City council approves storage shed for cycling safety and tri-shaw programs

A cycling safety program for 11- to 15-year-olds and another providing tri-shaw rides to seniors are expected to continue this year after city council approved storage space behind the Strangway Centre.

The Bluewater Cycling Organization used a storage container at the Lochiel Kiwanis Community Center last year to store bikes and tri-shaws for the summer programs, but would need to seek rezoning to do the same this year and likely didn’t have enough time to get that done before the programs start in May, said Bluewater Cycling’s Kendel Ross.

After talking with city staff, the organization behind the annual Bluewater International Granfondo — as well as the Youth Spokes and Cycling Without Age programs that would depend on the storage space — were encouraged to ask council to approve building a 200-square-foot (18.6 -square meters) structure to store the bikes and tri-shaws, with power to charge the electrically assisted tri-shaws, she said.

The free programs were popular in 2022, Ross said, adding central city storage is important for program accessibility and it’s another way the city can encourage more walking and cycling.

How much it’ll cost isn’t clear, she said, but noted sheds of that size online cost $3,000 to $5,000.

The storage space would be available for the city for the rest of the year, she said.

Council approved building the storage space 8-1.

There will be some “impacts” at the Strangway Centre, Sarnia community services general manager Stacey Forfar said.

“There are some challenges with hydro,” she said. “We will do our best to get it going (in time) and it will be a variance to the operating budget.”

count. Terry Burrell was the lone vote against and questioned why council should support this request but turn down others from local charities and non-profits.

Mayor Mike Bradley also said council needs to consider adopting a policy so it has ground rules when dealing with requests.

“Dealing with this and dealing with some other requests recently, the only consistency is the inconsistency,” he said.

count. George Vandenberg said the cycling programs are important socially.

“I really don’t care what it’s going to cost,” he said. “I think it’s something that has to be done.”

Contracts awarded

A significant dent was made April 17 in the city’s $43.5-million capital budget for the year, as nearly $10 million in contracts and price increases were awarded.

The contracts include about $2.1 million for Cole Drain work around Plank Road, including extra money for engineering and soil sampling and analysis; $1.15 million for sewer separation on East Street between Confederation and Ontario streets; about $3 million for a new transit terminal at Clearwater Arena; about $1.4 million in Tecumseh and Harry Turnbull parks improvements; $660,000 for Michigan Line bridge rehabilitation; $445,000 for lead service line replacementt at 53 properties and about $1 million for other drain projects.

There was also an extra $60,000 approved from reserves for two new diesel buses, delayed because of supply chain issues and inflation, and an extra $9,300 for a light-duty support vehicle for the fire service, after a purchase order made in 2022 was recently canceled by the manufacturer, fire chief Bryan Van Gaver said in a report.

A 73 per cent increase in the Cole Drain project — an estimate in 2021 was about $1.2 million — is also largely due to inflation, city engineering and operations general manager David Jackson said.

Pool, park reconsiderations raised

Council will take another look at the fee schedule for Tecumseh Pool, with the aim of including a family rate.

count. Anne Marie Gillis called for the reconsideration, unanimously approved for discussion next meeting.

“Two dollars may not seem like a lot per person, but if you have a family of five, that’s $10,” Gillis said. “And how many opportunities are you going to get to actually use the pool?”

Council recently approved a five-year agreement with YMCA of Southwestern Ontario to operate the seasonal pool at the Cox Youth Center in Tecumseh Park.

Council also endorsed the revised Germain Park master plan that includes a new outdoor pool, to replace the since-demolished Jackson Pool.

But it may be too soon to exclude the park as a potential site for a multi-use recreation facilityBradley said.

Germain, Lottie Neely Park, and the Western Sarnia-Lambton Reserach Park are other options for the estimated $26 million to $34-million indoor hub, and council is expected to consider those locations later this year.

“By leaving (Germain) out, with the other two sites, if they don’t make it technically, that means we don’t have any sites,” Bradley said.

Lots of money has been spent on the planning, he said.

“So if needed I will file a motion of reconsideration because I think we need to keep our options open as we go through this whole Germain Park process and this multi-use facility process,” he said.

“So we can take that as a reconsideration for next meeting.”

No vote on that reconsideration took place.

Official plan next steps

Council approved seeking a resolution with the County of Lambton on technical issues with the city’s official plan at an Ontario Land Tribunal case management conference May 5, and on making a community infrastructure and housing accelerator tool application to address a dispute about a contentious boundary expansion in Bright’s Grove.

If that expansion proposal gets approved — county officials in December rejected the city plan over the expansion proposal and the technical issues. City council appealed — it’ll take about $500,000 to do preliminary studies and assessments over a period of two to three years, said Forfar.

That process includes figuring out where natural heritage and hazard lands exist and excluding those from the development area, followed by figuring out where things like roads would go, she said.

There’s also less money from development fees under recent provincial changes, she said.

If the boundary expansion is approved, it keeps options open for future city decision-makers, Bradley said.

“We can stop the process at any point in time,” Forfar said.

Paddy’s food truck approved

Council approved a request for a food truck to be parked on a city owned portion of the front lawn at Paddy Flaherty’s Irish Pub.

It would operate between June and September and would mean more seating, particularly when there’s events at Centennial Park, owner Scott Dargie said.

Gillis said it gives more options for people who are still avoiding indoor spaces.

The approval includes relief from distance separation requirements under the city’s business licensing bylaw.