Another chapter was written in the lead up to this year’s Stars and Thunder festival.

Timmins city council is looking to approve a couple campground sites for the festival, but it turned quickly after Councillor Rick Dubeau pointed out the city was already taking deposits on the proposed sites.

He says it “goes against the rule of law in our by-laws.”

The zoning amendments in question are for campsites to be erected at Eastview RV in the west end, and at Northern College in the east end.

Black responded to Dubeau’s criticism by saying the sub-committee felt comfortable enough to advertise the sites.

He adds eight spots have been booked already.

“The committee has no right to do this,” Dubeau retorted.

“We all know since this all began,” he added, throwing in a mention on how the festival was passed in one night in October, “There’s been a lot of questions, a lot of trepidation in the community, the perception has not been good.  Doing this, advertising three to four weeks before it gets passed, the perception is terrible.”

“You’re not allowing for input from the community, you’re not allowing council to debate this, this is totally wrong.”

Dubeau went on to suggest it’s “illegal,” which drew applause from a contingent of residents in the audience.

Residents also got the chance to voice their opinions on the matter.  A few people stepped up, and a couple sure used the opportunity to get their voice heard on other topics around town.

All of them shared Dubeau’s concerns over taking deposits early.

One resident identified as a teacher at St. Joseph School in South Porcupine was upset that a campsite is designated right near the school.  She says concert patrons aren’t the best thing for the elementary students to be around, when teachers are trying to discipline kids not to swear and behave.

“We can’t have that happen,” Leah Sasseville stated.

The last day of school for St. Joseph students is Wednesday, June 28th, which is also Day 5 of the festival.

She also added to Dubeau’s stance, saying the public has a big trust issue with the city.

“What else is happening behind the scenes that we don’t know about?”

The teacher also delved into the issue of the recent decision to relocate the Whitney Fire Hall to Northern College.  The conversation didn’t last long, as the Mayor asked if she had anything else to add on the subject at hand.

Sasseville would later suggest the rezoning be done away from the elementary school.

Another resident, identified as John Ivanovs, pointed to the environmental impact.

“You’ve got 21,600 litres of water per day that have to be disposed of from the site,” he added, “They are right by Porcupine Lake and I don’t believe that all the RV owners are going to be nice enough to wait until they go to a pump out station.”

Ivanovs commented on the lack of a traffic study and whether Northern College is making money housing RVs on their site.

As he went on, Ivanovs showed his frustration in his tone of voice.

(CLICK HERE to see the full video on the Stars and Thunder issue, under Items 5B and 5C.)

“This is a sham, having a public meeting,” he proclaimed, “You’ve already made up your mind about this and I don’t even know if it’s legal for the city to act as an agent on a rezoning by-law like this…the whole idea is nonsensical.”

Ivanovs would then change gears and take the opportunity at the table to criticize the city for raising the Klingon banner Monday morning in support of this Thursday’s “Klingon Empire Day.”

Immediately, Black asked Ivanovs to stay on topic.

“Okay, let’s go back to the real world, not the pretend Klingon world,” Ivanovs responded, disregarding Black’s request, “You belittled every group that has had their flag flown there.”

Again, Black interrupted to keep on the topic at hand.

Ivanovs finished by repeating his question on why the public meeting is happening when the city has apparently made up their mind.

“You don’t listen anyways to anything.”

Ivanovs proceeded to sit in the audience with a sticker on his mouth for a short time in protest.

Carol Burnett, a resident living across the road from Northern, voiced her concerns on lack of details.

She says how can residents bring forth issues with no information, citing how the entire property is marked on the application to be rezoned.

She’s also not a fan of the potential of fire pits springing up, bringing up how fire pits are permitted according to the Stars and Thunder website.

Black clarified there’s areas for a fire pit that have been used in the past, but will be something they talk with Northern about.

“I don’t want smoke from 50 fire pits or one big fire pit or whatever coming in my windows, 90 degrees in July at 2 o’clock in the morning.  I do that already with some very inconsiderate neighbours,” she added.

Burnett explained she was expecting more at the meeting, like maps and directions on how the city would utilize each site properly.

Councillor Joe Campbell asks what happens if Northern isn’t seen as a viable option once all the concerns come back in the report.

Black says with less than 10 people booked at the moment, they would either be moved to another site that has capacity or offered a refund.

Planning staff is looking to bring back a report on the April 3rd meeting of council.

 

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