Understaffing in city planning hinders growth: Therrien
New mayor, realtor, developer take part in Chamber panel discussion
Mayor Diane Therrien says the city may set up a shared industrial park with any of the surrounding townships if annexation plans with Cavan Monaghan Township don’t soon pan out.
“I believe in building up – not out,” she said before a packed house at the Greater Peterborough Chamber of Commerce Business Summit on Wednesday morning.
While still a city councillor in 2017, Therrien opposed a prospective deal to annex muchneeded industrial and residential land for the city from Cavan Monaghan Township.
The deal reached a stalemate, although behind-the-scenes negotiations were ongoing early this year; city staff said in January the goal was to sign a deal in 2019.
Therrien explained on Wednesday the main reason she hadn’t liked the prospective annexation.
“I didn’t want to see the city just build out, to the west,” she said. “That was an unpopular opinion, in certain circles.”
Therrien was speaking as part of the keynote panel at the Chamber’s annual Business Summit at the Ashburnham Funeral Home and Reception Centre on Armour Rd.
Also on the panel were Paul Bennett, developer and president of Ashburnham Realty, and Dave Haacke, owner at DNS Real Estate.
Haacke, a former city councillor, said Peterborough lacks development because of a dragged-out process that developers face at City Hall.
The developer for the planned Lily Lake subdivision has owned the land since 2008 but hasn’t been able to build yet, for instance, he said.
Therrien said it has to do
with years of understaffing at City Hall.
The city’s planning director, Jeffery Humble, had the same size staff working for him at his previous job as the planner for the city of Yellowknife which has a population 20,000, she said.
Therrien expects to see new staff positions proposed in the 2019 city budget, which will be hammered out in January.
She said she hopes it will reduce delays, since many developers aren’t prepared to wait.
“Some (from outside the city) come and say, ‘I’ll go elsewhere,’” she said.
The panel also discussed heritage buildings.
Haacke said he doesn’t understand why development is “restricted” in some cases so a ramshackle building can be preserved.
“I’m not against heritage – I’m against saving (buildings in poor condition),” he said.
Bennett said the city needs rules to ensure that heritage buildings are preserved over the long term so they’re not in bad shape once a developer buys with demolition in mind.
He mentioned developer Paul Dietrich, who bought the former Pig’s Ear Tavern to tear it down for apartments.
“It’s not Paul’s fault the Pig’s Ear is in bad shape – it’s the last owner’s fault,” Bennett said.
Therrien said heritage must include greenspace too – not just built heritage. She said she’s especially concerned about preserving what little greenspace there is downtown.
Meanwhile, Haacke said, this city is looking like a clean slate for developers – that won’t last.
“Peterborough’s in the same position Brooklin was, 30 years ago. Or Barrie,” he said.
Although Bennett agreed that Peterborough is poised to have “a Barrie moment,” he said he wants the city to retain its community feeling.
“Let’s not become Brooklin, Barrie or Oshawa,” he said. “Let’s make Peterborough-best decisions, moving forward.”