With the continued construction of a new Cobourg long-term care home and adjoining museum and archives facility, to road and bridge work throughout Northumberland County, 2024 is shaping up to be a busy year, says the county’s warden.
When asked to consider the initiatives and projects residents will see as this new year unfolds, Northumberland County Warden Brian Ostrander said there are significant endeavours in store for 2024.
“There’s lots of infrastructure (work) going on,” Ostrander said.
Ostrander pointed to the ongoing redevelopment of the Golden Plough Lodge (GPL) long-term care home and Northumberland County Museum and Archives (NCAM) building in Cobourg.
“We hope that that project will be done in 2025,” the warden said.
A 203,000-square-foot facility on Courthouse Road will house the new lodge and museum space, which is being built adjacent to the existing GPL.
Under construction since December 2020, the new GPL will have a combination of one-bed and two-bed rooms across six resident home areas. The facility is slated to have fireside lounges, a café, a hair salon, a greenhouse, an auditorium for concerts and resident events, and outdoor courtyards and pathways.
Meanwhile, the new NCAM space will contain a collection of important documents related to Northumberland’s history. It will feature a permanent display about days gone by, an expanded reading room for public research, a processing and conservation lab, a quarantine area for new/unprocessed artifacts/documents, and a gallery for community groups “to showcase the stories they wish to tell,” the county said.
More information about the GPL and NCAM redevelopment project is available on Northumberland County’s website.
In other construction news, Ostrander said the Campbellford bridge project, which will be progressing with the design phase in 2024, remains a priority for the county. The task involves the eventual construction of a new bridge over the Trent River in the Municipality of Trent Hills community.
In 2017, Northumberland County received approval from the Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks to proceed with the design and construction of a second Trent River crossing. As part of this project, improvements will be made to the surrounding road network, the county noted. The new 188-metre bridge and road network designs will include two road lanes, pedestrian sidewalks and bicycle lanes, a roundabout at the Grand Road/Alma Street intersection, and other features.
Ostrander is also looking forward to the reconstruction of County Road 64 in the Municipality of Brighton, which is a joint project between the county and the municipality.
It’s a two-year endeavour that encompasses redoing/renewing the municipal underground infrastructure, with the expectation the work will stand the test of time of up to 20 years, the warden noted.
Also in 2024, the county will continue its work on the Elgin Park housing redevelopment project, with the second phase of construction slated to be completed in 2025.
“We’ll see a good portion of that (work) done in 2024,” Ostrander said.
Northumberland County took on the Elgin Park redevelopment project to broaden access to affordable housing in Northumberland. The number of subsidized and market rental housing units are being increased from 18 to 40. In addition to 12 market rental units, there will be 28 subsidized units — 10 more than what’s currently available at the site. The project expands Northumberland County Housing Corporation’s existing housing stock of 366 units across Northumberland.
Also related to housing and homelessness, Ostrander highlighted the county’s recent acquisition of a building at 310 Division St. in Cobourg. County council approved in December 2023 the purchase of a 47-bedroom complex, the former location of Cobourg Retirement Residence, to serve as a new emergency shelter.
County staff became aware of the vacant property in early November 2023 and brought a report to a November 15 closed session of county council. In the report, staff proposed purchasing the property on behalf of Transition House and entering into a mortgage agreement with Transition House.
As a result of this partnership for the new facility, the county intends “to modernize shelter services,” in addition to providing a roof overhead for more people who are currently living unsheltered. Northumberland’s goal is to relocate shelter operations to the new facility and close the current location at 10 Chapel St. If all goes as planned, the county aims to have the new shelter open by the spring.
