By Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberland
Changes to the former Woodlawn Inn to turn it into a Canadian Centre for Addiction treatment facility are so minor that they qualify as a basic renovation, Cobourg Director of Planning and Development Services Glenn McGlashon said at this week’s committee-of-the-whole meeting of council.
With only Deputy Mayor Suzanne Seguin voting in opposition, council authorized a development agreement for the project at 420 Division St.
“It could be called a minimalist site plan approval application, because there is very little change to the site and not much physically noticeable to the human eye,” McGlashon said.
“The only change to the site plan is, there are three regular parking stalls being converted and repainted to barrier-free spaces – because, surprisingly, Woodlawn did not have any barrier-free parking spaces.
“It will be exactly the way you see it today, with the exception of those barrier-free parking spaces.”
Inside, the 18 rooms will accommodate a maximum of 40 patrons. Outside, there will be 42 parking spaces.
“Given the heritage nature of the building, the owners propose to maintain the existing barrier-free entrance on the north side of the building,” McGlashon added.
“There are really no significant changes and alterations proposed to the interior and exterior of the building and grounds.”
Current regulations require the new operation to be sprinklered, so a water line will come into the property for this purpose. There may be some minor cosmetic changes inside, such as repainting and trim work.
An urban garden will be installed in the courtyard with some native plantings, and a bicycle rack will be added.
And looking ahead, any further modifications or alterations must be consistent with sound heritage-conservation practices.
For now, however, “if you were to pass by the property, you would not notice that there were any changes to that particular site. There’s no on-site signage, so you would not be aware it is a residential treatment facility.”
