{"id":616,"date":"2012-02-14T19:30:31","date_gmt":"2012-02-15T00:30:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ianchadwick.com\/blog\/?p=616"},"modified":"2012-02-14T19:30:31","modified_gmt":"2012-02-15T00:30:31","slug":"what-shall-we-do-with-the-mountain-view","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ianchadwick.com\/blog\/what-shall-we-do-with-the-mountain-view\/","title":{"rendered":"What Shall We Do With the Mountain View?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"GlobeHere’s a new song for Collingwood, sung to the tune of What Shall We Do With the Drunken Sailor?<\/em><\/p>\n

Unbeknownst to council, the town wants to own the Mountain View Hotel<\/a> for $1.9 million. This little-known fact appeared in the 600-plus page budget document without any fanfare. or even any other sort of notice. You’d have to dig through page after page of mind-numbing arrays of figures to find it. <\/p>\n

Normally, when the municipality wants to buy property, we go in camera to hear a staff report that justifies the purchase and we discuss the legal ramifications of the offer. This is done behind closed doors to prevent the potential seller from raising the price, and to prevent competitive bidders from becoming aware, so the property can be bought, then flipped at a profit to the municipality. So I wouldn’t be able discuss it under those circumstances.<\/p>\n

This time, however, it’s public, part of the proposed budget. Everyone is able to hear about it before we make any move. Page 364 of the budget reads,<\/p>\n

This project is for the completion of the First Street (Hwy 26 Connecting Link) at the Hurontario Intersection. Purchase and removal of Mountainview Hotel, Brownfield restoration and construction of the five lane section as per the First Street design.
\nThis project is subject to MTO funding and successful agreement to purchase the Mountainview Hotel. The project will not proceed without prior funding approval of MTO<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I don’t see a lot of “restoration” in this proposal, however.<\/p>\n

\"GlobeOdd thing, that process. Not at all expected. Council never had the opportunity to have a say in the matter before this and it wasn’t identified in our recent strategic planning sessions. During the early budget debate I said the process was flawed: first<\/em> council should decide if it wants to own the building, then what to do with it, and only after<\/em> that discussion should we be discussing how much it will cost.<\/p>\n

And, I added, it should involve the public in the process. <\/p>\n

The Mountain View is the former Globe Hotel<\/a>, one of Collingwood’s oldest hotels, built in the mid-1800s<\/a>, just after the town was incorporated. It had one of the most beautiful interiors – stunning woodwork and banisters – in the region. I’m told some of that that woodwork was removed for use in a private home when the hotel was closed. The first pavement sidewalk was laid in front of the Globe. Quite a lot of history in that old building.<\/p>\n

The Mountain View was purchased in 2004 from owner John Wheeler, and closed. However, neglect led to internal problems and for a while it looked like it would be demolished<\/a>. The building was not included within the Heritage District boundaries, nor is it designated a heritage building. Why not? I have no idea. I have asked the heritage committee to comment on it.<\/p>\n

The provincial Ministry of Transport, we’re told, wants to widen Highway 26 at the intersection with Hurontario Street, and add a fifth (turning) lane. That isn’t possible, apparently, without demolishing the building. The MOT has not conveyed that request to council, however. As I understand it, this is part of the long-term plan for Highway 26, presented and approved a couple of councils back. We have been told by staff that the MOT will pay for the purchase through “connecting link” payments to the town.<\/p>\n

In my view, if the MOT wants the road widened, let the MOT buy it. I would not even consider such a purchase without a written request that not only confirms immediate repayment of any costs (including legal, engineering, etc.), but also acknowledges that it is the province<\/em> that wants to demolish one of the oldest buildings in town, not the town. I certainly don’t want the town to be the agency that tears it down.<\/p>\n

In fact, if the town DID buy it, I would move to have it restored and turned into a community arts and cultural centre. Not<\/em> demolished. Based on the brouhaha over the Tremont and Livery buildings (and comments made at last Saturday’s open budget session<\/a>), I would suggest the public would not look favourably on the town demolishing it.<\/p>\n

\"GlobeEven if the town gets the money back, the cost (almost $2 million) would probably be debentured – adding to our debt. Most debentures have to be paid out over the full term, and don’t have early closing clauses. Would the town be on the hook for demolition costs as well? Legal and other costs? I don’t know, but suspect so.<\/p>\n

Once the road is widened, what will the town do with the oddly-shaped piece of land that remains? It will be too small for development, too small for a park. Wait, I know, a commemorative plaque showing a faded photo of the glory that used to be the Globe Hotel. Or sell it, no doubt at a loss.<\/p>\n

As for widening the street: why<\/em>? As I understand it, narrowing is a commonly used method of traffic calming.<\/a> It’s used throughout Europe<\/a> to get drivers to reduce speeds. Isn’t that supposed to be important here,too? It’s mentioned in our active transportation plan<\/a>. The current street design performs the important role of slowing down traffic at a critical intersection, rather than letting drivers race through town unimpeded. Let’s keep it like that.<\/p>\n

The issue will return towards the end of the budget debate. I expect financial considerations will put the proposal on hold, and give council the opportunity to properly discuss it, with, of course, public input.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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Here’s a new song for Collingwood, sung to the tune of What Shall We Do With the Drunken Sailor? Unbeknownst to council, the town wants to own the Mountain View Hotel for $1.9 million. This little-known fact appeared in the 600-plus page budget document without any fanfare. or even any other sort of notice. You’d have to dig through page after page of mind-numbing arrays of figures to find it. Normally, when the municipality wants to buy property, we go in camera to hear a staff report that justifies the purchase and we discuss the legal ramifications of the offer. \u2026…… click below for more \u2193<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,17],"tags":[57,618,44,41,56],"class_list":["post-616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-collingwood","category-urban-design-and-growth","tag-bia","tag-collingwood","tag-downtown","tag-heritage","tag-mountainview"],"a3_pvc":{"activated":true,"total_views":6470,"today_views":0},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ianchadwick.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ianchadwick.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ianchadwick.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ianchadwick.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ianchadwick.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=616"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/ianchadwick.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":642,"href":"https:\/\/ianchadwick.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616\/revisions\/642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ianchadwick.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ianchadwick.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ianchadwick.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}