Christmas Tree Pickup

If you have a “real” Christmas tree, it will eventually need to be disposed of. The Town of Cobourg (not the County) provides this service starting January 8, 2018. So if you have a Christmas tree to be disposed of, put it out on the curbside the night of January 7 and sometime in that week, a Cobourg Works department truck will come by and run your tree through their chipper. The Town’s announcement says: Citizens are asked to place trees on the curbside the night prior to pick up, to not wrap trees in plastic and to remove all nails, metal, ornaments, tree stands and tinsel from the trees. Please also be advised that weather conditions may delay pick… Read complete articleChristmas Tree Pickup

Predictions for 2018

There are a number of “unfinished” projects in Cobourg.  Some will be mentioned in the Mayor’s speech at the Levee on New Years’ Day (2:00 pm in Victoria Hall) but some won’t.  In addition, 2018 is an election year for Council and that will mean more attention to some of the projects plus uncertainty with potentially new councillors.  My predictions are not simply a guessing game but more an extrapolation of what’s in the pipeline for the Council plus knowing what’s coming in other areas.  But don’t take my predictions as gospel, remember that they are based on the way things are going now – and that could change. And since no-one can truly know the future, I’m sure my… Read complete articlePredictions for 2018

Review of 2017 News

By the time we are ready for a New Year, it’s easy to forget what happened in the year just gone.  This applies to personal events but also to what happened in Cobourg.  Since this is a news site, I will review 21 news events that were significant in 2017.  Links are provided to one or more articles on the subject but in some cases (e.g. the Waterfront study) there were more articles.  To access them, use search or the links in the side panel under Related News Items. Updates to some events are provided where relevant and known. January 14   At 5:50am on Jan 14, a man walked into the Petro Canada Gas Station on Division Street, brandished a… Read complete articleReview of 2017 News

Rental Apartments in Cobourg

According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), the vacancy rate in Cobourg for rental apartments is 1.3%, up from 0.5% last year.  These numbers are for October in each year.  The average rent for a 2 Bedroom apartment was $1,063 – up from $1,011 in October 2017.  Although cheaper than Toronto, it’s not as much different as the cost of buying a house.  CMHC also reports on the number of apartments and the number of houses being built.  In October 2017, Cobourg had 31 bachelor apartments, 250 1 bedroom, 589 2 bedroom and 61 3 or more bedroom apartments for a total of 931, up from 920 a year earlier.  Note that these numbers exclude “row” houses.  The tables… Read complete articleRental Apartments in Cobourg

Update on Cobourg’s Marijuana Facility

FV Pharma Inc., the new owner of the Kraft property who plans to build the “the largest indoor cannabis cultivation facility in the world”, now has financial backing from Cannabis Wheaton Income Corp.  This is a group of “entrepreneurs with a passion for the cannabis industry — past, present and future”.  They provide financial support and share their collective industry experience. Wheaton has announced they have signed a letter of intent and although they will get “a 49.9% stream of all cannabis”, they did not announce how much money was involved. The agreement is subject to “FV Pharma receiving the necessary licenses”.  Also announced were some additional details. Details of Project Existing building is 620,000 square feet Upon completion of… Read complete articleUpdate on Cobourg’s Marijuana Facility

Improved Emergency response on 401

The section of the 401 between Port Hope and Brighton has always seemed to me to be accident prone and that was the section selected for a pilot project to improve the response of Emergency vehicles – especially the Fire Department and Paramedics.  The problem has been that in 2015 and 2016 more than 20 per cent of the calls received by fire departments across Northumberland County regarding Highway 401 emergencies resulted in no emergency situation being found, often because inaccurate information was given to 9-1-1 operators.  But Cobourg Deputy Fire Chief Gene Thompson led a project to install distance markers every 0.5 kilometres in this stretch and since then, no false calls have occurred. Cooperating in the project were… Read complete articleImproved Emergency response on 401

Merry Christmas – 2017

Cobourg Internet started in November 2004 as a Retirement project and in July 2013, Cobourg News started reporting News about Cobourg.  In November 2013, a subscription list was started that provided regular updates to anyone interested. That list now has over 700 subscribers.  In September 2017, it migrated to a new platform. I’d like to wish everyone who visits the site a Merry Christmas and a Great New Year and my heartfelt thanks go to all the people who have expressed appreciation of the service provided. Below you will find some Christmas information and a neat video. Cobourg Christmas Information – 2017. The Mall will be open Sat. Dec. 23 until 8:00 pm and early Sunday Dec. 24 @ 8:30… Read complete articleMerry Christmas – 2017

Municipal Tax Refunds

In the budget setting process for 2017, Cobourg learned that several large corporations had appealed their taxes across Ontario and had been granted refunds and that the impact on Cobourg’s budget would be about $600K.  There are other reasons for tax “refunds” so the budget was set at $800K for 2017.  But the total so far to date is $1,050K.  One of the controversial reasons for tax refunds is the vacancy rebate mandated by the Province but this was only $340K for Cobourg in 2017 and of this only $48K was for Downtown properties.  The decision on vacancy rebates has now been passed back to Municipalities and the County is currently reviewing the situation.  During 2017, Treasurer Ian Davey provided… Read complete articleMunicipal Tax Refunds

Venture 13 – Progress

With an aggressive schedule, the contractor for the Venture 13 project (Dalren) has started work and the expected move in date is on track for April 2018.  One of the groups occupying space in the new Building will be Makers Northumberland and they got a boost today with a $30,000 loan for start-up costs and equipment outfitting for the MakerLab.  That’s a 40ft x 23ft space set up to allow prototyping, custom manufacturing, 3D printing etc. – it’s a microfactory for hardware startups. The money will be supplied by Northumberland CFDC which is funded by the Federal Government so both CFDC’s Wendy Curtis and MP Kim Rudd were at the announcement this morning.  Also at the announcement were Mayor Gil Brocanier,… Read complete articleVenture 13 – Progress

County Budget for 2018

At the County Council meeting today (Wednesday December 13), Hamilton Township Mayor Mark Lovshin was elected as the new Warden since Mark Walas has completed his term. This is Mark Lovshin’s second term in this position. A major item for Mark and his council will be approval of the budget for 2018. There are two major differences between the County budget and the budget for the Town of Cobourg: 1) The budget is presented to Council before the start of the year instead of late January and 2) there was only one “open house” and that was to discuss budget processes with taxpayers (11 residents came to it). Budget details (numbers) were not discussed although they are made available online after… Read complete articleCounty Budget for 2018