Packed 570-page agenda
Councillors to discuss 2 Hastings developments, industrial land and much, much more
Spare a thought for the poor members of Trent Hills council who probably missed the gold medal hockey game on Sunday because they were busy reading.
That’s because their monthly meeting on Tuesday comes with an agenda that tops 570 pages. The agenda that was made public is 570 pages, although some of those appear to be duplicates, but in closed session council will also be discussing the acquisition or disposition of land in the Campbellford Business Park and that no doubt includes a few more pages.
There’s not much land left in that park since 2.3 hectares was used for the recreation centre. In recent months municipal representatives have been quietly searching the area for industrial land that the town could make available to attract businesses.
The agenda includes two development projects in Hastings owned by Grey Jay Development that have been controversial. The meeting will include a presentation from Amanda Timmermans, Intermediate Land Use Planner, with D.M. Wills Associates Ltd. regarding the Tannery Redevelopment Project.
No one representing the owners of the project attended what should have been the only public hearing on their plans on Oct. 7, so the municipality pushed them to have a public information session on Feb. 3.
Their plan has attracted seven letters to council from people who have objections. Now, Timmermans will make a presentation to council trying to repair the damage done by ignoring the public earlier.
Her presentation says the company will not push for a six-storey building at this time as it has suggested and says it will consider commercial space on the ground floor if there is market demand. The White Building at 79 Front Street East will be redeveloped first as rental units.
As well, council will consider a staff report recommending approval of a subdivision plan and rezoning application from Grey Jay Developments for 192 Front Street West.
In earlier meetings some councillors had objected to plans for smaller than normally permitted back yards. Since the site will be a condominium it will also include a road that’s narrower than usually required, leading some to suggest the eventual homeowners may not be happy with the lack of space and parking. Grey Jay is also building the Lock 18 project and is using the same condominium approach to its roads.
In the past council has met twice a month, resulting in shorter agendas and more discussion and review of plans and proposals. Last year, at staff’s urging, council tested meeting just once a month. Staff said that reducing the number of meetings would make it easier for them to prepare the necessary material.
After trying the reduced schedule in the fall, council agreed to meet just once a month this year, ignoring the complaints from local media (me) that this would result in too much to cover all at once and too much for them to consider.
I was and remain skeptical that councillors will wade through these longer agendas and fear that efficiency may trump democracy since it’s likely council will just approve whatever staff recommends. We’ve seen a similar approach at Queen’s Park and in Ottawa where governments lump a wide range of things into one large bill in order to reduce discussion and consideration.
I know you’re thinking that councillors can simply use AI to help them cope with the flood of reports and issues.
Also, this is actually council’s second meeting of the month. They held one last week that was just 45 minutes of closed session to discuss a personnel issue. They also held two meetings in January, since they needed a special meeting to pass the 2026 budget.
Wading through the 570 pages, I’ve spotted about a dozen possible stories, including a recommendation that your taxes need to jump by 25 per cent or more to pay for infrastructure updates. That recommendation is in a provincially mandated report, so we’ll see what councillors think about it. And everything else.
You can read all Trent Hills News stories on my website here.
Wow, Art I guess there will be no money for the hospital. I have said there was problems with this administration. No one listens. Only took me about four years and went through four water managers to get a renewal project on our water breaks. They only got it half done and winter set in. Bob Crate only kept saying they have no money. I asked Picinni for help from the Prov. Level. Did that ever make me popular. They need to re think the two budgets. I found that a reply to the Prov. Govt wasn,t done correctly. I hope the new broom will clean things up.