South Frontenac Council

Wilma Kenny | Jun 22, 2016

Zoning by-law Amendment, J. Campbell Property, Canoe Lake

Council passed a by-law amendment, rezoning land abutting James Wilson Road in Bedford, to permit creation of three new waterfront lots on Canoe Lake. Although the Cataraqui Regional Conservation Authority had originally requested a 60-metre set-back from water for building on all three lots, further review by Ontario Lake Assessments determined that 30 metres would be adequate for two of the new lots, and 45 metres for the third one.

The ownership of the strip of sand along Jame Wilson Road, which had been traditionally used for public swimming, was a controversial issue. However the updated survey establishes that most of the beach is on the public road allowance. Council decided not to enlarge the area of public use by requesting a strip of parkland adjacent to the road, which would have caused a potential parking hazard at the curve of the road. The planning report also referred to possible danger to swimmers posed by an underwater hydro line, although there have been prior assurances from Ontario Hydro to the contrary.

Vendor of Record List Compiled

“Vendor of record” refers to those vendors who have an ‘acceptable business relationship’ with the Township which pre-qualifies them to provide goods/services to the Township. Township policy permits these vendors to be used when a purchase is between $150 and $25,000, and the services are within budget. Policy also requires a list of these vendors be compiled and recommended for Council’s approval on a bi-annual basis.

Treasurer Fragnito presented Council with a nine-page list. Council suggested this list might be more useful if: it included amounts of money spent on each vendor; was arranged in categories rather than alphabetically; a simple ‘report card’ score was developed and included each time one of the vendors of record was used by the Township.

Organizational Review

Council agreed unanimously to re-open the issue of the CAO’s five recommendations for moving forward with the organizational review in 2016. The motion brought forward was to approve Orr’s recommendations, most of which focus on working toward eventually hiring a Development Services Manager who would help prepare the Township to assume responsibility for approval of plans of subdivision within the Township.

Deputy Mayor Sutherland proposed an amendment to the motion which would exclude one of the more controversial recommendations from discussion: the proposal to relocate of the Pubic Works Manager’s office. Discussion of the amendment soon veered into discussion of the original motion. Several felt there was no need to move so quickly in hiring another staff member until the Township was more prepared to take on a greater role in planning.

Ross Sutherland disagreed, saying “Look at the present state of our planning department; we’re not ready to step forward, and are unlikely to get approval from the County if we’re not even prepared to commit money to change.”

Mayor Vandewal agreed with Sutherland; “ The County won’t look at us if we’re not prepared.”

Councilllor Revill said he was not sure what more the Corporate Services Committee could add to the discussion.

Councillor Barr asked that the motion on the table be re-read, and Council was reminded that they were supposed to be discussing moving the Public Works Managers office and not whether to hire a planning co-ordinator.

In spite of this, the general consensus was that further discussion about planning was necessary, and Councillor McDougall said perhaps more could be accomplished if a smaller group, i.e., the Corporate Services Committee, tackled all the issues and brought recommendations back.

Somehow in all this, the proposed amendment was set aside and Council agreed to refer the whole issue of the CAO’s Organizational Review recommendations for 2016 back to Corporate Services, asking them to report to Council in August.

Shoreline Damage Remediated

Planner Mills recommended that the holding symbol be removed from a Sydenham Lake waterfront property (part lot 8, Concession V, Souci), in order to permit development to proceed.

The lot had been created in 2007 with strict conditions (from the OMB) requiring the developer to maintain mature shoreline tree growth in order to prevent erosion of the steep embankment within 30 metres of the lake. However, the owner had brought in heavy equipment to gouge a roadway down through the bank, and to level a sitting area.

Mills said that insufficient remediation attempts had led to a hold being placed by Council on any further development until satisfactory remediation had been completed. The forced roadway has now been filled in and overgrown and the Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority has reviewed and approved the property remediation. Accordingly Council has removed the holding symbol, to permit building on the lot.

Surprise! Another Farmer on Council

Council passed a motion proposed by Councillor Sleeth, to support the re-establishment of the Prison Farm Program. Deputy Mayor Sutherland did not vote, claiming a conflict of interest. Seems he owns a cow, formerly one of the prison herd…