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Monthly Archives: July 2014

Council Meeting Notes – July 15, 2014

17 Thursday Jul 2014

Posted by Jo Bossart/ParrySounds.com in Parry Sound, Town Council

≈ Comments Off on Council Meeting Notes – July 15, 2014

Tags

Council Minutes, Infrastructure, parry sound, Rezoning, Town Council, Water Management

The Tuesday night meeting lasted until just a little past 10:00, and there was little time wasted. All-in-all the meeting was informative and arguably entertaining. Come on out and take a meeting in. Why watch it on ‘tape delay’ when you can catch it live? Unlike attending a Maple Leafs game, at Parry Sound Council meetings the home team never loses.

Key Points – Questions of Staff & Councillors Reports:

  1. Formal construction on Wakefield/Dufferin will start once Union Gas has completed some remedial construction.
  2. The Forest Street project will hopefully start by the end of July when necessary Provincial approvals are received.

2.1 – Open Meeting regarding the rezoning of 2 Avenue Road. This took a good 45 minutes with the applicant making a pitch for the allowance of a change from single-family residence to a duplex. The reason? Separate residences for her parents and herself and her fiancé. In opposition to the rezoning were a half dozen residents who felt that they have been consistently misled by the intentions of the owner to the detriment of the neighbourhood. What was originally agreed to by neighbours as a variance to permit an 1,100 sq. ft. home is now a 4,500 sq. ft. castle, and what was supposed to be a single-family dwelling is currently a multi-apartment building. Fool me once shame on me. Fool me twice? No, not this time it seems.

A twist in the rezoning was raised in a short deputation by John Jackson, a planner, who noted that recent provincial regulations no longer permit a municipality to limit any area to single residence buildings. This is one of the Province’s approaches to addressing a housing shortage in the province. In theory at least the Town would need to permit the requested rezoning so long as the application met all other requirements regarding a second residence on the lot. Mr. Jackson did suggest that the Town had significant evidence to reject the request on the basis that the applicants do not have ‘clean hands’ and the building as it exists does not fulfill the terms of the original application and approval.

This is the residence that was the cause of an earlier Council discussion and decision on a surface water erosion issue. I expect Council will turn down the application. Fool me once shame on me. Fool me twice – no we won’t give you the chance. But it’s not clear what will happen if the applicants choose to pursue the issue with the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB), but that will take months to play out and be resolved.

So if they turn it into a duplex will they have two separate water and electricity meters, or will they split the bill and save some money? There is an argument to be made for keeping it as a single family residence. What are they going to do with the boarders/renters/roomers when Mom and Dad arrive? There seem to be layers upon layers of obfuscation in this matter.

9.1.3 – Resolution. A cash in lieu of parking for 34 Seguin Street. [CARRIED] See my post of yesterday for a review of this issue.

9.2.1 – Resolution. Tender for the replacement of the fire hall retaining wall. [CARRIED] There was some discussion but it seems Council has accepted that it needs to be done regardless of the cost and the ‘injustice’ of the situation.

9.3.1 – Resolutions. Lot Drainage Isabella / Marion Streets.
– [WITHDRAWN] Shared costs 50/50 for drainage repair.
– [CARRIED] Any further issues regarding drainage issues will be considered a civil matter between the parties and not involve the Town.
– [CARRIED] The Town would investigate and make the necessary repairs and revisions required to solve the surface water problem at the Town’s expense.

This was another long discussion that went back and forth. I was impressed by Council. It seems most Councillors, if not all, had visited the site and understood the issue first hand. Their sense was that the problem arose from surface water running down the street from the Kristen Heights development that was previously not an issue because the empty lot at 47 Marion Street basically just ‘sucked up’ the overflow. Now that the lot was being developed, with necessary changes in elevation to suit the building site, the surface water problem was very obvious. Council in the end decided the Town would take the necessary steps to resolve the surface water issue and declare any remaining issues that might arise from grading changes a civil matter to be addressed by the effected parties. A reasonable decision based on doing the homework. Bravo.

9.5.2 – Resolution. Ice resurfacer, Bobby Orr Community Centre. [CARRIED] Not much discussion as time was short.

10.1.2 – By-law. Repeal of Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with DDMJ Construction. [CARRIED] Again not much discussion as 10:00 was seconds away.

A suggestion – set the clock in the Council Chambers to the correct time. It’s about 2 or 3 minutes fast. Not a big deal, but it means meetings might well start before the actual time (for example the Parry Sound Hydro Corporation AGM yesterday).

There was more. If you have three hours and a Cogeco cable TV subscription check it out. For the rest of you who weren’t there until the end on Tuesday night, that’s all of you (except certain Staff, all of Council, and James King from Moose-FM) check out the minutes and the original agenda at the Town of Parry Sound’s website for the background and the outcomes.

