Mindemoya Old School
Central Manitoulin council accepted the Energy Efficiency Assessment of the Old School and the Planning Considerations Report from Green Economy North/rethink Green. There were several systems that would have to be brought up to snuff if the building is to be used again. These include changes to heating controls, further insulating of walls and the roof, insulating pipes from the one central furnace, an upgrading of windows, or, at least, the use of plastic sealing wrap to cover the interiors, perhaps switching to a new energy star furnace as the one now is working at less than 80 percent efficiency and the installation of a hot water tank. As well, the school building has holes in the basement walls that need to be properly sealed and insulated, the basement floor, deformed from water damage, has to be removed for further study of the area and it is recommended that the lights be replaced with LED units to make a substantial difference in electrical bills.
The Planning Considerations Report summarized the findings by saying that there are financial incentives and funding programs existing to support work to reuse, retrofit or redevelop the Old School building site. The report drew upon documents relevant to the planning context in Central Manitoulin to identify planning tools and funding streams that may be supportive and appropriate for the site. Consultation with a Planner at the Ministry of Municipal Affairs or a Federation of Canadian Municipalities advisor to confirm eligibility in advance of preparing funding applications is recommended.
Council also accepted the minutes of the Mindemoya Old School Repurposing Committee (MOSRC) for January 30.
Old Fire Hall
Council will declare the Old Fire Hall building and land in Mindemoya located at 6287 Hwy 542 as surplus and will advertise ‘For Sale, As Is.’ CAO/Clerk Ruth Frawley stated that as it is fairly expensive to have a professional set an assessment on the building, she will do a study of comparables and come up with a sale price.
Mindemoya Arena
Council has recognized the safety issue caused by vehicles being parked directly in front of the arena. Permission was received from the ministry of Transportation (MTO) to temporarily use orange safety pylons to prohibit parking in this area and the Ministry has placed ‘No Parking’ signs in front of the arena at council’s request.
Council now wanted to direct municipal staff to continue to use the pylons transitionally for the balance of the current Minor Hockey season and to inform the public of the new parking restrictions and to notify the local OPP detachment to begin enforcement of the no parking zone immediately as required.
There was discussion about this amendment with Councillor Dale Scott saying that the OPP cannot randomly ticket cars, they have to hand the ticket to the driver and council would have to pay for surveillance. It was also noted that the signs are not positioned properly and the MTO will have to be contacted about this.
Councillor Baran reminded council that they were talking about perhaps saving the life of a child and reinforced the contacting of the MTO to place the signs where people can see them. The motion was passed without the OPP reference.
