Friday, November 29, 2019 7 Brooklin Town Crier In bygone days, communities grew up around flour mills. Such was the case with the Brooklin Flour Mill at 25 Cassels Road East. Built in 1848 by John and Robert Campbell, it replaced a woodframed mill that had burned down the year before. A cedar swamp originally covered the area and had to be filled in with trees and stone so the foundation could be built on solid ground. Sonley's brickyard on the 4th Concession (highway 12 and Taunton Rd.) provided the brick. Evidently Mr. Sonley intended the building to last a long time since he made the walls at the base two feet thick. A year after the mill opened, a large crack running from the eaves to the foundation appeared in the center of the south wall. It was feared the six storey mill would collapse, but 171 years later, it's still standing. Shallow pond The power to run the 18-foot wheel came from a pond near the Meadowcrest subdivision and passed through a mill race along Pearl Street. The pond was too shallow and frequently ran dry. Charles Wilson, who learned the trade in his father's mills in England moved to Greenwood in Pickering Township in 1905 to manage the Greenwood mill. It was here he met and married Christine Trimble and produced a family of seven children. The Wilsons moved to Port Colbourne where he worked for the Maple Leaf Milling Company. Five years later, they moved to Brooklin. The mill's owners changed a few times before he bought it on September 17, 1919. Two years later, determined to make his mill the best equipped in Ontario, he installed a self-contained roller mill called the Midget Marvel. Popular flour The brands of flour Charles marketed were "Marvel Pastry" and "Brooklin Bread", both of which were very popular. During this time, the mill had competition from various other mills in the region. Three of his sons, Alfred, Winston and Vernon (Fuzz), worked with their father until World War II when Alfred and Winston left to join the services. During the war, the electric motors were converted to diesel power and ran 24 hours a day. Charles later purchased the milling rights from Hampton Mill to produce their famous XXX brand of flour. Alfred and Winston returned from the war and took up their jobs again to work with their dad. In 1952, they returned to electric power, producing 75 barrels of flour a day, serving customers from Kingston in the east to as far as Bobcaygeon in the north. By the 1970s, apart from the Vanstone Mill in Bowmanville, the Brooklin Mill was the only operating flour mill in the Durham region. A unique architectural landmark, it is one of the few buildings in Whitby with a date on the structure (west wall under the peak of the roof). A landmark The Mill is featured in the book "Rural Ontario" and ranks high among the finest landmarks in the community. Today, it's home to the Brooklin Mill Montessori School. Charles Wilson died on December 15, 1968, at the age of 83. His sons continued to operate the mill until September 5, 1978, when they sold the property, thus ending an era of flour milling at the Brooklin Mill. Brooklin Heritage Society The Wilson Family Mill By Jennifer Hudgins Photo courtesy of Megan Pugh, Whitby Library Archives Short term rental properties have become an issue in parts of Whitby. It's unfortunate because the concept is great. I've stayed in many throughout the years and it's proven to be a comfortable and inexpensive way to travel. However, we have residents enduring property standard issues, bylaw infractions, and basically mayhem in their neighbourhoods when short term rentals are used as party houses. It's a concern elsewhere, too. Our staff were taxed with the job of investigating what other municipalities are doing about it. So this recommendation came to us at council and was endorsed last Monday night: Recommendations Create a regulatory and zoning scheme, for the reasons noted by the Town of the Blue Mountains (noisy cottage rentals, unruly behaviour, and other tourism-related problems). In reviewing the available regulatory frameworks, staff prefer developing a system similar to that in Oakville, with two substantive changes: Long-term renters of a property should not be permitted to further rent out the property as a short term rental. The property owner should have control over how the property is used and choose between a short term or traditional rental. This also helps to support proper care and control over the property, for which the landowner is ultimately responsible. Whole home short term rentals should not be permitted. Most issues from short term rentals come from whole home rentals in which the landowner does not use the building as the principal residence. While Airbnb is moving to stop properties from being used as "party houses", having the owner present is the best method of stopping such occurrences. This would also follow the existing definition for bed and breakfasts in the Town, where only a dwelling unit in a person's principal residence can be rented, not the whole building. As supported by Zoning By-laws, the boarding/lodging/house-licensing requirement would remain. Staff do not recommend licensing short term rentals in the town without also changing the Zoning By-laws. It is not appropriate to license and legitimize short term rentals on properties where short term rentals are not permitted under the Zoning Bylaws. This will only cause confusion for compliance and undermine the land use permissions in the Zoning By-laws. Zoning changes Since this option would require new regulations and zoning changes, staff recommend engaging in public consultation as part of the process for developing the new rules. Staff envision this process occurring in phases: (a) Develop information and communication materials for the public regarding moving forward with this option. (b) Similar to the consultation process in Oshawa, staff will engage with short term rental platforms and hosts/operators, together with other temporary accommodation providers such as legitimate bed and breakfast establishments and hotels/motels. Staff will also conduct public information sessions (through various forms of engagement) to obtain feedback on developing the regulations and zoning changes. (c) Prepare a draft of the licensing requirements, regulations, and zoning changes, and report the details of this work to Council. This report will include comments received from the public, detailed financial implications. As appropriate, the Zoning By-law amendments will also proceed through the statutory notice and public meeting requirements. (d) Considering further amendments to the draft licensing requirements, regulations, and Zoning Bylaw amendments, a final version will be presented to Council for approval. It is estimated that the above process will continue throughout most of 2020. Staff expect that a final decision from the Land Planning Act Tribunal will be issued during this time period regarding Toronto's zoning amendments, which will help guide the formation of the Town's changes. In the meantime, Town staff will continue to enforce the Town's by-laws and Zoning Bylaws as currently written. If you have concerns about this, please contact us at council@whitby.ca. We also want to know if you agree with it. In the meantime, let's hope this brings an end to the party houses popping up throughout town. Regulating Air BnB in Whitby Deputy Mayor: Rhonda Mulcahy