Water Runoff – Properly Managed (Parry Sound in Black & White)

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Parking, Parking, Parking

16 Wednesday Jul 2014

Posted by Jo Bossart/ParrySounds.com in Parry Sound, Town Council

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Opinion, Parking, Town Council

Well it was a marathon Tuesday night, with an extension of a few minutes to address all of the items on the agenda. I’ll have a separate post on the meeting, this one looks only at the issue that seems to have this Council tied up: Parking.

Item 9.1.3 concerned a request from a downtown property owner planning to convert a top floor commercial space into three separate apartments. (Check out the meeting agenda for all of the details.) The net/net is that the property owner is unable to supply the necessary parking spaces required for the new apartments and requested the Town waive the ‘Cash in Lieu of Parking’ requirement, or reduce the fee. The current ‘fee’ is about $5,000 per apartment unit. The property owner was hoping to have it waived, or reduced to about $1,700. And they wanted to have a decision last night so as to permit time for the conversion of the building to apartments and be ready for the upcoming Canadore school year. The property owner indicated that they would not go forward with the conversion unless the fee was reduced or waived.

In the ensuing discussion Council wavered between cutting the developer a deal, sticking to established policy, and revising the existing policy. In the end Council made a reasonable decision. They agreed with the original Staff recommendation to decline to waive or reduce the parking fee. They did however request Staff investigate the current Cash in Lieu of Parking policy with an analysis of other communities’ policies and to return with a recommendation. It’s hard for me to convey a sense of how sentiment of cutting the property owner a break, and sticking to policy and procedure went back and forth. It was like end-to-end rushes in a hockey game with no sense of the outcome. Fun to watch but a little discouraging.

It was surprising to see how this issue tied up Council. Does it come down to election year politicking? Is there some sort of ‘affection’ for the property owner? Or were Councillor’s heads spinning because of the many challenging issues that had been addressed earlier in the meeting (rezoning and waste water in particular)? We saw a sharp about face on Bay Street parking meters a couple of months ago that led Council to ask Staff to provide a report on the benefits and challenges of removing all parking meters in Town. Is Council worried about their re-election prospects if they are seen as being too tough and inflexible? Perhaps they should be worried about their re-election prospects if their decisions are unpredictable and inconsistent with established policy. Certainly review and change policy, but don’t start making exceptions at the last minute for anything but truly unusual and demanding circumstances.

Concerning this particular cash in lieu of parking issue a few thoughts came to me as I listened to the discussion:

  1. The policy of cash in lieu of parking was established at some point for reasons that made sense to Council at that time. The current fees were probably set with some serious consideration for their consequences, including the varying levels of fees depending on whether the parking was within the downtown or not. Council shouldn’t throw out this type of policy, or make one-off exemptions without review and appropriate reflection. To their credit they didn’t.
  2. The $5,000 per apartment fee may seem high to some people, but it may well be a bargain compared to the cost of actually providing tenant parking.
    • Parking spaces cost money – an owner needs to purchase or own the land, which is not an insignificant investment in the downtown.
    • The parking spot needs to be ‘built’, be it a hard packed surface or pavement. That’s in addition to the cost for building or converting a rental unit.
    • The parking spot needs to be maintained, resurfaced from time to time, landscaped, and provided with snow removal services. In the downtown that’s not as simple as dumping snow on the Town’s or a neighbour’s property. It means hiring contractors to plow and as necessary take it away.
    • Parking spots add to the assessed value of a property, which means they increase property taxes.
  3. The $5,000 is a one-time fee. Pay it now and you are good forever, you have no cost to buy the land, construct and maintain the parking spot, and there are no taxes. Why should one property owner be exempted from the cost of providing parking when another who does the right thing takes on the additional costs? Yes it may be easier to rent and it more permit more pricing flexibility if you can offer parking with the rental unit. But it’s not clear at what point the cost of owning and maintaining a parking spot carries an economic benefit over foregoing parking spots and converting that space into larger or additional units without parking.

Council did the right thing by agreeing to take a step back and take a longer and more measured look at the issue. At a couple of points it looked like Council was ready to cut the petitioner a deal and lower the rate. That would have been bad business for all concerned. If by-laws and procedures can be changed at the whim of Council on any given night with no time for reflection is there any benefit in even having rules and regulations? The whole situation at 2 Avenue Road discussed at last night’s meeting highlights the same issue of regulations and consistency.

A couple of final thoughts and a suggestion.

