Council Reports

REPORT ON COUNCIL
January 31, 2005
Committee of the Whole Meeting: 9:06 a.m. – 6:29 p.m.
Regular Evening Meeting: roughly 7:03 p.m. – 7:53 p.m.
All Members of Council present.

CONFIDENTIAL / CLOSED SESSION: - 4:52 p.m. - 6:28 p.m.

REPORTS ON BEACH WATER QUALITY: See Part 2 of the Council Report for January 31, 2005

APPROPRIATE GROUND COVER FOR TOWNSHIP ROAD ALLOWANCES: In areas where the full width of the Township road allowance is not surfaced, unmaintained municipal land abuts private lawns and gardens. Frequently private landowners have landscaped this unmaintained municipal land, installing retaining walls, gardens, trees and so on. The Public Works Department has begun to identify such "encroachments" in a systematic way, and has insisted on the removal of walls, gardens and trees. A policy has now been developed about such land. In brief, extension of a lawn is permissible, and where erosion control is needed, one or another of a specified list of ground covers may be planted, but only with the permission of the Public Works Department. For the full wording of the Policy and recommended plantings, click HERE.

ZONING BY-LAW UPDATE: The latest word is that Tiny Township is stuck with the 178 m. level, but that the Province will accept a 15 m. setback from that level along the entire shore and ignore the 45 m. setback required for dynamic beaches.

GARBAGE: Some time ago, Council asked the County of Simcoe for the legislation that allows it to collect and to set the rules about collection of garbage in Tiny Township. It took a couple of months for the legal opinion on the matter to arrive, and another two weeks for it to be vetted by the Township's legal counsel, but the upshot is that the County controls garbage. Our Council has no power in the matter.
For information regarding recycling and waste collection, contact the County of Simcoe at 705-735-6901 or 1-800-263-3199 or visit the County website at www.county.simcoe.on.ca Complaints should likewise be directed to the County.

WATER FEES: Henk Blom, Manager of the Public Works Department, presented a report designed to eliminate irregularities in the collection of fees for water service. Households that have been connected to a water system but have not been billed (about 20!) will have to pay full fees beginning with 2004 or from the date the water service was connected, whichever is less. New homes will begin to pay water operation fees not in January of the year following hook up, but from the month when water service was connected. Properties that don't use water from a municipal system, but which front on a municipal water system and have been allotted a water supply, will be charged a water operation fee beginning January 1, 2005.

BLUE BOXES: New owners will be given one Blue Box free; replacement blue boxes now cost $5.

SOBEN PROPERTIES MAKES AN OFFER/TOANCHE: Bruno Artenosi of Soben Properties, which is preparing to develop 73 lots in Toanche, most of them south of the park there, offered Council a deal. If he were not required to make a cash donation in lieu of parkland, and if he were given a strip from the east side of the Toanche park so that he could increase the size of a number of his lots, he would install two tennis courts in the park, and would give 2 serviced lots to the Township.
He also proposed to erect “Permanent Entrance Facades” on the various roads leading into his subdivision. And he opposed Parks and Rec’s suggestion that part of the lots that back onto the park near the baseball diamond (where foul balls tend to fall) be conveyed to the Township.
His proposal ran into some tough questioning:
-- Councillor Peggy Breckenridge asked whether the undesirable, hilly strip of park land that he wanted to use to expand the size of several lots was the children's tobogganing hill? (No one was sure; a site visit was proposed.)
-- The Clerk, Ruth Coursey, asked whether the entry facades were to be on the developer's land or the Township's, and wondered who would maintain them? (The location was to be worked out; the Township would be stuck with maintenance of the facades once the subdivision was completed.)
-- The Clerk observed that that the issue of foul balls had to be resolved quickly, lest the long-term viability of baseball in Toanche Park be jeopardized.

LE VILLAGEOIS: Only recently had those involved in Le Villageois, the proposed retirement complex for Lafontaine, realized that the Ministry of the Environment requires the Township to sign a Responsibility Agreement with regard to the complex’s sewage system. It is possible to make this "guarantee" risk free for the taxpayers of Tiny through a system of reserves, 3rd party insurance, 3rd party letters of credit, supported by the Le Villageois group. But February 28th, the MoE's deadline, was impossible. The required work -- analysis by engineers, insurance experts and the like -- was beyond the capability of Township staff and even if experts were brought in (at the expense of Le Villageois), the deadline could not be met. What could be provided was a letter to the MoE asking for an extension of the deadline and saying that the Township was willing, in principle, to sign a Responsibility Agreement if the necessary technical assessments proved to be positive. So that is what Council supplied.

ACCEPTABLE PLANTING ON MUNICIPAL ROAD ALLOWANCES

Policy

With the exception of drainage structures to improve water flow, the Township of Tiny retains all road allowances in a natural state.
Property owners are expected to maintain the road allowance in a natural state or, when desired, to extend and maintain an existing grass lawn.
The Township of Tiny recognizes that in some exceptional circumstances, vegetation is required on the road allowance for erosion control, but conditions do not support the growth and maintenance of grass lawn.
In the event that grass cannot be used for erosion control on the municipal road allowance, the ground covers listed in Table A may be used by the property owner as a replacement planting without contravention of the Township Encroachment Policy.
Where plantings listed in Table A are desired by the adjacent property owner a written request must be made to the Public Works Department and a written response will be provided in consideration of site specific situations.

Table A -- Township of Tiny Acceptable Ground Covers

LOCATION AND SOIL TYPE: PLANT HEIGHT: PLANT SPACING:
Acidic Soil in Shade
Wandflower (Galax Urceolata) 2" to 6" 1' apart
Canadian Ginger (Asarum Canadense) 4" to 6" 8" to 1' apart
Bunchberry (Cornus Canadensis) 6" to 9" 1'6" apart
Acidic Soil in Sun
Mountain Avens (Dryas Octopetala) 2" to 3" 1' apart
Red Fescue (Festuca rubra rubra) 2" to 6" 6" apart
Alkaline Soil in Shade
Cup and Saucer
(Campanula Poscharskyana) 4" to 6" 1' apart
Alkaline Soil in Sun
Red Fescue (Festuca rubra rubra) 2" to 6" 6" apart