South Frontenac Council - May 27

Wilma Kenny | May 29, 2014

Chip Truck Competition
Aubrey Francis, proprietor of a chip truck in Harrowsmith since 2008, expressed concern That another chip wagon has been permitted to open in the village less than a kilometre away. In his opinion, he had not been notified of a recent bylaw change that allows these businesses to be operated within 500 metres of each other. Mayor Davison pointed out that the bylaw amendment that Francis was referring to had been in effect since 2002; six years before Francis started his business. Councillor Robinson asserted that Council should close the second chip wagon, because Harrowsmith was not large enough to support two identical businesses. Mayor Davison responded that Council is bound by the by-laws it has established.
Energy Management Plan
Public Works Manager Segsworth reminded Council that in 2013, a regulation of the Green Energy Act required each Municipality to create a five-year energy management plan by July 1st, 2014. As a first step his department has collated all energy consumption data for 2011, for all Municipal facilities that use electricity, propane and/or furnace oil for heating, cooling or general operations. This will be used as a baseline for developing a plan to reduce energy consumption, with the goal of minimizing environmental impact.
The plan will come before Council for endorsement next week, then will be posted, along with the energy consumption data, on the Township website by July 1st.
Partially Maintained Township Roads
“Historically, we’ve done ‘em the way we’ve done ‘em,” said Segsworth, describing the vague and unrecorded decisions that have, over many years, led to varied levels of partial maintenance on at least 42 scraps of township roads. (Two examples: Gully Road, connecting Freeman to Boundary is not open in the winter, and for most of its length barely one vehicle wide, and Little Long Lake which has 200 metres of swamp separating its two ends.) Now faced with increasing pressure for better upkeep, the Roads department has inventoried these roads. Rather than continue with ad hoc upgrades, Segsworth asked Council to consider engaging additional resources to develop criteria and identify liability with regard to increasing service levels on partially maintained roads.
In a separate report, he said that the additional repair of winter damage on twenty other Township roads will draw $50,000 to $100,000 from the 2014 operating budget, which may require a review of spending priorities
at the end of the third quarter.
New Provincial Planning Policies: Planner
Lindsay Mills reported that on April 30, a lengthy new Provincial Planning Policy statement came into effect. This controls, to some degree, what the Municipality can or cannot do within its zoning by-laws. Mills mentioned new buzz-words such as “production of food and fibre”, “resilient” and “freight supportive”, but made no attempt to interpret them. He listed eighteen general notes on the policies, some of which he described as vague and open to interpretation.
He added that in spite of this, much of the text “appears to be designed for good intentions such as protecting natural heritage and endangered species from encroaching development.” In summary he says that; “It remains to be seen how this policy…will be interpreted to allow development to move forward in South Frontenac and the province as a whole.”