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Monthly Archives: July 2017

Council Agenda Preview – July 18, 2017

16 Sunday Jul 2017

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

≈ Comments Off on Council Agenda Preview – July 18, 2017

Tags

Agenda, Capital Investment, DBA, economic development, Planning, Seguin, Town Council

This is a very slim agenda with no by-laws to be reviewed an approved. There are a few surprises but nothing of concern, a bit of real estate buy and sell comes to mind. The key items are listed below.

Closed Agenda

  1. b) personal matters about an identifiable individual, including municipal or local board employees (Parry Sound DBA Governance, DBA Correspondence)
  2. c) a proposed or pending acquisition of land for municipal or local board purposes. (Waterfront)

Correspondence

 4.1–  David Penfold, Pointe Au Baril resident. Request to have the words Parry Sound or Welcome to Parry Sound put on the north end water tower located in McDougall.

4.2 – Jane Jones, Chair, Artists Round the Sound (ARTS). Thank you note to Council for the 2017 grant through the Municipal Assistance Program (MAP).

4.4 – Elliot Sherman, Project and Construction Manager, SYN*MH LTD. Thank you letter for Council’s support of his company’s intention to carry out research, design and construction of the micro-home prototypes.

Deputations

5.1 – Andrea Gordon and Andrew Parker, (OPSEU) We Own. The costs of privatization vs. the benefits of public services.

5.2 – Ingrid Mueller, Chair and Neil Pirie, Manager, Parry Sound Area Airport Commission. Rehabilitation of runways at the Parry Sound Area Airport Commission.

Consent Agenda

8.1 – Support for Natural Gas Grant for the Township of Seguin. Resolution. Whereas the Township of Seguin wishes to expand access to natural gas within the Township; and Whereas one of the Strategic Priorities for Council for the Town of Parry Sound is West Parry Sound Area Cooperation; Therefore, Be It Resolved That Council for the Town of Parry Sound supports the Township of Seguin’s resolution, attached as Schedule “A”, for an application to be submitted by a natural gas distributor or supplier to the Government of Ontario, for a grant from the provincial Natural Gas Grant Program to expand the natural gas system to service the Township of Seguin; and Further that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to the Township of Seguin to be included with the application to Ontario’s Natural Gas Grant Program.

Resolutions and Direction to Staff

9.1.1 – 2016 Reserve and Reserve Fund Transfers at Year End. Resolution.
1. That Council approves the transfers to and from Reserves as summarized in Schedule “A”;
2. That Council approves the transfers to and from Reserve Funds as summarized in Schedule “B”;
3. That 2015 and 2016 capital projects which were funded from reserves may be completed in 2017 as previously budgeted, as these projects were previously approved and do not impact the 2017 levy requirements.

9.1.2 – Proposed Provincial Asset Management Planning Regulation. Direction (For Direct Staff Follow-up). That the Director of Finance and POA Court Services send a letter to the Province of Ontario outlining that Council supports the MFOA letter dated July 4, 2017 regarding the proposed regulation EBR 013-0551, and that the proposed requirement for engineering certification should be amended.

9.3.1 – Tender – BOCC Dehumidifier. Resolution. That Council accept the tender from Cimco Refrigeration for the supply and install of one (1) RefPlus DDE-2500 Ice Rink Desiccant Dehumidifier, for a total of $31, 523.61, including HST.

9.3.3 – Consent Application – B 17/2017 (PS) – Halvorson. Resolution. That Consent Application No. B 17/2017 (PS) – Halvorson – Addie Street, be supported subject to the following conditions:
1. Payment for cash-in-lieu of parkland dedication in the amount of $5,354.00
2. An easement be dedicated over the private water/sewer lines in favour of the retained lands.

9.6.1 – Town Property – Parry Sound Drive. Direction. That the Principal Planner be directed to bring a Report & Recommendation to the September 19th Council Meeting regarding the potential sale and redevelopment, and rezoning if necessary, of the Town-owned property identified as a portion of the Parry Sound Drive road allowance to the west of Parts 2-4 of 42R19097 and to the west of Part 1 of 42R19887, being a portion of PIN: 52105 0429 along Parry Sound Drive.

