Seniors Apartments Delayed; $100 Parking Tickets at Church Yard Sale; New Basketball Court for Tobermory
By John Francis, Bruce Peninsula Press
At MNBP Council’s July 24 Meeting, Council heard a seemingly preposterous request — “Give us your airport…”
But the proponent, Tobermory resident Tom Brown, was quite serious; he and his partners have considered Tobermory airport’s situation and have a lot to offer. They begin with a brief summary of the current status:
The airport costs MNBP $30,000 to $40,000 per year, yet it is deteriorating steadily. It is not maintained in the winter.
There is no instrument approach available, so aircraft cannot land if visibility is reduced by smoke, fog or snow.
To summarize: Tobermory airport is a major evacuation hub for the community in case of disaster, but it can’t be used unless visibility is good and there’s no snow on the runway.
“What the Airport needs
• More activity in terms of aircraft based at the location and transient traffic
• Transportation to and from the village
• Commercial activity such as a flight school or local air tour business
• An instrument approach to allow safe landings in inclement weather
• Maintenance of the asphalt in terms of weed control and crack repair
• Self serve Fuel”
Brown stressed that any agreement would have to include a mandatory condition that the property must remain an airport. He and his partners describe themselves:
“Tom Brown is a Tobermory resident and pilot and long time user of the airport. Often contributing to the running of the airport. Was the manager at Grimsby Regional Airport bringing it from near bankruptcy to a flourishing success. Continues as the Aviation supervisor at Grimsby and Stoney Creek Airports.
The Durante Group is the owner and operator of two airports in the Niagara area, Grimsby (CNZ8) and Stoney Creek. (CPF6). Durante Group and Tom Brown have partnered on the operation of these two airports and are currently viable and successful general aviation airports.”
Staff will consider this proposal and bring a report back to Council this fall.
Seniors Apartments
The July 24 Council Meeting began with a Public Meeting concerning a proposed 12-unit seniors apartment complex at the corner of Highway 6 and Maple Golf Drive in Tobermory. The development is proposed by Adam Robins of Tobermory, who intends to act as landlord once the project is finished. Council and attendees at the meeting agreed that this is exactly the kind of development Tobermory needs, however responses have not yet been received from Saugeen Ojibway Nation and Ontario Ministry of Transportation. Absent positive responses from those agencies, Council felt unable to support the project.
$100 Parking Tickets
Under “Other Business”, at the end of the July 24 Meeting, Deputy Mayor Rod Anderson and Councillor Smokey Golden asked about parking tickets issued to people who parked (illegally) at “the gap” in Tobermory to attend the yard sale at the adjacent St Edmund’s Anglican Church. Six tickets were issued, at $100 each, which the councillors felt was excessive.
Mayor Milt McIver asked CAO Peggy Van Mierlo-West for a “Bylaw 101” explanation of how the system works. She told Council that the municipality receives many requests to waive fines for parking tickets. “It’s a slippery slope to waive parking tickets at the Council table,” she said — if you do it once, you can be sure you will be asked to do it again (and again).
Further discussion ensued, with councillors trying to find a way to reduce the fines without undermining staff. No consensus was reached.
“I think I hear Peggy on this one,” Mayor McIver told his fellow councillors. We need to leave this to staff and not make case-by-case decisions at the council table. People need to come forward ahead of time to make arrangements for public events.
Resurface Basketball Court
The Agenda for the Council Meeting on August 14 includes a report from Facilities Manager Mark Coleman detailing a plan to install a 24 X 90 foot modular playing surface on the basketball “court” in Tobermory. The surface would consist of plastic tiles in bright red and royal blue.
The municipality got three quotes for the project, the best of which came from Flex Court Canada. Their product claims to reduce impact stress on knees and feet by 65% compared to pavement and carries a 15 year warranty. At $16,000, the proposal fits nicely into the $20,000 MNBP budgeted for the project.
The Report does not include a completion date.
More information can be found at the company’s website: https://www.flexcourtcanada.ca/outdoor-sports-tiles.php
CAO’s Quarterly Report
The Agenda for Council’s Aug 14 Meeting also includes a 67-page CAO Report on the second quarter of 2023. It offers a lot of good information on how our municipality works.
Here are a few excerpts from the report:
On the subject of parking enforcement: “Five Security staff are now on duty Monday to Friday 9 am to 6 pm., and are stationed at Lion’s Head, McCurdy, Little Cove, Big Tub and Tobermory. On Saturdays and Sundays and Holiday Mondays extra staff are stationed at Dorcas Bay, Dunks Bay and Grant Watson”.
“By-law and Security Staff are now equipped with counters, and all vehicles turned away from the following Dunks Bay, Grant Watson, Dorcas Bay Rd, Big Tub Rd, Little Cove and McCurdy are now being recorded daily.”
There is dramatically more visitor traffic on Moore Street looking for the McCurdy Street parking lot than at any other non-National-Park location in the municipality.
95 building permits were issued in Q2 2023, 21 of which were for new single family dwellings. Only three demolition permits were issued during this time period.
The fire department had the same number of call-outs as in Q2 2022. More than 1/3 of those call-outs were for rescues: 25% for bush rescues, 8% for water rescues and 2% for high-angle rescues (ie cliffs). Another 25% of call-outs were for no-loss outdoor fires (there was a fire ban for weeks).
