Farms_vs_city

Jeff Green | Feb 08, 2007

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Farms vs. City folk in South Frontenacby Wilma Kenny

Farms vs City Folk in South Frontenac by Wilma Kenny

A subdivision application in Storrington district is raising concerns that would be common to any housing development being planned close to working farms. A proposal for 14 lots, half of them wa-terfront and the other half bordering on a working beef and pig farm, brought 6 let-ters from local farm interests mentioning land use conicts. They listed noise (cows and calves at weaning, grain dryers, night ploughing), smells from stored and spread manure, and potential danger from cattle, both bulls and cows. Organic farming might prevent pesti-cide use on adjoining properties, and pet dogs running loose might be a problem to the farmers. Jeff Peters, the nearest farmer to the proposed subdivision, em-phasized he was not opposed to appro-priate development along the waterfront, but recommended the land bound lots be replaced by a buffer zone. Barry Camp-bell, the developer, countered that anyone purchasing one of the lots could see for themselves that there were farms nearby. Deputy Mayor Stowe pointed out that the present zoning of the property in ques-tion permitted 74 camping trailers, which might lead to more land use conicts than the proposed subdivision. Township planner Lindsay Mills said there was some question about the prop-er minimum distance setback (MDS), and recommended that Council receive the re-ports pertaining to the application, defer-ring any decision until the MDS had been claried. This was done.Fire Department’s Recruiting Drive Succeeds South Frontenac’s volunteer re depart-ments will be bringing at least two dozen new recruits on board next month. This will be a welcome boost to the volunteer re-ghter corps, which is still below its quota of 160 members. Council approved pur-chase of 30 sets of bunker gear for a total of $75,000 to outt the new reghters.New Deputy Treasurer Council appointed Suzanne Rummell as Deputy-Treasurer: Ms Rummell was chosen from over 50 applicants for the position.Township Fuel Tanks to be Replaced Public Works Manager Bill Blum reported that the Township’s insurance carrier requires annual (expensive) testing of all underground fuel tanks after 20 years, and removal of same after 25 years. As many of the township’s fuel tanks are 25 or more years old and the rest approach-ing that age, Council agreed to his recom-mendation that all the underground tanks be replaced this year by above-ground ones, which are much easier to monitor. Total cost of replacing the tanks is esti-mated to be $90,000.Policy Change After one township councillor spent 5 hours New Years Eve night stranded in his car waiting for the morning sander to come by, Council agreed that in the case of freezing rain, the sanders should be called out 24/7: whenever they’re needed on local roads.