Council Reports: March 10, 14, 2005

REPORT ON COUNCIL
March 10, 2005Special Committee of the Whole Meeting: 2:00 p.m. – 3:59 p.m.All Members of Council present.

CONFIDENTIAL / CLOSED SESSIONS: 2:03 p.m. – 3:58 p.m. This session involved Harry Dahme of Gowling Lafleur Henderson, LLP (the firm hired to recommend legal avenues of opposition to the County of Simcoe’s landfill Site 41). See the Report on Council for November 29, 2004.

REPORT ON COUNCILMarch 14, 2005Committee of the Whole Meeting: 9:04 a.m. – 2:53 p.m.Regular Evening Meeting: roughly 7:02 p.m. – 7:54 p.m.Four Members of Council present. Deputy Mayor Pierre Paul Maurice absent.

CONFIDENTIAL / CLOSED SESSIONS: None

NEW FIRE CHIEF: Randy Smith was introduced at the beginning of Committee of the Whole and again at the beginning of the Regular Evening Meeting of Council.

ASSISTANT DEPUTY FIRE CHIEF THANKED: On behalf of Council and Staff, Mayor Klug thanked Stephen Hall for filling in as Fire Chief following the departure of Chief Sawkins at the end of the summer.

BEACH USE AND PARKING RELATED MODIFICATIONS FOR PUBLIC BEACHES AND PARKS: Council tackled the Report prepared by Henk Blom, Manager of Public Works, which had been “received” on February 14. This Report was a response to the Oral Presentation made by the Federation of Tiny Township Shoreline Associations on September 13. In the interval between the initial submission of the Report to Council and the discussion, many township residents had spoken to individual members of Council and had written letters expressing their views.

RECOMMENDATION 1: That the proposed Township Beach Limits and Township By-law signs be erected at each of the 31 public access beaches prior to May 31, 2005. After long discussion, during which there was consideration of phasing in signs beginning with “hot spots”, Council decided that there should be 2 signs at beach parks. A couple of parks, such as the 11th Concession Road Allowance, already have these signs (or signs similar to them). One sign is to show the shape and extent of the Park. At concession ends, for example, this sign would have a Township crest at the top, below that a wavy line labeled Georgian Bay, below that a rectangular block coloured green with 66’ written on it, and below that, next to a small patch of green, the legend “Township-owned beach,” and below that, next to another little green patch “Les domains du canton,” and below that the words “The Corporation of the Township of Tiny.” The sign concerns the publicly owned parcel of land only; it says nothing about the lands on either side, which are left blank. The second sign concerns Township By-laws applicable to the parks. These signs have already been installed at many parks along the shore. Council decided to modify the statement at the top of the sign, directly under the Township crest. Right now it says: “Welcome to the Township of Tiny. Please Enjoy Our Municipal Beaches and Help Keep Them Clean.” Council accepted the staff recommendation that the first sentence be eliminated. They modified the second sentence to read: “Please Enjoy Our Township-Owned Beach and Help Keep It Clean.” Tape is to be applied to existing signs to effect this change. When new signs are required, they will have the new heading and the rules concerning the 5 activities dealt with on the signs – No Motorized Vehicles, No Littering, Stoop & Scoop and Dogs on Leash, No Open Air Fires, and No Camping – are to be spelled out in words, and a by-law number added, to the current explanatory symbols. The By-law signs concern the park area only. Councillor Rob Panasiuk observed that the purpose of signs showing the shape and extent of the park and of corresponding delineation posts [see below] was to provide members of the public with assurance and certainty that they were entitled to be there and had a right to enjoy this township-owned park, subject to the park rules and regulations. Councillor Peggy Breckenridge noted that shore parks are not the only ones that require clear definition. For years people thought they were trespassing on private land when tobogganing near the organized section of Toanche Park. Better signage would have made it clear that the toboggan hill was part of the park. Councillor Ray Millar observed that the Township should be clear about the extent of what the public is being asked to enjoy.

RECOMMENDATION 2: That the legal surveys and installation of property boundary posts be completed as soon as practical. Two shore parks – the one at Waterview at the 4th and the one at the 9th Concession Road Allowance – already have 75mm steel boundary posts, with a sticker near the top reading “Limit of Township-owned Property.” The surveying of shore parks is being done as part of the Lands Identification process. The posts are widely spaced, and one of them is to be on the flat area of the beach, placed in such a way that it is possible to see the next post inland from it. Council accepted this recommendation but asked that brightly coloured tape be applied to the posts to make them more conspicuous.

RECOMMENDATIONS 3, 4, and 5: These are to be discussed later, once staff has gathered additional background information.

AIRPORT: Over the last year, Council has asked for information from the management of the Huronia Airport – chiefly a business plan and statistics about the number of residents in Tiny Township using the airport. Nothing has been forthcoming. After some discussion, Council decided to ask that the CAOs of the three municipalities that own the airport (Tiny, Midland and Penetanguishene) discuss the economic viability of and options for the airport, and report back to their respective Councils as soon as possible.

SIMCOE HURONIA ASSOCIATION FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY; (S.H.A.R.E.): Representatives from this citizen group explained its five objectives to council: “To promote sustainable living, promote energy conservation, provide renewable energy education, support renewable energy upgrades, and finally, long term, facilitate community owned power.