| Sep 25, 2008


Sept 25/08 - SF Council

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Feature Article - September 25, 2008 South Frontenac Council –Sept. 23/08 By Jeff Green

South Frontenac will decide when to set the clock on October 7

South Frontenac Council continued to grind away at their Official Plan Review at a Committee of the Whole meeting on Tuesday night, but the end is in sight.

Two issues remain. One is the so-called clock re-starting issue. When the township’s Official Plan was approved in 2001, it included a provision whereby any single property in the township can only be divided into three building lots without the owner undertaking an expensive plan of subdivision process.

Now, some councillors want the clock to be set back, so three lots can be created on any property as of the passing of the Official Plan review, effectively re-setting the clock to January of 2009.

The issue has been batted around for months and was discussed again this week. It will be bought to a final vote at the next regular council meeting on October 7.

The other issue on the table were land designations, specifically prime agricultural and protected wetland designations which are being applied to certain lands, sometimes without the knowledge of the affected landowner.

As was pointed out by Storrington Councillor John Fillion, the map marking these lands is fraught with errors. In one case, an active quarry that is registered as such with the province is designated as a protected wetland.

“How can a quarry be a wetland?” Fillion asked.

Township planner Lindsay Mills explained that the provincial ministries will not correct the maps until the Official Plan is submitted to them.

Council decided to contact all those affected, and submit the maps with detailed notes about errors, and then hope they are fixed when they come back from the province.

“If they don’t catch everything, we’ll send them back,” said Clerk Gord Burns.

Over the next month, the township will attempt to contact all those involved and put together a comprehensive list of errors before finalising the Official Plan review on October 21.

Construction cost over-runs: Public works Manager Mark Segsworth had good news and bad news for Council concerning road construction in 2008. The good is news is that “We have, through a combination of in-house and contracted resources, delivered on an ambitious program of road work without sacrificing the quality of the work.”

The bad news is that in three of the four districts, the cost of the construction exceeded the budget. Partially due to a rise in the cost of pavement, (an oil-based product), construction in Bedford was $232,000 over budget, in Portland it was $189,000 over, and in Storrington it was $233,000. By contrast, in Loughborough it was $27,000 under budget, and on arterial roads such as Road 38 and bridges that are owned by the township itself, it was $285,000 under budget.

Overall the construction cost $400,000 more than the $4.7 million budget.

Council decided to fund the cost overruns using infrastructure grant money from the province and will work out a formula to compensate Loughborough district.

Segsworth said he would make sure to inform Council of any overruns as they occur in future years so Council can decide whether to delay projects for future years or fund them out of reserves.

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