Category Archives: accessibility

09.20.25
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Element5’s St. Thomas expansion: ‘We have come here with a long-term vision – to stay, and to help shape the future of building with wood.’

At a ceremony Tuesday morning in St. Thomas, Element5 officially opened its new state-of-the-art glue-laminated production line and unveiled the expansion of its mass timber manufacturing facility in the city’s north end.
Element5 is the province’s first certified manufacturer of cross-laminated timber, and the expansion more than doubles the size of the plant from 130,000 square feet to over 350,000 square feet.
It will create 150 new jobs, increasing the company’s workforce to over 325 employees.
The expansion doubles the facility’s production capacity from 50,000 cubic meters annually to 100,000 cubic meters annually of cross-laminated timber (CLT) and glued-laminated timber (Glulam) products.

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07.05.25
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Is city hall about to pull the plug on a home-based business in St. Thomas teaching youngsters water safety?

For more than three decades, countless young children have learned to swim in Joy Dawdy’s backyard pool.
Her daughter, Brittany, is proud of the fact that some of those youngsters have gone on to become swim instructors themselves.
And, just like the City of St. Thomas, which will enact a personal flotation device bylaw in the aftermath of the drowning of Ryan Davies last fall in Lake Margaret, Dawdy is doing her bit to promote water safety.
This is her third location for conducting the swimming classes, she explained in a conversation yesterday (July 4). She currently lives near Central Elgin Collegiate Institute.
“Before this, I was doing it at our home on Balaclava Street, and it initially started at my parents’ house on Hughes Street.”

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05.17.25
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Hospice of Elgin will provide ‘Exceptional heartfelt care for individuals and their families at end of life’

With a projected opening later this year, Hospice of Elgin will be a 17,000 sq. ft. one-floor facility at 8 South Edgeware Road in St. Thomas.
It will provide wrap-around care to individuals (and their families) at end-of-life in a welcoming ‘cottage-like’ setting. Hospice is about comfort, quality of life and care. This includes addressing pain and symptoms, while also supporting the psycho-social, spiritual, and practical needs of the individual.
Executive Director Brenda Fleming appeared before city council this past Monday (May 12) to present an update on what is affectionately known as ‘The Cottage.’
She was accompanied by Robert Furneaux, board chair.

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05.04.24
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Modular housing: Part of the solution to put the ‘missing middle’ into homes they can afford while building equity

city_scope_logo-cmykOntario plans to move ahead with its plan to build more modular homes including on government surplus lands.
That was the message from Elgin-Middlesex-London MPP and Associate Minister of Housing in the province’s effort to cut red tape when it comes to increasing the housing supply.
We talked with Flack shortly after the media release went out to delve deeper into the concept of modular homes and their role in the future.
He advised a housing forum was held in Toronto last November where various housing stakeholders got together for a day to identify deliverables needed to speed up homebuilding in the province.
Among those attending was St. Thomas homebuilder Doug Tarry.
“And one of the pieces is modular or factory-built homes and so we’ve been working on getting this market sounding out.
“There are all types of modular homebuilders in Ontario. Big scale ones down to smaller ones.”

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06.24.17
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In-camera report might reveal true cost of renovating Colin McGregor Justice Building

city_scope_logo-cmykA confusing few moments at Monday’s council meeting so this corner thought it wise to confer with Ald. Jeff Kohler on what he is attempting to uncover.
To briefly summarize, Kohler was seeking to have a report brought out into open session, but the majority of council had difficulty establishing just what document he was referring to and the matter was deferred to the August meeting.
By way of explanation, Kohler noted the report – dealt with during a 2015 in-camera meeting of council – presented different location options for Elgin-St. Thomas Ontario Works, whose lease in the Mickleborough Building on Talbot Street expires this year.
Several sites for a new home for Ontario Works were catalogued, including the Colin McGregor Justice Building, vacated this month by the St. Thomas Police Service.
06.11.16
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For the Professor, latest accessibility report would just be more of the same

city_scope_logo-cmykWhile he had become accustomed to findings similar to those contained in a report to council Monday, the Professor would be far from pleased with the latest report card.
Prior to his death in February, Ed McLachlan spent years as a member of the St. Thomas Municipal Accessibility Advisory Committee and filed many reports to council  on accessibility issues in all city-owned facilities.
Lesley Buchanan is now chair of the committee and the annual site audit is on the agenda for all to see.
Here is a sampling of the ongoing barriers the handicapped face.

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02.27.16
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The Professor taught us all a lesson

city_scope_logo-cmykThe latest edition of City Scope was mapped out and ready to put on the page Friday afternoon when this corner received a message, via Facebook, from long-time friend Joe Docherty alerting me to the death Thursday of Ed McLachlan, or the Professor as he was better known.
Hearing the sombre news, I could think of no better tribute to a fellow Scot (he from Dundee and myself a southerner from Edinburgh) than to scrap what I had written and begin anew.
While I was quite at home with the honourable Sensei’s dojo family, who could be found out back in his converted garage, Ed also left his indelible stamp on this city through his tireless work as a member of the St. Thomas Municipal Accessibility Advisory Committee.
For anyone who thought Ed was passionate about the martial arts, he was downright feisty when it came to matters of accessibility.

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09.12.15
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There’s always room for one more manager at city hall

city_scope_logo-cmykAs far as media releases go, Wednesday’s city hall advisory was brimming with corporate bravado.
“With its sights set on the strengthening of its leadership and organizational management, streamlining corporate financial management and the continued renewal of the Environmental Services Department,” the release breathlessly announced, “City Council has put in motion a number of strategic changes.”
What this declaration shamefully failed to include was three people would lose their jobs in the organizational restructuring.
Why the oversight?
Does their escort out the doors of city hall cast doubt on the true motives at play?
This restructuring is predicated, in part, by the findings of a curious report presented to council last fall.
The Dobbie Report — ostensibly an organizational review of the environmental services department — noted senior managers at city hall felt the lack of staff was an issue along with the need for more advanced equipment and technology such as cell phones and laptop computers. Continue reading →

01.17.15
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Is this a snow job on snow removal?

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It’s a hot topic for a bitterly cold day . . . the effectiveness of snow removal efforts in St. Thomas. The debate has generated a bevy of comments, both passionate and bitter, on the Times-Journal website and Facebook page. The intensity of which hasn’t been witnessed since last October’s municipal election.

The manner in which Dave White, roads and transportation supervisor, defended his snow fighting strategy during Monday’s council meeting did little to satisfy members of council, not to mention ratepayers.

One was left with the impression the Jan. 7 snow squalls caught him off guard, as he advised plows did not hit the streets until after staff arrived for work at 7:30 that morning.

You would think when Environment Canada issued a snow squall watch more than 26 hours previous, specifically targetting St. Thomas, that all resources would be on alert prior to the morning commute instead of trying to battle the elements in the middle of the drive to work.
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