Peterborough Action for Tiny Homes (PATH) has opened the doors to its first additional rental unit, which is akin to a tiny home, located in the backyard of a residential property in Peterborough’s west end that is owned by One City Peterborough.

PATH and One City, who worked together on the project, say the unique house will be available for tenancy as of Friday (February 28).

This project was initiated last September following planning approval from the City of Peterborough under its 2023 additional rental unit (ARU) guide. The project was funded by charitable donations from PATH and One City donors, along with gifts of building material from Kingdon Timber Mart and Gus’s Kitchen and Bath.

“We are pleased and also feel very heartened by the many organizations that have reached out to show their support for our efforts to create permanent housing that is both affordable and respectful of individuals,” Keith Dalton, project manager at PATH, told kawarthaNOW.

“Through this model project we have learned a great deal about how to make projects like this successful and we will be moving forward on similar projects with organizations and individuals who share a desire to create affordable living spaces that address the need for housing of this type — decent housing that is built at low cost, hence affordable, and within the community, not isolated, so that residents will be a part of the Peterborough community and feel belonging and respect.”

PATH provided the design and contract management for the house and arranged for more than 1,500 volunteer hours toward the completion of the project to ensure it was completed on time and on budget, a media release noted.

The result is a 400-square-foot home that is fully equipped, accessibly designed, private, and affordable. It also adds to One City’s growing stock of supportive housing.

One City currently provides housing support to 34 people through its congregate housing program, all of which are congregate housing sites. This project is the organization’s first single occupancy housing unit.

“There is a distinct need for this kind of private accommodation for people who are transitioning from being unhoused,” said Michael Van Der Herberg, property development manager for One City, in a statement. “For many people who were previously unhoused, living in a shared space, while cost effective, is not ideal for personal recovery.”

One City’s housing program delivers ongoing support for its residents. PATH and One City share a common drive to create permanent housing for community members who struggle to find housing that is safe, affordable, and integrated in the community.

“PATH’s goal is to encourage the development of permanent supportive housing for our unhoused neighbours, and this project is one example of how this can be achieved when organizations collaborate and rally around a common cause,” the release noted.

Plans are underway for similar units to be constructed in the year ahead at an estimated cost of $100,000 or less per unit. PATH said low-cost construction is key to making these tiny homes affordable.

The organization will continue to work with community partners, local builders, and city staff to provide design studies, permit application, and construction support to see more homes constructed in the future, the release noted.

Meanwhile, One City is looking for donated items to help furnish the new tiny home, including a queen mattress and bed frame, night stand, lamp, hand mixer, drinking glasses, food processor, coffee table, television set, and pots and pans.

To donate items, email Elisa at ehollingsworth@onecityptbo.ca.

Work activity on Thursday (February 27) at the site of Brock Mission’s transitional housing development at 738 Chemong Road raised more than few eyebrows.

Neighbouring residents — many of them already smarting from Peterborough Mayor Jeff Leal’s exercising of his strong mayor powers at a council meeting this past Monday to fast-track the project — were surprised when it appeared work was already starting at the site of the proposed 52-unit six-storey apartment building.

For clarity, kawarthaNOW reached out to Brock Mission board member Alan Wilson, the project lead on behalf of the organization. He said the work done Thursday is related to required studies that need to be done before any actual construction can begin.

“We did the drill holes — what’s the soil like, what sort of loading can it take — as part of a commitment to do all the necessary studies to satisfy site planning approval,” explained Wilson. “What is happening today (Thursday) is the land use engineers are there digging a bit of a pit to confirm the level of the water table. We’re nowhere near the construction stage.”

The cost of the site work, added Wilson, is being covered from the $250,000 that the city earlier granted the project.

Sarah McNeilly, who lives near the Chemong Road site and also spoke at Monday’s council meeting, was among those surprised by the activity at the site of the development, which she describes as “my new view from my window.”

That said, her bigger concern remains unchanged, specifically that the development won’t face the same city staff and council oversight that it would have had Mayor Leal not exercised his strong mayors to speed up its approval.

“They’re just doing all the studies that should have been done before it was approved,” she said.

