(Today’s Northumberland file photo)
By Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberland
A little news of the sale of the former Brookside Youth Centre came out at Wednesday’s council meeting – a prospective closing date of November 13 and the fact that it is being eyed as as residential development.
The residential information came from Mayor Lucas Cleveland, and the date from Northumberland-Peterborough South MPP David Piccini.
Piccini appeared before council to ask a favour, which was granted in a vote that passed with only Deputy Mayor Nicole Beatty and Councillor Miriam Mutton voting against – to help expedite the sale by proactively helping out with the studies that will be required for such a development. Cleveland’s motion obliged, authorizing an upset limit of $25,000 to fund a sanitary flow monitoring study that will ascertain servicing capacity and help the purchaser determine how many units can be built.
“The sanitary sewer shed area for the entire site is generally divided by Brook Creek and has not been evaluated for all servicing options available for both sanitary sewer shed areas,” the motion said.
The motion passed less than an hour before the clock struck midnight and ushered in the one-year anniversary of the encampment.
Beatty addressed one of her key objections to the MPP.
“My understanding is the listing price for Brookside was about $10-million,” she pointed out.
“Are job-site readiness costs not recovered in that sale?”
“I think it’s a partnership. We are a team,” Piccini said.
“You have never been shy to put your hand up when you want help from your provincial partner.
“These are small studies you are better positioned to do that you can move on faster.
“I think your coming forward for those studies to get that site job-ready faster would be well received in the spirit of realizing the potential of this land.”
The mayor explained his rationale for the motion.
“The developer needs to be able to make plans quickly and effectively to move forward,” Cleveland said.
“I’ve met with these developers three or four times, and their intention is to go quickly. Any developer is, that I have met with.
“I see my role as mayor to be advocating for this community. We would not want this property to sit on the open market another three or four years.”
“This is what leadership is all about, folks – I am not telling you anything you don’t already know,” Councillor Randy Barber said.
Cleveland explained that, with all the requirements and studies attached to any development, the wait to get shovels in the ground can stretch out many months. Anything they can do to speed that up should be done.
In fact, he said council might go ahead with this, see how it goes, and consider it as one option to expedite things when the municipality sells its own properties.
Director of Public Works Laurie Wills cautioned that how fast things move may be limited, as the study contemplated must wait for wet weather, which would put it off until the new year.
Beatty termed the contemplated action “bonusing,” especially since the request came from parties other than the developers themselves.
“Who is receiving this, and who is ultimate benefiting?” she wondered.
“If we are going to get it done, if we are going to build houses, here’s a chance to take a step in that direction,” the mayor said.
“We need to make sure new property is moving toward development as fast as possible.”
“I do want to be a partner in this – I know how important housing is. But I want to be a responsible partner,” Beatty said.
Councillor Adam Bureau confessed uneasiness with the fact that “this is not the normal procedure.” But he also planned to support the motion because it promised two benefits – more housing and getting rid of the encampment now set up on the premises.
The sale won’t be a solution to the latter, Mutton insisted.
“The encampment will not disappear. The encampment will only move,” she said.
It was not long after that that Cleveland lost patience.
“I am embarrassed right now with the lack of political acuity this council is showing for the bigger picture. I had a member of provincial Parliament here asking one thing. The countless hours I have spent with developers, the hundreds of kilometres I drove around this province to get to this place where we actually have a purchaser.
“I am humiliated tonight by this council’s inability to see the bigger picture and to understand that I am not going to have my phone calls answered by cabinet members after tonight,” he said.
“And if this deal hasn’t already fallen apart by them watching, I will spend the next two weeks talking to the developers.
“That may not have been the intention, but intention is not impact.”
Still, in the end, council did support his motion with only two dissenting votes.
