REPORT ON COUNCIL
March 8, 2004
Committee of the Whole: 10:07 a.m. – 6:40 p.m.
Evening Meeting: 7:00 p.m. – ?:?? p.m.
Four Members of Council present. Pierre Paul Maurice absent, on vacation.
CONFIDENTIAL / CLOSED SESSION: This took place after the evening meeting; it was brief. Earlier, during Committee of the Whole, it had been decided that Janet Evans’ deputation of February 23rd would be discussed in camera and the response to it would be made directly to the deputant as it raised questions about members of staff and about staff relationships.
PROPOSED TRAILER PARK IN CONCESSION 2: Wes Crown and Nick McDonald of Meridian Planning Consultants presented Dr. Donald Stubbs’ revised proposal for 100 acres of land straddling the Nipissing Ridge in Concession 2. There appears to be little change from Stubbs’ initial ideas in 2001 (see the Reports on Council for October 29, 2001 and December 1, 2001) apart from a reduction in the number of trailer camp sites from 339 to 290. There has been no assessment of the impact of the proposal on beach use or on adjacent subdivisions. Ironically, if this proposal were for a subdivision rather than a trailer park, it would have been rejected immediately as, according to the Township’s Official Plan, all new subdivisions are to be directed to the six hamlets. The public meeting on the proposed trailer park will probably be on May 29 or June 5, in the Wyebridge Community Centre.
DRAFT ZONING BY-LAW: Councillor Peggy Breckenridge observed that the Zoning By-Law should be on Council’s agenda at every meeting until it was in its final form, yet it had not been on since December. As Nick McDonald was present, she seized the opportunity to get things moving. There was some discussion of the 178 metre line and setbacks. McDonald said that a meeting in January with representatives of the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Ministry of Municipal Affairs made it clear that neither would budge concerning the 178 metre level. Councillor Panasiuk asked McDonald to find the legislation or policy that establishes the 178 metre level. McDonald agreed to provide a new working draft of the By-Law, which would include the recommendations made at the end of his letter of January 19 (see the Report on Council for January 26, 2004), would deal with drafting problems raised by Councillor Panasiuk, and with the front yard/backyard issue. Saturday April 24th was scheduled as a working session for Council and McDonald on the new draft. He asked the members of Council to familiarize themselves with comments made by the public last year before this working session. McDonald hopes to have a revised document for public review in May or June.
DEPUTATION BY SAVE THE BEACHES: Kathy Speers, President of Save the Beaches, introduced four members of her board to Council – Gail Barrie, Muriel Barker, Donald D’Aoust and Donna Ebers. Two others, Donald Yuill and Michelle Jacobs, were unable to attend. She wanted to present to Council a draft document prepared by the Lawyers’ Committee for stakeholders involved in Mediation, a document not yet in final form and not yet released to others in Mediation. Her group disagrees with the solution to beach access presented in the document. Mayor Klug refused to receive it, saying that it should be given, in final form, to all participants in the context of ongoing Mediation. He had difficulty keeping her from reading paragraphs from the document, and indeed she did read sentences aloud from it. She then presented her group’s solution to beach access — public use and Township management of all beaches in Tiny Township regardless of ownership.
Council reiterated its support for Mediation and for a Mediated solution to beach access involving all parties, beach-by-beach and neighbourhood-by-neighbourhood.
SITE 41 MOTION: In the afternoon, there were two deputations concerning Site 41. In one of them, Steve Ogden questioned a number of the points and facts related to the dumpsite that were presented to Council at a special meeting on February 2. In the other, former Deputy Mayor Gordon Salisbury and former Councillor Bob Buchkowsky urged Council to vote unanimously for a moratorium on Site 41 in order to persuade other municipalities in Simcoe County to follow suit. They had themselves made presentations to the Councils of Penetanguishene, Midland, Springwater and Tay and they believe that those municipalities would support a moratorium if the Council of Tiny Township were to support such a motion unanimously. Councillors Ray Millar and Rob Panasiuk both argued that there was no need that the vote of Council be unanimous; majority support for the Motion was enough; other municipalities made no reference to unanimity when asking for Tiny Township’s support on issues that concerned them. Councillors Peggy Breckenridge, Miller and Panasiuk felt that they should reflect the views of Tiny’s residents, all of whom oppose the dumpsite.
