Collingwood, ON

I was so excited after reading a news release about the old Tremont Hotel building in downtown Collingwood, Ontario, that it was hard to get to sleep.

As I mentioned in another post on the subject, the Tremont building has sat neglected and abandoned since the town purchased it several years ago with the intention of tearing it down for parking. Since the building is located in the Heritage District and is considered to be an exceptional heritage asset, it would have been a horrible shame. Thankfully, the current council stopped to reconsider that decision and ultimately put out a request for proposals to the public.

Recently, Collingwood council accepted a proposal from local residents, Richard and Anke Lex. Rick is a developer and also the current president of the local chapter of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario and a noted heritage proponent within the community. Anke is an artist specializing in gorgeous maiolica pottery. The combination of their skills are a perfect fit for a plan that is an exciting model of combined heritage preservation and environmental sustainability.

According to the media release, "The project involves the preservation, restoration and revitalization of an important designated building in the Collingwood Heritage Conservation District and its adaptive reuse to provide commercial opportunities and live/work space for the creative sector. The building will incorporate sustainable and environmental measures along with heritage preservation. Some of the green energy components that the building will feature include solar PV and solar thermal as well as grey water recycling and heat recovery." I think the concept of live/work units is a fantastic approach that is sure to garner significant interest.

For the town, this plan may also solve the other problem residents have expressed about the lack of parking for the new library being built next door. The Lex's have confirmed that their plan allows the Town of Collingwood to retain over three quarters of the property for parking. The Lex's state that work is to commence this summer and that it will include restoration of the building's 1889 façade.

This is a wonderful example of an adaptive reuse of a heritage building that will have new life in a sustainable fashion. Instead of becoming landfill, this landmark building is now destined toill become a jewel in the downtown core.

Ha! Got ya with that headline! Read on...

Back in September 2007, I wrote about our foray into the world of real estate investment. Hubby and I purchased a condo in Collingwood, Ontario that we rented to a fantastic family and, we are still very happy with our decision. There's more though. One never knows where things can lead and many things have happened since then.

First, I was elected to the board of directors of the condominium corporation last year. It's been a tremendous learning curve but one I am so glad to have taken on. Having book knowledge of the Condominium Act and all of the inner workings of a corporation is quite different than having practical knowledge as I do now. Our little corporation may in fact be one of the more complex ones in the area for a variety of reasons and has therefore exposed me to a very wide range of issues from how parking is enforced to condo budgets, reserve studies, property maintenance and management.

When the condo development was first built, it had a playground for the children but over the years, it fell into disrepair and ultimately, it all but disappeared. Residents have called for its refurbishment for a long time now but money was an obstacle. This week, all that has changed.

At our last annual meeting, we put forward the idea of establishing a task force of residents to put together a business plan. It was astounding to see almost every single person at the meeting step up and volunteer to be on the committee. For the next two months, they worked together. Our own tenant used his engineering skills to pull together a design. The parents of one of our residents donated a swing set and slide. Other people donated time and equipment for land preparation and, a local company donated tires for edging and playing. Before you know it, we had a very workable plan at a relatively minor cost.

This past week-end, we called for volunteers and the turnout was outstanding. From 8 am to 6 pm, residents, property managers, owners and others worked side by side to build the playground. It was accomplished in a day. There was a BBQ. There was lots of laughter. The kids starting playing before the work was finished. It was an amazing day. More than building a playground, it was building a community.

When I meet new people who are considering a move to Collingwood and area, I like to give them what I call my "cook's tour." What people see driving through or visiting on vacation merely scratches the surface and never meets the core of what a town is really all about.

On just such a tour last week, I drove my clients past our water treatment plant. They thought this was a rather odd thing for me to show off and then, when I told them that Collingwood had one of the safest and best water supplies in the world, I saw them snicker to one another. I'm sure they were thinking that I was in full sales pitch mode. But then I explained.

Collingwood's Water Works was established way back in 1889 and later became a public utility in 1912. With our water supply coming from Georgian Bay, our old water treatment plants was basically comprised of a settlement process and chemical disinfection prior to pumping in to our water distribution system. That system worked for a very long time and likely because Georgian Bay is known to contain some of the purest water in the world.

Nonetheless, water borne parasites are endemic and in 1996, the town was gripped by an illness called cryptosporidium believed to potentially originate in water. The leaders of the day didn't want to take any chances and so a decision was made to build a state-of-the-art water treatment facility which was completed in 1998.

