Council meets tonight, here's a look at what's on the agenda

Housing, intersection changes and more are up for discussion at Timmins council's next meeting.

Tonight (Sept. 5), members are meeting for the first time this month. 

Here's a look at what's on the agenda:

• The city may be taking a look at a couple of intersections. Sixty people have signed a petition asking for a four-way stop at the corner of Westmount and College, instead of the current three-way stop. Tonight's agenda includes a motion to have staff look at the intersection to see if it's suitable for a four-way stop. People living in the Northglen Trailer Park on Highway 655 are also looking for changes and are asking for a turning lane on the highway to enter into the community. Read their petition here.
• Council could be taking another look at updating a bylaw to regulate sea cans. At tonight's meeting, an item that was defeated at a May council meeting is back on the agenda, but requires 2/3 support of council members to be reconsidered. Coun. Steve Black also has a separate item about regulating storage containers is on the agenda.  Right now, storage containers such as sea cans are only allowed to be used as an accessory building or structure on properties zoned industrial or extractive industrial, or on lands being used for a mineral mining operation. With the storage containers popping up on properties across the city, staff is recommending updating the bylaw to allow storage containers to be used on more properties. The changes still limit the use of the containers. The bylaw still bans it from being used for work areas, shops, office uses, retail uses, showrooms or human habitation. Read the full report here. After the May meeting, the Timmins Chamber wrote to the municipality, read that letter here.
• The Timmins Economic Development Corporation CEO Christy Marinig is giving a couple of presentations. First up is the organization's annual report. She's also on tap to talk about the Community Housing Taskforce's recommendations to council. The committee started in late 2022 to look at the challenges and opportunities with the city's housing supply. The four areas they've come up with recommendations for are planning and policy, development incentives, stakeholder engagement and supporting affordable housing strategies. Read the full report here.
• The tax sale of a former theatre and nightclub at 33 Cedar St. S. is being talked about in-camera (meaning, it's not open to the public). In August, council delayed making a decision on what to do with the property, which has been up for tax sale since September 2021. At the August meeting, staff had suggested forgiving all but $1,000 of the outstanding taxes to try and generate more interest in the property. Some councillors see potential in the centrally located building and don't want to give it away too cheaply. Read more on what happened at the August meeting here. There is no other item on tonight's agenda about the property.

Read the full agenda here. None of the items have been approved. 

The council meeting starts at 6 p.m. at city hall. You can watch the meeting live here.