sound Wastewater Treatment Plant Inspection Report. Resolution. That the report on the September 4, 2019 Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP) Parry Sound Wastewater Treatment Plant Inspection Report be received for information purposes.
9.3.4 – Municipal Modernization Program, Expression of Interest. Report to follow.
By-laws
10.1.1 – Curbside Waste & Recycling Collection Contract Extension. By-law 2019 – 6994. Being a bylaw to amend bylaw 2011-6048 and bylaw 2019-6890, to authorize the execution of an extension of the existing curbside waste and recycling collection contract with Waste Connections of Canada Inc. for one year, ending December 31, 2020.
10.2.1 – Municipal Office and Firehall Custodial 2020 and 202. By-law 2019 – 6984. That Council authorizes the execution of a contract with Bernie Filiatrault’s Janitorial for Custodial services of the Municipal Office and Council Chambers set-up.
By-law 2019 – 6985. That Council authorizes the execution of a contract with Bernie Filiatrault’s Janitorial for Custodial services at the Firehall Complex.
10.2.2 – Lighthouse Official Plan Amendment (OPA) and Zoning By-law Amendment (ZBA). Spokesperson: Jamie Robinson, MHBC Planning, Urban Design & Landscape Architecture.
By-law 2019 – 6991. Being a By-law to Adopt Official Plan Amendment No. 2 – Part of Block Q of Plan 123 and a portion of Part 7 of 42R129.
By-law 2019 – 6992. Being a By-law to amend By-law No. 2004-4653 (The Zoning By-law), as amended, for Part of Block Q of Plan 123 and a portion of Part 7 of 42R129.
10.3.1 – Parry Sound Area Founders Circle Agreement. By-law 2019 – 6993. Being a by-law to authorize the execution of an Agreement with the Parry Sound Area Founders Circle to support business innovation and new business’s ideas.
10.4.1 – Debenture issue for completed 2018 and 2019 Capital Works.
By-law 2019 – 6989. A By-law of the Corporation of the Town of Parry Sound to Authorize the Borrowing Upon Amortizing Debentures in the Principal Amount of $727,779.50 Towards the Cost of the Stockey Centre Roof/Hardy Board Siding.
By-law 2019 – 6990. A By-law of the Corporation of the Town of Parry Sound to Authorize the Borrowing Upon Amortizing Debentures in the Principal Amount of $860,435.56 Towards the Cost of the Bobby Orr Community Centre Ice Pad Replacement
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November 16, 2019 at 2:47 pm
Jo, the first link doesn’t seem to be working.
For anyone else who downloads the full package, the pool plans start on p. 24.
First impression of the plans is real disappointment. As I feared/suspected and posted here quite a while ago, the prevailing mindset in the design seems to be a typically ontarioan prudish utilitarianism – everything must be justified by a good and healthy purpose, simple pleasure or fun can never be the point.
Thus, instead of real hot tub, we get a “therapeutic pool” , which is almost always code for a useless lukewarm pond of pee water. The main pool looks to be designed exclusively for lap swimming – because good exercise is justifiable, but we couldn’t waste money on just having fun.
No steam room from the looks of it, and I don’t see any kind of concession where you could get some snacks or even just a coffee.
Of course, if you’re wealthy, you can drive down past Rousseau to the marriot where they have luxurious hot tubs with nice stone work surrounds, steam rooms, relaxation lounges with snacks and drinks, and all the other amenities that people actually enjoy. But all the poor people will have to just stay in town and make do with the cold utility we know is good for them.
Hopefully I’m wrong and just missed some of the better parts of the design.
November 16, 2019 at 4:42 pm
Thanks, I fixed the link.
A couple of thoughts about your comments.
1. The design is not the final, but it is ‘close’ at least in terms of overall cost. There was a deadline to submit an application for upper level funding, so they probably went generic to get it in on time.
2. Talk to your councillors about the design, Seguin will be carrying its share of the cost and I’m sure they would appreciate taxpayer input.
Personally I’m not big on hot tubs. I suspect the lap pool will be open for other functions at different times. It will probably be managed like a rink, some times are for more organized activities and others for more casual use.
I suspect that what has been proposed is consistent with what the experts have found people actually use, not what they think they may want.
November 16, 2019 at 11:42 pm
Oh I’ll talk to my councillor, but I’m surprised there hasn’t been more public consultation on what should be included. Or did I miss it?
Either way, the marriot has managed to stay in business for a number of years now, and as far as I know they’re done that without any upper level funding. That may indicate the direction in which people have voted with their wallets, in so far as what people want.
November 17, 2019 at 9:51 am
Ah, you uber rich folks in Seguin able to afford everything because you pay such low taxes. We don’t have these palaces of pleasure in the Town of Parry Sound. But we do have lots of churches and a Walmart.
Heck, if even Donald Trump can make money* in the hospitality business** it seems that it can’t be that hard hard. Especially if you pay little or no taxes.
* – this assumes he does make money, he hasn’t released his tax returns. I’m not sure if that’s because he isn’t making any money or he does and doesn’t pay his share of taxes. You have to love those tax loss carry forwards.
