North Frontenac Council - Apr 23/12

Jeff Green | Apr 26, 2012

North Frontenac waives permit fees for Ompah build - April 23, 2012

Four companies are planning to submit bids under a Frontenac County Request for Proposal (RFP) for a design/build contract to put up a fire hall and ambulance post in North Frontenac. The deadline for submissions is May 14, but according to North Frontenac Chief Administrative Officer Cheryl Robson that deadline may be pushed back at the request of some of the potential bidders.

Once the bids are received, each of the partners in the project, North Frontenac and Frontenac County, will have a chance to review the costs and decide whether they want to proceed to the construction stage.

The matter will likely come to North Frontenac Council in late May or early June, and could be before Frontenac Council at their June 20 meeting.

“Frontenac County staff want to know charges the township will be levying for a building permit and an entrance permit. The bidders need these figures in order to finalize their bids,” CAO Robson said at a meeting of North Frontenac Council this week (April 23).

The fees would normally come to $3,600 for the building permit and $40 for the entrance permit.

“Do you want to charge them?” she asked Council.

“If we charge the fees it will put our costs up as well, because we are on the hook for more than half of the costs,” said Deputy Mayor Fred Perry.

“The County has taken on a lot of costs already in preparing the RFP and doing a lot of background work, and they have not charged any of that back to the project,” Robson pointed out.

“I think it is a reasonable gesture for us to make,” said Mayor Bud Clayton.

Council agreed to waive the fees.

Bell planning to bring cell service to many in NF

Bell Canada is in the initial planning stages for a 400 foot tower on a piece of private land near Pine Lake, not far from the hamlet of Ardoch. A second tower is also planned for North Frontenac. The impact of these towers would be a substantial increase in cell phone service.

The towers are designed to cover a gap in Bell service that encompasses most of North Frontenac and parts of Addington Highlands and Central Frontenac as well.

Robert Milne, representing Canacre, a company that has been contracted by Bell Canada to oversee the permitting process for the tower, came to North Frontenac Township on Monday to talk about the project.

“It is really early in the process,” Milne said, “there are a number of factors that need to be looked at before any towers are put up, and one of the early steps in the process is to come before council,” he said.

Councillor Gerry Martin expressed a concern about the fact that while the potential Pine Lake tower will be located on private property that is located near a road allowance, it is not a maintained township road, and he wanted to make sure that the township is not taking on any increased responsibilities for road maintenance.

“I'm particularly concerned about the bridge on that road. We don't want to be on the hook for repairing that bridge if it ever fails,” he said.

Councillor John Inglis expressed another concern.

“There are concerns about the way these kinds of towers affect the landscape, concerns about the aesthetics,” he said.

“Some people are not happy with the aesthetics of a tower,” said Robert Milne, “but many people have a desire for improved service.”

“In our case it is not a case of improved service,” said Mayor Bud Clayton, “because we have no service at all.”

Robert Milne said that there will be public consultation as part of the permitting process.

As clerk Jenny Duhamel pointed out, the township itself is not the body that grants the approvals for cell towers, which are under the purview of Industry Canada.

“Nonetheless, there will be a licensing agreement and that will cover the concerns that have been expressed by Council,” she said.

Once any towers are in place, service may be offered by Bell's competitors as well.

“Co-location with competitors is frequently done,” said Milne.

If constructed, the tower will be located in a fenced-in yard, will include a small shed, and will be secured with guy ropes, Milne added.

Lack of information limits new business ventures in North Frontenac

As part of his work with the Economic Development Task Force in the township, Ron Higgins conducted a survey of three businesses who have either started up or expanded in recent years. As he said in the preamble to his report, Higgins was looking for trouble – he chose businesses that had expressed concerns about the process they went through with the township.

“The fact gathering element was conducted by intentionally selecting three businesses that were known to have issues with the process. The rationale for this selection was to try and understand the specific issues encountered so that I could conduct a root cause analysis to identify the true problem and identify opportunities for improvement,” he said.

The general conclusions that he came to by asking the same 13 questions to each of the three business owners were that "The information for startup or expansion is not readily available [from the township]; there was a perception that the staff at the time did not appear helpful before or during the process; and the zoning bylaws were perceived to be prohibitive for starting or expanding a business.”

Higgins has already shared his survey results with CAO Cheryl Robson. Together they have determined that the problem may come down to a deficiency at the township office. Office staff are not in a position to provide all relevant information to business owners when they are approached about what processes need to be followed to obtain necessary municipal approvals for new ventures.

Some of the solutions being proposed are: Identifying a single staff contact for business proposals, having a process map or list to simplify planning matters, and making changes to the township website to provide a window for business owners to access township services are.

“When I was first elected mayor I asked the question, 'are we ready for economic development in this township?' At the time I said no, we are not,” said Bud Clayton, “and this report goes some way to identify why we are not and pointing us to how we can become ready. The task force is doing a good job.”

Bobolink could block MVC

With a hint of amusement in his voice, Councillor Gerry Martin reported that construction of the new headquarters for Mississippi Valley Conservation in Carleton Place, a project that could cost up to $6.5 million, may be held up by one of the species that MVC is charged with protecting.

A bobolink was either seen, or heard (they have a distinctive song – it sounds kind of like their name, only more tuneful) on the site.

“I don't know if this means we have to wait until July, or longer,” said Martin.