In closed session there were four delegations appealing to Council to permit the demolition of the Robert McLaughlin house at 195 Simcoe St. It has been a long time since the fire April 2019, and the owners not maintaining the property.
Council voted unanimously to support the original Heritage Oshawa decision and proceed to trial in support of the heritage context of the building and against a demolition.
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Council voted unanimously to support the original Heritage Oshawa decision and proceed to trial in support of the heritage context of the building and against a demolition.
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Good to have some of my Notices of Motion approved.
The first one, seconded by Councillor Kerr was to improve the way the City addresses the high weeds and long grass problem on the City's 'unassumed roads'. This was approved to go to the Economic Development Committee for staff to investigate.
Whereas the city picks up waste and clears snow on unassumed roads, but does not cut boulevards and court circles; and
Whereas there are Oshawans living on unassumed roads in subdivisions for five plus years that have repeatedly called when the boulevard and court circle grass and weeds are so high the fire hydrants are not visible;
Now therefore, staff investigate the current process and the benefit of the cutting of grass on unassumed roads and being reimbursed by the developer.
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Another one, seconded by Councillor Lee was concerning the excessive amount of dust and unfortunate lack of commitment to the Mud and Dust Control By-law by developers. Not only is the dust affecting the health of residents living in the vicinity, but also presents a danger to drivers along Conlin Rd. and Ritson Rd N. when finding vision impaired on the road by thick clouds of dust.
That staff investigate the Dust and Mud Control By-law to ensure there is a prominent section to ensure the City and various developers involved in Part II Plans have a signed comprehensive strategy plan in place for dust and mud control enforcement.
Those who have been negatively impacted by the excessive amount of dust flowing off the lands north of Conlin Rd that were stripped of vegetation last year may want to submit an email to [email protected] to be added to the September meeting agenda. This way the other members of Council can learn details about the problem. I understand from staff the policy is that when vegetation has been stripped from the land for more than a month steps should be taken for revegetation. For enforcement to be more effective and not so easily dismissed by the large scale developers, a clear commitment to a comprehensive strategy seems to be needed, especially since Oshawa North is going to have ongoing major construction with its Part II plans for some time.
The first one, seconded by Councillor Kerr was to improve the way the City addresses the high weeds and long grass problem on the City's 'unassumed roads'. This was approved to go to the Economic Development Committee for staff to investigate.
Whereas the city picks up waste and clears snow on unassumed roads, but does not cut boulevards and court circles; and
Whereas there are Oshawans living on unassumed roads in subdivisions for five plus years that have repeatedly called when the boulevard and court circle grass and weeds are so high the fire hydrants are not visible;
Now therefore, staff investigate the current process and the benefit of the cutting of grass on unassumed roads and being reimbursed by the developer.
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Another one, seconded by Councillor Lee was concerning the excessive amount of dust and unfortunate lack of commitment to the Mud and Dust Control By-law by developers. Not only is the dust affecting the health of residents living in the vicinity, but also presents a danger to drivers along Conlin Rd. and Ritson Rd N. when finding vision impaired on the road by thick clouds of dust.
That staff investigate the Dust and Mud Control By-law to ensure there is a prominent section to ensure the City and various developers involved in Part II Plans have a signed comprehensive strategy plan in place for dust and mud control enforcement.
Those who have been negatively impacted by the excessive amount of dust flowing off the lands north of Conlin Rd that were stripped of vegetation last year may want to submit an email to [email protected] to be added to the September meeting agenda. This way the other members of Council can learn details about the problem. I understand from staff the policy is that when vegetation has been stripped from the land for more than a month steps should be taken for revegetation. For enforcement to be more effective and not so easily dismissed by the large scale developers, a clear commitment to a comprehensive strategy seems to be needed, especially since Oshawa North is going to have ongoing major construction with its Part II plans for some time.
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The third one, seconded by Councillor Giberson unfortunately was not approved by Council. Here is the simple, straightforward motion:
That PowerPoint presentations made at Council meetings or at Special Council meetings be added afterwards to the City website calendar.
Last month among some interesting power point presentations, example, Lakeridge Hospital's, and the Spark Centre's at the May 29, 2023 Council meeting, and another good one by Amanda O'Rourke, Executive Director of 880 Cities.org at the May 31, 2023 Special Council meeting. At the conclusion of Amanda O'Rourke's presentation, before Councillors asked her questions, the Mayor clearly said thank you for the 70 slide deck you have provided to us "I know the slide deck will also be made available to the public". But it was not added as an additional item like the PowerPoint slides presented at Planning Act Public meetings.
