CORNWALL Ontario – It wasn’t a huge crowd, but they were very spirited. The kids had a good time and even some of the neighbors were dancing as an area DJ provided some tunes.
The big news today is the allegation that the complaint to shut down the Vincent’s rink was engineered by former City Councilor Glen Grant.
Apparently the complainers had asked Grant for help and it was Grant that expedited the complaint and pushed the by law department for the resolution chosen. The city like most, gets several complaints. Many never see the light of day as they are frivolous, like this one, some get inspected, but it’s rare for a complaint to come in and be resolved as quickly as this one allegedly did.
Is it an issue of the VIP getting serviced by an old friend?
Are eight or so small stakes really worth destroying a family rink over in 2014?
The family is upset as they are refusing to take the rink down, but are upset that they are either working or at school on January 5th and fear that they will come home to a destroyed rink.
Ken Merpaw and Stephanie Carriere organized the Rally. Candidate Rolly Besner was in attendance and pointed out that if we’re allowed to plant trees a few pegs should not be an issue.
Several councilors spoken with by CFN today were concerned about the Glen Grant issue and suggested that perhaps a stop order should be given to the by law officer until an investigation could be resolved.
Mr. Grant did not respond to our request for a response as of press time.
This would not be the first time that Mr. Grant greased a decision at City Hall. He’s alleged to have pushed hard for his friend Brendan Wells daughter to get a job with the city. (she eventually was hired)
What do you think dear CFN viewers? Can the rink be saved? Will the City investigate whether this was a VIP complaint handled differently than normal complaints? You can post your comments below.
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I just came off both yahoo and Ottawa Sun papers and I saw about Cornwall’s escapade today on Ottawa Sun and they wrote about someone blasting music from an SUV and called CFN a social media paper. When I saw that I said well I will go and check out my favorite social media CFN (I am laughing here Jamie) and see what all the fuss is about. I see Mr. Roland Besner there and not many showed up. I wish that you could all see the many fingers that I am giving Glen Grant along with words that I cannot put into print. All the best to the Vincent family and to you too Jamie.
What a terrible piece of shit my X neighbour Glen Grant turned out to be…guess you cannot pick your neighbours
A couple of questions…. Did they have a permit to put up this rink? I put up a fence this year and I had to get a permit or the fence man would not put it up… Bylaws are in place for all.. I agree with the kids having fun… why not move that rink up the street end of it first get signatures of all the folks close by and maybe city would permit it..Because Glen Grant did his job why finger him? I usually agree with most stuff on here this one I cannot… It is outright illegal and as a citizen and home owner in this city I too have to abide by bylaws.. May not like them but abide by them.. Their home looks like a junk yard boat on one side of house, tailer on other side of house. There is a bylaw about keeping good neighbors and that entails anything that looks offensive to your eye or property is subject to the bylaw..
Jane Doe even when we filled in our inground pool that the former owner put in we had to get a permit. We gave all the pool pieces to a man who had a couple of teenage daughters and they lived outside of Cornwall and they made their own pool with all the parts that we gave them. We got a lot of ground from the city and filled it in. We had a little less of a water bill and a little less of a tax bill having removed this from the backyard.
Yes bylaws have to be honored. I will tell all of you something. A young couple purchased a garden home below me and they went and put the fence higher than what it should be and the neighbors complained and the bylaw officer made them reduce the height of the fence. They went and put a fence in the front yard way over six feet not counting what they did in the back yard and they were mighty furious but they had no other alternative.
About a boat and a trailor or camper in the yard you don’t see that here in Ottawa. When you see one of those in the yard here in Ottawa it means that the people are preparing to go away on their trip and those things are stored away somewhere.
I too am for the kids to play out in the fresh air and there should be a rink made out there in snob land. The people should have found out all about bylaws before purchasing a house and every place has bylaws. Ask Hugger because he lived out on a rural property outside of Ottawa and had some problems as well.
One more little thing Jamie, Jane Doe Glen Grant is no longer a councellor and it was absolutely none of his business at all to interfere so I have plenty of fingers and much more than that that I am flashing at him along with words that I cannot put in print.
I will tell everyone who is contemplating on buy a house, before you get your neck in a noose find out all about bylaws and everything else before you make that humoungous step. It can cost you plenty of you do not know the rules.
Where we lived at a previous building here in Ottawa owned by a corporation some kid of approx. 10 years old went in to the inground pool at the building and nobody was around and he was not a tenant. He dove off the diving board feet first and broke his leg badly and his parents went after the building. New owners took over and did away with the pool and now uses the place as an extra parking. There used to be a play structure in the back and now that is gone. People there are bylaws in all cities, towns and even rural areas and you cannot escape them. Before you put your head in the noose find out everything.
Jane Doe? Really? First off the yard does not look like junk yard… Is there something worng with having a boat? is it a wrong to have a trailer? I see many properties with boats and/or trailers. As for your fence and your comment about bylaws being in place, but many people put up fences without a permit and many bylaws get ignored by the city as they are not ALL enforced. Hey this just in…I can see Ron McLean and Don Cherry commenting on this either this week or next week on Hockey Night… Good publicity for this fair city? Another slap in the face perhaps.. Jane Doe? or Bull Winkle?
Pete we tweeted this to both Ron and Don, but no reply as of yet.
