Central Frontenac Council - Aug 10/10

Jeff Green | Aug 12, 2010

Zoning by-law change an “honest mistake”

It was an honest mistake, according to Central Frontenac staff, but concerned residents living on or near the Westport Road remained suspicious when they came out in force to an open house about revisions to the township’s comprehensive zoning bylaw last week.

The mistake that concerned them was a proposed change in zoning for a site owned by Shea Construction on the Westport Road near the border with South Frontenac Township and 13 Island Lake. As reported in the News last week (Municipal composting controversy surfaces again in Central Frontenac), one of the proposed changes to the 191-page document would have allowed the property in question to accept organic waste from outside the township for a large-scale open composting operation.

Two years ago Shea Construction applied for the change in zoning, as they were embarking on what ended up being a failed attempt to win a contract for the composting of waste from the City of Kingston's Green Box program.

The zoning application did not go though, and no further action was taken, by Shea or the township, but the alternate wording Shea had proposed ended up in the proposed comprehensive zoning bylaw.

Glenna Asselstine sent an email to Central Frontenac CAO John Duchene last Tuesday, pointing out the wording change, and she received a reply before the end of the week.

In it, Duchene said the change was an error and had been removed. In the version of the proposed bylaw that is now posted on the township website, the offending wording is gone.

Asselstine, along with 21 other people, were by far the largest group to attend the open house on Saturday, August 7 in Sharbot Lake.

“We went to the meeting, even though we had been informed about the correction, because we wanted to know how it could have happened,” Glenna Asselstine said afterwards. “There was quite a heated discussion.”

Members of the township's planning staff, in addition to Mayor Janet Gutowski and Hinchinbrooke Councilor Philip Smith were on hand at the open house.

According to Glenn Tunnock, the planning consultant who prepared the document, the mistake was a simple administrative matter. “When we started going through the exercise of amending the zoning bylaw, we looked at all of the amendments that council had approved in the six years since the original bylaw was adopted, and the person that put this one in did not realise that it had not been adopted. There was no attempt to try and sneak anything into the bylaw. It was a mistake and it has been corrected,” Tunnock said.

“The fact that it has been captured at this early stage is a good sign,” said Mayor Janet Gutowski. “It shows that the system is working. Council just received the document at our last meeting, so we have not had a chance to point out errors yet. There was the Open House today, and a public meeting is scheduled for September 14, so the document will be well vetted before it is accepted.”

“If this was a mistake then someone should take responsibility for it,” Glenna Asselstine said. “I didn’t hear that on Saturday. I'm still not convinced it was an 'innocent mistake'. I believe it was an attempt to slip something through.”

One thing that did come out of the discussion at the open house, according to Glenn Tunnock, was an understanding that the kind of waste that can be composted on the property needs to be better defined.

Leaf and yard waste is acceptable, not the kind of kitchen scraps that go into backyard composters.

“We will be tightening up that definition in the new bylaw,” said Tunnock.

Property standards bylaw deferred

Most members of Central Frontenac Council don’t want to go anywhere near the potentially thorny subject of property standards in the run-up to a municipal election.

The only exception is Kennebec District Councillor Gary Smith, who is not running for re-election.

Smith proposed that an ad hoc committee, with Council and public representation, begin meeting to consider property standards bylaws from other municipalities. “In the interest of the future and in the interest of economic development, I would like to see us launch this,” Smith said.

Township Chief Administrative Officer John Duchene said that he has contacted other municipalities, including Mississippi Mills, and obtained copies of their bylaws. “In Mississippi Mills the bylaw works pretty well. It is a complaint driven process. Complaints are submitted in writing, and are kept anonymous,” Duchene said.

“I think the timing is wrong for this kind of debate. It is definitely something the community has to consider as we move forward, but these bylaws have a lot of implications, and they can make tempers flare. I will not support this at this time,” said Mayor Janet Gutowski.

“I don’t know how many times a property standards bylaw has come up,” said Oso Councillor Bob Harvey. “If you are going to do this you have to consider whether to restrict it to hamlets or not. I think it needs a whole lot more input, as the mayor said.”

A motion to table the discussion to an unspecified future date was accepted, with Gary Smith casting the only dissenting vote.

ARENA BOUNDARY ROAD UPSET

During his monthly report, Public Works Manager Mike Richardson mentioned that all of the planned surface treatment (paving) projects would be completed this year, with one exception. Although extensive work is being done on the Arena Boundary Road, it will not be surface treated this year.

The reason for the delay, Richardson explained, is to coordinate with South Frontenac, which is looking at working on their portion of the road next year.

“Mark Segsworth, the South Frontenac Public Works Manager, wants to bring his road up to the same standard as ours, and pave them both at the same time, which makes sense,” Richardson said.