This plant uses ZeeWeed® membrane technology from a company called Zenon which utilizes ultra filtration methods to process the raw water without the use of chemicals for coagulation. Today, our Water Treatment Plant is the International training centre for Zenon Membrane water treatment facilities. To date, over 1500 people from cities around the world have visited our plant to look at the ZeeWeed® technology.

In the most recent Ministry of Environment inspection that examined every aspect o the water filtration plant and system, Collingwood scored a perfect 100 per cent. While I would hope every system in Ontario would need to meet a 100% score, the reality is that only about 200 of 710 water systems in Ontario receive a perfect score. That's only about 28% and that scares the heck out of me!

So, now you might understand why I like to show off our water treatment plant. And yes, we do have one of the best and safest water supplies in the world. Yet another reason to move to Collingwood!

Nothing fires up debate in our fair town of Collingwood better than a plan to tear down a heritage building. Every time the issue arises, entrenched camps form with flaring tempers, passionate appeals and political hand wringing. There have often been lines drawn in the sand: tear it down or, fix it and leave it. Neither seems right to me.

In the last few years, the issue has come up over and over again as the town struggles with the impact of enormous growth pressures. Many of the properties are public assets such as old schools and the question of maintenance, restoration falls to municipal shoulders.

Some people look at an old building and see an unsafe, derelict and ugly structure that is better torn down and replaced by something more modern and functional. Others see a piece of our cultural heritage that tells the story of our people and our town. Both sides can agree that when it's gone, it's gone forever.

One such property under threat at present is the old Connaught school on Napier Street which is also known as the Contact Centre or Collingwood Fitness Centre. This town owned structure is one of the last turn-of-the-century institutional buildings left and it features architecture that is never duplicated today. But it's more than that. If the walls could talk, it would peal with the laughter of children who arrived by horse and buggy rather than by bus. It would speak of foreboding teachers who comforted and protected children during two world wars and the great depression.

As a town owned fitness centre, this building has deteriorated due to a lack of maintenance and likely from the effects of humidity related to the indoor therapeutic pool. It has not been remotely self-sufficient and is heavily subsidized by tax dollars for the relatively few people who make use of the facility. On the other hand, it is an important public asset and there is a plan under foot to replace it with a more modern facility in a different location. Bu then what happens to the building?

The Collingwood heritage committee is looking at developing a statement of cultural heritage value for the property; potentially a first step in having it designated as a heritage site. I can see the battle lines being drawn already.

I am firmly on the side of protecting our heritage assets and believe that there are ways to satisfy all parties. Creative adaptive re-uses can be found for our heritage buildings that preserve and renew the structures at the same time giving them new life and new use. Let's hope everyone is starting to think about options for this building; not drawing firm lines in the sand.

Our daily lives are dramatically impacted by the liveability of the community we live in. Access to transit, our civic spaces, community amenities and the form of new development around us impact us the way building heights, trees and sidewalks more obviously do.

The Town of Collingwood is undertaking the development of an Urban Design Standards. Not guidelines but, actual and enforceable standards. They will direct the way new commercial, industrial, and multi-unit development will look and function in Collingwood.

According to a presentation made to council in December, the purpose of the Project is to develop urban design standards that will:

1. direct new development that is guided by the community's Official Plan, Council policy,
various policy documents and past community participation processes;
2. improve livability within the community;
3. ensure a high quality of design and function within, and adjacent to, new commercial
industrial, and multi-unit residential development;
4. reduce environmental impacts associated with new commercial, industrial, and multi-unit
residential development; and,
5. streamline the development application review process by providing clear and easily understood direction on urban design.

These have all been significant topics of interest in Collingwood over the last few years as the pace of growth has eclipsed anything we've seen before. People worry about traffic, trees, pollution and parking. We argue passionately in this town about signage, about environmental impacts, about preserving heritage and about aesthetics. People want liveable spaces that have a small town feel but urban amenities and most of all, locals don't want to look like "Anytown, Canada."

All of these issues and dozens more are being visited in the development of the new standards. Community Planner, Robert Voigt is the lead on this project and as part of his consultative process, he has put up an excellent blog I would encourage everyone to read and react to. There is a link on the left side of the page under "Documents" with his December 1, 2008 presentation to council. It's well worth it to click on that click and have a look at the dozens of photo's on the last many pages showing examples of what we have and what is possible.

As the original chairperson of Collingwood's Vision 2020 project, I'm excited about the way Robert thinks and hope his ideas will gather storm and support.