** – unless you are Donald Trump and in the casino business.
November 18, 2019 at 12:07 am
Ah, but don’t forget the lesser facilities around where we send all the poor riff raff – like the jolly Roger: they also have a hot tub and a steam room, not some lame-o therapy pool.
In fact, go check out the major hotels in pretty much any town of any tax bracket, and I think you’ll see a clear pattern: whenever their financial survival actually depends on attracting customers by giving them what they really want, facilities tend to put in real hot tubs and saunas. It’s only the institutional facilities that will float by on government money and can therefore afford to disappoint the customers and cater instead to the posing pretence of the politicians, it’s only in those facilities that you find such useless theatre indulgence as therapy pools.
November 18, 2019 at 8:45 am
Ryan, a number of southern municipalities are home to amusements parks, ski hills and shopping malls. Why do they depend on private enterprise to build them. Shouldn’t the area invest in an amusement park like Santa’s Village rather than the various parks we have scattered around our municipalities?
You provided the answer of why not steam rooms and tubs. They are available locally in the private sector. Why should the government compete with them? Why should we ‘put them out of business’? Heck I bet there are hundreds of hot tubs in the West Parry Sound area. We both could afford one, and a steam room, if we really wanted to. I don’t know about you but I couldn’t afford a lap pool or a therapeutic pool. Perhaps as a community we need to ‘pool’ our resources together to build something we can’t build individually and private enterprise can’t make a profit providing.
Everybody isn’t stupid. It seems the Y is part of the design process and they have just a little bit of experience. The planners probably have been around the block a few more times than either of us and heard complaints and done post mortem exercises on facilities that didn’t live up to expectations.
I have a wee bit of experience with pools though our daughter’s family. They live in Sudbury and have a Y membership. The lap pool is used for – laps and serious swimming. The therapeutic pool, to rephrase your point is ‘piss warm’ and is used for swimming instruction and ‘horsing around’. It’s easier to get kids into something that is warm and comforting than something cooler. Given that it costs money to heat a pool I suspect that the Y would prefer to keep it cooler to save money but they don’t. The two pool system seems to work for families at least.
It’s time for you to plan on running for Seguin Council. You have ideas and they should be shared with a larger audience than you have here.
November 18, 2019 at 2:10 pm
Jo,
How would the argument you are making not apply to the pool itself? There are multiple private pools in the area, so if the existence of private enterprise is an argument against a government version, then how does that not apply to the pool itself?
Of course, only the most conservative of capitalists would make that argument, while most other people would accept that the purpose of the government pool is to, as you said, pool our common resources in order to make it more accessible for the entire community.
At the moment, the private enterprise options are available only to those who can afford them, and while I’d be surprised if that excludes you, it certainly does me, as well as most others in the area’s working class.
That’s why there’s frustration here; the community pool was supposed to offer the lower classes of our community just a piece of the enjoyment that our wealthier neighbours have been able to indulge in for years.
Side note: not so sure about your Y comment. I’ve visited and used all of the Y facilities that were consulted and studied by the planning committee. I can’t say any of them would lead me to conclude that the Y has much of any expertise in designing a facility that accomplishes anything more than giving everyone a taste of what it might have been like if the Soviets had won…
P.s. I’ll run for council if you finance the campaign. I know how much those signs cost, and if I had that kind of cash, my kid would have braces!
November 20, 2019 at 9:19 am
Ryan, the argument for a community pool would be the same argument as why there are libraries when we have bookstores. They provide different services to different audiences at different price points.
It doesn’t take a conservative capitalist to suggest that some things are more appropriate for one audience than another. My experience confirms the observation I read some years ago that as societies Canadians are suspicious of people who are wealthy while Americans are suspicious of those who are poor. I have a few years on you. You will find that if you work hard and spend less than you make you will with time accumulate some amount of wealth that provides for flexibility. That often means making sacrifices and focusing on what’s really important
You are located in an interesting municipality. The disparity in property values and wealth are astounding – the $5/10 million Lake Joe ‘cottages’ and the <$100K homes. We don't have that disparity in Parry Sound, our Marriott is the Comfort Inn. The most expensive home in the Town probably is assessed at $750K and there is only one of them.
The brightest person in the room is not smarter than the accumulated intelligence and experience of the rest of the people in the room. I have come to believe that a group of individuals, if provided with the necessary information, and who do not have a personal agenda, will make a good decision. I believe the Y folks, plus the 7+2 municipality representatives and the consultants have it right.
A local councillor in the Town who I respect knocked on literally every door as part of their election/re-election activities. They had very few signs and received an overwhelming amount of support at election time. Money isn't an impediment if you are sincerely interested. Being an elected official in theory at least involves applying common sense and reflecting the wishes and the interests of the people of who you represent. Being elected doesn't mean you do whatever you think is right. Working hard, listening and empathizing are more important than being smart.
Run, knock on my door, explain your platform and I'll make a donation to your campaign. I won't sponsor it, but I will recognize your sincerity and effort and 'help you'. Get another 50 people on the same page and your election campaign is financed, with or without fancy signs. But you will need to compromise if you want to keep the cottagers and the permanent residents happy. It will be more about their ideas than yours, unless you can make your ideas theirs.