This did not sit well with Hinchinbrooke District Councilor Bill Snyder. “I’m totally dissatisfied,” he said. “I was led to believe that it was going to be done this year. I’ve even told some people it was going to be done this year. I don’t know why all the work is being done in Oso and some in Olden again this year. It’s not fair.”

Editors note – subsequent to the Council meeting, the township released the following statement on Thursday morning, August 12 Please find below a statement from Mike Richardson.

[Mayor and Councilors

I would like to make a correction to a statement I made at the Committee of the Whole meeting on Tuesday, I said that Arena Boundary Road was not going to have the surface treatment done this year. This is not correct. The surface treatment will be done and is in the contract along with the other roads for this year.

I had originally not planned to surface treat the road but the cost estimating at budget time showed that we could afford it so the work was added to the tender.

I apologize for my absent mindedness. I hope this clarifies any confusion.

Mike Richardson, Public Works Manager.]

MOUNTAIN GROVE PARK VISIONING – A document that came out of a series of meetings during the preceding eight months about potential elements in Mountain Grove Park, a piece of land that is bordered by Land O’Lakes Public School, the Olden Fire Hall and Mill Street.

The number one priority of the community visioning document is the relocation of the Olden Ball field from its current location next to the Olden dumpsite and works yard, to the new Park.

Other elements in the visioning document include a canteen, a multi-purpose court, nature trails, a toboggan hill, picnic areas, and more.

At this point the township has not been asked for any significant funding to develop the site, and the Olden Recreation Committee will consider the document next.

Once the document has been fine-tuned into an action plan, the committee will set up a fundraising campaign and will likely seek some funding from the township as well.

A vision statement for the project had been developed. “Mountain Grove Park is an appropriate place for the ball diamond and a site to provide recreational opportunities for the Mountain Grove area in a safe place for all ages to be active.”

by Julie Druker

David Welwood from Tunnock Consulting made a presentation to council with recommendations on an application by Liscobrike to rezone a piece of land owned by Camp Oconto to be sold to private owners who want to purchase the land as a parking area for their vehicles and trailers to access Eagle Lake.

Tunnock found that the application meets the official planning policies for the rural area and shoreline protection as well as complying with the zoning bylaw since there was an earlier agreement that no dwelling or septic system would be built, that there would be no storage of toxic material on the land in question and that the area cannot be expanded.

The report was accepted by council, and staff were directed to prepare an amending by-law to be presented at the next meeting

LDSB REQUEST FOR PARTNERSHIP

Councilor Gary Smith brought to council’s attention a letter received from the Limestone District School Board regarding possible partnership opportunities in the planning and building of the new K-12 school facility in Sharbot Lake and the importance of responding quickly. Councilor Frances Smith suggested offering a council member to be part of the planning committee. Mayor Janet Gutowski advised a letter of response be sent as soon as possible showing council's interest and said, “This is an opportunity that comes along very rarely, once in 50 years and we want to ensure that it’s an opportunity to take advantage of on behalf of the community and we want to make sure that it is done right.”

KFLA'S NEW FEES

Councilor Bill Snyder questioned the KFLA Public Health Unit’s new land development and septic system fee schedule and asked how the fees had been set. Mayor Janet Gutowski said that the fees had remained the same for years and were no longer covering the actual costs of delivering the services. The fees are formulated to be revenue neutral. In March 2010, 11 new fees ranging from $100 for a certificate of approval to $850 for an application for a permit for the construction, installation or alteration, extension enlargement or alteration of a Class A system, were put in place.

OTHER DISCUSSION

Councilor Gary Smith asked, “Does this council have to give approval to public works managers participating in County Council meetings regarding county roads?”

Mayor Gutowski gave the background and responded saying, “ Council does have the perogative to not allow our pubic works manager to discuss roads with County Council but that is not the direction I would take and I don't think that direction would be in the best interest of our citizens.”

Councilor Frances Smith thought there would be benefits to having public works managers meeting together.

Councilor Gary Smith said, “We are responsible for how our staff use their time so it seems if other people are taking our people away from their jobs here we should at least be informed and have a say.”

Mayor Gutowski said she would take that concern back to county council.

ADOPTION OF FIRE MASTER PLAN

The township’s Fire Master Plan, which was in the works for at least two years, was presented to Council and formally adopted. The plan includes profiles of the community and a description of the activities of the fire department. It also includes an inventory of fire equipment and a replacement schedule. Looking forward, it envisions the completion of a superior water supply accreditation in the near future, which will bring better service and lower house insurance costs for residents. As well, it proposes that a new station be built in Hinchinbrooke ward within the next three to four years.

Council discussed starting to put money aside for the new station, and the mayor suggested that a reserve fund be established for that purpose.

Mayor Gutowski said she was pleased that the fire plan was adopted during this term.

“I think it's a very well done plan and I think we are very fortunate that our fire chief and deputies had the competency to this level to put the document together. I think it is a very valuable document that will serve council well into the future.”