City Logs a Year of River District Work; New Bylaws & Up to 26 Shelter Beds Due This Summer
Staff logged 42 foot patrols and seven waste charges this spring but offered no dollar figure for the police funding the report calls significant.
Owen Sound council voted June 15 to receive the third in a series of staff reports on the River District, accepting City Manager Tim Simmonds’ update for information.
The report, CM-26-021, catalogues a year of City work in the downtown district since a July 2025 stakeholder meeting and sets out a slate of bylaw changes, enforcement measures and a new shelter expected over the coming months.
Much of the report tracks a shift toward what staff call proactive bylaw enforcement. Council approved enforcement of that kind in the River District in September 2025.
Through the 2026 budget, council approved what the report describes as a “modified approach,” adding 24 enforcement hours a week — after the Service Review Implementation Ad Hoc Committee had recommended hiring both a bylaw enforcement supervisor and a part-time officer. The City filled the new position on June 8.
Bylaw officers began daily foot patrols in the downtown core on April 17, concentrating on the 300 block of 8th Street East, the 800 and 900 blocks of 2nd Avenue East and the 900 block of 1st Avenue East. They completed 42 patrols over the first 35 working days, the report states.
Officers laid three charges for untagged waste and improper disposal, and a May 26 waste audit produced four more charges, two cautions and two notice letters to businesses.
On May 13, officers worked with the fire department to return 12 abandoned shopping carts to retailers.
The report flags a larger regulatory push for July, when staff plan to bring council a package of bylaw amendments and new rules. According to the report, these include:
limits on boarded buildings under the Property Standards Bylaw;
waste rules clarifying property-owner responsibility and allowing the City to recover cleanup costs;
Business Licensing conditions for “emergency care establishments,” which the report ties to health, safety and “neighbourhood compatibility”; and
a new Vital Services Bylaw requiring landlords to maintain tenants’ access to heat, water and electricity.
On the social services side, the report reiterates that Safe ‘N Sound has secured 612 2nd Ave. E. for a year-round shelter offering up to 26 overnight beds, backed by $500,000 in federal funding through the Rural and Remote stream of Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy.
Staff are reviewing the proponent’s building permit application; the report gives no opening date. It lists SOS, Brightshores, M’Wikwedong and the Canadian Mental Health Association as planned service partners, with contributions from Grey County, the Community Foundation Grey Bruce and 100 Women Who Care Grey Bruce.
An earlier Neighbourhood Response Team pilot, run by Safe ‘N Sound and the Supportive Outreach Services program, placed social navigators in the district from November 2025 to March 31, 2026.
Among the physical projects, the City awarded the Farmers’ Market washroom renovation to MMA Construction in March. Construction was set to begin the week of June 15 and finish the week of July 13, after which the report says the accessible washroom will open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Separately, a River District business — unnamed in the report — has proposed running a second public washroom under a one-year pilot; staff say they will report back to council July 27 if the idea has merit.
A consultant contract to plan streetscape and at-grade infrastructure upgrades, funded by a Rural Ontario Development Program grant the City secured in December 2025, was expected to be awarded the week of June 15.
The report also records changes to waste service. Garbage collection in the district runs three days a week off-season and rises to five days a week through the summer. As of April 1, the City ended recycling collection for non-eligible businesses and moved residential recycling to a bi-weekly schedule under Circular Materials, part of Ontario’s shift to producer-funded recycling.
Several of the report’s assessments arrive without supporting figures. It states that the River District coordinator role, formalized early this year, “is having a positive impact,” but offers no measure of it.
It says public engagement “consistently reinforces” that a more active district “feels safer,” without pointing to data.
And while it describes the police service as “supported by significant City funding,” it gives no dollar amount. Staff put the City’s direct River District costs at “approximately $62,000” for March through May, while noting that figure excludes staff time.
The report also tells council that an “ongoing public narrative, particularly on social media,” at times reflects “unfounded assumptions, stereotypes, and, in some cases, discriminatory perspectives.”
The runway from here is concentrated in July. Staff plan to bring the bylaw package to council that month and, if warranted, the washroom-pilot report on July 27. The Farmers’ Market washroom is targeted for completion the week of July 13.
The City expects to finish updating the River District Action Plan, with public input, by the end of the third quarter, complete a GIS commercial-vacancy inventory over the summer, and roll out a business recruitment strategy in early 2027.
The report sets no timeline for the 612 2nd Ave. E. shelter beyond the building permit now under review.
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