The decision between the Oshawa Generals and the Sault Greyhounds as to which one would host the 2021 Memorial Cup never happened. Today, probably not much surprise to any, the event was cancelled for the second year in a row due to the pandemic.
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The Public Planning Act  virtual meeting for The Refuge rezoning application of the former Holy Cross School at 357 Simcoe St. S. on Monday, April 12, 2021. Below are the 9 slides for the presentation. The application is to develop the school classrooms to include 28 apartments and the gym to be a Youth Outreach Centre.

Here is a copy of the Report DS-21-67: http://app.oshawa.ca/.../2021/04-12/REPORT_DS-21-66.pdf

There is a copy of a letter from the adjacent property owner (church) with concerns about the proposal's heavy reliance "on the unauthorized use of Church Lands to provide parking, parking access, loading/servicing access via ingress/egress to Albert Street, and site circulation. It asks that the Committee defer any decision on this application "until the City can confirm and satisfy themselves on the merits of the application, absent an assumed reliance on Church Lands to solve the various zoning and site plan problems (i.e. parking spaces, parking location, parking supply, loading, servicing, access, amenity areas, etc.) of the proposal.

​There are several other letters both in opposition and in support.

​Any questions email Oshawa Senior Planner rbedic@oshawa.ca or call Robert Bedic at 905-436-3311

The Refuge Executive Director Clarence Keesman spoke first. The Refuge moved to 300 Court St. 12 years ago. It is only 250 meters from the planned new site on Simcoe. He discussed struggle to find affordable rental for youth at risk and said he had been in discussion with the owners of the former school site for the past year. Working with indwell.ca/ and an architect from Hamilton.

Next collaborator Brian Moss started on the 2nd slide which shows the front and east sides of the building. He explains the proposal is a creative reuse of former school. The school predates from 1942. The Church next door dates from 1950. The school has been sitting empty for 6 years. It is approx. 30,000 sq.ft. in total. The classrooms are about 20,000 sq.ft. The plan is for 27 studio suites and 1-1 bedroom, with each studio about 250 sq.ft. and each containing a kitchen and washroom. There will be a common room, bike storage...small sitting area outside. The Refuge will have more space, have a gym, activity, and social service agencies will come in to consult with youth patrons. and Brian points out what a wonderful opportunity this is.

The next slides shows floor plans. The lower level will have 5 suites, program space, storage area; the next 2 levels will have more suites and a common laundry area. The will be adding an accessible ramp at front, enhance the landscaping and the north facade will have 5 windows punched in where apartments will be. There will be discreet signage and will be cleaning up building from its existing situation to become another valuable contribution to the community.

Clarence Keesman stresses acuity, how their plan will be targeting the low and mid, not high needs acuity. He tells about a young man who was attending Durham Collage and unable to afford $1,600 for rent when his roommate left. He ended upon the street. To stop youth progressing into chronic homelessness, this is the type of individual they are going to help.

12 years ago when The Refuge was setting up at 300 Court, there were many fears from neighbours, which today they say never materialized. Neighbours see The Refuge is providing solutions. A member of the adjacent Church emailed about the fact there is a need and how she fully supports the project and that the Church would be a good partner. Clarence Keesman closed his remarks saying, some will say we don't need another social service on Simcoe. But all the amenities will be out of the back of the site and will be better than the boarded up space that has had break-ins, squatters and visits from police. Unfortunately their government funding did not come through. However, they are in discussion with the current owner for extensions and are open to all options. The Church next door did not express concern about security. There is an access easement along Simcoe which will remain in place and that this project is too important to give up on.

Here is a link to more of the story about the Refuge's Plan to build affordable housing for youth in Oshawa and its GoFundMe charity page: https://charity.gofundme.com/o/en/campaign/the-refuge-affordable-housing-project?fbclid=IwAR0tqTg-7UjUCqbmRHArpmIY-nrF-K_7IPFyQxf-oL5yl_3J1ZLghAL8K2s​

Do you see harsher measurers necessary for harsher times, or a crackdown on dissent and civil liberties? What do you deem appropriate and inappropriate, reasonable and unreasonable? Oshawa City staff have drafted a proposed update to the Trespass By-law which will increase penalties for breach of a City policy, rule, regulation, Bylaw or provincial or federal law from the current 3 days or 6 months to 7 days or up to as long 5 years. app.oshawa.ca/agendas/corporate_services/2021/04-12/corp-21-19.pdf

At the same time staff are proposing Council approve a new "Frivolous Policy" which would clamp down on members of the public who make complaints and requests that City staff "deem frivolous, vexatious or unreasonable " because such complaints and requests:

1) "consume a disproportionate amount of City time and resources;
2) impede employees from attending to other essential issues;" and
3) there is the need to ensure the City's workplace and employees are free from discrimination, harassment and violence of any kind.

The proposed update to the City's Trespass By-law and the proposed new "Frivolous Policy" are the only Reports on this morning's Corporate Services 9:30 a.m. meeting Agenda, other than a short Report to with applicants fill a couple volunteer positions on the Heritage and Environmental advisory committees.

The update to the Trespass By-law and the proposed new Frivolous Policy, both refer to two other City policies that overlap what is being proposed :
a) The Complaint Management and Resolution Policy, which sets out the City's formal Complaint process, states that the City recognizes public input is important, complaints are valuable forms of public feedback and the City will consider Complaints as opportunities to evaluate programs and services for possible improvement and will record lessons learned.
b) The City’s Respect in the Workplace - Harassment and Violence Policy (which are contained in the Report as Attachments 4 and 5.

