Who is Orillia’s Citizen of the Year for 2017? We will find out Monday night.
The prestigious Citizen of the Year award was originated by The Orillia Packet & Times and had been awarded annually for more than five decades prior to the newspaper’s sudden closure in November. Following the shutdown, city council stepped in and created an ad-hoc committee, invited nominations and then selected the 2017 winner, who will be announced at the start of Monday night’s 7 p.m. meeting at city hall.
When council gets down to business, they will face a lengthy agenda that kicks off with a deputation from some of the primary proponents of Building Hope, a hub facility to be built on Queen Street that will replace the Lighthouse Soup Kitchen and Shelter. The new facility will feature an emergency shelter that will offer primary care, mental health and addiction services for people who are experiencing a housing crisis.
The new shelter will have 40 emergency beds for men, women and youth, two self-contained family units, Canadian Mental Health Association “safe” beds, a “police access” bed, a community kitchen/café in addition to 20 supportive housing units.
Those behind the ambitious initiative will be asking council to forgive a $390,000 loan that was provided to help purchase the property and they are also hoping council will defer development fees for the project.
A completely different form of housing will also be up for consideration as council will consider a draft plan of subdivision for a new townhome and common-elements condominium project at 228 James St., the former site of David H. Church School.
The future of Front Street will also be determined Monday night. In December, council was poised to approve a three-lane, pedestrian-friendly Front Street. However, that decision was postponed to allow the Downtown Orillia Management Board (DOMB) to weigh in on the matter. Last Monday night, the DOMB said its merchants favoured a four-lane road that would provide better access to the downtown and fewer potential traffic issues.
All decisions made at last week’s council committee meeting – including the controversial plan to create a working group to help solve a longstanding impasse between Grape Island residents and Victoria Crescent neighbours and a realignment of waterfront-area streets – must be ratified Monday night.
The full agenda is available at Orillia.ca.
