Waste contract extended to 2030
“If I’m sitting on a house that’s worth $600,000 versus a house that’s worth $200,000, why am I paying four times the price?” Mayor Trina Jones queried. “We’ve got to look at what makes sense and then pull that out of the property tax. Property tax gets reduced accordingly, and then you’ll get the bill, and everybody will pay the same fair share.”
During Woodstock’s Town Council meeting on April 14, CAO Allan Walker gave an update on the progress they’ve made towards changes to the municipality’s waste disposal. In his update, he said that the municipalities of Woodstock, Hartland, and the District of Carleton North have been working together to standardize waste collection across all areas to help reduce costs.
They’ve extended their contracts with JS Bellis to December 31, 2030, and increased solid waste pickup frequency from three times per month to once per week, as well as recycling pickup from once a month to every other week, beginning in September of this year.
Two of the three communities will switch to standardized 240-litre bins provided by the town, replacing roadside bins, individual bags, non-standard bin sizes, and the unlimited garbage pickup currently in place. This will help prepare for once they switch to automated armed trucks in May 2027, which will reduce costs for the town.
“It reduces the annual increase from the existing contract of 4 per cent to 3.5 per cent and positions the town for future introduction of organic waste collection,” explained Walker.
The municipalities are working on a communications plan they will roll out in the upcoming months, as well as developing a revised waste collection and disposal bylaw.
“This has been a huge collaboration of three municipalities, and it’s a massive step forward together,” said Mayor Jones.
Jones suggested that now was a good time to look into changing how municipalities bill for solid waste disposal. Currently, the cost is incorporated into property taxes. She said that moving it into a separate billing system, similar to what is done for water and utilities, would be fairer and allow for more flexibility in the future. Households that require more garbage picked up every week could pay for an extra bin removal, while someone who didn’t need more picked up wouldn’t have to pay for more than they needed.
“It’s going to be hard to be perfect,” said Walker. “The goal is to get a lot more fair than we are today. To get closer to the cost for usage.”
Council agreed to instruct the CAO to look into the cost and options for separate billing, with the objective of completing the research and discussions in time to make a decision by the next budget season in the fall.
Connell Park revitalization
“There’s been a lot of interest, there’s a lot of needs, there’s a lot of groups that want upgrades, they want new things, and at this point, there’s really been a lack of a consistent, concise plan,” Mayor Trina Jones said. “So the council made the decision a while ago; before we keep moving things and adding things, let’s get an expert at the table, do the study, do some consultation with stakeholders, the general public and put together a plan. Because in order for us to go after big funding, we have to have a plan.”
The Glen Group was hired to do a revitalization study for the AYR Motor Centre, public park and surrounding area. They were tasked with reviewing a feasibility study for a long-term 5 to 10-year plan. Four options were presented at the Town Council meeting on April 14.
“Obviously, this is an extensive undertaking, but it’s a long-term plan. We’re not looking to do all this overnight,” said Mayor Jones. “We really wanted to have this plan come to the public so we can get working on it and get the Glen Group moving forward to the next stage.”
Option one involved relocating the beach volleyball courts, skate park and dog park. It also incorporated new washrooms, storage and canteen in place of the showroom, shared washrooms with the golf course, agricultural learning space, an additional ball field, extended the Jeff Clark field, general field upgrades, additional batting cage, eight-lane rubber athletics track, a synthetic soccer field, an accessible playground, terrace embankment, sliding hill, improved parking, a screened loading zone, resurfaced basketball court, additional cross walk and expanded trail network.
Option two suggested relocating the Bobby Veil outdoor rink, additional barn, more parking, a dome facility, a pond and skating track, a small parkland area and a reforested campground extension.
Option three involved repurposing the campground area to make way for an eight-lane crusher-dust athletic track, as well as planning for more parking, a cricket field, a dome facility, a pond, a skating track, and a larger parkland area.
Option four was the most dramatic proposal. In it, they suggested diverting Connell Park Road to the area behind the current park. It suggested repurposing both the campground and the driving club areas, adding additional parking, upgraded stables for agricultural learning, an eight-lane rubber athletic track, a synthetic soccer field, a cricket field, event space, a dome facility, a sliding hill, two additional crosswalks and better-connected trails.
Council quickly agreed that they weren’t interested in getting rid of either the campground or the racetrack. They decided to remove option four from consideration entirely and would suggest that the Glen Group change option three to reestablish the campground area.
Council agreed to send their feedback to the Glen Group and request that the first three options be cleaned up accordingly in preparation for public consultation.
“There’s a lot of good ideas there,” said councillor Jeff Bradbury. “It looks good, and I want most of it, but this is a decision that the community has to make together.”
No cost estimates were provided with the proposals, and the survey was sent to residents without a cost analysis for each option.
Downtown water revitalization study
During the council meeting, they brought forward a plan to award the Glen Group a revitalization study of the downtown area, with a focus on the waterfront, as recommended by the Community Services Development Committee. The cost was set at $57,592.50, excluding HST, and was committed to start in May and finish by July.
The mayor pointed out that one of the benefits of doing it this early in the year is that it would allow for potential funding opportunities to pursue some projects down there this year. Jones has been encouraged by the level of interest she’s seen in the area and wants to continue building momentum in downtown’s growth.
Councillor Julie Calhoun-Goodridge explained that the Glen Group was responsible for designing a gathering space with integrated bathrooms into the stage in Saint John. She’s impressed with the work the company has done on the Connell Park project so far and feels they are the right fit for helping plan downtown as well.
Both the mayor and councillor Calhoun-Goodridge expressed interest in establishing infrastructure to make events like Canada Day celebrations and the Dooryards Arts Festival more successful, as well as supporting downtown businesses by encouraging increased foot traffic in the area.
“The reality is, sooner or later, we would love to see a stage down there. We would love to see bathrooms down there. My worry is if we don’t do the study, we might put them in the wrong spot, and when you’re talking about plumbing and all that kind of infrastructure, you don’t want to put it in the wrong spot,” said Calhoun-Goodridge.
Councillor Jeff Bradbury stated that, as much as he hates spending the money, he agrees that the downtown needs some work.
Councillor Calhoun-Goodridge explained that the BIA reported that six new businesses have opened up downtown in the last three months.
“So we’ve got to give them a reason to stay,” said councillor Bradbury.
“I’m all for supporting people,” responded Deputy Mayor Mark Rogers. “But we’ve spent $50,000 on the active transportation study, four years ago, and we still haven’t broken ground on a path or sidewalk or whatever on Deacon Drive. I know there are plans to do it, but the bottom line is four years later we still haven’t done it. And we spent money on the Connell Park Revitalization study and we have four plans and now we’re going back through all that, we’re going to work with the public and we’ll sooner or later pick something, whether we’re the ones around this table or not,” continued Rogers. “So if we spend another $50,000 on a study for the downtown, which there is a study that was done seven or eight years ago. That was a study done that had absolutely nothing done, according to that study. I don’t know what that cost, but that was another study done and we [the town] have done nothing.”
Councillor Rogers suggested that instead of spending the money already set aside for the study, they should go straight to getting a design for a stage and washrooms started and focus on getting that project off the ground.
The mayor and Councillor Calhoun-Goodridge explained that the old study wasn’t done to the scope of this new study and didn’t cover the same infrastructure they want to build this time. Mayor Jones said the downtown deserves the same level of consideration as they’ve been giving to Connell Park, and she felt the Glen Group, working on both projects, was the best way to ensure that.
“The sad reality is we need these things in order to get funding for these projects,” said Jones.
The motion carried with only Rogers voting against it.
