I have a few items floating around in my notes, my emails and my head that I thought I should nail down here for you. No real big news, but some updates on various things.
First, the former Townsend house on Grand Road next to Canadian Tire in Campbellford, is now slated for demolition sometime this fall, Northumberland County says.
The county has already demolished two homes on the east side of the Trent River to get shovel-ready to construct a new bridge, should someone, looking at you Ford and Carney, have a spare $50 million or so for the project. As I’ve written, the county can’t afford the bloated price tag for the bridge but county council has just ignored the topic, leaving it for the next council to handle.
The Townsend house was also on the demolition list last spring but a family was renting it from the municipality so things got delayed. A county spokesperson says the work is now scheduled to be done this fall. It only took a few hours to knock down the first homes, so felling this one, although its larger, shouldn’t be a lengthy job.
From bulk bins to tables
At its meeting last week, Trent Hills council approved a $3,300 community improvement grant to Rigo and Laura Seucharan, tenants of 30 Doxsee Ave. South, to help them turn the former Bulk Plus into a Caribbean-style restaurant -- Trini-Licious.
The grant will pay part of the estimated $9,000 cost of new signage and building an accessible customer washroom.
School safety zones expanded
The municipality has extended community safety zones near St. Mary Catholic Elementary School on Centre Street in Campbellford and Hastings Public School in Hastings.
“The OPP recommended that several existing Community Safety Zones be expanded to better capture areas with higher pedestrian activity and locations where vulnerable road users are present,” said a report from Neil Allanson, Manager, Roads and Urban Services.
Councillors agreed that the corner of Centre Street and Bridge Street is a particularly treacherous spot. The crosswalks have been newly painting, actually newly done with plastic that’s melted onto the roadway, and new signage has been added.
In Hastings, the municipality has extended the safety zone to include sections of Bridge Street North.
Deputy Mayor Mike Metcalf asked whether the municipality could put up the really big signs that Premier Doug Ford thinks slow drivers. Allanson said the Campbellford location already had larger than usual signs, but he would see.
Staff reviewed the school zone in Warkworth but found it didn’t need to be expanded.
Northumberland County also changed its bylaw to reflect the new larger zones.
No candidates’ meetings set
At this point, near as I can tell, there are no public all-candidates’ meetings planned in Trent Hills before the municipal election on Oct. 26.
The Trent Hills Chamber of Commerce is holding a Zoom session with some candidates for its members, but that seems to be it, so far. I know some residents are talking about organizing Q&A sessions, but nothing has been firmed up.
Dennis Forbes has asked on Facebook whether people would attend a session and the response seems positive.
Let me know should a meeting be planned somewhere.
Hastings arena site work continues
Some Hastings residents have wondered, at least on Facebook, about what’s going on with the former arena site.
In response, the municipality has posted on update on its website that explains what’s happening at 40 Bridge Street North. The short version, it’s carrying out work announced in the spring that it said would take six months.
In November 2024, council announced that the site had been sold for $650,000 to an unnamed developer who planned to have ground-floor commercial space with apartments above.
But since then it has become clear that the municipality has to do some work before the sale closes.
“The goal is to support residential development on the site,” the notice says. “As the property is being considered for a change in use, it is subject to the requirements of the Environmental Protection Act. To meet these requirements, Phase One and Phase Two Environmental Site Assessments have been completed.
“Based on the results of these assessments, additional testing will need to be undertaken to prepare the necessary documentation for submission to the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation & Parks. “
While this testing is underway, some of the fencing will be removed to allow some public parking on the site.
When the work was announced last May, the municipality said it would take about six months and cost about $30,000. Chief Planner Jim Peters said the cost would be reimbursed when the sale is completed.
The arena closed n 2013 and was demolished in 2021 at a cost of $170,000.
Thanks Art for keeping the rate payers of Trent Hills informed of council decisions. With this up coming municipal election the council should be hosting an all candidates meeting. They of all people should be wanting to get the best people to lead Trent Hills.
There needs to be new people as I see it. In the past year it leads me shaking my head why they approved a sun shade for as I remember it thirty thousand dollars for the Hastings Marina. One person running for council proposed a water park for kids on the old baseball diamond. Wouldn,t a water park a cement pad and boards for a skating rink in winter and changed to a tennis court in the summer.
How many Trent Hills residents have a boat or a yacht at the Marina. I happen to be in the council chambers when it was passed, the employee said some people have their lunch there. Well they better not have a full bladder as there are signs in the window that says washrooms are for boaters only. The day I was there I seen two ladies with young children walking pass, good job the children didn,t have to go.
Yes good to hear that fencing of the old arena is partially coming down which might have been part of the closed session of council.
It just leaves me wondering along with an old time proprietary of a business here in Campbellford why an employee is hired to give out money for community development. If a person wants to buy a heritage home why should tax payers give them money to fix it up and why money given to businesses to update or install signs. See the bulk plus sign in your article.
Yes Art you described me as a thorn in the council side in one of your article, well it took me almost four years to get the water and the repairs to the roads to get rid of the repairs I called ski moguls.
The latest I discovered with this water the river coming out of the bank like a fire hydrant. As it was after hours I called the after hours number, what a surprise when my call went to Texas. Perhaps Trump is going to take us over one small step at a time. Laugh out loud.
The latest there is a storm drain with a grate, no water in that down another three feet is an another drain with a grate. The first grate was removed by a gentleman and here is a two by four apparently holding up the first grate. Yes it is going to be investigated.
One good thing this council has done is that ratepayers can be given a short time to address council at a meeting without haveing to go through the bureaucracy of the administration.
Yes council you set up and run an all candidates meeting. Trent Hills needs a change. Joe Watson