HRA Sends Council Recommendations for Three Vacant Properties in Hastings

Screen shot of Council’s Meeting

Article by John Campbell

Hastings - The Hastings Revitalization Association (HRA) has weighed in on what it thinks should be done with three vacant properties Trent Hills owns in the village.

It wants the former ballpark at the corner of Bridge and Front streets to be retained as open space, the site of the former arena on Bridge Street to be developed as “is necessary to vitalize the Hastings downtown,” and the former tannery at the end of Front Street East to have “a high-level plan (prepared) for … (its) remediation and/or development.”

In correspondence sent to council for its Feb. 22 meeting, the HRA’s executive – Chair Doug Manning, Vice-Chair Chris Manning, Treasurer Alexander Kelly, and Secretary Shannon Preston — said a “high priority should be placed on remediating and developing (what is a) key piece” of the downtown core because the tannery property “provides the biggest opportunity for our future and is key to our revitalization.”
The property “has been left derelict and in disrepair for far too long,” they stated.

The Association held a virtual meeting Feb. 11 “to discuss and help raise awareness” about the three properties, two of which have sat idle for years (an outdoor rink was installed at the ballpark this winter for the second year in a row).

Conveying its position and the consensus of community members who took part in the discussion, the HRA said the site where the arena once sat before being demolished in 2020 should be developed “in a manner that considers the historic character of our urban centre and is consistent with our unique small-town identity.

“The former ballpark should be removed immediately from the municipality’s list of surplus properties it owns and rezoned from R3 to open space because a “vibrant and active downtown area continues to be critical to the revitalization of Hastings. There is an opportunity to transform this property into an amenity for residents of Trent Hills, a location for special events and a destination for visitors from outside of the community. The HRA believes that a significant portion of this transformation can be achieved through volunteer efforts at little cost to the municipality and taxpayers.”

Council members welcomed the association’s input.

They’re “a hard-working group and I value their comments,” Councillor Rick English said.
Deputy Mayor Mike Metcalf said he took part in the virtual meeting which he estimated had 25 participants. “It was good to see some some thought put into what they want,” he said. “I’m excited to see where we’re going with it.”
He expressed hope the process will happen “fairly quickly as to what those three properties might look like” in future, adding “this is definitely a very good first step.”

Mayor Bob Crate said in an interview “council is looking at different proposals” for the properties, but it will also consider “what the people want to do.”

The municipality has been approached by people interested in acquiring the tannery property to build “condos, houses – whatever,” he said.

Trent Hills took possession of the property a decade or so ago because of taxes that were owed.
“The building is falling in,” the mayor said, but soil testing found no evidence of contamination.

The property is currently in “a holding pattern,” he added, because it’s shown in the Official Plan as an employment land but Trent Hills has asked Northumberland County to change its designation to residential “so that it can be developed that way … It’s a nice piece of property once you knock down that building. I think there will be a fair bit of interest in that property.”
“We can be pretty confident that our request will be given a priority and then we’ll be able to move forward.”

Crate said he understood why village residents might be upset with the lack of progress made thus far.
“It sometimes gets a little frustrating because everything takes so long but that’s the nature of the beast right now,” he said.

“We are extremely busy in the planning department. Jim (Peters, director of planning) and his staff are working full out and we’re not getting ahead. We’re trying to hire another person there. But with all the things that are going on in Trent Hills (in terms of development underway or in the works) … these things are taking up a lot of time.”

Crate would like to see the arena property become part of the solution to the municipality’s urgent need for more housing. “Right now we don’t have any apartments, hardly (any) at all, in Trent Hills, to rent.”
The arena was demolished in 2020 because it was old and wasn’t being used much.

There was a proposal a few years ago to develop the ballpark that involved building housing units and commercial space with a drive-through but the project “never came to fruition,” Crate said, and the offer to purchase the land expired.

A special session will be held later this year that will allow the public to comment on what’s to be done with the three properties.

“We’re just looking at all the options and trying to move forward,” the mayor said.
“Let’s see what everybody wants and we’ll do what we can to make it happen, and go forward with the best intentions for everybody.”

Speaking for himself and not council, Crate said “it would be nice to see some seniors or rent-geared-to-income housing in the downtown core where people could access everything they need without necessarily having a car.”

Editor’s Note: A second public meeting will be held on the matter. No dates set yet.