Monthly Archives: June 2014

Council Agenda Preview – July 2, 2014

29 Sunday Jun 2014

Posted by in Parry Sound, Town Council

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The item of most interest for this meeting of Council is the move to Wednesday night, with Canada Day falling on the Tuesday. Otherwise the meeting is a bit of snooze in terms of critical or controversial items.

4.3 – Letter. A request to keep the Smelter Wharf clear of salt for the months of July and August. A reasonable request but one the Town will not be able to grant given the contractual agreement with the salt company, the nasty weather that limited salt deliveries last Fall and the huge demand last winter.

9.1.1 – Resolution. A proposal from the Powassan Eagles to use the Bobby Orr Community Centre for their 2014-15 adult league team. It seems a reasonable request that will make better use of the facility and provide some additional rental income.

9.3.1 – Direction. Follow up actions with respect to the rules of conduct for Town Boards and Committees. Presumably it will protect the interests of the Town and volunteers. Damage is already done; better late than never I guess.

9.4.2 – Resolution. The Town’s audited consolidated financial statements for last year are being presented for Council approval. The numbers look good, a result of the work of Staff and Council. It is recommended reading for those wishing to understand the financial statement details. The resolution provides a good explanation of the variances, positive and negative.

9.5.1 – Direction. An interesting issue regarding drainage at certain Isabella/Marion Street addresses. The proposal calls for one of the property owners to cost-share with the Town for drainage improvements related to new construction. Drainage issues in Town seem to be an ongoing issue of contention with this appearing to be the approach the Town plans to take going forward rather than sticking it’s head in the ditch.

9.5.2 – Resolution. This would permit the company involved with the building of the new public school to be exempted from local noise by-law restrictions for work on Sunday and statutory holidays.

9.5.3 – Resolution. This concerns a $269,000 contract to build a new Maintenance Facility and Cold Mix Shed. The bids ranged from $269,000 to $750,000. I wonder what the difference was/is for such a large difference.

10.5.1 – By-Law. Execution of the agreement with Fowler Construction for the Forest Street reconstruction. You have probably noticed the signs indicating that Forest Street will be closed to through traffic from July until October.

As always there is more to the meeting, but nothing I felt was worth mentioning. Check out the full agenda at the Town’s website for a list of all items and the details.

Leaning Left, Leaning Right and Meeting in the Middle (Parry Sound in Black & White)

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2014 Municipal Assistance Programs Allocation

24 Tuesday Jun 2014

Posted by in Budget/Financial, Parry Sound, Town Council

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The Town of Parry Sound provides a total of $15,000 annually to support local charitable and non-profit groups and their community work. I think the amount is too low considering the value these organizations deliver, but nonetheless here is the allocation of funds for 2014 as ‘voted’ on by Town Council and approved at the June 17th meeting of council.

Economic Development Allocation

The Business Centre
– $1773

Parry Sound Chamber of Commerce
– $1327

Parry Sound Area CB&DC Inc.
– $3123

Parry Sound Downtown Business Association
– $1413

Non-Profit

Parry Sound Volunteer Network
– $706

Algonquin Regiment Veterans Association
– $921

International Festival of Authors
– $535

Parry Sound District Horticultural Society
– $1597

Artists Round the Sound
– $635

SOAR Rope Skipping Team
– $390

Festival of the Sound
– $870

Parry Sound EMS
– $263

Opportunities to Sit and Reflect (Parry Sound in Black & White)

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Council Meeting Notes – June 17, 2014

22 Sunday Jun 2014

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This post is a few days late, but worry not you’re really not behind as nothing of real importance was handled last Tuesday. Well I guess it’s worth mentioning that the Market Square Park revitalization is officially dead. This came out during Councillor Dan McCauley’s report.

Here are my short notes regarding agenda items that were mentioned in the Council Preview post:

5.1 – Deputation and Resolution, SMART Initiative. CARRIED. A presentation was made in support of a Resolution for Parry Sound to offer its municipal and financial support for this initiative. I’ve already commented on this, here’s a link to the earlier post. My position is that if our financial commitment is limited to $6,000 it’s a good investment in supporting our neighbouring municipalities. Let’s be sure we are not committed to co-funding a portion of any local share that the provincial and federal government might expect, let’s say 10% of the cost. We already have high-speed internet resources in part because we have made significant investments in general infrastructure. It’s our neighbours who have eschewed infrastructure investments and are longing for high speed internet to keep their residents happy. Not sewers, not water, not gas – they must have low cost, high-speed internet service to attract businesses.

