South Frontenac Council

Wilma Kenny | Nov 25, 2016

Rural Homelessness

David Townsend of Southern Frontenac Community Services and Louise Moody of Northern Frontenac Services gave a presentation on rural homelessness in the three townships north of Kingston. They emphasized the difference between city homelessness, which is often visible, and the rural version, which is much less noticeable, with people often subsisting in out-of-the way unserviced or poorly serviced accommodations, or ‘couch surfing’ with acquaintances. In rural areas, making it possible for people to remain in their ‘community of choice’ is essential.

Addictions and Mental Health, NFCSC and SFCSC have formed a collaborative approach to working with the homeless and those at risk throughout the County. Last May, over 50 community members and service providers met at a rural summit in Sharbot Lake. They chose to pursue expanding housing options in rural areas by working with local landlords, investigating what has worked well in other places, such as shared housing, and mini housing projects, and agreed to improve communication through forming a rural poverty coalition.

Townsend emphasized that they were not asking Council for concrete assistance other than their awareness and interest in rural housing needs.

He and Moody were warmly thanked for their work.

SFCSC Relocation has Cost Overrun

Townsend remained as a second delegate concerning the issue of the unexpectedly high cost of relocating all of SFCSC’s services to the Grace Centre. Purpose of the move is to make service provision more efficient and to realize annual savings of 22,000 in rent, utilities, etc. Establishing two portables to accommodate the food bank and the George Street offices has cost $60,000 more than budgeted (the first time, Townsend noted, that he has not brought a project in on budget.) So far, SFCSC has accumulated 40,000; Townsend asked Council if they would consider a one-time grant of $25,000 to the agency. Mayor Vandewal said that the budget was not yet set, and they would include this request in their discussions.

South Frontenac Waterfront Coalition

Jeff Peck addressed Council on behalf of a group of over 200 waterfront residents from “all the larger lakes in the Township” who have opposed and appealed Council’s recent bylaw amendments regarding waterfront structures. Peck emphasized that these residents merely want “the ability to use and maintain what they currently have.” He presented some compelling arguments for addressing the “grey area’ between derelict waterfront structures and those damaged or destroyed by “act of God”. “We have lots of common ground: can we work together on this? We don’t want to be adversarial. (by going to the OMB) for we only end up paying your legal fees and our own: could we open that door again?” Council had no questions for him, but later said that since this was before the OMB, it should be discussed in a closed session, perhaps prior to the Dec 6 Council meeting.

Applewood Parkland Fee

Planner Lindsay Mills brought the recommendation that Council accept the $30,000 cash in lieu of parkland offered by the developer of the 21-unit Applewood condominium project in Storrington district. The owner has based his proposal on a land value of $600,000. When questioned by Council about how the value was determined, Mills was unsure how or whether the property had been appraised. Orr said he thought the township lawyer had referred to an appraisal, and agreed to look into the question. Mayor Vandewal said Council needed a policy about appraisals from both sides in situations like this.

Who Owns Lane off Bellrock Road?

A request that the Township accept a lane at 4725 Bellrock Road (Hamilton) has opened up the question of who owns the 400 foot lane: originally it belonged to the County, but there appears to be no record of it having been transferred to South Frontenac at amalgamation. The Public Works Manager, who was unable to be at tonight’s meeting, will be asked to look into this.

Staff Budget Report

Treasurer Fragnito brought a summary of changes to the 2017 draft budget. Currently, after the cuts recommended at the last budget meeting, the Township has an unallocated sum of $52,475 in order to to meet the goal of a 2.2% taxation increase. This leaves them with the options of adjusting the the taxation impact downward, or adding in some items such as the CFDC grant request for $35,000, if it is not covered by the County. Mayor Vandewal commented, “This looks a lot better than it did in the Frontenac News.” There was some discussion in favour of SFCSC’s request for one-time funding assistance, in view of their very good track record of service to the community.

Ranked Balloting for 2018 Elections

Although recent amendments to the Municipal Elections Act now offer municipalities the option of introducing ranked balloting, CAO Orr brought a report to Council recommending that they maintain the existing First Past the Post system for the 2018 elections. He suggested Council might wish to request a report back to Council in 2019, based on the experiences of municipalities that used it. (to date no Canadian municipal, provincial or federal election uses ranked balloting, so there is no opportunity to learn from others.) Council showed no interest in becoming famous as pioneers in this field. Councillor Barr summed it up: “ we already have too few people voting in our elections: we don’t want to make it even more complicated than it is now.”