Rebecca Sweetman addresses the committee of the whole on the need for a Picton Farmer’s Market to be set up in the former Fire Hall portion of the Town Hall on Tuesday September 19, 2017. Also pictured Dodie Ellenbogen, National Farm Union representative. (Photo: Nicole Kleinsteuber / Quinte News)
Despite public outcry, the County is moving towards having a historical building in Picton’s downtown core listed for potential sale through a request for proposal process.
At a special committee of the whole meeting Tuesday night, residents and interest groups packed Shire Hall to voice their concerns about the possibility of Picton’s Town Hall being sold to a private investor. Twenty non-profit, education and community organizations utilized the upstairs of the 2 Ross Street location for meeting, creative and community space such as Food Not Bombs, that provides free community meals, the Bridge Club, Pipes and Drums classes, Karate, Ti Chi, and the creative collective.
“The town hall belongs to the people of the County,” said Christine Renaud spokeswoman for Food Not Bombs.
“It’s the glue that holds the community together,” stated Leslie Smail-Persaud. She spoke to how the land was donated to the County in 1866 by Col. Walter Ross on the premise that it would be a Farmers’ Market.
It’s a project that Rebecca Sweetman has been trying to get off the ground for months as she feels the vacant lower level that was once the Fire Hall would serve as the ideal market. She told the committee that if the idea was approved she has 70 potential vendors lined up adding this would honour Col. Ross’ wishes.
Many more concerns surrounded whether or not the community groups would survive if they were forced out. Others spoke to how Greg Sorbara (owner of the Royal Hotel project) recently announced he would like to make a bid to purchase the building and keep the upstairs as a meeting hall.
This idea doesn’t sit well with County resident and agricultural worker Rosalind Adams who moved the audience to a standing ovation with her words on the need for an inclusive community.
“There is vast inequality in the County and the people who hold the balance of social and economic power do not value inclusivity,” Adams said. “In fact it is a point of pride among them to value the opposite … the mode of development being pursued in the County in the name of prosperity is ‘Come here and spend as much money and make as much profit as you possibly can.’ But there is never any recognition given to the fact that only a tiny fraction of the population, the wealthy elite can actually do that. If they are encouraged in this behaviour and allowed to carry on without any limits, as they are in the County, they end up with everything: All the wealth, all the land, all the housing, all the ownership and control of all the assets of the community. And the rest of us, the invisible, excluded majority, end up with nothing.”
Mayor Robert Quaiff admitted he knew there was the potential for this matter ‘to be hard on the community.’ He pointed to the many infrastructure woes the County is currently tackling. He is not opposed to the building becoming a public/private partnership.
“We have offers out there from business people that may be interested in purchasing the building and letting the status quo remain in the upstairs,” Quaiff said in an interview. “We are way too far in debt in this municipality and we continue to keep borrowing. With a population of seniors at 63 per cent, it’s hard to keep justifying tax increases at significant proportions. We need to remain cognizant that we have financial obligations to the entire municipality.”
Financial records for 2016 show Fire Hall expenses totaling $18,719 and the Town Hall at $51,960. With the annual revenue sitting at $6,223, the town hall is showing an operating deficit of $64,456, considerably higher than the 2015 operating loss of $37,943.
Picton councillor Lenny Epstein who has been working with the interest groups said he remains hopeful that there is still going to be a time period for the RPF that will give interest groups enough time to put forward a viable proposal.
“I would like to see more groups come into the conversation,” Epstein told Quinte News in an interview. “I hope Mr. Sorbara will come to the table and then we will have him come along and see the cornerstone of the neighbourhood that he is trying to create.”
The matter still has to come back to council for final approval.
