Yesterday's 9 hour Council meeting from my perspective - problems galore. But I am glad my motion was approved to refer to a Special Council Committee of the Whole Meeting on how the $4.862 MILLION additional Gas Tax Funds will be allocated (on yesterday's Agenda as Report CNCL-21-36).

Note: a Committee of the Whole (COW) meeting permits more discussion since Council members are given more time to ask questions and make comments. At COW Council Members have up to 10 minutes with the opportunity to go around for a second or third turn. Whereas at a regular meeting, they have only 5 minutes and no other turn. (The time allotted a Council member in both cases includes the time for staff's answer.)  

Oshawa Mayor and the City Treasurer, as the two signatories of the Municipal Gas Tax Agreement, received notice exactly one month ago, on March 26th, that Oshawa would be receiving this additional dollar amount (expected some time in June).

Unfortunately the City never make any public announcement about these new funds.

In fact, as a City Councillor I only learned what the amount was when I asked questions to the Treasurer at the Finance Committee meeting April 19th.

When the time came yesterday for Council to go over Report CNCL-21-36 "Federal Gas Tax Funding - Additional 2021 Allocation" the Mayor told Council that the night before he had received and was accepting this motion, which was to direct the $4.862 MILLION to the Rotary Park Redevelopment Project. 






Immediately deciding to spend it all on one project without discussing other options in the report or otherwise, seemed imo short on transparency to the public.

Backstory to Rotary Pool:

In 2015, the Parks, Recreation, Library and Culture (PRLC) Facility Needs Assessment identified further investigation into the future of Rotary Pool and included the following recommendation to "Initiate a community consultation exercise with area residents to determine the feasibility of repurposing Rotary Pool to a major splash pad...or whether to undertake the requisite capital lifecycle renewal activities for Rotary Pool."

In 2017 the previous term of Council considered Report CS-17-72 Rotary Pool Feasibility Study dated Sept 25, 2017. 

In 2019 the very first Report presented to this term of Council was CS-19-01 "Rotary Pool and Park Feasibility Study" dated January 4, 2019 detailed:
► Rotary Pool is in a priority neighbourhood and there has been a public outdoor pool in this park for over 60 years;
► Open 78 days a year;
► In 2018 the pool's average attendance was 70 people per day;
►Operating budget for pool and splash pad in 2018 was $105,000
►The pool and washrooms/change rooms building were in disrepair and needed to be made accessible. The planning consultant Monteith Brown's $45,000 study was Attachment 1 to the Report.

TOTAL DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION COSTS FROM THE 2019 REPORT ESTIMATED AT $8 MILLION

Breakdown of the costs to redevelop the park were listed as "Class D estimates" in Report CS-19-01:
$880,000 JUST FOR THE DESIGN phase:
• Pool, bathhouse: $636,800
• Splash pad: $93,200
• Playground: $150,000

$7,140,000 THEN FOR THE CONSTRUCTION phase:
• Pool and bathhouse: $5,310,000
• Splashpad: $590,000
• Playground: $1,240,000 (estimate does not include the potential costs associated with storm water improvements to areas located along the Oshawa Creek at Rotary and Brick by Brick Parks)

As I wrote on my Blog back then "Due to the high cost, the Commissioner of Community Services Ron Diskey agreed to arrange for Council members to inspect the bathhouse (change room and maintenance building) on Monday January 14th, before making a decision (although the committee seemed to be leaning on recommending going ahead with a new splash pad only)"

With the future of the pool uncertain in March 2019 I made a motion which Council passed "that during the hours the pool is open to the public for non-instructional programming that there be no admission charge".

In October 2019 two things happened, the City applied for an Investing in Canada Infrastructure grant to redevelop Rotary Park pursuant to the design concepts presented in the January 2019 Report; and
Council received Report-CS-19-120 which included an engineering report with details why the pool would need to be closed for the 2020 season "to address risk, liability and safety issues until a new pool and related infrastructure are constructed."

In August 2020 the City learned its application for the grant was not approved.

When Council meets for the Special Committee of the Whole meeting in May 2021 to determine how to the allocate the $4.862 MILLION additional Gas Tax Funds, the essential first decision is whether to renew the pool or consider alternatives.

Also, question: how much should current and future COVID-19 measures and protocols impact this decision?

The abandoned condition of Rotary Park Pool is detrimental both to the neighbourhood and the City. Therefore this decision must be made soon.

$425,000 is the estimate to demolish, decommission and stabilize the soil of the existing pool and bathhouse site.

However note: the City has a full time staff person responsible for securing corporate partnerships/sponsorship and fundraising. (This position recently had a retirement and fortunately a new replacement was just hired last month)
With the City's 2024 Centennial only two and a half years away there is an excellent opportunity to encourage funds with naming rights and community recognition to this park's infrastructure needs. After all, the City does issue charitable tax receipts.

Time to spread the word: what individuals, families, businesses and/or corporations are interested in supporting the Park renewal with a legacy project?



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Below are three of the PowerPoint slides for the OSHAWA MICRO-HOME PILOT PROJECT presented at Monday's Council meeting by Alan Robins, Director, Housing Services Region of Durham. One is for the Preliminary site layout for 10 micro-homes on corner of Drew and Olive; another for the Preliminary Unit Concept plan for the Self Contained, Temporary and moveable units similar to Durham Non-Profit Housing Corporation Model (not container); and another showing the site selection: .567 acre on Barrie Ave.; 5 lots on Banting (2 totaling .426 acre and 3 totaling .33 acre) and 5 lots totaling .433 acre on Drew St.