The proposed new Frivolous Policy "establishes the process to be used by all employees when handling such requests or complaints which will guide employees in identifying situations that meet the criteria of frivolous, vexatious, or unreasonable complaints or requests, and the associated actions that may be taken in such circumstances."

The proposed Frivolous Policy is Attachment 3 in Report CORP-21-20. http://app.oshawa.ca/.../corpor.../2021/04-12/corp-21-20.pdf

From the Report:
"FRIVOLOUS means a Complaint/Request that has no serious purpose or value or may have little merit and be trivial and is part of a pattern of conduct that amounts to an abuse of the right of access, interferes with the operations of the institution, or is made
in bad faith or for a purpose other than to obtain access.

UNREASONABLE means a Complaint/Request that is likely to cause distress or disruption to the City, its Employees or other members of the public, without any proper or justified cause. Behaviour that because of the nature or frequency of a Complaint’s contact with
the City, negatively affects the ability to deal with their Complaints or those of others.

VEXATIOUS means a Complaint/Request without merit, that is pursued in a manner that is malicious, intended to inconvenience, embarrass or Harass the recipient or is a pattern of conduct by the Complainant that amounts to the misuse of the Complaints processes and procedures."

"The Actions available to Directors/ Commissioners to address Complainant’s behaviour may include one or more of the following:
1) limiting the Complainant’s correspondence with Employee to a particular format (e.g. email only), time (e.g. telephone calls only at specific times and days of the week) or duration (e.g. conversations may last no longer than ten minutes);

2) limiting the Complainant to an established point of contact at the City (where possible, other Employees should be advised not to respond to the Complainant, but to refer them to the established point of contact);

3) requiring any face-to-face interactions between the Complainant and Employee to take place in the presence of an appropriate witness and in a suitable location;

4) requiring the Complainant to make contact only through a third party (e.g. solicitor, counsellor, friend acting on their behalf);

5) requiring that the Complainant produce full disclosure of documentation or information before Employees will investigate any new Complaints;

6) instructing Employees not to respond to further correspondence from the Complainant regarding the Complaint of a substantially similar issue;

7) instructing Employees not to investigate any Complaints regarding an issue that has already been investigated, or which is substantially similar to an issue which has already been investigated;

8) limiting or regulating the Complainant’s use of or access to the City’s services or facilities (e.g. community centres, access to technology systems);

9) informing the Complainant that further contact on the matter of the Complaint or Request will not be acknowledged or replied to;

10) in extreme circumstances, instructing Employees to severely reduce or completely cease responses to further Complaints and correspondence from the Complainant; and/or

11) other actions as deemed appropriate."

UPDATE: The Trespass By-law Changes were approved by Committee and will proceed to the April 26, 2021 Council meeting for Council approval. However, as some concerns were raised among Councillors on the Committee and Visiting Councillors about the rush of the Frivolous Policy, that Report was referred back to staff  "to allow for further review and consultation with the public and that the results of that review be brought forward to the next meeting of the Corporate Services Committee".​

I really like this! The City of Kitchener is improving its planning and development processes to help keep residents better informed. Its pilot project has some ideas Oshawa might consider adopting!

The 29 page report (linked below) states “One of the greatest success stories that emerged from the development services review is the strengthening of a culture that supports change.”
“through a pilot project, the City will now contact a much wider range of residents (double the legislated distance) when there are major development projects in their neighbourhood.  (see slides below)
Also, updated visual graphic signage on properties being redeveloped and postcard-style notifications will make it easier for residents to get informed and staff will conduct feedback surveys on every application, soliciting feedback on the process to ensure peoples' voices are being heard."

Fyi, here's the link to the City of Kitchener Report DSD-21-006 Development Services Review Project Close-out Report lf.kitchener.ca/WeblinkExt/DocView.aspx?id=1902874&searchid=6e6d959d-3e98-400d-b567-ae9746a29225&dbid=0&cr=1

"Alarming surge in ICU admissions in Ontario has prompted one critical care doctor to urge Ottawa and the Ford government to coordinate the transfer of ICU nurses from other provinces to Ontario"

Today there are a record 585 COVID-19 patients in ICU.

The problem when ICU beds fill up was made clear in this article yesterday where concern about the 3rd wave in Brazil is high.
One doctor says she is seeing firsthand "the collapse of the country's health-care system under the weight of the coronavirus pandemic. Heart attack and car accident victims, she said, aren't guaranteed an ICU bed, and surgeries are being cancelled. There's a waiting list for ICU beds that are filled with COVID-19 patients who, unlike early in the pandemic, are younger and have no underlying medical conditions.
www.cbc.ca/news/world/brazil-covid-bolsonaro-threat-1.5980507?__vfz=medium%3Dsharebar

​2583422 Ontario Inc. (Nahid Corp.) submitted applications to amend the Oshawa Official Plan and Zoning By-law for lands located east of Simcoe Street, north side of Harbour Road at 80 Harbour Rd. City staff determined the applications to be complete and indicate that a Notice of a Public Meeting under the Planning Act will be advertised at a future date.

​The proposed plan consists of two new residential/ commercial mixed-use buildings with a total of 1382 units in two phases.
Phase 1 being between 12 and 20 storeys and containing 556 apartments and 469m2 (5,049 ft2) commercial space on the ground floor.
Phase 2 being between 12 and 35 storeys and containing 826 apartment units and 569m2 (6,129 ft2) commercial space on the ground floor.