Region of Queens Council. Photo Region of Queens

Region of Queens Council has rejected a developer’s request to allow short term rentals in all three units they are building in Beach Meadows.

A public hearing on the matter kicked off Tuesday’s Region of Queens council meeting.

The developer will have to stick to the current zoning to permit long term housing which allows only one short term rental on the site.

The council portion of the meeting began with the approval to update the Emergency Management bylaw.

After the development agreement was rejected, council voted to consolidate municipal insurance under one provider.

Much like a multi-line discount for having a car, home and life insurance policy, the Region will save approximately $60,000 by combining all coverage under one provider, AON Reed Stenhouse Inc.

AON requires a significant increase in deductible for fire department trucks, raising the current amount from $5,000 to $25,000 per incident.

The Region agreed to pick up any deductible costs above the $5,000 limit as it is rare for the fire departments to make a claim for the trucks and the move is considered low risk.

Council then approved a tiered system for providing low-income property tax relief.

Anyone with an annual household income up to $20,000 will receive $400 in relief, from $20,000 up to $25,000 will get $350 and between $25,000 and $30,000 will enjoy $300 in property tax relief.

Commercial operators will pay almost $18 more per tonne in residual waste tipping fees going forward.

Council approved a hike to $29.90 per tonne in closure costs effective April 1.

All is back to normal at the South Shore Regional Airport as the municipality has come to terms on a 20-year lease with the South Shore Flying Club.

The club will pay $4,000 plus HST to the Region each year and will be able to continue its activities in exchange for maintaining the site.

The municipality announced earlier this month it had come to terms on a 20-year lease with the South Shore Drag Racers Association.

The two groups will continue to share the airport as they have for years.

During the discussion portion of the meeting council talked about construction of the proposed outdoor pool at Queens Place.

Council put forward the idea that once the scope of the pool is known, that project and the proposed build of the new library alongside Queens Place should be combined and operated by the same project management team.

The next Region of Queens council meeting will be held Tuesday, April 11 in council chambers beginning at 9:00am.

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The fitness room side of Queens Place is a potential site for a new outdoor pool. Photo Ed Halverson

Support for an indoor pool in Queens is growing.

At the Jan 24 Region of Queens Council meeting held in Brooklyn several people stood to say they would like to tie the construction of an indoor pool to the build of a new library.

The Region has received an anonymous donation, alleged to be worth $3 million to be used for the construction of an outdoor pool.

One of the proponents of an indoor pool, Kristopher Snarby says pooling that with the $3 million council has set aside for the new library would give the municipality around $6 million which they could use to leverage matching contributions from provincial and federal levels of government for a total of up to $18 million.

“But maybe they would each cough up $6 million, which does happen for certain projects where they cost share a third, a third, a third. So, part of it was like, why haven’t we even asked those questions?” wonders Snarby. “Why aren’t we rallying to try to get other levels of government to help support these projects?”

Mayor Darlene Norman says she is a huge fan of indoor pools as she put herself through university working at one.

She understands the health benefits and the community’s desire to have such a facility but questions the long-term affordability of operating an indoor pool.

It’s a discussion she had recently with the mayor of the Municipality of the District of Lunenburg about their own pool, the Lunenburg County Lifestyle Centre (LCLC) which they operate in partnership with the Town of Bridgewater.

Mayor Norman says as Nova Scotia looks to double its population over the next 40 years the move will be to regionalize services and with the LCLC, Queens has access to a pool 35 minutes up the road.

“We should be helping support the LCLC,” said Norman. “And I believe that as a regional government what we could do is we could talk with Queens County Transit, we could talk with the LCLC, we could see if we could offer subsidized to say swimming lessons and transportation throughout the winter months.”

Snarby says he understands the Region has a couple of million dollars set aside to assist in the development of the outdoor pool and that money could be the start of an ongoing fund to mitigate long-term operational losses.

“And my point was like, if we can fund the building through the federal and provincial government, take that two and a half million dollars to start an operating nest egg and then start building this fund in the next four to five years, which is probably how long it would take to build the facility,” said Snarby.

