South Frontenac Council

Wilma Kenny | Jun 04, 2015

Zoning By-law Updated

In a brief public meeting, Planner Lindsay Mills presented four proposed ‘housekeeping’ updates to the Township’s Zoning By-law: 1) requirement for a three-metre minimum separation between all buildings on a property, primarily for fire separation: 2) inclusion of shipping containers as accessory buildings, so they cannot be placed in the front yard and could not constitute a principal building on a vacant lot: 3) Add “shipping containers’ and their other common names to the definition section, and 4) eliminate the Special Limited Service Residential-Waterfront zoning on Big Clear Lake in Bedford district, as this is more appropriately Official Plan wording and the lake is neither narrow nor highly sensitive. (Deputy Mayor McDougall pointed out that it is moderately sensitive.) There were no comments from the public, and the by-law was passed later in the meeting.

Fee for FIT (Feed-in Tariff) Program

Councillor Sutherland brought a notice of motion that the Township charge a $300. fee for each FIT (solar power farm) application they process. Council agreed.

Stop the Sale of Hydro One

Following Linda Hunter’s proposal to last week’s Committee of the Whole, Council agreed to send a letter recommending Hydro One be kept as a wholly owned public asset. McDougall noted that this may be too late, for he has heard the provincial government’s voting on the matter tomorrow.

Harrowsmith Zoning Amendment

Planner Mills recommended that Council proceed with rezoning a narrow-frontage residential lot on the Larcon property in Harrowsmith. The second part of the application which involves a lot addition to an already industrially zoned property is still unresolved, due to concerns expressed by neighbouring property owners.

If the road allowance isn’t there, can it be closed?

A proposal to close and sell (for $50,000) a portion of Township road allowance in Storrington district between lots 6&7, concession XII, was postponed until the planner can get more information. The prospective buyer’s lawyer, Peter Radley, gave a brief history of property surveys which have not shown a road allowance: “Mr Mills’ map is the only one that does show the existence of a road allowance,” said Radley. Also, before proceeding, members of Council want to view the property.

Draft Official Plan Update

Lindsay Mills presented Council the current updated version of the draft Official Plan for consideration and review. Although the Province’s stand on forbidding development in rural areas has softened, he noted three remaining areas of concern in the Province’s comments: that all private lanes must become condominium common elements; development on waterfronts must have a 120 metre setback, and any development near a waterbody would require a marine archeological study. Also, until now all land use designations have fitted on one township map, or schedule. Now, so much information is required that five schedules have been created: Land use, Environmental protection, Roads, Aggregates and Natural heritage systems.

Next steps in the official plan’s progress will be: July 13, open house presentation to the public; Aug 18, statutory public meeting; Sept 1, revised version presented to Council for adoption; September 11, submission to the Ministry for final approval.

Canada 150 Community Infrastructure Program

CAO Orr asked Council for an immediate decision on a project to submit for a federal grant program which was announced May 15, with the closing deadline of June 9th. “The funding is to renovate, expand or rehabilitate community and cultural infrastructure, should be shovel-ready, but not currently in our budget. The application needs to be detailed in regard to the proposed project and its budget, and tell how it is linked to Canada’s 150th anniversary. If granted, government funding will likely cover 33.3% of the cost.” Orr managed an air of objectivity throughout this statement.

After discussion, Council agreed to propose the renovation of Storrington Centre, for an estimated total cost of $200,000.