The site chosen at Drew St and Olive will have 10 units that are:
•Self Contained •Temporary and moveable •Similar to Durham Non-Profit Housing Corporation Model (not container)
•Accessible units •Exterior design will consider residential nature of the neighbourhood

Oshawa Council was told that with this transitional housing pilot project the Region would:
►hopefully have people move into these 10 micro-homes which will be clustered into 2 groups of 5 at Olive Ave and Drew St by this October;
►the units will all be accessible, with each a minimum of 330 sq ft, and there will be parking on site;
►the units will be manufactured indoors and services like water, sewer, electrical will be bundled at the back;
►those housed will pay rents but will not be considered tenants under the Residential Tenancy Act and will be housed temporarily as the project at this site will end in 5 years when the construction of the Gibb St/Olive Ave road realignment begins construction. The modular units will then be moved to another to be determined site.
►the construction company cannot be named yet as they are still in negotiations. Likewise they cannot say what the cost will be yet.
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There are 3 items concerning road safety on tomorrow's 9:30 a.m. Community Services Committee meeting Agenda.
One is a letter from Robert Stevenson asking the City of Oshawa to install pedestrian crossovers similar to those road seen in Clarington. Note the City of Hamilton also recently initiated pedestrian crossovers as "a new way for pedestrians to easily and safely cross the road. By law, drivers and cyclists must stop and yield to pedestrians intending to cross the road, and wait for them to completely reach the other side before driving." (see pictures below)

Also on the Agenda is a motion to lower the speed in school zones from 40km to 30km as other municipalities are doing.

In addition, there is a letter from Jalal Belal requesting the City change the By-law in order to allow vehicle parking in the driveway boulevard. This was investigated by a previous council in 2014 when a resident submitted a similar request. See report CS-14-62 REQUEST TO AMEND TRAFFIC BY-LAW 79-99 TO PERMIT PARKING ON/OVER THE BOULEVARD
http://app.oshawa.ca/.../CS-14-62-Boulevard-Parking.pdf

Driveway boulevard parking is a contentious issue. Many Oshawa residents complain to Ward Councillors and municipal by-law on this 'driveway apron' parking issue, both for and against.

For clarity, pedestrian crossovers are on neighbourhood streets, crosswalks on arterial roads. Although the City has pedestrian crossovers listed in Schedule 18 of Oshawa's Traffic and Parking by-law, it seems there are none.

Perhaps the City is overdue for a repeat of the 2011 OSHAWA'S GREAT GARAGE CHALLENGE, which had a goal to get cars off the street and into residents' garages. The initiative was praised for keeping streets clearer for pedestrians, cyclists and service vehicles. This COVID Stay-at-home time could be considered a time to 'come clean on procrastinating' and not put off decluttering ​

Perhaps the City is overdue for a repeat of the 2011 OSHAWA'S GREAT GARAGE CHALLENGE, which had a goal to get cars off the street and into residents' garages. The initiative was praised for keeping streets clearer for pedestrians, cyclists and service vehicles. This COVID Stay-at-home time could be considered a time to 'come clean on procrastinating' and not put off decluttering  https://www.thestar.com/.../oshawa_residents_come_clean.

Both Clarington and Hamilton have info on their websites about their Pedestrian Crossovers and NAME THE LOCATIONS.
Raising awareness is key. How to make informing residents something positive - perhaps the City could start a quiz challenge with an award for those who answer correctly some policy, rules and regulations questions and are able to identify the location of such things as Ward boundary for particular streets, fire station for other streets, true or false questions what is permitted parking in the city; multiple choice questions such as which facilities in the City are owned by the City...which City facilities are designated heritage...when is the City's centennial, who picks up City garbage, compost and recycling and where does it go?​
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Several Ontario police forces have tweeted this morning giving public reassurance they won't be conducting random stops:
"Peterborough Police will continue to be complaints-driven in our response to the increased provincial measures, that means we will not be randomly stopping people."
Toronto police tweeted "new emergency orders announced yesterday to help limit the spread of Covid-19 are now in effect. The Toronto Police Service will continue to engage, educate and enforce, but we will not be doing random stops of people or cars."
Windsor Police Officers will not be randomly stopping people or vehicles. We all need to do our part for the health and safety of our community. Everyone has a role and a responsibility to keep our City safe. Stay home and do not gather with people outside your household.
Peel Police makes it official in a statement from the chief: "I would like to reassure our citizens that our officers will not be conducting random vehicle or individual stops."
"Members of the Thunder Bay Police Service will not be conducting random vehicle or individual stops."
Although there is no official statement on Twitter from Durham Regional Police yet, Radio News has posted that Durham is among the police announcing they won't use the new COVID powers to conduct random stops

Police Association of Ontario Statement:
April 17, 2021 – While the Police Association of Ontario (PAO) acknowledges that the worsening COVID-19 public health crisis must be addressed, the greater enforcement authorities that were originally announced yesterday as part of the Ontario government’s enhanced emergency orders would have created a very challenging environment for both front-line police personnel and communities across the province.
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Following Friday’s announcement, the PAO immediately reached out to the Ministry of the Solicitor General to provide extensive feedback on their decision to expand the emergency orders to include the ability for police to randomly stop individuals who may be in breach of them. “It is unrealistic and unnecessary for officers to stop people who are taking a walk, going for groceries or travelling to/from their essential service role. This was not a role our officers asked for or were interested in taking on within their communities,” said PAO President Bruce Chapman. “We have advocated strongly to the Ontario government for expanded clarity regarding their intentions for these new enforcement orders to ensure the policing profession and all Ontarians are accurately informed,” he continued.