Housing and Health Event Aims to Move Midland Beyond Status Quo
By: Derek Howard, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Source: MidlandToday.ca Nov. 15, 2024
Peter Van Der Heyden may be new to Midland, but that didn’t stop him from attending a two-part ‘hope, housing and health’ symposium’ at the North Simcoe Sports and Recreation Centre.
“I’ve been helping out lately in the community with some of the homeless, and trying to help them with things they don’t know about,” said Van Der Heyden, who attended the event to network with community groups. “Boy Scout skills, or army techniques of surviving the winter and getting shelters off the ground, and health things.
“Trench foot is something that people don’t realize is a problem that you could come across, or you don’t always have to go to the drugstore to get something,” he added. “I have a truck and trailer so I’ve helped people when they’re moving out of a camp and they found a home.
“I don’t play angles; I’m just a fella trying to help out. And I’m in a hard corner as well, but it doesn’t mean that I can’t help the other ones that are in a tough or a tougher corner,” Van Der Heyden shared.
The second annual event gave residents an opportunity to meet more than 15 groups and service providers in the area, followed by a question and answer period.
“Today’s event is important to have the opportunity for the service providers to share what they do, and identify the gaps or the duplications (between them),” said Midland Coun. Catherine MacDonald, who had pushed for the second annual symposium.
“This year differs a little bit; to review what we accomplished last year to try and improve the community tool kit.”
Some of the groups involved included: the Guesthouse Shelter; Huronia Community Foundation; Gateway Centre for Learning; ConnexOntario; 211 Ontario; the street outreach program from the Salvation Army; Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care; Chigamik Community Health Centre; and the Georgian Bay Native Friendship Centre.
Roughly 40 residents appeared as the doors opened for the Thursday afternoon and evening event, with varying reasons to attend and interest in having their say.
One resident who asked to be known as Katherine stated she lived in the Midland Tower apartments at 303 Midland Avenue, and had lost sleep due to late night activity in the parking lot behind the King Street businesses.
“That (green transformer station behind No Frills) that they all hang out at, and go into the corner and drop their pants and go to the bathroom, and do a lot of other things there – that drives me nuts,” said Katherine, who said she was intent on attending the question and answer session to contact the OPP directly and get a response.
“From 10:00 p.m. until 12:00 a.m. it’s little cars with big mufflers and motorbikes, just revving up and down Midland Avenue; and then from 12 till 3 in the morning is the homeless having a party in the parking lot. Sometimes there’s a lot of screaming; all that so you don’t get any sleep. They’ve (OPP) got to be downtown more often at night to clear them out.”
Resident Betty Kerwin said that the symposium was informative from what she’d learned in speaking with representatives “about the housing crisis in Midland, and what these people are offering.”
Midland prepares to ‘bait the hook’ on Midland Bay Landing
By: Derek Howard, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Source: MidlandToday.ca, Nov 13, 2024
Councillors Catherine MacDonald and Bill Meridis were quite interested in when the selection process could begin for Midland Bay Landing development, with Mayor Bill Gordon joining their enthusiasm.
A report to council at the recent committee of the whole meeting stated that consultants KPMG LLP would be selected for a cost of $197,750 including HST as phase one of a two-phase effort to create a larger request for proposal for the 40-acre waterfront property.
Questions raised to staff by MacDonald and Meridis attempted to pry when the final date a developer could be chosen by KPMG, and if there were any penalties should a developer not be selected.
Steve Farquharson, the town’s community and growth executive director, attempted to temper expectations by reiterating that with phase one complete, a goal of early 2026 would be set. “It’s a target for us to get to,” said Farquharson, “but there is no penalty if we’re not able to get it. The plan is to get a developer on board before this council goes into lame duck for elections. That way we’re moving the project forward even when the new council comes on board.” Farquharson further added: “There’s lots of opportunity to make sure we get input from everybody, to make sure that when we do form that phase two of this RFP to attract a developer, we do it right.
“We make sure we get everybody’s input, and then we frame it a certain way so that we can attract as many developers and potential to develop this, as Coun. MacDonald said,’ very important piece of property on our waterfront’,” added Farquharson.
Meridis backpedalled on his enthusiasm, saying,” I’m not trying to rush anything; we need to get this right.”
Mayor Bill Gordon was the most enthusiastic about the project, stating his happiness several times. “I feel like we’re about nine months behind what my plan was for timelines and quite frankly that’s because we lost two of our council members (deceased Jim Downer and Jack Contin) which was a setback, not only because we lost (them)… but then we needed to go through the process of filling those seats,” said Gordon. “And it’s hard to just keep all the plates spinning, or the chainsaws as it were, while also doing that.”
He added, “Midland Bay Landing, being so critical, wasn’t one of the things we wanted to take a risk with. That’s why it’s a little bit more delayed; the timeline now is pretty impressive because we have about a year and a half left until we go ‘rubber chicken’ and can’t make any decisions.”
Gordon reiterated that public engagement would be the biggest component in the process, and reminded council of a $5 million pledge if the east side of the project were kept “parkified.”
Caution was made that if council were to tinker with the process that the deal could fail, to which Gordon made reference to a recently withdrawn development of the Wasaga Beach boardwalk. He also took time to chide the former Midland Bay Landing Development Corporation for several reasons, including transparency issues and perceived lack of public engagement.
On the selection of KPMG, Gordon noted: “Hopefully when we bait the hook and put it out for RFP… we get a school of fish that are interested in our amazing, one-of-a-kind waterfront, 40-acre development.”
