Quinte West Council Briefs: Cancelled July events, COVID-19 costs and more

Council cancels all public events through end of July

Quinte West City Council has decided to cancel all events on city property through to the end of July, due to ongoing social distancing and other COVID-19 related limitations.

The decision impacts some big annual events including the Downtown Trenton Festival on the Bay, Kiwanis Street Dance, organized Quinte West sports leagues and more.

Mayor Jim Harrison says while a blanket decision has been made, other events could be reconsidered, as long as they meet provincial COVID-19 guidelines.

He says they continue to be hopeful that some events can be held later this year.

Other cancelled events include the Chamber of Commerce Island Queen Boat Cruises, Art in the Park, Sunday Night Cruise Car Shows and the Summer Concert Series.

Staff outline revenue losses due to COVID-19

Quinte West Councillors have been updated on just how much the city response to COVID-19 is costing.

A report from Director of Corporate and Financial Services David Clazie outlined a number of areas where the city is losing money including loss of bank interest, the waiving of late fees for water and tax bills, loss of bag tag revenues and more.

It estimates that through to the end of June, the pandemic response will cost around $540,000 in taxpayer supported costs, plus another $41,000 in municipal enterprise costs.

The total taxpayer supported cost number balloons to $885,000, plus the $41,000 in municipal enterprise costs when forecast to the end of the year.

You can read the full report by clicking here.

Quinte West to establish Economic Recovery Task Force

Quinte West Council has given the “OK” to an Economic Recovery Plan and task force.

The plan includes immediate, mid-term and long term goals to help local businesses recover from the adversity faced during the COVID-19 pandemic and would be executed through the leadership of the Economic Recovery Task Force.

The task force will be chaired by Mayor Jim Harrison and will include councillors Kotsovos and Dewitt, plus two members from the Economic Development and Tourism Advisory Committee, one representative from each of the various business sectors and representatives from other tourism and economic development groups.

It was also suggested that one representative each from Loyalist College and CFB Trenton be added as well.

You can read the full report by clicking here.

Final phase of Orchard Lane development approved

The final phase of a large subdivision near Wooler and Telephone roads in Quinte West has been given the go ahead.

Council approved construction of phase five of the Orchard Lane Subdivision during a virtual meeting on Tuesday.

The final phase includes 47 new single family homes and once completed, will bring the total number of houses in the development to 225.

Director of Public Works and Environmental Services Chris Angelo says a pre-servicing agreement was completed with the developer and initial infrastructure for phase five is already complete.