By Anne Finlay Stewart

Notes from the Council Chamber October 6, 2014

• The first note was a musical one, as Sandy Stephenson of the Georgian Bay Symphony reported on their new season. With the retirement of long time Music Director John Barnum, this season's concerts will each be conducted by one of those short-listed to be his successor. The GBS received more than thirty applications for the Director's position, most of them from outside the province, the country and even this continent. More than 150 shrewd bargain-hunters have taken advantage of half-price seasons tickets for first time subscribers – but hurry – offer ends at the first symphony concert, October 18.
• Waller's Optical (now in the former Frank's Tailor shop on 8th Street East ) and the Roxy Theatre were awarded city facade grants for their streetscape improvements. If you haven't seen the mural at the back entrance of the Roxy, walk around and take a peek.
• On the oddly-named "consent agenda" this month was a series of requests for zoning changes, severances and minor variances, mostly in the township of Georgian Bluffs. The practice of bringing these to Owen Sound council has been our policy for some time, mostly out of concern for possible environmental and county planning implications. But when a councillor raised a question about 14 unserviced lots on a local lake, she was told firmly by other councillors that the date for comment had passed and anyway "we should not be interfering in our neighbour's business". One wonders then why this item was included in the agenda. Should the policy of looking at "our neighbours' business" be re-visited and the reasons for it either affirmed or rejected by the next council?
• As previously revealed, the engineers working on the new Sydenham condominium project have identified issues that call for changes to the plan. Council accepted that the full existing facade must be demolished, and that services previously destined for the basement must now be located in a half-storey addition on the top of the building, adding two and a half metres to the building.
• First steps toward transit improvements – council approved bus stop guidelines that will include ten new stops (plus or minus one), about twenty stop relocations, and planned signage at each stop to tell riders when they can expect the next bus.
• For those who are still worried that any restructuring of the Tom Thomson Art Gallery will be precipitous, secret or uninformed, council confirmed yet again that they have approved nothing but permission to look into the options. Further public meetings and approvals of the next council will precede any action on the subject, so any political hay being made here appears to be strictly fearmongering.
• Salmon tourism appears to be way up this year, thanks to the efforts of our tourism office. If you are planning on showing Thanksgiving weekend visitors the colours at Inglis Falls, be sure to take in the free guided tours of the salmon run.
• After years of being on the market, the "Scopis" lot on 2nd Avenue has been sold. The site of a popular restaurant that was destroyed in a 1993 fire, it is zoned C1 Commercial Core. The usual speculation has already begun about the new owner's plans for the site.

Anne Finlay-Stewart is Community Editor of Owensoundhub.org. She can be reached at annekfs@gmail.com.