Council Preview
By John Swartz
Orillia council meets Monday March 24 at 12:30 p.m. in order to accommodate a planning meeting before the usual 2 p.m. start time..
There is one application for zoning by-law changes for an industrial development at 325 West Street South (which, oddly is the address for a property at end of Norweld Drive, the equivalent of a city block away from West Street).
The applicant, 585013 Ontario Inc. (Sukh Sandhu) is proposing to build two structures for industrial use on a property that includes environmentally protected land. The Official Plan broadly outlines the sensitive portion of the property (same for all sensitive properties in the City) with the idea when a proposal is presented the proponent will conduct a study to determine the actual confines of the area in question.
In this case the Official Plan designation is larger than the wetland and the applicant is asking council to change the boundaries so he has a more of his property to build on.
The reason this is the case is getting exact measurements costs money, so known sensitive areas are characterized in the Official Plan, with the idea developers will pay for figuring out exactly where the hard limits are.
What is proposed to be constructed are two buildings, one at 1,667 square meters, the other at 7,734 square meters with 5 units, and 208 parking spaces. The property is the location of an old landfill and required investigation into what lies underneath. To that end staff are recommending the developer construct his buildings with measures to control methane gas inside the buildings and air quality monitoring equipment. There is also know to be arsenic and Benzo[a]pyrene in the soil, so there is a restriction on excavation (how much is not stated) and requirement to cap the site, much the same way the neighbouring Orillia Recreation Centre site was capped.
Because of the industrial use (i.e. no one is living on top of it) requirements for ground and surface water, and soil contamination from previous uses are not required.
The City’s storm water system ends at the property and was not constructed to accommodate run off from this property, so the developer is required to build a sewer system on his property with outflow into Ben’s Ditch. The system has to have grit and oil separators in it.
The new buildings will accommodate at least 6 businesses, but there is no indication of the names or types of those businesses might be.
A second report making changes to the changes council made to the zoning by-law and Official Plan last April is next on the planning meeting agenda. In December the City received a Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation Housing Accelerator Fund grant of $4.5 million, conditional to zoning intensification criteria.
The April round of changes was prompted by changed provincial regulations. Among those changes is allowing churches to have housing. It turns out the City missed 5 churches and part of the amendments in this report is to include those 5 churches
Related to the grant, conditions include allowing building up to 4 housing units per lot and to allow for housing development in C5 commercial zones (shopping centers like in the West Ridge).
Staff also want to add a requirement for developers to have a waste management plan for developments. This was the subject of a report in January. It turns out there are as many systems for handling waste in multi-residential building as there the number of those building in Orillia and staff would like to see some standardization in terms of expectations for residents who move to new apartments, and for waste collectors hauling away garbage and recycling items. The amendment will add to the permit process for developers to consider how waste is collected on their properties and shipped off.
Another change is requiring developers of properties along Murphy Road to Uhthoff Line and along Uhthoff Line to prove there are adequate existing capacities with the City’s water and waste water systems for their developments, or plan for an pay for upgrades to City systems for their developments.
Next is a special meeting for tax appeals. This is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. there are three properties the City is writing off taxes, properties that either don’t exist because of fire, or became exempted. It used to be the addresses of properties with changed tax status were given, but lately those have been omitted from reports.
Regular Agenda
When council begins its regular meeting there will be a presentation of awards and certificates to those in the Bright Minds Corporate Innovation Challenge. This is a program for Lakehead University and Georgian College students to solve real-world municipal challenges with advanced, technology-driven solutions.
Next, following the public forum, council will go into closed session to discuss four items. It may be Lakehead University is planning to build something because the first topic is a development agreement between Lakehead and the City flagged as land and legal.
Next, Mayor Don McIsaac has two items, one regarding an employee compensation request, and another regarding a grievance.
Staff also have a report updating council about a freedom of information request.
Back in Public
There are two hot topic items on the agenda. First is from Mayor McIsaac for council to endorse including the City in the province’s Building Faster Fund.
The BFF is a $1.2 billion fund (or $1.8 billion depending on which press release you believe) meant to aid municipalities to build infrastructure (roads, pipes, etc.) as part of the province’s push to build 1.5 million homes.
Municipalities can get grants for those items if they achieve 80% of growth targets annually over the next here years.
