At the most recent Region of Queens Council meeting council landed on a site for the construction of a new library, approved a new multi-unit residential development and discussed creating a policy for selling municipal property.<\/p>\n
The meeting started with a pair of presentations.<\/p>\n
The first by North Queens Active Living detailed the programs they offer and benefit they bring to the community.<\/p>\n
The group is currently working towards gaining status as a society.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re asking council to continue supporting their work in the upcoming budget to the tune of $16,500.<\/p>\n
Next, the Region of Queens Pool Committee outlined their desire to build the new outdoor pool at Queens Place as well as some rough timelines and next steps.<\/p>\n
If all goes to plan, their aim is to begin construction in 2024 with the goal of opening the pool to the public in spring of 2025.<\/p>\n
Council then followed up on the public meeting held before session and granted the request to convert a multi-unit building in Hunts Point from short-term to long-term rentals.<\/p>\n
They also agreed to the name \u201cOcean Side Drive\u201d for the road going into a proposed development near the hospital in Liverpool called \u201cThe Point\u201d.<\/p>\n
After much back and forth over the past year council accepted the library committee recommendation to build the replacement for the Thomas H Raddall library at Queens Place.<\/p>\n
When the recommendation first came to council in June of 2022 some councillors didn\u2019t want to see the library moved from downtown Liverpool.<\/p>\n
Since then, the committee has looked into several different site options but determined any of those would increase the cost of construction by half a million dollars.<\/p>\n
Council also considered the Rossignol Centre in which the library currently sits has been put on the market and a quick sale could leave the county without a library.<\/p>\n
During the discussion portion of the meeting council asked staff to come back at a future date with options on a policy for the disposal of municipal properties.<\/p>\n
Some members of council cited the recent proposed regional airport sale and the upset it caused all parties involved as the reason to have a process in place that was fair, transparent and easily understood when selling municipally owned land.<\/p>\n
And finally, council heard from staff that the recent tax sale saw 16 properties sold for a total of $327,450.<\/p>\n
Of that, $34,500.58 will pay off outstanding accounts and $292,949.42 will be held in the tax sale surplus reserve in trust for 20 years to give owners the opportunity to recoup the proceeds of the sale.<\/p>\n
Council will take their next meeting on the road to Brooklyn on January 24.<\/p>\n
The session will begin at 6:00pm at the Brooklyn Community Hall.<\/p>\n