Saugeen Shores Regular Council — Monday, August 10, 2026
Blue Water Lands affordable housing: In the night’s centrepiece item, council declared the southern residential parcel — Parts 4 and 5, Lot 35 Lake Range and Block 107 of Registered Plan 3M-246 — surplus to municipal needs and authorized a public notice of intent to dispose of the land for a co-operative housing development. An amendment requiring an independent land appraisal before any disposition carried without opposition. The revised concept holds 159 units (down from 183 after public feedback) with 3.7 acres of parkland retained separately. A formal agreement with the Margaret Lawrence Housing Cooperative and an enabling bylaw are targeted for September 14 or 21; staff are aiming for a building permit application in November. A $70-million federal grant application is pending.
Co-op delegation scrutiny: Margaret Lawrence Housing Co-op — whose 149 units occupy a single 17-storey Toronto building — pitched the co-op model across multiple delegations. Councillors challenged the group’s limited track record and its rationale for targeting Saugeen Shores specifically. MLHC confirmed its Toronto members are not relocating here and proposed rents of roughly $1,000–$1,100/month (one-bedroom) and $1,500/month (two-bedroom), with 10–20 units potentially geared to income via the Bruce County wait list (600-plus applicants). No agreement is before council yet.
Development charges reduction: The Deputy Mayor declared a pecuniary interest and recused himself. Council then authorized the CAO to execute a federal-provincial agreement cutting residential development charges 50% from March 30, 2026 rates — dropping a single-family home DC from approximately $45,000 to $18,000 through 2029. The town’s $13.6-million grant application was submitted in June with no provincial response received. Staff noted a roughly 145% catch-up increase would be required after the program ends.
Operations facility: Council endorsed the Concession Six yard as the preferred site for a consolidated public works facility, directing incorporation into the 2027 business plan. The funding gap is approximately $6.7 million beyond the $5.5 million already in the 10-year plan. The River/Market Street yard was flagged as a repurposing candidate pending environmental assessment.
Stormwater EA: Council endorsed preferred alternatives from the Southampton South Area Storm Outlets Class EA, estimated at approximately $5.61 million total. The first project (Outlet 12, Highland Street) is slotted for 2032; remaining work falls beyond 2035. Staff confirmed no occupied residential properties will be acquired.
Heritage designation: Council unanimously directed staff to proceed with Part 4 Ontario Heritage Act designation of 160 Leader Lane, Southampton — an 1880 Gothic Revival home linked to settler James Fleming Sr. and Archbishop James Augustus Watten, an advocate for Indigenous peoples in northern Ontario.
Public concerns: An open forum speaker urged council to define affordability, disclose income thresholds, and quantify the public land value before committing the Blue Water Lands asset, warning of reputational risk. Resident Charles Bailey, 365 Eurone Street South, raised ongoing flooding from stormwater outlet 13b and alarm at language in the EA suggesting possible property acquisition. Council also supported an MFOA resolution urging the province to permanently double the Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund to $400 million annually. By-laws 79-, 80-, and 81-2026 were passed.