9.1.1 – Resolution, WiFi Market Square Park. CARRIED. This is a nifty exchange of services that will provide the Town with high-speed internet WiFi service in Market Square Park. It’s basically a non-cash exchange of services with the Town providing Vianet with storage privileges for their equipment at the Town yard (up by the Transfer Station). This reinforces the fact that the Town has access to sufficient high-speed internet services that Vianet can offer it for free at Market Square Park. This should bring in our neighbours now that summer has arrived and the tourists will be sucking up the bandwidth on the cellular towers.

9.1.2 – Resolution, Municipal Assistance Program Allocations. ALLOCATIONS APPROVED – but no figures included (Schedule A) with meeting minutes. I’m also unable to find the information at the Town of Parry Sound’s Municipal Assistance Program page. I’ll ask for a copy and post the information.

9.4.1 – Resolution, Mutual Court Rental Arrangement with Parry Sound Provincial Courthouse. POSTPONED for POA Court input. Another ‘tradesee’ with the Town providing the Province with no-cost use of the Town’s POA Court facility and the Province providing the Town with no-cost use of the Provincial Court facility. This seems a good idea as a way to ‘backstop’ each other should an unexpected need arise to access a courtroom. It’s unlikely that either party will exercise the privilege.

10.1.1 – By-Law, Rezoning Application 105 Isabella Street. CARRIED. This would rezone the property to permit up to four residences; it is currently limited to three. That’s the way the Town rolls, more in-fill and density. But I do wonder about water service. If I remember correctly the property owner requested a change to unlimited residential water service from commercial service a year and a half ago. I don’t think we were ever told what the final decision was, the paperwork and discussion was confused to say the very least. But I think we should have a problem if four residences are able to operate off of a single unlimited residential account. At the time there was never mention that this was a multi-unit property. Anybody know what the status of this property is with respect to water billing?

The minutes of the meeting have been published at the Town’s website. There really wasn’t much else of note although we seem to be updating policies and procedures regarding the municipal cemeteries.

It Starts with a Strong Foundation. ( Parry Sound in Black & White)

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Council Agenda Preview – June 17, 2014

16 Monday Jun 2014

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It doesn’t seem all that ‘heavy’ an agenda. The meeting package is more than 270 pages, but the meaningful issues are few, and none appear to be controversial. Listed below are the highlights as I see them.

The closed session of Council notes some pending litigation regarding zoning. I don’t have any idea what this is about.

4.4 – Correspondence, Belvedere Heights for the Aged. The 2013 financials are available.

5.1 – Deputation and Resolution, SMART Initiative. A presentation in support of a Resolution for Parry Sound to offer its municipal and financial support for this initiative. I’ve already commented on this, here’s a link to the earlier post. My position is that if our financial commitment is limited to $6,000 it’s a good investment in supporting our neighbouring municipalities. Let’s be sure we are not committed to co-funding a portion of any local share that the provincial and federal government might expect, let’s say 10% of the cost. We already have high-speed internet resources in part because we have made significant investments in general infrastructure. It’s our neighbours who have eschewed infrastructure investments and are longing for high speed internet to keep their residents happy. Not sewers, not water, not gas – they must have low cost, high-speed internet service to attract businesses.

9.1.1 – Resolution, WiFi Market Square Park. This is a nifty exchange of services that will provide the Town with high-speed internet WiFi service in Market Square Park. It’s basically a non-cash exchange of services with the Town providing Vianet with storage privileges for their equipment at the Town yard (up by the Transfer Station). This reinforces the fact that the Town has access to sufficient high-speed internet services that Vianet can offer it for free at Market Square Park. This should bring in our neighbours now that summer is pretty much here and the tourists will be sucking up the bandwidth on the cellular towers. Oh, anyone heard anything official about the Market Square Park renovation? Neither have I, and as I have predicted earlier it’s dead, dead, dead. I would be happy to be proven wrong.

