South Frontenac Council -
Nov 25/08
by Wilma Kenny
Farmland: for food or housing?
Two powerful issues came into conflict
around a proposal to re-designate portions of farmland lying in the
south of the districts of Portland and Storrington at a Committee of
the Whole meeting of South Frontenac Council on Tuesday night
(November 25).
On one hand were the rights of a farmer
to control the use of his or her land, including the right to sever
and sell portions of it for housing development: on the other hand
was the wish to preserve good (i.e., class 1,2 or 3 soils) farmland
for food production.
Complicating this: both the difficulty
most farmers have making a reasonable income from their produce,
versus the hope that increasing interest in buying foods grown close
to home may help make local farming a more viable enterprise in the
near future. One farmer commented: “We’re independent-minded
people, and sick of the government telling us what to do. Sometimes
his land is the only retirement security a farmer has.” Another
emphasised the inaccuracy of the land quality maps provided by the
provincial government: “They called our pond class one farmland,
but we’re not growing rice in it!”
Between 1995 and 2000, the agricultural
designation was removed from the lands in question, although in the
Canada Land Inventory portions of them are still shown to be Class
1,2 or 3 soils. Last year, a proposal to designate these lands as
Agricultural 2 was brought to Council, supported by a petition with
78 signatories. Such a designation would not absolutely forbid
severances, but would require a soil evaluation to support any
proposed severance.
Sixty-three property owners have lands
within the area under discussion. More than 30 were at the meeting,
but the only person in the room to speak in favour of preserving
farmland was Councilor David Hahn. A straw vote soundly defeated the
proposal.
Focus on Municipal Energy
Chief Building Inspector Alan Revill
reported on his recent review of the township’s energy costs, with
information about steps the township could take to conserve energy
and lower costs. This is in part a proactive response to Bill 21,
which will require municipalities to establish current energy use
benchmarks, then draw up plans for conservation and efficiency.
The comprehensive review dealt with
three areas:
- the elimination of waste;
- retrofits for energy
conservation, and
- alternative energy options.
Revill emphasized
that considerable savings could be achieved through a wide range of
possibilities, all the way from simple housekeeping actions such as
turning computers off and thermostats down at night, to researching
alternative energy sources.
He recommended establishing a staff
committee to help review information and plan a course of action and
plan a course of action, as well as investigating grant possibilities
and community partnerships.
Winter Road Policy
Public Works Manager Mark Segsworth
explained the steps he was taking to introduce a consistent level of
winter service throughout the township, based on the class of road as
determined by road speed and traffic volumes. Segsworth emphasized that this winter
he would be gathering factual information, through traffic volume
counts, better record-keeping, etc.
“I’ve heard a lot of opinion, much
of it not supported by facts,” he noted. The goal is to develop
procedures and consistency, in order to improve and standardize
service. Presently, he has achieved general consensus that
contractors who are responsible for night work won’t be sent home
before 5 am. A more efficient mix of sand and salt is being
introduced, along with improved salt handling procedures. Councilors
mentioned some concerns about the present quality of snow removal,
particularly early in the mornings, and on some of the more remote
roads. Segsworth agreed that the first snowfall always magnified
problem areas, repeating that once more information was available, a consistent
township-wide level of service would become possible.