Hold Them, Fold Them

07 Friday Jul 2017

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

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

By-Law, economic development, Growth, Opinion, parry sound, Rezoning, Seguin, Town Council, Vision

You’ve got to know when to hold ’em
Know when to fold ’em
Know when to walk away
And know when to run
You never count your money
When you’re sittin’ at the table
There’ll be time enough for countin’
When the dealin’s done
(The Gambler, 1978, performed by Kenny Rogers, written by Don Schlitz)

Late last week I made the decision to fold my appeal of Parry Sound Council’s approval of the Oastler Park Rezoning and Official Plan Amendment and advised the Town and the lawyers for the Oastler Park Mall of this decision on June 29th.

I initiated my appeal in January of this year for three reasons that are worth listing:

  1. I believed, and still believe, that the rezoning will significantly change the Parry Sound downtown (Downtown). It may not hurt the Town overall in terms of tax revenue, but things will change, and the changes may be painful for some.
  2. I felt that the parties most likely to be impacted by the rezoning had not yet organized themselves and needed additional time to properly appeal the rezoning and Official Plan amendment decision.
  3. The work submitted by the applicant in support of the rezoning contained significant errors of fact that put into question the impartiality and conclusions of the applicant’s experts.

My original January appeal of the Oastler Park rezoning was appealed two months later (an appeal of an appeal) by the Town and the rezoning applicant wishing to have the Royal Bank relocate to the Oastler Park Plaza in the location previously leased by the Easy Home people. Last Friday I received a communication from the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) that my original appeal could go forward. This followed a communication earlier in the week from the Province of Ontario advising interested parties that the decision had been made to uphold the Town’s Official Plan Amendment (OPA) permitting a change in the Official Plan to allow for the rezoning of the Oastler Park Mall property to permit the Royal Bank to relocate there from the Parry Sound Mall. Existing Parry Sound Official Plan had required Banks, Booze outlets (LCBO, Beer Store) and Bars (licensed establishments), commonly referred to as the 3-B restriction (3-B) to be located in the Parry Sound Downtown.

If you find this issue confusing, be comforted by my suggestion that it is confusing. Unless you have been following the issue for most of the year you probably have read as much as you need to. For those of you more familiar with the situation, you may wish to read on and understand why the original appeal was an important part of process and my sense of what may be ahead for the Town of Parry Sound.

Background:

In January of the 2017 I filed an appeal with the OMB concerning the Town of Parry Sound’s (TOPS or Town) decision to permit a rezoning of the Oastler Park Plaza to allow the Royal Bank to move into an existing vacant building. In January I also filed a document with the Province outlining my concerns with the Official Plan Amendment (OPA) approved by the Town to permit the rezoning. The arguments in both filings are similar and I have linked a copy of my filing to the Province regarding the OPA rezoning for those who are interested in my specific concerns.

My appeal of the rezoning was appealed to the OMB by the Oastler Park Plaza folks. They wanted my appeal thrown out. A hearing, convened by the OMB, was held in Parry Sound in April with the lawyer for the Oastler Park Plaza, and me, presenting our arguments why my appeal of the rezoning should, or shouldn’t be heard, by the OMB. The appeal itself was interesting and a worthwhile exercise. On the Oastler Park side was their lawyer and his assistant, up from Hamilton, along with the Oastler Park Plaza’s planning consultant. On my side, it was me. The lawyers for the Oastler Park Plaza folks presented about 400 pages of documentation including precedents for why my appeal should be rejected. In all, the hearing took about 4 hours. As mentioned earlier, the OMB’s decision rendered this past Friday upheld my right to appeal. It’s a small consolation, but offers some validation for the merits of my concerns about the rezoning and the impact it might have on the Town.

