The Blue Mountains council has agreed to give a popular waterfront yoga class a 50 per cent discount on the cost of using town space.
At its meeting on July 10, council agreed to cut in half the rate charged for Mantra Yoga Studio to access the pier in Thornbury for its popular yoga classes.
Mantra owner Charlene Spiessman appeared at the meeting as a delegation and asked that council consider reducing the $55 fee charged for her classes to access the popular pier in Thornbury.
Spiessman, who bought the business in recent years, said the yoga class has run at the Thornbury pier for 12 years without any issues. It has become extremely popular with her students.
“Yoga on the pier has become a treasured and integral part of our community,” she said.
She said this year the town started charging her business a $55 fee for access to the pier. She said the classes usually start at 8:30 a.m. and run for about an hour. She requested the town consider a half-day or hourly fee in place of the $55.
“This is a small business trying to catch up from COVID,” Spiessman said, noting that her classes are scheduled in the mornings to avoid the busier times of day at the pier.
Ryan Gibbons, the town’s director of community services, said the town’s fees and charges bylaw requires a charge of $55 for use of the pier property and the bylaw does not have options for hourly or half-day rates. He said town staff would look at making an amendment to the bylaw along those lines during the 2024 budget process.
Gibbins said the fee can only be discounted via council’s direction. After a brief discussion about the issue, Coun. Shawn McKinlay moved that the fee be cut in half to $27.50. Council passed his motion unanimously 6-0 with Mayor Andrea Matrosovs having declared a conflict on the matter.
“It does seem pretty reasonable,” commented Coun. Alex Maxwell.