Thoughts:

  1. What happened to the Council that was tightfisted and clearly intent on increasing revenue and cutting costs? I remember only a couple of years ago when Council was harassing Staff about finding new sources of income. I remember when fees for certain Town services were increased by Council with the sense that there shouldn’t be a free ride. Remember the ‘buy used rather than new’ requests of Staff? We need to keep the same type of fiscal discipline and not cut deals on the spot because it feels good. The budget challenges have eased but we still need to have the same discipline.
  2. The issue of timing should not have been a major consideration. If the property owner thought this was so important why didn’t they start the discussion six months earlier? Council is responsible for the timely approval or denial of requests that are in line with current policies and procedures. If people want exceptions or exemptions they need to plan ahead and provide Council with sufficient time to properly understand the implications of the request.

Suggestion:

The $5,000 fee provides a lifetime exemption from providing a parking spot for residences in the Downtown. Over a period of ten years that’s $500 per year, over twenty years it’s $250 per year, and over fifty years it’s $100 per year. Why not allow landlords to annually purchase an exemption for $250 per year per unit that would increase in price with the inflation rate? That way if they do a reverse conversion, apartment to commercial use, they would no longer need to pay for the parking exemption. Win-win.

I will be interested in seeing what the next Council decides 0n the issue of Downtown parking. For better or worse parking is a service and I’m not sure that we can afford to provide this or any other service at no cost to the ultimate user. As a resident of Parry Sound the cost for parking (resurfacing, snow removal, signage, enforcement – so people don’t park all day) will be added to my tax bill even if it benefits those who do business in Parry Sound but don’t pay any taxes. Making it a ‘free parking’ town would make it even more attractive for people to live in a neighbouring community, work in Parry Sound, and expect Parry Sound to provide services that their municipalities don’t provide. A final thought: how about we seriously consider dropping parking meters and the like once the hospital drops their parking fees. Like Parry Sound the hospital needs to provide services while balancing their budgets. A charge for parking really is as close to a true and direct user fee as you can get.

A Well Deserved Month Off Off for Council to Enjoy Simple Pleasures of Summer (Parry Sound in Black & White)

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Council Agenda Preview – July 15, 2014

14 Monday Jul 2014

Posted by Jo Bossart/ParrySounds.com in Parry Sound, Town Council

≈ Comments Off on Council Agenda Preview – July 15, 2014

Tags

Agenda, By-Law, economic development, Fire Department, Growth, Infrastructure, parry sound, Planning, Rezoning, Town Council

Oh boy, we have an interesting agenda this week. After dealing with the many issues that face them this week Council will have earned a couple extra weeks off.

Where to start? There is a request (Item 2.1.1) to convert a single unit house into a duplex with the neighbourhood vociferously objecting (4.4, 4.5, 4.6, 4.10, 4.11). Drainage is on the agenda (9.3.1) with more letters from the parties involved (4.7, 4.8, 4.12) and an interesting revelation regarding lot services. Parking is on the agenda again (9.1.3), this time related to cash in lieu of parking spots to permit the retrofitting of a downtown building to provide three new apartments.

There is quite a bit of money being spent, in total about $380,000, for an ice resurfacer at the Bobby Orr Community Centre (9.5.2), monument restoration at Hillcrest Cemetery (9.5.1), and the big one, replacement of the retaining wall at the fire hall (9.2.1)

There is also the suggestion that the condo/marina development on Emily Street is dead (10.1.2) based on the developer’s comments to the Town.

There is more, but this should be more than enough to get your attention. I suspect there will be a number of presentation/deputations related to these items that should make for an interesting session.

In a little more detail:

2.1 – Public Meeting. Rezoning 2 Avenue Road. The owners of 2 Avenue Road are requesting rezoning of their property to allow for the conversion of their single family home into a duplex. There seems to be considerable controversy concerning the impact this will have on the local neighbourhood. The letters in the agenda package opposing the rezoning offer considerable perspective on the matter and there surely will be presentations by some of the area residents.

9.1.3 – Resolution. This concerns a request for the Town to forgo, or reduce the amount of, the normal cash in lieu of parking spots for a three unit apartment conversion at 34 Seguin Street. The Town is proposing the developer pay the usual fee.

9.2.1 – Resolution. A recommendation that the Town awards the tender to Fowler Construction for the replacement of the fire hall retaining wall. The cost is $242,785. I’m still disappointed that the Town is required to make the replacement. What is the cause of the failure of the original wall – design, installation or maintenance?

9.3.1 – Resolution. Lot Drainage Isabella / Marion Streets. The Town is punting on this one and telling the parties that any problems are a civil matter and the Town won’t intervene. Nonetheless the Town is considering certain culvert upgrades in the area the cost of which the Town proposes will be shared by the Town and the owner of the property at 47 Marion Street. Expect at least one unscheduled deputation in addition to the letters included in the Council package.

