Council wants other bids for Harper Park plan

City councillors want to to seek competitive bids from firms interested in developing a plan for the future of Harper Park – not simply pick Beacon Environmental, as recommended by city staff.

Harper Park is a 148-acre natural park in the south-west end of the city, at The Parkway and Highway 7/115. It has a provincially significant wetland, coldwater fisheries and a brook trout population.

It’s right near the site for the new casino, on Crawford Dr. at The Parkway; the casino is now under construction.

Beacon Environmental served as the city’s environmental adviser as the operator for the casino sought planning approvals from the city.

City staff had recommended using that firm to review environmental policies in the Official Plan and also develop a plan specific to Harper Park; the cost would have been $225,000.

A city staff report stated that’s because the firm already has knowledge of the park and can build on past work there.

But Coun. Keith Riel wasn’t comfortable with the plan; he suggested going to an RFP for the plan on Harper Park.

That splits the contract in half; Beacon would still get the job of reviewing the OP policies, for roughly $112,000. Then bids would be solicited for the Harper Park plan (which would also cost the city roughly another $112,000).

Beacon would be free to bid on the Harper Park plan, and Coun. Lesley Parnell pointed out it might well be awarded both contracts.

Councillors gave preliminary approval to the plan, on Monday. It needs to be ratified before city council next week (and citizens can speak up, before that vote.)

Also on councillors’ committee of the whole agenda on Monday:

Poet laureate:

The city plans to have a poet laureate in 2018 – but it will be a one-year pilot project, and the Peterborough Poetry Slam Collective will have to fundraise the $2,000 honorarium.

In June, the Poetry Slam Collective – which is hosting the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word in Peterborough, in October – asked city councillors to consider having a poet laureate in the city.

A poet laureate’s job is to advocate for literature and literacy, write poems in honour of specific events in the city and make public appearances.

There are already poet laureates in cities such as Cobourg, Kingston, Mississauga, Toronto and Calgary.

A city staff report to city councillors recommended that Peterborough have a poet laureate in 2018 – but as a pilot project.

The city’s arts, culture and heritage advisory committee would choose the poet and also evaluate the project at the end.

If it’s successful and there’s interest, council could consider funding the program in subsequent years.

It’s not what the local poetry collective had asked for: they were hoping the city would fund the $2,000 honorarium right from the start.

The Canadian Festival of Spoken Word is taking place in Peterborough Oct. 22 to 28. The festival is expected to bring poetry slams and master classes to the city. Nearly 200 poets are expected.

Tree bylaw:

City councillors decided to defer a plan to adopt new rules meant to protect the tree canopy in Peterborough. Under the proposed new rules, property-owners would need a special permit to remove a healthy, mature tree on their own land.

The rules can be adopted without public consultation, states a city staff report. That’s because consulting the public before implementing the rules could result in people cutting down their trees hastily, prior to the new rules coming into effect.

But councillors wanted to defer the plan, since it would also require homeowners to plant three trees for every one mature tree removed.

Coun. Andrew Beamer said it can cost roughly $400 to plant a new tree; it s a lot of money for homeowners. Councillors want to consider whether they can come up with new rules that would might lessen costs for homeowners.