“Folks are feeling like they don’t have a voice; like they don’t matter. They’d like that to change. The story we were told at council (on February 24) was if you oppose this project — how it’s being managed, how it’s being rushed through — that means you hate homeless people, and that is not the case at all.”

“I think we’ve lost the nuance, and I think we’ve lost the common ground to be able to have discussions at all,” McNeilly said. “What we saw on Monday night was not, by any means, a conversation, or what I would consider a democratic process. I’m feeling a bit of dread from that whole ordeal, in the context of what we’re seeing from our neighbours to the south (the United States).”

At Monday’s council meeting, which served as a public meeting under the Planning Act, three councillors — Gary Baldwin, Kevin Duguay, and Lesley Parnell — joined Mayor Leal to vote in favour of his motion to expedite the project by amending the city’s zoning by-law and exempting the project from the city’s site plan requirements.

That transpired despite community opposition to the development, including its location, and the process and speed at which the proposed development is proceeding. Because Mayor Leal had invoked his strong mayor powers for the motion, the support of only one third of council (four councillors) was needed for the motion to pass.

As soon as the meeting began, councillor Joy Lachica raised a point of order to declare the meeting and the mayor’s motion as being out of order. That, however, was denied by councillor Lesley Parnell who, as the presiding officer for matters pertaining to the Planning Act, chaired the meeting. Two subsequent points of order by Lachica were also were denied.

“I simply (raised) my hand (for her point of order) based on discussion of the document that fell into our email just prior to walking into the room,” Lachica told kawarthaNOW, adding “A document that I was supposed to be voting on but hadn’t had a chance to read, analyze, ask questions about, yet it formed the (mayor’s) motion.”

“We didn’t have the accurate companion materials at the top of the meeting. There’s one document out there that says this and there’s a revision, but it’s not marked. It was given the same number. There’s two living documents — one’s correct and one isn’t correct. I just want to do my do due diligence and do this properly.”

Lachica said part of the motivation for the mayor’s motion has to do with the need for housing “and expediting things, but it’s based on residential units of a certain size and scale.”

“The submission that came to us related to size of each individual unit being smaller. I scratch my head and say ‘Perhaps that affects the number of units, and perhaps that affects the criteria of whether this even counts as residential according to the strong mayors (provisions) around housing’.”

“Those are normal questions that any politician reading companion materials would ask, and we didn’t have adequate time to look at it.”

Lachica makes it clear that her issue isn’t with Brock Mission. Quite the contrary, as she notes Cameron House — located on the same property as the new development — “is a precious organization that has had wide community support.”

That said, Lachica feels “the equilibrium that’s been established would no doubt be deeply impacted, and perhaps destroyed as it is, with something like going forward at that particular site.”

“But again, there was no opportunity to discuss an alternate site because there was no window between a general committee meeting and a finalizing meeting to be able to discuss that,” she added, referring to the fact that city council reconvened immediately after Monday’s general committee meeting to endorse the earlier decision with no further discussion.

“We need transitional housing (developments). We need partners that are willing to support, fundraise, erect and operate them. Brock Mission has a done a tremendous job and I compliment them.”

“It’s simply the process and the decision making that could have happened if there had been an extension of even a week, to be able to talk about a site change as Brock Mission has said they would be willing to consider.”

McNeilly, too, doesn’t “deny there’s a sense of urgency and there are problems that need to be addressed, but I maintain that the end, no matter how necessary or noble, never justifies the means if the means require the suspension of democracy itself. Is this how we want to do things?”

She also says she understands that the work done at the site so far is a requirement before site plan approval, except for one thing — “There’s been no site plan approval. That’s been waived.”

For his part, Wilson said public concerns about the development’s location and the scope of the project have been heard — Brock Mission held an open house community meeting at St. Peter Catholic Secondary School to present the proposed development to local residents, and Wilson was at Monday’s council meeting where McNeilly and other neighbours raised their concerns — and vows they will continue to be heard and considered.

“Both myself and my architect have copious notes on what people want included and what they don’t like about it, but it all comes back to people don’t want it in their backyard,” he said, adding “That would happen anywhere (that it’s located).”

As for the suggestion that locating the transitional housing building so close to Cameron House will negatively impact residents of the latter, Wilson said he’ll let Brock Mission’s 37-year track record speak for itself.