9.5.1 – Resolution. The awarding of a tender to Sanderson Monument to repair and restore monuments at Hillcrest Cemetery. The cost is $38,000 and represents the first of a multi-year investment.

9.5.2 – Resolution. Ice resurfacer, Bobby Orr Community Centre. The cost is about $80,000 with the existing machine to provide service at the Kinsmen arena.

10.1.2 – By-law. Repeal of Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with DDMJ Construction. The original MOU concerned a major condominium development on Emily Street that would have required use of Town parking and waterlot areas. DDMJ Construction have stated that they intend to sell the property. Not a surprise, the market for condominiums is soft and there is a real challenge in servicing the property.

As always here is more than what has been covered in this post. Head over to the Town’s website and take a look at the agenda in full (it’s a three parter), which includes the briefing documents. See you Tuesday night. I expect I’ll be there through the end to see how things are decided.

Drunk 1, Drunk 2 – Woo-Hoo! (Parry Sound in Black & White)

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‘Clic on the Pic’ for a more detailed view.

Council Meeting Notes – July 2, 2014

04 Friday Jul 2014

Posted by Jo Bossart/ParrySounds.com in Parry Sound, Town Council

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Bridge Art, budget, By-Law, Council Minutes, parry sound, PS Power, tourism, Town Council

A light meeting in terms of content, it lasted until about 8:45 with most of the discussion surrounding item 9.5.1.

Council Reports – a final Annual General Meeting for Parry Sound Power will be held July 16th at 5:00 PM. I didn’t catch the location.

4.5 – Deputation. Parry Sound Tourism. There was a presentation of the new for-profit organization, Parry Sound Tourism, and it’s objectives with respect to promoting Parry Sound. It seems to be a professional operation and I suspect it will have as much or more impact on promoting the surrounding communities and businesses as it will the Town of Parry Sound. We are the ‘gateway’ but we really don’t have the attractions. There was an ask of $10,000 to support a sponsored video on Parry Sound, more reasonably the West Parry Sound area, that would attract more than 700,000 online views in the first week. Interesting, but I’m skeptical. I remember being pitched while in high tech the sponsorship of a video on our company’s technology that would be hosted by Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock himself). Interesting but in the end we declined because we had never heard of the program. If you don’t recognize it, does it really have an impact? I think it’s the same here. Perhaps Council might consider tossing in a couple thousand dollars if the neighbouring municipalities do the same. We really are selling an area not a town. It’s also ‘not in the budget’.

4.3 – Letter. Request to keep the Smelter Wharf clear of salt for the months of July and August. FORWARDED to STAFF & COUNCIL. It was noted that Sifto is in compliance with the existing agreement. Nothing can reasonably be done to limit the salt pile, also known as the great shifting pyramid of Parry Sound.

9.1.1 – Resolution. Proposal from Powassan Eagles to use the Bobby Orr Community Centre for their 2014-15 adult league team. CARRIED.

9.3.1 – Direction. Committee to draft rules of conduct for Town Boards and Committees. CARRIED. Councillors Paul Borneman and Brad Horne were appointed to the committee.

9.4.2 – Resolution. Acceptance of Parry Sound’s audited consolidated financial statements for 2013. CARRIED. Some discussion ensued and it was noted that the financial statements are quite different in format than the budget statements.

9.5.1 – Direction. Drainage issue at Isabella/Marion Street. POSTPONED. This issue tied up Council in terms of the proper action to follow and the precedent it might establish. This is potentially an expensive issue that Council wants to understand more clearly. Staff was tasked with providing to Council a report on what other communities are doing with respect to drainage issues that arise from new infill construction. The question really is whether it is the responsibility of the Town or the property owner to remediate any issues caused by new construction or lot grading changes. This issue will be taken up again at the next meeting of Council on the 15th.

9.5.2 – Resolution. Noise by-law exemption for road construction related ot the new school. CARRIED. Council and Staff were very critical of the company doing the construction work. They have consistently ignored their own timelines and missed deadlines. Council approved sending a letter of complaint to the Near North School Board.

9.5.3 – Resolution. A $269,000 contract to build a new Maintenance Facility and Cold Mix Shed. CARRIED. Council expressed concern that the transfer of funds from the James Street pedestrian crossing budget to cover the higher cost of the project would negatively impact the crossing, but were assured there would not be an issue.

10.5.1 – By-Law. Agreement with Fowler Construction for the Forest Street reconstruction. CARRIED.

That’s pretty much all that went down at the meeting. Cogeco wasn’t there to record the meeting so you’ll need to refer to the meeting minutes and Moose-FM and North Star reporting for additional details.

Digging In (Parry Sound in Black & White)

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