The Process:

Since January I have been spoken to a number of people about the appeal, including those likely to be impacted by any lessening of the 3-B requirements in the Official Plan. Concern was expressed, but over time it became obvious that there was no interest in investing in the appeal process, either emotionally, publicly, or financially. My sense after the first appeal hearing was that it would take more than $20,000 to mount a credible appeal of both the Rezoning and the OPA. It’s likely that the Oastler Park Plaza people spent more than $10,000 to appeal my original Rezoning appeal, and that was just the first period of the game that would likely go into overtime

I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised by the response of the business people in the downtown with regard to the issue. There certainly was concern, but it was a shared concern that no single individual or business felt hurt them specifically or immediately. It’s a variation of the commonly discussed term – Tragedy of the Commons. Because no single individual would be immediately hurt, there was no obvious reason to stand up.

What surprised me was a party who contacted me early in the process and expressed support, with the suggestion of financial and logistic resources to put together the necessary documentation to support an appeal that might win the day. They took a bit of my time and in the end didn’t even have the courtesy to promptly respond to an email once push came to shove. They were playing a game that I recognized they might be playing early on in the process. But they claimed to be sincere, and in the absence of contrary information, and being the appeal’s best hope for success, I gave them the benefit of the doubt.

The Decision:

Late last week, and especially after the Province’s OPA decision, It became plainly obvious that the best intentions of others were not going to turn into material support. At that point I realized that no one cared enough about the implications of the Town’s rezoning and Official Plan Amendment to step up and support my appeal logistically or financially. Given that I would personally not be damaged by Council’s decision to allow the bank to move to the south end, and it would cost me thousands to properly carry the appeal forward, I decide to fold the appeal. Just like poker, if the cards don’t warrant raising or you are out of chips, the right thing to do is to fold. There was no room for bluffing when it would cost thousands to stay in the game and there was no personal payoff even if I had won the appeal. There would perhaps have been that nice warm feeling of having supported the Downtown. The same kind of nice warm feeling when you piss your pants?

The Future:

I think we can imagine the future already, not so much because of my decision to fold the appeal, but rather the Province’s decision to allow some grocery stores to sell beer and wine. You may have noticed that our local Sobeys has started selling beer and wine. My casual observation suggests that it has further increased their business. I have seen any number of people walking to the cash register with a six-pack in their carts, that didn’t require them to head to the Downtown. Of course perhaps they just wouldn’t have bought that six-pack or bottle of wine, so the Downtown lost nothing. Yeah, sure! In effect the second “B” restriction, booze, has already moved out of the Downtown. The only nail left to put in the figurative coffin is a restaurant in the south end serving alcohol. I understand there are individuals ready to make this happen. With the Royal Bank heading to the south end, and booze at Sobeys, I can’t imagine that Council will be in any position to oppose restaurant rezoning. The Town’s recent decision to apply for the right to approve their own Official Plan amendments would streamline the process. This is despite Mayor McGarvey public statement that he will not approve the move or establishment of any business that would be in contravention of the 3-B regulations. He has shown in the past that he can be ‘flexible’ if there are moneyed interests involved. These are the folks who can drive the local economy and they can’t be ignored or dismissed.

The real test will come in the next few months. The LCBO’s lease in the downtown will expire by October of 2018, and I understand that they are itching to get out of the Downtown and into a facility in the south end. And there are people with the land and resources to provide them with exactly the type facility they might want. And the Beer Store would like to do nothing more than get out of the real estate business and rent space in the south end. These are the near term ‘canaries in the coal mine’ when it comes to the future of the 3-B and the Downtown.

How will the fast food joints across the street from the LCBO do now that tourists or folks from Seguin and Carling who need (want?) a six-pack, or a bottle of wine, can avoid traffic and limited parking by picking it up at Sobeys? What about the downtown banks? How many people will move to the Royal Bank because it’s more convenient, and right beside Walmart? One stop less.

No, the town is not going to go to hell with this change, morally or financially. In fact the Town will probably benefit with booze and bars heading to the south end. Any development in the south end will result in additional property assessments that will increase the Town’s tax revenue base. It’s possible that the assessment base of the Downtown may drop, but not nearly as much as the south end development revenues will increase.

