TigerCat receive deferral on development charges
County councillors approved a request from Tigercat International Inc. to pay development charges late on their new facility at 141 Consolidated Drive.
Steve Crosby, senior vice president for manufacturing at the Tigercat location in Paris, addressed council about the request to defer payments to the time of building occupancy or October 1, 2024, whichever comes first.
“Right now, Tigercat employs 500 to 600 people in Brant County,” he said. “This new facility will double the amount of job positions in our company in this community.”
The company requested the deferral due to a number of additional costs associated with this new facility including the creation of a new roadway, and the need to use funds to “pay the bills for this project in the meantime.”
Councillor John Bell expressed concerns about the request, sharing that he could not support it.
“I am really concerned that this is going to set a precedent for other projects,” he said. “This is just the beginning of a wave of development in the county. Is this going to be the standard that we apply going forward?”
Tigercat International Inc. applied for Site Plan Approval of 25,620 sq m. (275,773 sq.ft.) industrial building at 141 Consolidated Drive, Paris in August 2022.
Council voted and passed the motion for staff to work with Tigercat to put together a late payment agreement with interest on the development charges in the amount of approximately $2,394,196.00.
Brant County SPCA share plans for new facility
The Brant County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) spoke to county council members to give background on their current campaign for a new Animal Care Centre.
Cheyanne Richardson, a representative for the SPCA, said that before making their official proposal for financial contributions, they wanted to speak with council about their organization.
“The last few years have shifted the landscape significantly in all sectors including nonprofit and animal welfare and despite many hurdles and obstacles, Brant County SPCA has been here for animals in need in our community,” she said. “We’re a small organization in a growing community, including Brant County, which is growing very quickly, and we’re excited that at the new location with the increased demand of services, we’ll be able to address the need.”
The new Animal Centre at 10 Kraemer’s Way in North West Brantford will be nearly five times the size of the current shelter, designed to reduce stress and enhance the health and well-being of animals.
“It will be so much more than a shelter,” she said.”It’s going to be a community space where people will want to come and visit and volunteer and host events that will have all of the amenities for volunteer training, birthday parties, school field trips, seniors, events, and more. All of the indoor spaces were specifically designed for the animal’s holistic journey.”
Mayor David Bailey expressed his support for the new development.
“I’m very excited about it,” he sais. “As you know, before I became the Mayor, I was the president of the Animal Aid Foundation. This is one of those proposals that are coming to us and because of the location where they’re building. We own it. It’s going to be in Brantford, but it’s going to be so close to the county that we’re going to get a lot of benefit from it.”
Council to look into need for family physician recruitment
Representatives from the Family Physician Recruitment Taskforce addressed council about their plans for recruiting and retaining Primary Health Care Providers to Brantford, Brant County, and the Six Nations communities to ensure residents have access to sufficient primary care resources.
“Recruitment and retention efforts are very resource and time intensive, it really requires more than a full time equivalent to support this work,” Lebene Numekevor and Sandra Vos said. “Our goal will be once we are at our full capacity for this work to be able to find a full-time resource for that area.”
To assist with their work, the taskforce requested funds from council, $12,000 this year, $24,000 next year, and $36,000 in 2025 in addition to the $110,000 they receive from the City of Brantford every calendar year.
“I move to receive this delegation to refer the input to our own assessment of the need for physician recruitment, which came I think to council last month for the month before I think there’s opportunities to get some common sense simplifications and benefits,” Councillor John Peirce said. The motion was carried unanimously.
