CARLETON PLACE – Carleton Place is putting a moratorium on stacked townhouses, apartments, triplex and quadplex units for the next year as it decides the best locations in town for multi-family units.

On Tuesday night (May 14), Carleton Place council passed an Interim Control By-law to prevent the development of these units quadplex units in established neighbourhoods in town, for a period of one year to allow a study to be undertaken to review where these types of units should be permitted. The Interim Control By-law is a tool under the Planning Act which allows councils to put a temporary freeze on some land uses while the municipality is studying or reviewing its policies.

The Building Department received approval to change its software it uses from FirePro to CGIS.

“This change will modernize the department and increase staff efficiency both in the field and office with the overall benefit of increasing customer satisfaction and allow for consistency in record keeping,” town staff released in a statement May 14. “Staff will have the ability to review information in the field by tablet allowing them to leave confidential official record paper files at town hall.“

The cost of the project is $9,800 which will be taken from Building Department reserves.

 Carleton Place was allocated an $312,426 in funding from the Federal Gas Tax Program. Council approved a motion to use the money to fund a portion of the Gilles Bridge project in 2019 thereby reducing long term debt costs associated with this project. The rehabilitation of the Gillies Bridge was based on prior inspections which must be completed every two years. This work is required to be completed in advance of works on the Central Bridge project.

$613,457 was allocated to Carleton Place from the Province of Ontario for improving service delivery and/or reducing ongoing cost. The town will use a small portion of this funding to change from using standard Bell phone services to using a voice-over-Internet solution. The town already has the necessary Internet services in place and all current phone numbers and extensions can be maintained. One traditional phone line will remain at each building to ensure telephone availability in the event of an emergency. New handsets and equipment will be purchased at a cost of $15,000.

“The ongoing savings of $1,200 on monthly bills will cover the initial setup cost in just over one year,” staff said.

The first intake of Community Enrichment grants was approved with $18,910.67 going to support a variety of community groups and organizations with their special events and programs. The majority of applications received requested support for in-kind services, facilities rentals and staff time. The program has annual funding of $30,000.

$11,089.33 will be brought forward for applications submitted during the second intake which has an Aug. 31 deadline.

Carleton Place will be partnering with the Lanark Transportation Association to participate in a pilot project called Ride the LT which will provide transportation services to residents within the community on specified days to undertake shopping, banking and errands within town.

“During the pilot phase, there is no direct cost to the town and the program will be funded under the LTA umbrella via its Gas Tax Funding,” staff said. “Staff will work with LTA to determine logistics for the Carleton Place program and will advertise the information when it is finalized.”

The Town of Carleton Place is looking to open a new Seniors’ Centre in the Old Train Station on Coleman Street this fall and is seeking input in regards to seniors’ programming and wellness ideas.  Seniors’ wellness encompasses physical health – fitness and nutrition, education and classes, mental health and socializing with peers –open drop in times, card games and dining programs. 

“Please take a few minutes to answer our survey so that we can get a sense of what programs you have done in the past, what you would like to see in future programming and what kind of programming you would be interested in taking,” staff said.