Mayor Klug made a series of points in support of Site 41 – the site was selected BECAUSE there was water there as the engineering requires it — the experts agree that the proposed engineering will work – he saw the issue as one of science vs. emotion – the NIMBYism bothers him. In the evening, the recorded vote on the motion (see below) was 3 in favour and 1 (Mayor Klug) against.
The motion is to be sent to the other municipalities in Simcoe County and to the Ministry of the Environment, asking for their support.
Site 41 Motion
THAT WHEREAS the Province has enacted the Safe Drinking Water Act 2002, and is “committed to ensuring Ontario has and enforces the best and toughest clean water policies in the world”, and;
WHEREAS the new provincial Minister of the Environment recently announced that two key committees will be established that will help the province protect its sources of drinking water stating “Developing legislation to protect water sources is a priority for our government as we move forward on implementing all of Commissioner O’Connor’s recommendations”, and;
WHEREAS Site 41 in the Township of Tiny is the proposed location for a landfill site that is in the final stages of approval prior to receiving a Certificate of Design from the Director, Approvals – Ministry of the Environment and commencement of construction, and;
WHEREAS Site 41 is located over a significant source of potable groundwater that provides water supply for local residents and area farmers and also extends a great distance to supply drinking water for other communities, and;
WHEREAS Site 41 has an extremely small landfill capacity due to depth limitations and could shrink in size even further by up to 20%, and;
WHEREAS future landfill sites in the County of Simcoe must have higher capacity and be considered in the context of an Integrated Waste Management Facility (IWMF) that services the requirements of all municipalities in the County, and;
WHEREAS the Certificate of Approval limits Site 41 to accepting garbage from only the Towns of Midland and Penetanguishene, and the Townships of Tay and Tiny, and;
WHEREAS a two-liner landfill design in another more stable location, and having triple or quadruple the capacity preferred for an IWMF would be more cost effective over its long 80 year contaminating lifespan by eliminating dewatering, reducing the volume of leachate to be processed, minimizing environmental impacts, and conserving/protecting valuable water supplies in global warming conditions, and;
WHEREAS a representative of the County of Simcoe indicated in early 2004, in a public meeting, that were the site selection process to begin anew, given that 2 approved designs for an engineered landfill are now available for consideration, the likely result would be that Site 41 would not be the recommended location for a landfill site, and;
WHEREAS a representative of the County of Simcoe indicated in early 2004, in a public meeting, that the site selection analysis was completed without regard for the total amount of groundwater (to be protected) potentially at risk in the event of a failure at the landfill, and;
WHEREAS one of the key objectives and vision of the new Official Plan for Tiny is “To protect land suitable for agriculture from development and land uses unrelated to agriculture”, and;
WHEREAS Site 41 is situated on 150 acres of predominantly prime agricultural land (Classes 1 & 2), and;
WHEREAS under Section 130 of the Municipal Act, S.O. 2001 c.25 “ A municipality may regulate matters not specifically provided for by this Act for purposes related to the health, safety and well being of the inhabitants of the municipality”;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Council of the Township of Tiny recommends that the County of Simcoe undertake the following actions:
(1) Approve a comprehensive investigation of all issues identified with Site 41;
(2) Review the feasibility of other more practical options that will be more cost effective, offer environmental security and not put at risk our precious water supplies;
(3) Defer any decision until the Province of Ontario establishes its policies regarding protection of groundwater sources, and;
(4) Delay commencement of any construction of Site 41 until all this pertinent information is available for review in order to make informed decisions.
AND FURTHER THAT this motion be provided to all the municipalities in the County of Simcoe and the Ministry of the Environment.