The Downtown will need to roll with this punch. Don’t bet on everyone’s hope that waterfront development will increase traffic and business to the Downtown. It won’t happen for the simple reason that the weather in Parry Sound sucks between November and April. You can’t create a stable economy based on four months of beautiful weather, especially if that weather is available to neighbouring communities. I love winter in Parry Sound, when there is snow and the Big Sound is frozen over, but that’s not November, December and April. Sometimes it’s not even January and March. Most people don’t like the snow, and certainly aren’t going to come to Parry Sound’s downtown in the winter to sit in a hotel or to shop. Casino anyone? Wait, that won’t be in the Downtown. Or might it?

There is the possibility though of turning Parry Sound’s downtown into a residential centre, with an emphasis on senior and social services. The Downtown has little charm in terms of wide treed streets and classy old buildings that can compete with Muskoka. Two very busy train tracks further detract from any charm that might be possible. But, the Downtown is perfectly functional and will appeal to many who have more limited means. This is a transformation that will be slow to develop and will be painful for many businesses.

Development in Parry Sound, even in the south end, has limitations as it currently exists. This may explain the Town’s interest is extending Parry Sound Road to Oastler Park Drive and their approval a couple of years ago of the rezoning of the properties north of Starbucks. If there is to be development there needs to be land. If Parry Sound doesn’t provide it, the development will move to Seguin, just up Oastler Park Drive. These Seguin properties may not have water and sewer services, but some businesses will not require them. Not all LCBO buildings are located in towns with water and sewer service. With property taxes in Seguin one-third those of Parry Sound, a well and septic, or holding tank, may just be financially attractive.

I do feel sorry for some of the business in the Downtown who will see things change, most notably those businesses that depend on regular traffic to sustain business. Things seem to have reached a point where change is assured. But, change isn’t necessarily a bad thing unless of course sea level is rising and you own beautiful oceanside property.

One Last Comment:

What really pissed me off about the whole process, and motivated me in part to appeal the rezoning, was the documentation provided in support of the rezoning application. An important part of the rezoning process is the requirement for the applicant to provide an independent opinion on the potential impact of the rezoning on the Downtown. In the case of the Oastler Park Plaza rezoning this involved planning and economic statements. These reports are expected to be independent and unbiased. While it’s possible to ‘shop’ for an opinion, I have seen this often done in legal situations, the analysis still needs to, at the very least, provide a sense of independence.

My concern is not with the conclusions reached by the reports that the rezoning would not have any negative impact on the Downtown. I think they are wrong, but we are all permitted our own analysis and conclusions. What pissed me off is that they actually didn’t do the necessary work to reach an unbiased opinion. This was evidenced by the reports, which are riddled with errors, most notably the location of businesses and even the Downtown. The Downtown area was expanded a couple of years ago, but this was not reflected in the two reports. They still made reference to the older footprint. Would the revised Downtown size have impacted their analysis and recommendation? Absolutely not. The consultants knew what their client wanted and they were prepared to deliver it. These are the same parties that advised the Town that the Walmart development would not negatively impact the downtown. At the very least they could have updated their earlier analysis to reflect the current situation even if their opinions were already fixed.

Is anybody else paying attention to the changes? Does anybody really care? It’s a sad consolation that regardless of what people do or don’t do it won’t impact my personal situation. You need to care, but not too much.

Council Agenda Preview – July 4, 2017

03 Monday Jul 2017

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

≈ Comments Off on Council Agenda Preview – July 4, 2017

Tags

Agenda, BOCC, By-Law, Parks, parry sound, Rezoning, Town Council, train

Summer is here and things are slowing down, but still moving along. Item 9.2.3 related to train air horn noise abatement is worth noting.

Closed Session Agenda

b) personal matters about an identifiable individual, including municipal or local board employees. (Licensing Matter)

f) the receiving of advice that is subject to solicitor-client privilege, including communications necessary for that purpose. (Zoning Matter)

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. (Performance Management)

Correspondence

4.1 – Peggy Hawthorn, Parry Sound Seniors Club. Request to waive building application fee for the new roof for their building.

4.2 – Wendy Kaufman, Manager, Community Planning and Development, Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. Approval of Official Plan Amendment No. 1 – Oastler Park Shopping Plaza – enabling the use of the subject land for either one bank or one financial office.
It looks as though the Royal Bank move to the Oastler Park Plaza will happen. I have advised the involved parties that I am dropping my appeal of the rezoning and will not appeal the Official Plan Amendment. I will be offering my thoughts on the whole process in a blog post later this week.