Dollartown gets its due with signs recognizing historic Midland district
By: Derek Howard, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Source: MidlandToday.ca, Nov 08, 2024
Once upon a time, Dollartown existed. Then it became part of Midland, but its story continues.
At the recent committee of the whole meeting, approval was given to purchase 77 historic Dollartown street signs as part of a heritage committee recommendation in the works since 2015. Mill houses were constructed just outside Midland’s 1875 boundaries by the industry-driven Dollar brothers John and Robert, with the border between the two towns at Russell Street. Dollartown’s boundaries extended to Midland Bay Landing, but kept along Gloucester Street at the north and Yonge Street to the south, with its eastern edge extended out into Georgian Bay; annexation in 1904 absorbed Dollartown.
While the heritage committee initiated recognition of that area years ago, various reasons kept the street sign project dormant until efforts resumed, and a resolution for five boundary location signs was presented in June; 77 interior signs for each intersection were also suggested as per a staff recommendation. The cost of the project for 77 signs was estimated at roughly $7,300, with $4,500 in funds reallocated from the heritage committee’s 2024 budget, and just over $2,800 funded from heritage reserves. With an example of the signs put on display for council and audience members, heritage committee chair René Hackstetter was asked to explain the justification for Dollartown’s prominence. “In Toronto, back in the late 1960s, they did historic Cabbagetown, which was the eastern part of Toronto around Parliament Street,” said Hackstetter. “Their heritage committee had the same thing, done signs like that, and it had tremendous traction. It garnered a lot of questions. This will obviously garner questions: what’s this all about?
“We hope that this will stimulate a number of things: one of them is of course town pride or pride of an area. This is not a defined heritage district; it’s actually just a recognition of an historic district that has always been there.”
Members of council praised the appearance of the sign and supported Hackstetter’s suggestion on locations where a placard with town-linked QR code could be stationed for further information on the Dollartown designation.
From the committee of the whole, approval was given to the sign project with an estimated installation date over the spring and summer season of 2025.
The heritage street signage report for Dollartown, including historic background information and street sign locations, is available in the council agenda on the town of Midland website.
Council meetings are held every third Wednesday, and can be viewed on Rogers TV cable channel 53 when available, or through the livestream on the Rogers TV website. Archives of council meetings are available through Rogers TV and on the Town of Midland’s YouTube channel.
Midland mayor says premier promises relief for ‘absurd’ OPP costs
By: Derek Howard, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Source: MidlandToday.ca, Nov 12, 2024
The OPP sent out billing costs for 2025 services to municipalities across the province, and a report on those increases caused many Midland councillors to consider rejecting the bill.
At a recent committee of the whole meeting, a summary of the OPP standard billing model explained the various factors that resulted in a 26.4 per cent increase of $1.24 million for town policing costs from last year. Policing costs are spread out across the province, and shares to cover those costs are calculated by populations of municipalities. The report noted the biggest cost drivers were due to OPP salaries and benefits, an increase of Midland households (as the population of the town increased by nearly 100 households), and a return to pre-pandemic activity levels primarily around calls for service as well as prisoner transportation and court security.
Members of council attempted to understand how the OPP could justify their increased costs by asking town staff for explanations.
Coun. Bill Meridis said that with 2025 town budget discussions coming in the next month, his option would be to decline the OPP bill. “It’s a ridiculous increase: $1.2 million without any warning, 26 per cent over last year is absolutely devastating to a small community like ours. My stance is no,” said Meridis. Coun. Sheldon East offered a further proposal, suggesting council send a bill for the amount to the provincial and federal governments for putting municipalities in the situation.
The matter was given a deep dive by Mayor Bill Gordon, who reiterated many points shared to residents since the early-October notification had been received. “There are all kinds of things I could say about this, including: ‘told you so’,” said Gordon, referencing his time as a member of the Midland Police Services and its disbandment in 2018. “We all knew this was going to happen. We haven’t saved any money; we still owe $3.5 million for the disbandment; any potential savings don’t exist until you pay that cost of disbanding; but it is what it is.”
Of new information, Gordon informed council that he had spoken directly with Premier Doug Ford and was assured that addressing OPP billing costs was a top priority. “For the just under 400 municipalities that are impacted by these staggeringly absurd increases, I expect to see some relief coming in the next month. I don’t know what that looks like; clearly they weren’t going to tell me other than they said: ‘Bill, it’s coming,’” said Gordon.
Gordon noted that Midland’s courthouse was a factor, despite not having bail hearings, and acknowledged Penetanguishene’s ongoing dispute with the province in being saddled with policing costs as host to the provincial Central North Correctional Centre since 2019. “For now,” said Gordon, “we have to just accept this as what it is, and it’s going to be about a 4 per cent tax increase for our residents before we even talk about the cost to run the town and all our ABCs (agencies, boards and commissions). It’s scary; we could be looking at double-digit tax increases because of this, through no fault of our own.”
Annual billing model information can be found on the OPP website. However, despite updating in late-October in previous years, 2025 information was not made available at the time of publication with a ‘billing model presentation’ listed as ‘under review’ on the site.
The 2025 OPP standard billing model report is available in the council agenda on the town of Midland website.
Council meetings are held every third Wednesday, and can be viewed on Rogers TV cable channel 53 when available, or through the livestream on the Rogers TV website. Archives of council meetings are available through Rogers TV and on the Town of Midland’s YouTube channel.
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