Cobourg News Blog

Max LeMarchant has issued a letter criticising Mayor Cleveland for how he handled the Special Council meeting on August 20. Although Max supported the passing of the ICBL, he contends that if Council had done the right things earlier, including completing a review of the Official Plan, it would not have been necessary. Max also took exception to the statements by Lucas at the start of the meeting where he “defended his record”. Max says that “Town Council should be a forum for conducting the public’s business. It should not become a taxpayer-funded platform for an incumbent Mayor to defend himself against political criticism or diminish those running against him in an election”. However, Max says Lucas did not answer the criticism…. Read complete articleMax LeMarchant Responds re Planning in Cobourg

A special meeting of Council was held today in response to public unhappiness with some developments in Town, especially a couple with more storeys than allowed by zoning (16 at Brookside and 8 at 202 Second Street). The idea was to pass an “Interim Control ByLaw (ICBL)” that would put approval of possibly unwanted developments on hold for a year or two. The meeting also had on its agenda a review of the Town’s Planning department and Mayor Cleveland kicked off the meeting with a statement about Planning procedures. Basically: “New development procedures are mandated by Provincial Law” and in response to a statement by “a Candidate for the Council” on a “blog”, “There is no correlation between procedures in… Read complete articleSpecial Council meeting re Town Planning

The owners of the Brookside property at 390 King East have put together a plan for its development and it requires amendments to both the Official Plan and zoning.  As a result, the Town has called a Public meeting to hear public comments either in favour or against the proposal.  The proposal is for 970 dwelling units: “26 semi-detached dwellings, 106 street townhouse dwellings, 138 stacked townhouse dwellings, and 700 apartment dwellings in multiple residential buildings up to sixteen storeys and 5,000 square metres of commercial space at the southwest corner of the subject property.”  The applicant seems to have done considerable work on the project and have submitted 27 documents in support.  A site plan (see below) shows where… Read complete articleBrookside Development to be Reviewed

Max LeMarchant has published an open letter asking why there are a whole lot of Development proposals coming before council when we are about to have an election; these proposals will “fundamentally alter the character, density and future development pattern of Cobourg” and are being considered one at a time instead of in accordance with a vision for the Town.  According to Max such “fundamental questions should properly be considered through an updated Official Plan for the Town.”  Max comments that instead of establishing a revised vision by updating the 15 year old official plan, “Instead, the comprehensive Official Plan issue has effectively been left in abeyance while individual projects capable of substantially reshaping the Town are being advanced for… Read complete articleMajor Development Approvals Before the Election