Timmins city council will receive an update tonight on a major agricultural project for the region. It is the only regular council meeting scheduled for July. Deputy Mayor Kristen Murray will chair the meeting. The agenda includes:
• A presentation by Nadia Piccotti, project support for the Commerce Management Group of the Claybelt Agricultural Project. The project, under the Northeast Community Network, aims to recognize and find ways to establish agriculture as a third pillar in the region’s economy. The region has been identified as having the necessary conditions for agriculture to flourish.
• Following a request by South Porcupine residents, council is considering a traffic bylaw to implement changes near Roland Michener Secondary School. If passed, the bylaw would expand the 40 km/hr speed limit zone near the school and create a no-parking zone on the east side of Legion Drive from Shamrock Street to Powell Avenue.
• A staff report is recommending further parking restrictions on Ross Avenue, east of Pine Street. Ross Street and Jubilee Avenue are being changed to accommodate bicycle lanes by narrowing traffic from two lanes each way to one lane and creating a centre turning lane. While there is room for the change in lanes, staff say parking restrictions are necessary to make the plan work.
• A noise bylaw exemption for the Rock on the River concerts being held in Hollinger Park on July 22 and 23. The exemption would extend the timeframe for allowable noise past 11 p.m. until 1 a.m.
• A resolution to allocate funds from the city’s Municipal Accommodation Tax collected in 2021. The MAT tax is four per cent charge to visitors on accommodations at hotels, motels, lodges, inns, bed and breakfasts or other units for a period of less than 40 days.
• A bylaw amendment to ban smoking on Timmins Public Library property. This will include all buildings, parking lots and sidewalks leading to library property at both branch locations.
• A possible delegation concerning the issue of rural roads. Council requires a two-thirds majority in order to add the delegation to the agenda. The subject concerns a request to extend road services to Cunningham Road, which the city currently considers a private driveway. None of the items have been approved. The meeting begins at 6 p.m. in the council chambers at Timmins City Hall. The full agenda is available here.
Watch the meeting live here.