Stopping and starting a meeting video is not at all the same as clicking through PDF slides and sharing them with others. Last term Council approved my motion to make the slide decks presented at the Planning Act Public meetings available on the City website. Why not do the same with slide presented at all Council meetings?
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A couple other matters approved, and not approved by Council:
The extension of the City's partnership with the community led Oshawa Sign Project members regrettably was not approved.
Councillor Giberson, Councillor Gray and myself voted in support of the extension. I say it is regrettable considering how serious the team of Oshawa residents were about the project, facilitated by a individual with years of exceptional marketing, who piloted McDonald's fundraising for Ronald McDonald House in Canada in the early 1980s. I witnessed the support from others for a landmark Oshawa sign like the ones Toronto, Hamilton, Barrie and many other municipalities have. One Councillor claiming ‘taxpayers funding the $80K maintenance cost’ as his objection. However, this amount was something City Staff proposed and never considered an amount carved in stone. The Councillor's comments in my opinion were demeaning to a well-organized community initiative and especially hard to reconcile with the fact that all City assets require maintenance. In fact, only 2 minutes before he spoke against the OSHAWA Sign Project to be paid for bay gifted funds raised by volunteers, the Councillor and other members of Council in the same meeting chose to approve an extraordinary $880,000.00 for 4 signs marking the Northwood business park! ($880,000.00 from development charge funds which the City could have contributed to the Community Centre planned for the same area at Thornton and Britannia Rd. rather than glorifying a storage unit 'business' park (where Brocolini, Pantaloni and Martin Brower are constructing warehouse storage facilities.
The third one, seconded by Councillor Giberson unfortunately was not approved by Council. Here is the simple, straightforward motion:
That PowerPoint presentations made at Council meetings or at Special Council meetings be added afterwards to the City website calendar.
Last month among some interesting power point presentations, example, Lakeridge Hospital's, and the Spark Centre's at the May 29, 2023 Council meeting, and another good one by Amanda O'Rourke, Executive Director of 880 Cities.org at the May 31, 2023 Special Council meeting. At the conclusion of Amanda O'Rourke's presentation, before Councillors asked her questions, the Mayor clearly said thank you for the 70 slide deck you have provided to us "I know the slide deck will also be made available to the public". But it was not added as an additional item like the PowerPoint slides presented at Planning Act Public meetings.
Stopping and starting a meeting video is not at all the same as clicking through PDF slides and sharing them with others. Last term Council approved my motion to make the slide decks presented at the Planning Act Public meetings available on the City website. Why not do the same with slide presented at all Council meetings?
* * *
A couple other matters approved, and not approved by Council:
The extension of the City's partnership with the community led Oshawa Sign Project members regrettably was not approved.
Councillor Giberson, Councillor Gray and myself voted in support of the extension. I say it is regrettable considering how serious the team of Oshawa residents were about the project, facilitated by a individual with years of exceptional marketing, who piloted McDonald's fundraising for Ronald McDonald House in Canada in the early 1980s. I witnessed the support from others for a landmark Oshawa sign like the ones Toronto, Hamilton, Barrie and many other municipalities have. One Councillor claiming ‘taxpayers funding the $80K maintenance cost’ as his objection. However, this amount was something City Staff proposed and never considered an amount carved in stone. The Councillor's comments in my opinion were demeaning to a well-organized community initiative and especially hard to reconcile with the fact that all City assets require maintenance. In fact, only 2 minutes before he spoke against the OSHAWA Sign Project to be paid for bay gifted funds raised by volunteers, the Councillor and other members of Council in the same meeting chose to approve an extraordinary $880,000.00 for 4 signs marking the Northwood business park! ($880,000.00 from development charge funds which the City could have contributed to the Community Centre planned for the same area at Thornton and Britannia Rd. rather than glorifying a storage unit 'business' park (where Brocolini, Pantaloni and Martin Brower are constructing warehouse storage facilities.
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Note that on a positive note, Oshawa Council approved reduced recreation fees for seniors in Oshawa to come into effect at age 55 (currently set at age 65). This change aligns with other communities in Durham that recognize age 55 in their recreation fees and can help promote more Oshawa seniors using the City's recreation facilities and programs!