“We don’t put our people at any risk, period,” he said. “We know how to care for people’s safety. We know how to have people with different needs in different places. Our executive director and staff save lives. They don’t do that by putting anybody at risk.”

Looking ahead, Wilson said work will stop now at the site, but digging for the foundation will begin when frost is out of the ground — likely near the end of April — with building construction set to begin this summer.

In the meantime, he says efforts to secure government funding for the $16-million development are well underway.

The Peterborough Butterfly Run is taking flight once again this spring to support families and individuals who have experienced a loss during pregnancy, the loss of an infant, or who are unable to conceive.

Registration is now open for the annual event, which takes place on Sunday, April 27 at Peterborough’s Millennium Park in downtown Peterborough and features a five-kilometre run or walk.

Presented by GPHSF Your Family Health Team Foundation, in partnership with Partners in Pregnancy Clinic along with the Peterborough Butterfly Run Executive Committee, there’s also a one-kilometre “memorial walk” and a one-kilometre fun run for kids, in addition to the traditional five-kilometre trek from downtown Peterborough into East City.

“Since 2022, GPHSF has taken the lead role in organizing the Peterborough Butterfly Run, which has been a great privilege,” said GPHSF executive director Vince Bierworth in a media release. “It is both humbling and gratifying to see the impact that it has made.”

Bierworth told kawarthaNOW it’s an important event for GPHSF.

“Part of the mission of this event, when it was first started in 2017, was to create a space for people who were grieving to come together and feel supported,” Bierworth said.

“As a founding partner of the run, along with the Peterborough Butterfly Run Executive Committee and Partners in Pregnancy Clinic, we’ve seen over the years how this event continues to be a place that family, friends, neighbours, co-workers, and many more come together to rally around people close to them that have experienced loss. This event is very community-driven, which, in a big way, is why its importance grows each year.”

Ashley Hickson and Kori Zwarych are the new co-chairs of the Peterborough Butterfly Run Executive Committee. Both Hickson and Zwarych have been involved in the event for a number of years, including in the capacity of cheering on the runners during the race.

“After years of involvement on the backend of things, curating and distributing bereavement kits in the community, we are excited to have a more prominent role on the executive committee for the run itself this year,” Hickson and Zwarych said in a statement.

“We are working on furthering initiatives with the money raised to help support families with their grief. We are looking forward to another successful event.”

The run route will remain the same as in previous years, with registration opening at 9 a.m. The one-kilometre kids’ fun run starts at 10 a.m., the one-kilometre memorial walk starts at 10:20 a.m., and the opening ceremonies kick off at 10:45 a.m. The five-kilometre chip timed run/walk will start by 11 a.m.

The memorial walk will remain free as in previous years. Registration for the kids’ run is $5 and the five-kilometre run/walk registration fee is $45 plus applicable fees. Registration includes a medal and customizable race bib. Five-kilometre run/walk participants who register before April 4 will also receive a race shirt and various other items in their race kits.

Dave Dame from Runner’s Life will be the race director for this year, using “his years of experience to make sure the event day runs as smoothly and seamlessly as possible,” the release noted.

Money raised through the Peterborough Butterfly Run has been used to provide ongoing specialized education in perinatal bereavement care to healthcare providers across Peterborough city and county, to establish more than 10 lending libraries for individuals and their families located across Peterborough city and county, and to develop bereavement kits for families and individuals who experience early and later pregnancy loss and infant loss.

Since 2018, 800 bereavement kits have been created for families and individuals to be distributed by health-care providers. Money raised through the Butterfly Run is also invested back into race day.

“Our hope this year, as every year, is to bring as many people together as we can in Millennium Park on April 27th to show their support for each other,” Bierworth said.

Those who are unable to attend the in-person event but would still like to support the Peterborough Butterfly Run can take part in a virtual run and receive a race shirt, medal, and race kit. Sponsorship opportunities are also available.

For more information about the Peterborough Butterfly Run, including how to register, donate, or sponsor the run, visit www.ptbobutterflyrun.ca. You can also register in person at Runner’s Life at 174 Charlotte Street in downtown Peterborough.