The province at the same time is extending giving municipalities who will have populations of 50,000 or more by 2031 strong mayor powers. Participation in the program is for communities that have been issued targets, of which Orillia has not for this program. But, the province is creating a list of smaller municipalities for inclusion and the mayor wants the City to be on that list.
There is a fear that Orillia will also have to become a strong mayor city. There are many drawbacks and few benefits to doing so; having the powers allows mayor to make decisions, especially about budgets, without having to have council approval. While this might seem like a good idea with Orillia’s current leadership, imagine what could have happened with previous mayors, or may with future mayors.
Mayor McIsaac wants to separate a request for inclusion to the grant pool from getting any new powers stating:
“This request should not be confused with a request for designation for the purpose of section 284.2 of the Municipal Act (“Act”) i.e. Special Powers and Duties of the Head of Council or what is colloquially known as Strong Mayor Powers and Duties.
This is a simple request that is focussed on seeking the inclusion of the City of Orillia in the funding model for the Building Faster Fund. This can be achieved without the designation under section 284.2 of the Act.”
The mayor includes stats for housing from the last four years showing Orillia could have received $2.8 million for development of 665 new units. The City has been making changes to official plans and zoning to be able to create 3,797 units by 2031. Based on what other communities have received for much lower targets and McIsaac estimates grants of $13.6 million is on the hook.
You Can’t Park Until You Pay Up
The other topic that will likely become hot is parking at the waterfront parks. Council asked for a report to establish fees to park vehicles. Effectively this will turn the parks for all notion into parks for those who can pay extra beyond property taxes.
Staff are asking for direction from council.
Staff say there are 673 parking spots on the waterfront, including Tudhope Park. Staff suggest charges could be at the low rate of $3 per hour. The City currently charges non-residents for boat trailer parking May through October, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., 7 days a week and say new parking rates should mirror that.
Staff say it is difficult to estimate revenue, but extrapolating from the 9,000 permits issued during COVID to residents (meant to keep non-residents away from Orillia) and the take from parking meters during that period $105K could be received.
Staff say council may want to consider a permit program for residents to park for free, while visitors pay. They also are asking if they should consider a seasonal charge to residents from neighbouring municipalities
There is also the question of what to do when events are happening. Based on available parking spaces and assuming full lots, staff say there would be $8K per day collected at Tudhope Park, and $16K in around Couchiching Beach Park. The consideration is event organizers will want parking fees waived, which will likely result in the City charging organizers for ‘lost revenue’ which doesn’t even exist at present. This will only add to event budgets and will likely result in some difficulties for some of our festivals.
Tudhope Park also has ball diamonds that are booked 100% of the time in warm weather. Staff say the City could ding ball players for $10K per week from Monday to Friday and $8K per day on weekends.
Staff warn council to be prepared for a lot of complaints on those counts, and from customers of businesses like Sweet Dream Ice Cream and users of the Port of Orillia and their events. Staff point out the Port already charges mooring fees and the City shares in that revenue.
The cost of charging for staff time and their equipment (issuing tickets) would be $20K and parking slip vending machines cost $35K and there will be 15 to 30 machines needed. The total cost to start is $347K and $129K annually after that.
Staff warn starting a program will, depending on how much parking is used and paid for, create a loss from $150K to $300K in the first year to a meagre profit of $51K to $200K profit in the second year.
Then there are the residences around the parks. During COVID people just parked away from the park to avoid the restrictions, and staff say this will likely happen again to avoid paying for parking. Expect complaints for homeowners.
Staff suggest, based on the experience during COVID when visitors said Orillia doesn’t want tourists, the same case could happen if we start charging people to pay more to attend our events. A study of Port users showed they spend $200 per day in Orillia.
The more one reads through the report the more it looks like this is a bad idea. Indeed staff outlines the potential for reduced participation in events and sports functions, visitor and resident annoyance, will send the message to residents parks are for all – who can pay more, and potential to be a tourism killer.
One More Hot Topic
Based on a report from the City-operated medical clinic working group, the idea of the City owning and operating a medical clinic as a way to attract doctors to Orillia may not be the easy fix to a doctor shortage in Orillia and surrounding townships.
The main issue is there aren’t enough doctors to recruit, considering every other community is rolling out gold-plated red carpets to get doctors to set up shop. The thought was if the expense, delay and financial burden of opening up a doctor’s office or clinic was removed from the doctors, Orillia might be more attractive. If being in Ontario was the only consideration that might work.