4.4 – Wendall Fisher, Chair, Parry Sound Area Active Transportation. Thank you letter for recent completion of cycling lanes on William Street.

Deputations

5.1 – Greg Mason, Chair, Downtown Steering Committee. Update on activities.

5.2 – Bob Griffiths, Sail Parry Sound. Update on activities.

Resolutions and Direction to Staff

9.1.1 – POA Write-offs. Resolution. That Council for the Town of Parry Sound, hereby approves the write-offs for the Provincial Offences Act Court outlined in Schedule “A” attached.
This concerns 608 cases from 1995 to 1998 and amounts to about $161,000 in provincial offence fines (traffic and other).

9.2.1 – Monument Restoration – Hillcrest & Sylvan Acres Cemeteries. Resolution. That Council award the tender to Sanderson Monument Co. Ltd. in the amount of Fourteen thousand, two hundred and eighteen dollars and seventy-nine cents ($14,218.79) taxes (1,635.79) included, for the repair and restoration of monuments at Hillcrest Cemetery and Sylvan Acres Cemetery, this being the lowest tender of three (3) tenders received.

9.2.2 – Quotation – Waste Water Treatment Plant Clean-Out Services. That Council accept the quotation from Bartels Environmental Services Inc. in the approximate amount of $74,030, based on estimated volumes of material, taxes extra, for Waste Water Treatment Plant clean-out services, this quotation being the lowest of two quotations received.

9.2.3 – Train Whistle Cessation. Direction (For Direct Staff Follow-Up): That upon budget approval for 2018, Council direct staff to proceed with the “Procedure for eliminating whistling at public grade crossings” consistent with the requirements of Section 23.1 of the Railway Safety Act, Section 104 of the new Grade Crossings Regulations and Appendix D of the Grade Crossing Standards.
This is an interesting initiative and I encourage interested people to read the resolution and report in the agenda package available at the Town’s website. Here are links (link1, link2) to a couple of articles related to Kingston’s experience in trying to abate train whistling, actually air horn blasting. It’s an expensive process and likely will involve the installation of fencing along sections of the rail line, at the Town’s expense. But let’s see what the consulting engineer suggests if Council chooses to head in this direction.

9.3.1 – Sign Variance – 46 Bowes Street. Resolution. That the Chief Building Official is authorized and directed to issue a permit for the sign at 46 Bowes Street according to the conditions and variances on Schedule “A” attached.

9.3.3 – Façade Improvement – 2017 Terms of Reference. Resolution. That upon the recommendation of the Facade Improvement Review Committee, Council adopts the revised Façade Improvement Program Terms of Reference, attached as Schedule “A”; and That Resolution 2009-201 be rescinded.

By-laws

10.3.1 – Bobby Orr Community Centre: Snack Bar Lease Agreement. By-law 2017 – 6751. Being a By-law to authorize the execution of an agreement with Jim Cox, “Mister Chips”, for a three (3) year term to provide services at the Bobby Orr Community Centre snack bar.

10.3.2 – Parks By-Law Update & Consolidation. By-law 2017 – 6752. Being a By-law to regulate the use of Public Parks within the Town of Parry Sound and to repeal 98-4016, 2003-4640, 2006-4016 and 2006-4917.

10.3.3 – Rezoning Application – Z/17/05 – Dennis Drive – Penco Homes Limited – Lifting of “h” symbol. y-law 2017 – 6753. Being a By-law to amend By-law No. 2004-4653 (The Zoning By-law) as amended to remove a holding provision (“h” symbol”) from Lots 47-49, Plan M405 in the Town of Parry Sound. Direction (For Direct Staff Follow-up): That if the above by-law is defeated, the Director of Finance, the Director of Public Works and the Principal Planner explore the possibility of a fees and charges by-law to provide municipal water and sewer services to all the lots zoned R1(h) in plan M405.

Happy 4th of July to all of our American friends and neighbors. (In their honor I have used American spelling.)

There Be Dragons in the Big Sound, and They Look Friendly (June 2017)

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