Don’t block new housing: Bennett
Building single-family houses is ‘out of style,’ Therrien says at mayoral debate
Mayor Daryl Bennett said at a debate Thursday night that the city made a mistake when it delayed a developer’s plan to tear down The Pig’s Ear Tavern and replace it with apartments.
Bennett was debating against Coun. Diane Therrien, who is running against him for mayor. It was the first debate for mayoral candidates, organized by the Peterborough and Kawarthas Association of Realtors at the Lions Community Centre.
Before a nearly full house — which included Paul Dietrich, the developer who’d proposed the apartments to replace the Pig’s Ear — Bennett and Therrien addressed questions that dealt primarily with housing.
Bennett praised the plans for the apartments to replace the Pig’s Ear, saying it was unfortunate that “some councillors” were against the plan.
Council didn’t place a heritage designation on the Piggy last year, however, and Dietrich said he held a demolition permit in 2017.
He told city council at the time that his plan was to demolish the building and replace it with a five-storey apartment building.
That hasn’t happened yet, and there’s no indication whether the plan will come to fruition soon. Bennett spoke as though it’s not happening, on Thursday.
“It would have added a nice mix of housing in the downtown core,” Bennett said, adding that council should not stand in the way of developers who’ve met all the municipal requirements to build.
“Bring forward application that are complete — we will vote for them …. To make sure we have an abundant supply of homes in this community,” Bennett said.
Therrien emphasized the need to create a new Official Plan.
“We need a better mix of housing and a variety of developments,” she said. “Otherwise it’s piecemeal — and doesn’t accomplish the job we want it to.”
Single-family houses built out in “the middle of nowhere” are out of style, she said. “You can’t just build out for decades.”
The crowd at times seemed more friendly to Therrien than to Bennett on Thursday, applauding her and jeering for him.
Other times, the crowd applauded loudly for Bennett (such as when he said the federal government ought to do more to help the municipality build housing for low-income people.)
On the topic of homelessness, Therrien said that every year at budget time she has advocated for greater funds in the city’s rent supplement program (which helps pay rent for people who are about to be evicted — and rendered homeless).
She said front-line workers are understaffed and underpaid — and she’d like to see creative reuses of old buildings.
“I’d like to see more of what happened at Knox United Church — those are models we have to be pursuing,” she said.
“Homelessness is not just a problem in Peterborough — but in every city in this country,” Bennett said. “We need a national housing strategy — we need it as quickly as we can get it.”
The city gets revenues from property taxes — from people “just barely able to keep their own homes,” Bennett said, and council must consider them when spending tax money.
There’s a growing need for geared-to-income housing no matter how hard the city works to build new apartments, he said.
“It’s not a situation that’s easily managed …. We simply have to have upper-level help. We cannot put the burden on the taxpayer,” Bennett said, to applause.
Bennett also said he has the experience and qualifications to be mayor, noting that he has managed many employees in his years in business.
“I have 50 years of business experience and eight years of political experience,” he said.
“Unlike Daryl, I’ve not worked in only one place my whole life,” Therrien said, saying she’s done the millennial “hustle” that sees workers in their 30s jumping from job to job.
The municipal election is Oct. 22.