Decorative bike racks debut
Four bike rack designs being tested at City Hall as prototypes for city
Four new decorative bike racks were installed outside City Hall and ready for use on Tuesday.
Two of them are in front of City Hall, facing George St., and the other two are near the parking lot at the northeast corner of Murray St. and George St.
There are two different models: one has a metal cut-out depicting Market Hall and the other is the Peterborough Lift Lock.
Nearly 18 months ago, council voted to have staff consider ordering decorative bike racks, benches and manhole covers rather than the standard ones.
Coun. Dean Pappas said that Susan Sauvé, the city’s transportation demand management planner, ordered the bike racks as prototypes and asked where councillors wanted them installed.
Pappas said he thought they should go at City Hall – and on Tuesday, they were there. He also said he hopes there will be more of these whimsical bike racks to come.
“These are just the first – it’s experimental,” Pappas said. “A bike rack doesn’t have to be a utilitarian piece of steel – they can be decorative.”
Councillors had a planning meeting Tuesday night that was done in just 15 minutes. Here’s what was discussed:
Apartments for former St. Joseph’s Hospital
Councillors gave the go-ahead to allow construction of 33 more apartments in the former St. Joseph’s Hospital on Hunter St. E.
Earlier phases of development have already taken place. Councillors had given preliminary permission for this phase too, but they wanted to ensure there was enough parking in the plan before giving the final OK.
The plan is for 33 apartments and 42 parking spots. City staff says that should be sufficient.
Coun. Dave Haacke declared a pecuniary interest, and didn’t speak or vote (due to business ties with the application - he works for DNS Realty).
New veterinary office on Lansdowne St. W.
Councillors gave preliminary permission for a rezoning to allow a new veterinary office in the commercial plaza at 1600 Lansdowne St. W. (at Kawartha Heights Boulevard; it’s the plaza that once housed the constituency offices of former MP Dean Del Mastro).
The clinic isn’t going to have boarding or kennels.
Again, Coun. Dave Haacke declared a pecuniary interest.
Firehall mural
Councillors voted in favour of ordering a city staff report regarding the plan for a new downtown mural.
There’s a plan to commission a new mural next spring on the city-owned white building at Simcoe and Aylmer St., next to the Peterborough Public Library, and Coun. Dan McWilliams suggested council ask for more information.
The building already has a mural of a historic firehall that once stood on the property, and McWilliams said he wanted to know whether the plan is to paint it over with something new.
He noted that Shoppers Drug Mart has a series of historic photos on the side of its building nearby, along Bethune St. There’s a theme of historic images, and McWillilams suggested council may therefore want to preserve that mural of the firehall.
“We need an opportunity to discuss that,” McWilliams said.
Coun. Dean Pappas declared a ecuniary interest, saying he owns a downtown building that could someday also have a mural.
Councillors voted in favour of receiving a report from staff on the plan for the firehall mural.