Addington Highlands Council - June 21

Jeff Green | Jun 29, 2022

Because of the extensive damage from the May 24 Derecho, Mazinaw Lakeside Resort will not be able to run their annual summer music night in July, but the owners are hoping to be able to do so in September, and asked the township to defer the noise bylaw exemption that they require for amplified music, until September 17. Council approved the request without comment.

Tree removal request accepted, but compensation not in the cards.

Darlene and Mike Bunn, property owners on Mazinaw Lake, have approached the township about two trees that were severely damaged by the recent wind storm, which are located on the shore road allowance that is adjacent to their property. After being informed by Public Works Manager Brett Reavie, that they “have permission to remove the trees because of the risk they pose”, the Bunn's wrote to Council with a question about “responsibility and liability”

“I read the email,” said Reeve Henry Hogg, “are they requesting just for us to approve the removal of the trees, or do they want compensation as well?”

Councillor Miles made a motion to approve the removal of the trees.

“No compensation,” said Reeve Hogg.

“I don't think historically we would compensate for the removal of trees on a road allowance,” said Deputy Reeve Tony Fritsch.

Request to waive permit fees denied

Lynn Garish, a township resident dealing with repairs as the result, again, of wind storm damage, requested that the township waive the required building permit fees.

“It would seem unfair for residents to have to pay these fees through no fault of their own and would be a good gesture by the township,” she wrote.

“It is likely covered by insurance and the insurance will be paying the fees. Why should everyone else in the township pay?” said Reeve Hogg.

“The purpose of the fees is to make sure the code is followed and also to cover the costs. So if we waive it in one case, someone else in our township is covering those costs,” said Deputy Reeve Fritsch.

“When someone is hit hard already and they have to ask about relief, it is difficult to say no, my empathetic side is coming out a little,” said Councillor David Miles.

A motion to reject the request was approved, with Councillor Miles casting the only dissenting vote.

Clark road request

Marlean Mcllean, of Clark Road, has asked the township to do work on her road and put in a new, larger culvert.

Works Manager Reavie said there is no immediate risk of flooding on the road, and said the problem is related to beaver dams on the landowners property, which the township has taken out in the past, but is not expected to be permitted to do in the future.

“The resident would also like us to send them a costing of all work done on that road since 2017,” said Chief Administrative Officer Christine Reed.

“We do a road needs study every five years and follow that. And as for sending the resident a costing, if we did that every time someone asked for it, our staff would not have time to do their other work,” said Reeve Hogg.

Endorsements

Council endorsed resolutions circulated from other Ontario municipalities advocating for better retirement home funding and for the government to revisit some of the provisions of Bill 109, the More Homes for Everyone Act, that impinge on municipal authority. A third resolution, to endorse a federal private members bill that “will raise the level of education on domestic violence and coercive control, for federally appointed judges,” sparked the following response from Councillor Miles:

“We could have bills for everything. There is a lot of focus already in our education system on this sort of thing. I think we should go back to the old read and write and arithmetic sort of thing. I don't disagree that this is important, but putting added emphasis on it, in particular, when educating our kids can be dangerous.”

“I think they are referring to general education, not the education system,” said Councillor Kirby Thompson.

“I think they are referring to the legal system,” said Tony Fritsch.

The motion passed unanimously.

AHEAD Committee

Council accepted a request from the long standing AHEAD (Addington Highlands Economic Advisory and Development) Committee to develop new terms of reference for the committee, and will also act on a request for some township recognition for business milestones within Addington Highlands.

Wind storm clean up

The wind storm cleanup is continuing but work is slow and tedious, and there are still some issues with Bell lines restricting areas that we can access,” Works Manager Reavie told Council “Some of the work is quite dangerous and we have hired contractors to come in and give us a hand.

Reavie said there are two invoices already, one of more than $100,000, one smaller one, and more to come.

The township is keeping all receipts in case there is a possibility for provincial relief. Council agreed to accept storm related brush and tree waste for free at local waste sites, until Labour Day.

The sites are filling up with the brush but have been able to cope, this far, Reavie said.

Tony Fritsch said “I would like to add another thank you to the roads department for all the work they have done. I think the residents appreciate what is going on.

“The staff went above and beyond,” said Kirby Thompson. “When there is an emergency, there is never a question that we can count on them to come and help out at any hour of the day or night. I think we all know that.”

CBO report

Chief Building Official David Twiddy said that while permits have been steady they are well below last year.

“We expect that is because COVID allowed people to do work that they had not had time to do before,” he said.

He expects to be busy for the rest of the season with wind storm repairs, and encourages residents to take out permits and get the benefit of his knowledge and experience with the building code.

I like to think I am pretty easy to work with,” he said.

One other thing he pointed out is that the new limit for sheds that can be put up without a permit is 160 square feet, up from 100.

Energy efficiency

Thanks to some of the efficiency improvements coming from office renovations, the township is on track to meet its 4% emission reduction target by 2023.