9.1.2 – Resolution, Municipal Assistance Program Allocations. Council will be asked to allocate a total of $15,000 to about a dozen deserving organizations. That figure is less than the Town spends on flower baskets. Perhaps as a Town we could be a little more generous in supporting these very important groups. But we probably won’t – a shame.

 9.4.1 – Resolution, Mutual Court Rental Arrangement with Parry Sound Provincial Courthouse. Another ‘tradesee’ with the Town providing the Province with no-cost use of the Town’s POA Court facility and the Province providing the Town with no-cost use of the Provincial Court facility. This seems a good idea as a way to ‘backstop’ each other should an unexpected need arise to access a courtroom. It’s unlikely that either party will exercise the privilege.

10.1.1 – By-Law, Rezoning Application 105 Isabella Street. This would rezone the property to permit up to four residences; it is currently limited to three. That’s the way the Town rolls, more in-fill and density. But I do wonder about water service. If I remember correctly the property owner requested a change to unlimited residential water service from commercial service a year and a half ago. I don’t think we were ever told what the final decision was, the paperwork and discussion was confused to say the very least. But I think we should have a problem if four residences are able to operate off of a single unlimited residential account. At the time there was never mention that this was a multi-unit property. Anybody know what the status of this property is with respect to water billing?

There’s more but you will need to head over to Town’s website to see the whole package, actually two separate files, here’s the link. See you Tuesday evening.

Simon Says ( Parry Sound in Black & White)

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No Babies On Board

11 Wednesday Jun 2014

Posted by in Parry Sound, Safety, Train

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Not at all. Nothing as benign as even poopy diapers.

There has been a fair bit of controversy between the railways, the federal government and local communities regarding disclosure of exactly what is on the trains rolling through towns and cities. The railways would prefer to provide that information once a year in a document that the local communities would keep confidential. Communities would know what has been moved through their town in the last year, but the residents of the town would not. The Feds and Communities have asked for a more realistic update on the contents of the trains and the railways seem to be bending, but once again do not want to have that information released to the general public.

Hey Mr. Railway CEO, it’s not really that confidential. Anyone who wants to take the time can sit beside the railway track and count the cars going by and mark down the content of the hazardous cars. That’s because all hazardous railcars are required to carry labels with the appropriate UN or NA Code. Those numbers in the diamonds (actually squares rotated 45 degrees) that you see on tanker cars and some tanker trucks on the highways, they tell you what’s inside. Sort of like the ‘Baby Onboard’ sign some parents hang in the back window of their car.

So, what’s rolling through Parry Sound? Besides grain cars, containers and automobile carriers there is some interesting and pretty nasty stuff. According to a very informal audit of what’s rolling behind my property (the CN line) this is what I’ve seen so far. This table lists the UN hazard code and the corresponding contents.

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This is a very informal list of rail cars I have seen while outside and in a position to read the hazard codes. I may take some time and sit by the track (always on non-railway property of course) and see what other ‘numbers’ ‘roll by’.

The largest number of hazardous cars are 1267’s and 1268’s, with a significant number of 1075’s. One train had more than a hundred 1267 and 1268 cars strung together, crude oil and distillates, doubtless Bakken oil. I’ll offer an analysis on the energy implication of these tankers in a future post that will help explain the devastation seen in Lac-Megantic near future.

What about the northbound line that crosses the Seguin River over the CP trestle? I don’t have numbers for them but expect the tankers will primarily consist of processed chemicals heading back from the eastern refiners and chemical plants. I’ll see if I can get some numbers and pass them on in a future post. I guess the ideal spot to spend a day would be where the two tracks cross Isabella Street. You can watch them coming and going. I estimate that we have about 35 trains a day passing through Parry Sound heading north or south.

The refusal of the railways to release information on the hazardous materials they are transporting is consistent with their habit of hiding and obfuscating information. Are they lazy or just afraid of the public knowing what is being transported through their communities? Some analysts suggest it might be related to competitive concerns. Not likely, any of the rail companies could easily monitor the detailed activity of their competitors with a video camera. No, they just don’t want you to know what’s rolling through our downtown (you might be worried). But if we really want to know what’s going on it’s as simple as looking out our window and keeping track of things.

