by Anne Finlay-Stewart, Hub Editor
The deal is sealed, the $10 cheque is cashed, and the old 1853 Courthouse and jail are the property of a private corporation for the first time in 162 years.
The Courthouse was sold once before to a developer in 1985 while the jail was still in use. That deal fell through, and the city made some repairs and leased the building to the Grey Bruce Arts Council, which in turn rented out office space and studios.
Flash forward thirty years. Priorities for the city have changed, and staff and council decisions reflect a different vision.
The timing of the May sale to Southbridge Care Homes is not insignificant. Our sources say that there was a previous offer from Southbridge, during the term of the former city council. It may have been one of the two mentioned by former city manager in a July 2014 radio interview. Presumably it was for more than $10, but that remains in the minutes of an in camera meeting as do the reasons it was not successful.
-by Anne Finlay-Stewart
The old Courthouse, jail and 1.3 acres of land on 3rd Avenue East has been officially sold to the Southbridge Care Homes division of Southbridge Capital for $10, tax included. The sale, announced in mid-May, closed July 30. A staff report on the sale is headed to city council Monday.
The 1853 building has served many purposes over its 162 year life – Courthouse for the County of Grey, the site of the inaugural Owen Sound council meeting, police headquarters, home of the Grey Bruce Arts Council, a performance space, offices and studios. Most recently, the Tom Thomson Art Gallery held a public meeting at which the Courthouse was named as the preferred site of an expanded gallery, made necessary in part by the need to move storage of the collection out of the basement to meet insurance requirements. In their detailed business plan, the Gallery listed the benefits to the city of that site choice beyond the adaptive re-use of the building, including "re-vitalizing a near-core neighbourhood that needs transformation". The City would be left with assets, the plan said - "two saleable properties: the Rice House and the current Art Gallery, together worth considerably more than the asking price for the Courthouse."
In his report on the Courthouse sale prepared for Council, Manager of Economic Development Steve Furness said that while there was no direct financial gain in the sale,
-by Anne Finlay-Stewart
Collectively the city's books of evidence – by-laws, provincial acts, federal regulations and expert credentials – were more than a foot thick. By contrast Dustin McGregor held a folder with a dozen or so pages of notes to which he referred. Two members of the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) had come to Owen Sound council chambers to hear McGregor's appeal of the city's zoning by-laws regarding a proposed medical marijuana facility.
McGregor has no personal stake in the marijuana business in Owen Sound.
He says he is not a smoker nor a grower, and has no medical prescription to use the drug. And he made it very clear that he was not opposing the concept nor the development of the medical marijuana plant being built by Canadian Bioceutical Corporation on the former PPG property in Owen Sound's industrial park.
"On the contrary," McGregor said prior to the hearing, "I have had email exchanges with Scott Boyes [president of Canadian Bioceutical] on a number of occasions, stating that I would withdraw the appeal if it were in any way interfering with the progress of his business."
So what was the reasoning behind McGregor's appeal of Owen Sound's zoning by-law that added marijuana production to the permitted land uses in a few proscribed areas of the city?
Beach water sampling from Tuesday, August 4, at Kelso Beach shows levels exceeding Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care standards for acceptable bacterial levels. As a result, this area will be posted and remain posted until samples indicate that water is safe for bathing.
The Medical Officer of Health advises bathers that high levels of bacteria in the water may pose a risk to their health.
Beach information on our website is updated as conditions change. For more information, please call 519-376-9420 or 1-800-263-3456 or visit www.publichealthgreybruce.on.ca.
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