The letter below was sent to city council on the morning of June 19...

June 19, 2014

Mayor Daryl Bennett

and Members of Council

Corporation of the City of Peterborough

Your Worship:

The 'old' Shoppers Drug Mart property on Charlotte St. downtown has been sold and we are hearing that the new owner will use the site for a methadone clinic of considerable size. This is troublesome. I know the importance of methadone in our community, that's not the point.

I further appreciate the ability of a business owner to buy a property and run such a business without discrimination. But this is a significant property for the downtown and the city.

I would argue simply that this is not a good location for such a use and that this could put into jeopardy the future of the Louis St. parking lot conversion to an urban park and further hurt Charlotte Street businesses. Now we know what is planned for this property and it is not complementary to an urban park.

Council lost the ability to control the use of the site when it was not purchased by the city. Now that we know the potential future use, I would urge council to consider buying the property from the purchaser. Council has done this sort of thing in the past when they realized that it was in the city’s best interest to control the future use of a property.

Sincerely,

Terry Guiel

DBIA executive director

[via DBIA website]

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