Know the Code ( Parry Sound in Black & White)

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Penny-Wise, Pound-Foolish? ‘Parking’ Fees Return!

05 Thursday Jun 2014

Posted by in Boating/Recreation, Parry Sound, Reflections, Suggestions

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With the change in operation of Big Sound Marina there has been a change in the marina’s policies. The one that sticks out for me is the establishment of a charge for day dockage at Big Sound Marina. According to their website it will now cost $15 to dock for any period of time between 8:00 am and 6:00 pm. After 6:00 pm it may be that temporary dockage is only available at the overnight dockage rate, $1.75 per foot, or about $30 for a 17-foot boat; typical of what a cottager might own.

I am struck by the irony of the situation. The prospect of any charge for parking on Bay Street in the Town Dock area, even if it was only a buck or two, was met with hostility by the business community and caused Council to beat a hasty retreat. The charge for parking meters would have only applied to between about 8:00 and 6:00 on weekdays. Evenings and weekends would have been free. But here we have a new ‘parking charge’ for boating visitors to Parry Sound, that’s 24×7. Day dockage at the Big Sound Marina has been free until this year.

My sense is that it will mainly impact the cottagers and day boaters who want to come into Parry Sound for lunch, to shop for groceries, or attend an event at the Stockey Centre. Does it make sense to come to Parry Sound for lunch or dinner if the ‘cover charge’ is $15 (plus HST?). I don’t know, but if business people felt a $1.00 parking charge was likely to keep people away, I suspect a $16.95 (with HST) charge won’t act as a ‘welcome’ sign.

So what are the options for boaters wanting to visit Parry Sound for the day? Well they can pay the day dockage fee at Big Sound marina and just get over it. I understand there are a couple of free unmarked Town day dockage spots located up past where the Chippewa III is docked. But I can’t easily locate them. There are also private docks in that area, so confusion will reign unless they are properly marked. And will By-Law enforce any type of time limit? With two spaces the ‘early boater’ will ‘get the spot’.

What about the boater who wants to come in for dinner or a show at the Stockey Centre, especially an evening Festival of the Sound concert where there is light in the sky until late ? There is no provision for evening dockage at Big Sound Marina. Or does that imply overnight rates apply for evening dockage?

It’s probably possible to get paid day dockage at one of the two marinas in the harbor. It might even be free with a fuel purchase or pump out, but neither are a short walk to the waterfront and restaurants.

Making money with the marina will be tough, and all avenues need to be explored. The Parry Sound Chamber of Commerce was able to do little more than break even for the years they operated the marina based on the terms offered by the Town.

The issue is with the Town trying to squeeze out as much money, actually avoid any net cost, with Big Sound Marina. The Town of Parry Sound subsidizes the Stockey Centre and the Bobby Orr Community Centre to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars each year, but feels they need, at the very worst, to break even with Big Sound Marina. The Town previously announced that Big Sound Marina would accept seasonal dockage in competition with local marinas to increase revenue. And this is for a facility that is government built and not subject to the same overhead demands (mortgage, property taxes, etc.) as private marinas.

Penny-wise and pound-foolish? I suspect that the day dockage charge will leave a bad taste in the mouth of many and reduce the amount of boat traffic to Parry Sound. It’s one thing to build a new facility and charge for use, and something quite different to start charging for something that previously was free, especially if it’s a government facility. The impact most likely will be felt by restaurants, shops and Stockey Centre events. But what the heck, the Town’s budget will be spared. The Town just needs to reach a little deeper into the pockets of the Town’s businesses to balance the Town’s budget and limit tax rate increases on residential properties.

In the face of opposition to parking meters on Bay Street the town backed down, even though parking meters represented a very attractive return on investment. Perhaps the Town should look at compensating the operators of Big Sound Marina for permitting free day dockage. It would cost a little bit, but not nearly as much as the Town lost by foregoing parking meters on Bay Street.

I have no issue with the new management at Big Sound Marina; they are just trying to keep their heads above water. The Town needs to decide if treating Big Sound Marina as a profit centre really makes sense.