He is aware assessed home values are going up over the next couple of years which will mean increased revenue for the municipality.

Snarby suggests shifting some of that excess to the operating fund then combing the community to try and raise another $4-5 million while construction takes place over the next few years.

But it’s talk like that that raises concerns for Norman around how long it could take to see a combined indoor pool/library built.

It’s widely acknowledged the existing Milton pool is on its last legs and the Rossignol Centre which houses the Thomas Raddall Library is up for sale, putting the library’s future in jeopardy as well.

Norman is concerned any delay in the construction of either a new library or outdoor pool could leave the area without either service.

“It is my viewpoint that the longer we drag on this the longer we will be without pool facilities and the people in this county, the 10,000 people in this county cannot afford to own and operate a large indoor year-round pool,” said Norman.

Snarby says while the area could be without a pool for a short time, it could be worth it if the community gets the indoor pool they’ve been talking about for the last 40 years.

“Do you rush and say afterwards, oh shoot, we should have done it differently or do you wait and do it right and I don’t know the answer to that,” said Snarby. “It’s a question the community has to decide.”

Norman says the Region will speak with the provincial and federal governments to find out if they’re interested in funding an indoor pool.

In the meantime, council will be voting on motions suggested by the outdoor pool committee at upcoming meeting.

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Region of Queens Council listens to public comment in Brooklyn during the Jan 24 meeting. Screen shot from Region of Queens YouTube video.

Region of Queens council took the show on the road, holding the last meeting in January at the Brooklyn Community Hall.

A large number of residents came out to voice their support during the public comment section for building an indoor pool instead of the outdoor pool currently in the planning stages.

The proposal was made to take the money donated by an anonymous benefactor and combine it with the money the municipality has earmarked for the construction of a new library.

The proponents expected that would account for almost $6 million.

The group would like to see the province and federal governments each contribute matching funding to bring the total amount to $18 million and build the new library and pool at Queens Place.

At this point there is no formal plan or budget to determine if $18 million is even enough to get the desired outcome.

They’ll be more on this story in the coming days.

Once the meeting commenced there were two recommendations for council to consider.

First, council approved a $236,000 grant to the Liverpool Curling Club for the installation of solar panels and the construction of an accessible entrance.

The cost of the grant will be covered by a recent donation made to the Region by the J & W Murphy Foundation for the purpose of directing it towards civic improvement projects.

Mayor Darlene Norman says the club has invested approximately $750,000 in upgrades over the past year without any ask from the Region.

Considering the community benefit the club brings for events extending far beyond curling council was glad to provide them with the help they’ve requested.

“The curling club has proven their ability to move forward on their projects,” said Norman. “They’re very successful, dedicated, hard group of workers. And of the many projects that are within Queens County this place has a definite positive impact on our Main Street Liverpool. You know it’s three-minute walk from there, this is the type of thing that we can support at no burden to the taxpayer and at the same time be helping that Main Street area as well as social, physical, forwardness from our people.”

Council also approved the second recommendation to install a new uninterruptible power supply (UPS) in the Liverpool Business Development Centre, home to the area’s largest call centre.

The new unit will replace one that has been in operation for 20 years but has reached its end of life.

Council awarded a tender to Universal Power Solutions to install the new UPS at a cost of $114,950 plus HST.

Council then heard an update from Public Works detailing the projects they are currently involved in across the municipality before turning their discussion once again to the subject of a pool.

Deputy Mayor Jack Fancy spoke as a member of the pool committee to ask that council review the recommendations previously brought forward by the committee.

The committee has proposed a site at Queens Place, the use of solar power, a pool design that features a gradual sloped entrance or “zero entry” accessible side and six lane and they’re asking to be able to apply for grants on the Region’s behalf to secure more outside funding.

The committee’s recommendations will come before council at a future meeting for discussion and a vote.

Council will return to chambers for the next meeting to be held on Valentines Day, February 14 beginning at 9:00am.

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Potential site of the new Queens outdoor pool. Photo Ed Halverson

With a goal of opening in Spring of 2025 the Queens Pool Committee have a lot of work ahead of them.

