Town delays action on 117 Durham Street

Courtesy of Insauga.com - March 26, 2025

Cobourg council has deferred a decision on development at 117 Durham St.

Cobourg council put aside a motion to rezone 117 Durham St. for residential use and, at its April meeting, voting instead to delay action on the property.

Almost a dozen speakers outlined their concerns at the meeting, and their supporters attending the meeting overflowed council chambers into a downstairs room.

Many of them were members of Canopy Cobourg, a newly formed group to oppose the residential development of this piece of land that formerly served as a playing field for students of CDCI West.

Marie Van Hammond offered some computer-generated pictures of what the area could look like in five years if developed as a natural treasure vs. if developed as a residential development – taking into account the doubling in capacity to 400 units at neighbouring Legion Village.

Shannon Draper of the Cobourg Saxons appealed to have it left for recreational purposes, as it has been an essential space for their club and others.

A Willow Beach Field Naturalists member brought a letter of objection from that organization, noting the flooding risks and vulnerability of the wildlife there.

Katharine Spavins provided some technical details, such as flood risk and low-lying land.

As well, the property lies at the dead end of Durham Street, lined with heritage homes that leave no further room for setback, leaving a 26-ft.-wide road instead of the required 66 ft.

“It's simply not physically possible to bring this road up to safe standards,” Spavins said.

“In an emergency such as a fire in one of the houses, there would be no access out to safety for the cars and vehicles in this proposed development.”

Naturalist and author Richard Pope noted the “almost insuperable problem with flood plains, traffic congestion and the like,” but said the basic problem is that the town is under-parked.

“And the population of the town is going to grow rapidly, and available natural space is not going to grow. Human beings need more natural space for their well-being.”

Pope wondered if some kind of compromise might not be possible, such as looking at “some kind of market opportunity in the north end” that leaves most of the field intact.

In a recent meeting, Mayor Lucas Cleveland referred to “misinformation” circulating in the community about plans for this land without saying what the misinformation is. Councillor Brian Darling offered a clue correcting speaker Alan Levy in his understanding that development contemplated for this land is 250 units – it's closer to 70, Darling said.

Deputy Mayor Nicole Beatty made the motion to defer the decision until such time as the Asset Management Plan can be considered by council, and to direct staff to draft options for a community consultation on future use of this property, while also taking into consideration staff reports and engagement requirements for declaring municipal land surplus.

Her motivation is that there are so many moving parts that – the Asset Management Plan and Parks Master Plan, for example – that need to be in place and lined up before a good decision will be possible.

Resistance was expressed by Councillor Randy Barber and Mayor Lucas Cleveland, who stressed the housing shortage – Cleveland noting that six to seven buses of workers are bused into town daily from as far away as Burlington.

Councillor Miriam Mutton noted that the town already has enough approved land for residential development that it could double its current population.

“This pause, I believe, is one of the smartest decisions to be made, in order to get all the facts together and, as a community, figure out what we want to do,” Councillor Adam Bureau remarked.

“Green space doesn't grow – we only take it away. Why would we rush to do that right now?”