Full House (Parry Sound in Black & White)

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Council Meeting Notes – June 3, 2014

04 Wednesday Jun 2014

Posted by in Budget/Financial, Parry Sound, Town Council, Urban Development

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Last night’s meeting was pretty much uneventful with some discussion and debate regarding Item 9.1.3. More on this in the text below. I left about half way through the meeting after the more interesting items had been discussed. I’ll check the minutes and let you know if anything interesting arose after I left. I doubt it. Of course you should tune into Moose-FM today, they will be providing their take on the highlights (and low lights). My comments are offered below, check out the preview post for additional background.

The more interesting items in my opinion are:

5.1 – Deputation, Park to Park (P2P). The deputation was well received by Council and there was an agreement to direct Staff to meet with Park2Park to discuss the options and reality of establishing an ATV trail through Parry Sound.

9.1.3 – Resolution, Proposal Award 71 Parry Sound Road. CARRIED. This resolution requests approval of a proposal in principle to develop 71 Parry Sound Road as it represents ‘Town surplus property’. There was discussion about the price offered by the developer for the property, $40,000 versus the $64,000 real estate broker assessed value. The Mayor pushed it through. He seemed quite determined to make it happen. Council discussed certain protections for the Town concerning the property being ‘held and flipped’ and unexpected costs to the town to develop the property. I guess at least one councillor remembers how the Town was taken to the ‘woodshed’ with the WalMart development.

I think we were hosed down, but it’s not going to kill the Town. I sure wish I would have been doing business with negotiators like Mayor and Council when doing deals. You can smell the desperation. The proposed land sale price of $40,000 amounts to $200 per lot for property cost. There was much mention of the considerable costs to the developer to provide the services. Are they really that much more than the costs to be accrued by an individual who paid $30,000 for a single lot in Parry Sound and needs to pay for connecting to Town services? When you build 200 houses the costs are spread over a much larger base. It’s hard to find circumstances where the cost of land isn’t at least 5% of the total built property cost, suggesting about $10,000 per lot for this project, or more like $2 million for the 23 acres. No, This $2 million is not a reasonable figure to ask but it represents a much better benchmark than the $64,000 assessment from a local real estate agent.

The Town likes to pride itself in not offering financial support for any type of development in Parry Sound. No, they just sell property at below market value, or just give it away. How about the Town charges $1 million for the property, a more reasonable valuation for the land, and then offers the developer $960,000 in tax rebates or direct subsidy? The net cost to the Town is the same but the financial support is much more obvious.

Mention was made that a pumping station might be required to service the new development (pump the poop). There was no formal agreement reached on who would be responsible for the cost (a Walmart type issue?), but it better not be the Town. My sense is that this will be very expensive. All-in-all I would have been happier has Council decided to approve the deal in principle and the $40,000 land price (as they did) with the proviso that the Town be responsible for no, zero, zilch, costs to provide infrastructure for the development. But it was left as an open issue. Did I mentiong that the Mayor wanted this deal to happen at the terms presented to Council?

9.4.1 – Resolution, Columbaria Reserve. I left before this issue was discussed and I expect it was passed.

9.5.1 – Resolution, Bay Street Retaining Wall. I left before this issue was discussed and I expect it was passed.

9.5.2 – Resolution, Forest Street Reconstruction. CARRIED. The Town is being asked to award a contract for $3,311,050 to Fowler Construction for the Forest Street rebuild. The province is covering 90% of the expense up to $2 million, so we are on the hook for about $1.3 million.

10.4.1 – By-law, Downtown Business Association (DBA) levy. Once again I wasn’t there to watch the discussion and outcome, I suspect it passed. I understand that about $8,000 was previously approved by the DBA for the Market Square project. But if it was it didn’t make it to the budget presented in the agenda package. Either the DBA is running two sets of budgets or they have effectively made the decision to not go forward. Apparently the users committee will be presenting their recommendation on Market Square Park to the Downtown Business Association next Wednesday. It’s dead, and all that’s left is to manage the optics for Council and the DBA.

The minutes of the meeting will be out by Friday a the latest at the Town’s website.

No Admittance – No Kidding! (Parry Sound in Black & White)

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Council Agenda Preview – June 3, 2014

02 Monday Jun 2014

Posted by in Parry Sound, Town Council

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This week’s meeting of Council has a few interesting items worth pointing out. The full agenda package is available at the Town’s website for those interested in reviewing all of the issues in more detail.