But, Orillia and everywhere else is competing with other jurisdictions that pay doctors more than OHIP does and as mentioned, other communities having redder, more gold encrusted carpets are serious obstacles.
The report says a good location the committee looked at, the second floor at City Hall, had a number of advantages. It has the required space and parking, but the cost of renovating at $1.5 to $1.7 million under two scenarios and an operating budget of $3.5 million with the second is beyond what could be recouped from OHIP to offset expenses.
The City was prompted to investigate this because of a program in a British Columbia community and it seems the higher pay scale in B.C. makes it feasible out there and not here.
A third option is provide the space, renovate to suit, and let either of the Orillia Family Health Organization or the Couchiching Family Health Organization operate it with City staff as personnel other than the doctors. The health groups would be billed for services and a repayment over time for the cost of renovation. Basically this option takes the doctor’s pay out of the equation. Operating costs would be significantly lower at $900K, but renovation costs would be the same as the other options.
The problem still exists, where are the doctors going to come from?
After several decades of warning going back to the last century, the province wisely did not put money into training more doctors and the road block to certifying foreign trained doctors – who live here now – has not been researched to remove unnecessary barriers to practice medicine.
Data from the Orillia and Lake Country Physician Recruitment Committee indicates 21% of the doctors practising now are due to retire, adding 8,000 more people to the limbo of not having a doctor.
The committee appears to have exhausted all they can do and are recommending to council the $500K budgeted for starting a program be transferred to the Orillia and Lake Country Physician Recruitment Committee, which has had some successes attracting doctors to the area, so they can increase their activities. The City-operated medical clinic working group believes this would be a better use of the money.
The report notes there is another medical clinic about to open in Orillia and the recruitment committee’s collected expertise combined with better financial resources would in part go a long way to staffing that clinic, in addition to just plain getting more doctors to practice in Orillia.
If council opts to just receive the report and do nothing, the recommendation is to reallocate evenly the $500K budgeted to the hospital reserve and tax rate stabilization reserve
Downtown
The final report for the updating of the Downtown Tomorrow Plan is on the agenda for approval. There is no financial commitment involved at this time, just council agreeing with the findings of the consultations and investigations and committing to the vision.
There is much to digest in the 163 page report, but the immediate focus might be on a list of 15 things council should prioritize in the next two years. They are:
- Develop a Downtown Real Estate Strategy that identifies properties the City should seek to acquire or dispose of to facilitate redevelopment.
- Update the Official Plan to permit higher-density residential development in South Downtown, or initiate a secondary plan.
- Increase funding for existing CIP programs and initiate a tax assistance program to encourage brownfield redevelopment.
- Develop a strategy to attract Lakehead and Georgian students Downtown.
- Expand the Farmers’ Market.
- Continue discussions with Rama First Nation and other Indigenous organizations and people and identify opportunities for collaboration.
- Coordinate and extend shopping hours.
- Plan and implement a demonstration passageway improvement on a City-owned lane.
- Beautify and widen the sidewalks on West Street.
- Plant more trees.
- Initiate a Waterfront Centre Phase 2 Study.
- Develop and implement a sports court plan.
- Develop a plan for the Rexton Property.
- Develop a four-season tourism strategy.
- Work with Metrolinx to pilot seasonal GO bus service to Downtown Orillia.
Among the items on the consent agenda, the Downtown Orillia Business Improvement Area Board has a number of requests for street closings this summer which will serve as a heads up for events to plan to attend. Almost all involved closing Mississaga Street. The dates are:
- June 28 for a Summer Food Festival
- July 4 for the Mariposa Folk Festival
- August 16 for the Classic Car Show
- August 23 for an un-named event, but this is traditionally Starry Night
- August 30 for the Pirate Party.
Motions
There are two enquiry motions. One is from councillor Jay Fallis to have staff report on the feasibility of permitting residents to make an equivalent donation to the affordable housing reserve in lieu of paying a late fee for water billing.
The second motion is from councillors Luke Leatherdale and Janet-Lynne Durnford to have the Mayor’s office coordinate a Canada Flag flying competition, with the street displaying the highest number of Canada Flags is awarded a prize or other form of recognition to celebrate their participation.
Council meetings are open to the public or can be watched on the City’s Youtube channel.
(Photos by Swartz – SUNonline/Orillia; Images Supplied)