As far as I know no permits are required to put up a rink. As long as it follows all the bylaws there should be no issues. But this one is on the city’s road allowance. Having Glen Grant stick his nose in to “help” his neighbours stinks. He (theoretically) should no longer have pull at city hall. What a strange little city we live in. I say let the rink stay this year with an understanding that it will not return in its present location next year and on.
Jane Doe and Glen Grunt, there must be a bylaw for the height of fences? What about the fence that is on the property of Water and Marlborough blocking the window of the hair salon on Marlborough adjacent to the vacant building. The fence is about 12 feet high, isn’t that a bit high and deliberately blocking the view. You’d think there’d be a bylaw for that and maybe there is but why isn’t it being enforced?
Jamie, a close friend in Kingston who happens to be a very good friend of ex Cornwall Royal Doug Gilmour. I’ll call my friend and see if he can pass this on to Doug Gilmour and perhaps Doug can phone or email Don Cherry. Jamie, great minds think alike. Just in passing, many hockey stars began their hockey in neighbourhood yards or parks
I worked twice with Dougie in the 90’s. Great guy. I’m sure he’d be upset about this story too.
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Why buy a house in cornwall if you can’t even build stuff on your property to try and keep your kids busy and out of trouble. The city should pay us for the work we do to cut the grass and keeping the yard up. If we can’t use are yards why do they say we own the property. But only if the city likes what you are doing. It’s their yard back off and get a life or grow up.
Mr Grants daughter also works for the city
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Scott Ladouceur….you can build “stuff” on your property IF it adheres to the laws and bylaws of the land. Would you want to live in a house that was not built according to the building code? I don’t think so. As for maintaining the city road allowance you have to do that wherever you live, city or country. The problem with the rink is that it is partially built on the city’s road allowance (10′ from the curb). Would you want someone to build a rink on your property without your permission? I don’t think you would.
Hugger again to clarify the issue isn’t the rink encroaching, but the wee spikes.
Pete Walbee….that fence you refer to is to protect the property. Yes, there are fence standards. But the fence referred to is not 12′ high. Fences are used to protect property and / or define property lines.
I’d like to see the rink stay for this year. I think the original complainers to the bylaw office and the interpretation of the bylaw by the city is a bit far fetched.
Mr. R…. So Glen Grant’s daughter works for the city. Not everyone gets their job through nepotism. Would you like everyone who is related in some remote way to a councilor or senior administrator fired because their relative works for the city? Some do get their jobs the right way.
In the boonies where I live, we have a forty foot road allowance set-back. No requirement for me to do any maintenance to this strip of land which is about half a mile long. Also, any house more than about five years old isn’t built to current codes. And any house more than fifty years old isn’t built to any code.
Yes Furtz. But out in the country they get farmers to cut the road allowance.
As for codes your house only has to meet the codes when the house was built. I learned that when we sold my mom’s house a few years back. The real estate agent, a friend from high school, said it only had to meet the codes when it was built, not the current building codes. Good thing because the current building code required two exits. But I do know they can make houses fit some current codes, as in the requirement to have smoke / CO@ detectors, etc.
Getting a bit off topic Hugger, but where I live, the township takes care of clearing the brush and maintaining the ditches along the roadsides. Lots of people do cut their grass and such right up to the road, but that’s a voluntary activity.
I own a house built in 1885. All I had to do was upgrade the electrical panel to 100 amps when I rented it out. Bylaws and regulations are pretty loosey-goosey in the boonies compared to the cities. New construction codes are the same though.
When I inherited my parents house that was a little bit of nothing more like a garage in size – of course bigger but an expression. It was built in 1949 a few years before I was born and the floors to that house were so mighty thick that the person who drilled through them said that it was like drilling through cement. You don’t see that anymore in the houses built today. Today it is the description of a match box – cardboard through and through.
We rented in a triplex and only stayed there for 5 months in Cornwall and any noise from neighbors as much as taking a shower was like they were taking their shower right next to where you were sitting or they were playing a game right next to where you were sitting and the place was built in 90/91. The same with the new houses they are very cheaply built.
It is the responsibility of the homeowner to cut the grass and if there is a tenant occupying a house the tenant has to cut the grass of the house that they are renting unless there is an agreement that the landlord cuts the grass. When we rented a duplex just down the ways from where we live now we rented upstairs and my husband helped the Greek man who owned the place cut the grass. Didn’t the landlord run over the phone line in the backyard which was above ground and we could never be able to get a line when it rained or snowed. There are many by-laws that have to be followed. The same thing about digging in case there are gas lines underground, water pipes, sewage pipes, etc. and folks it costs an arm and a leg and more so than what you people all know. Ask me if I want to own again and my answer to all of you is: “when hell freezes over.” We sold my mom’s house and bought another which was a big mistake but we learned a lot and that house was built in 68 and it needed so many things to be done. No tanks.
Sleepy Hollow Monaca Crescent gleans national notoriety for rinky dink ice pad. Word is GM is looking for a free range round about for their new crash test dummies to do 60-80 km. round-about and Monaca Cres. looks perfect for the test range. No by-law reviews needed. Just do it.
All cities have no space for real entertainment and you have to go by strict regulations. When you live in the city it is almost like you are stepping on someone elses’ property – not enough space. The good thing about the Vincents is that they are good parents and want to see their children safe. When my kids were little I quit my government job to stay at home with them since most sitters were not good at all and never regretted a moment since. Yes it is mighty frustrating to listen to a puck hit the boards but without those boards there would be extensive damage. I am happy to see good people and I wish that there were more good people around.