The more interesting items in my opinion are:

5.1 – Deputation, Park to Park (P2P). This not-for-profit organization providing trail services for the motorized and non-motorized trail connecting Algonquin park to Killbear is making a deputation to propose a motorized pathway through Parry Sound. Parry Sound represents one of the very few ‘breaks’ in the system which prevent a connection of the trail for motorized vehicles.

9.1.3 – Resolution, Proposal Award 71 Parry Sound Road. This resolution requests approval of a proposal to develop 71 Parry Sound Road as it represents ‘Town surplus property’. I believe Town residents should be concerned by this proposal, or at least the financial aspects of the proposal. The resolution concerns Town owned property of 23 acres that is one of the last major tracts of land in Parry Sound suitable for residential development. It is a challenging piece of property, not because of excessive rock, but because it is adjacent to the railway and it includes wetland features. A proposal from GK York Management Services proposed a development of up to 189 housing units at prices from $170-$225,000. This amount to a project value on the order of $32 to $42 million dollars. This is welcome development for the Town and will add additional tax revenue. It will also increase service requirements, hopefully in line with the tax revenue. My issue is with respect to the sales price for the property. The developer is offering $40,000 for the property and the Town has an assessment of $64,000. Both of these figures represent about 1/10th of 1% (0.1%) of the total value of the project. This is an unreasonably low proposed selling price for the property. I would estimate the value is more on the order of $400,000, or about 1% of the development value, probably more. The argument is made that this is an expensive piece of land to develop. Not really. There is water, sewer and gas right next door and the road leads up the property. This is not like a piece of land in our neighbouring municipalities that might well require the installation of water and septic on each lot (with the necessary lot size expansion) and probably a new or upgraded road to access the property. How did Georgian Greens do just outside the Parry Sound town line without Town services?

No, this is not a very good deal for Parry Sound. Development will come, there is no need to sell out at bargain basement prices to induce developers. There really is very little for developers to choose from. Without the necessary infrastructure available elsewhere (water, sewer, gas, paved roads, grocery stores, hospital, physicians, dentists, and even high speed telecom) there is no chance they will take their ‘business’ to Seguin, McDougall or Carling. They can sit on their money and choose not to develop in Parry Sound but they realize that if they don’t another developer will. Parry Sound is a very desirable retirement and social services destination for people from Southern Ontario who will look at Parry Sound prices as a bargain. In watching Town Council and Staff I have begun to understand that the Town, intentionally or not, is positioning itself as Elliott Lake South. Let’s say no to this cut throat deal for now and see how things develop – they will. If you want a deal real bad I have a real bad deal for you.

9.4.1 – Resolution, Columbaria Reserve. The Town wants to put aside $25K for purchasing and installing columbaria in the Town’s cemeteries. It seems we need to offer people an alternative to heading out to Sylvan Acres for burial services or relying on memorial trees in our parks and the spreading of ashes at their base.

9.5.1 – Resolution, Bay Street Retaining Wall. The Town is ready to award the contract to rebuild the retaining wall on Bay Street. It has come under the estimated budget which is good news. It was the lowest of the four bids received, with the major difference in price being associated with the precast concrete block. Is it just a better value block, or is it a cheaper product? I wonder if it comes with a warranty or some sense of its expected useful life. I don’t want to see it replaced in a dozen years because of material failure that could have been avoided with the selection of a more expensive bid and better materials.

9.5.2 – Resolution, Forest Street Reconstruction. The Town is being asked to award a contract for $3,311,050 to Fowler Construction for the Forest Street rebuild. The province is covering 90% of the expense.

10.4.1 – By-law, Downtown Business Association (DBA) levy. This is an issue I would normally not cover but as it relates to the upgrade to Market Square Park, for which the Town received a TD Green Streets, it’s worth a comment. It seems the Market Street project is dead as there is no money in the budget for the DBA’s contribution to the project. So let’s just have Council and the DBA state the very obvious and not waste the time of volunteers in town by holding sham meetings. It has been suggested to me that the project will come back to life next year as an initiative of Council, who will receive the credit but without benefit of the TD Green Streets funding.

There is much more and you are encouraged to check out the full agenda package at the Town’s website.

Sun Shines Bright on My Old Parry Sound Home (Parry Sound in Black & White)

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