They hit the ground running in the last month.

Comprised of two council members, two members of Queens Community Aquatic Society and two members of the community who are pool users, the committee recently received a mandate to provide Region of Queens council with information and recommendations on the construction of a new outdoor pool.

They presented the first of those recommendations along with a proposed plan of action to council at the Jan 10 meeting.

Chief among those is where to build.

Committee Chair Deborah Herman-Spartinelli says Queens Place is the obvious choice for the new outdoor pool for many reasons.

“You’re talking about a facility that already has a huge lobby with a desk already there right by where you’d walk out to the pool. So, they can do the same thing you do with a card when you belong to the fitness centre. They can swipe it and go through and go right through to the pool and then the change rooms will be out there,” said Herman-Spartinelli.

“Plus you’re talking about costs too because you can share part of the wall of the [Queens Place] Emera Centre that’s already there, you can share the roof for solar panels and any air handling systems or anything that has to be done can be put on the roof.”

The group is proposing to build the pool alongside the fitness centre side of Queens Place.

They recommend a 6-lane, Olympic length as well as a side beach entrance with a gradual slope into the water which would be more accessible for children and anyone with mobility issues.

Herman-Spartinelli says new change rooms, separate from the ones used for the gym will be required to provide a wet-change area.

She says the location of the pool allows all the necessary mechanical equipment and potential solar power to be placed close to where it is needed.

Herman-Spartinelli says the committee is keen to use solar power so the pool can be built to a net-zero standard.

“To me it’s a no-brainer. If you’re going to build a pool for a region you should be putting solar in. It’s the best way to heat water,” said Herman-Spartinelli.

All of the recommendations and designs from the committee need to be approved by Region of Queens council before municipal staff issue tenders.

An anonymous donor is putting up the money to build the new outdoor pool in Queens.

The pool will be built with private funds then owned, maintained, and operated by the Region of Queens once construction is complete.

Herman-Spartinelli says the donor would like to see the pool in operation by the spring of 2025 and if all goes to plan, they should be able to meet that timeline.

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photo Ed Halverson

Region of Queens council discussed proposed electoral district boundary changes and decided to formalize their  agreement with donors to build a new outdoor pool.

The evening meeting started with a minute of silence in recognition of Truth and Reconciliation Day on Friday.

Council then passed two items that were discussed at previous meetings: a policy for tree maintenance on municipally owned land and choosing which roads would be submitted for upgrade under a provincial cost-sharing plan.

The Region will go 50/50 with the province on whichever road the province determines they will upgrade out of a list of four roads prioritized by the municipality.

In order they are College Street from Shore Road to Pleasant Avenue, Roxbury Road, Oliver Street and Fostertown Road.

The province will decide if work will be done on any or all of those ahead of the release of next year’s provincial budget.

The bulk of the meeting was taken up with a discussion around realigning the electoral districts within the municipality.

Every municipality in the province must review their districts and number of representatives every ten years to ensure the appropriate number of councillors are representing an equal number of residents.

Following public consultation and a staff report, council decided the preferred option was to keep one mayor and seven councillors but that the number of councillors representing portions of the former Town of Liverpool would be reduced from three to two.

Mayor Darlene Norman says council felt it was a matter of fairness.

“The majority of councillors believed that it’s misrepresentation, from the public’s view, when you have three councillors representing the town.”

Norman says council recognizes that some of the districts are still geographically quite large but the review dictates it’s the number of voters to be represented within each district which must be considered and not necessarily the size of the area a councillor would have to travel.

A final recommendation on the electoral boundary review will come before council at their next meeting.

Following the in-camera portion of the meeting Norman says council accepted a recommendation to enter into an agreement with Holly Murphy and Michael Murphy for the construction of an outdoor community pool.

“Part of the agreement with the very generous donors is that the terms of this agreement remain confidential as well as their gift amount,” said Norman.

The mayor says timelines and budget decisions around the construction will be made public as the project goes forward.

She’s optimistic the pool will be ready sometime in 2024.

The next council meeting will be held October 11 at 9:00am in council chambers.

E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
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