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.