County's home finally accepts residents
Campbellford house that has sat vacant has people moving in
It’s taken three years to accomplish, but Northumberland County finally has a house in Campbellford where some homeless people are staying.
A few people have moved into the building on Cockburn Street across from the World’s Finest Chocolate store, the county says. The two-storey building has room for five residents, and another person is expected to move in shortly.
The home was purchased in 2021 by the county for $575,000, using provincial grants provided under the Social Services Relief Fund that was set up to help Ontario’s most vulnerable during COVID-19.
The county said it would add the home to the facilities owned by the Northumberland County Housing Corp. and planned “to engage a community agency to deliver supportive housing” for five homeless people from the area.
Over the next two years the house was extensively renovated to make it accessible and suitable for its new purpose. A new front entrance was built, an extensive deck and ramp was added on the side. Inside, the kitchen and bathrooms were redone. In all, $500,000 was spent on renovations.
But the building sat empty until recently because the county needed a community agency to deliver programming and operate the site. Last year, a county report said it hoped the Canadian Mental Health Association would operate the home.
The plan was to “lease the property to CMHA which will use this property to support affordable accommodations necessary to grow existing program capacity.”
But that didn’t happen, and the county has spent the intervening months seeking an agency to operate the home.
In July, Neil Ellis, who was then housing services manager for the county, noted in a report that the waiting list for county housing is six to eight years, depending on which municipality a person wants to live in and what sort of accommodation they require.
Ellis said one of the corporation’s goals for 2024 was to reach a “supportive housing agreement with community partners” at 152 Cockburn St. in Campbellford.
It’s good to see that goal has been met, just barely.
Most drivers ignore lower speed limit
Most drivers are ignoring the lower 40 km/h speed limit in place on Old Hastings Road in Warkworth, says a report to Trent Hills council last Tuesday.
I’m not sure what this will mean for efforts to make the temporary reduction permanent. Councillors didn’t discuss the report, or another one about traffic on Seymour Quarry Road, site of the Sunny Life Recreation & Wellness Centre.
Both reports are part of the regular study of municipal roads by placing radar units that track traffic but don’t issue speeding tickets or identify individual vehicles. The reports are passed on the Ontario Provincial Police for their information.
The limit on OId Hasting Road was reduced in the summer while it was the detour route during reconstruction of Burnley bridge on County Road 25. Residents liked the lower limit, even though it’s not being observed, and have asked that it be made permanent.
From November 11 to 19 a radar unit tracked 6,540 vehicles and found 55 per cent -- 3,572 -- were speeding with an average speed of 51 km/h and one vehicle that hit 99 km/h. The peak time for speeders was 10:45 a.m. on Nov. 16. The report says Old Hastings Road should be identified as a high priority location for enforcement efforts.
When the radar unit was installed on Seymour Quarry Rd. from November 19 to 26 it tracked 6,236 vehicles and found 950 were travelling well over the 50 km/h limit, with an average speed of 56 km/h. One vehicle was clocked at 121 km/h at 1:25 p.m. on Nov. 23.
As I wrote last month, the town and the county have not studied Seymour Quarry Road or County Road 30 to evaluate the impact of the new rec centre. They plan to wait and see what the traffic brings. At least they have a bit of data to consider.
Sounds of silence from Campbellford clock tower
One observant reader asked me this week why she wasn’t hearing any chimes or Christmas carols from the clock tower in Campbellford.
My first response was: “Huh, I usually hear those from my yard and certainly when I’m walking the dog past the tower, how come I didn’t notice?”
It’s a bit like the case Sherlock Holmes solved, The Adventure of Silver Blaze, when he noticed that a dog didn’t bark.
Well, it turns out that there is problem with the clock’s speaker and a repair person is expected to get it back in operation soon. I’ll let you know when I hear something, or more likely, when Judy tells me she’s hearing things again.
As always, send me your questions about what you see or don’t see, or hear, and any story ideas.
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