Solar power proposal comes to South Frontenac Council

Wilma Kenny | Mar 11, 2015

Solar power proposal comes to South Frontenac Council

by Jeff Green

SunEdison, a solar power company with projects in nearby Kingston (Unity Road) and Leeds Grenville, came to a meeting in South Frontenac to talk about a project that is in the early planning stages. Located off Florida Road to the southwest of Harrowsmith, near the border with the City of Kingston, the project would be located on a 106 acre parcel of land that SunEdison has leased from David Groenewegen.

SunEdison is one of the companies that has been pre-approved to enter into a competitive process sponsored by Ontario Power Authority to purchase 140 MW of solar-generated power under the banner of the Large Renewable Procurement (LRP) process. The project, which is in the early stages of development in South Frontenac, has a 15 MW potential.

“The land is zoned rural, and the soil is already rated as class 4 and 5, which is good because class 1 agricultural land cannot be used for solar projects,” said Utilia Amaral, a managing director at SunEdison.

In terms of the impact on neighboring properties, the project will be visible from Florida Road when it is first constructed, but a vegetative buffer will be planted to block the view. According to the presentation at Council, within 10 years it will be completely blocked.

“The same is the case for the project that was recently built on Unity Road, which people have likely seen,” said Amaral.

She said that, in fact, the projects that SunEdison has built “have generated little or no opposition from neighbouring property owners. People need to be fully informed however, which is something we always do and plan to do in this case as well, beyond what is required by LRP.”

The contract will be awarded based on price as well as community engagement and township support, which is why a presentation was made to Council even before some basic work on the site has been completed.

A public meeting will be scheduled to discuss the project and its implications, and if the project goes ahead there will be some compensation paid to the township as well.

Among the requirements for the project to receive a good grade when evaluated under the LRP process are a resolution of support from the township and eventually a formal agreement with the township, and letter of support from abutting landowners.

Solar power proposal comes to South Frontenac Council.

South Frontenac Council, meeting as a Committee of the Whole, received the presentation by SunEdison without comment. The matter will come to a formal meeting of council soon.

South Frontenac Council balks at planner’s report

by Wilma Kenny

Township Planner Lindsay Mills presented Council with a lengthy report regarding conditions of draft plan approval for the Johnson Point (east end Loughborough Lake) fourteen-unit plan of condominium. During his verbal summary of the report, Mills apologized for comments he had made in response to concerns expressed by neighbouring residents Mike Koen and Roel Vertegaal, saying the report had been written in haste.

He also said he had failed to address the questions in the letter from the Loughborough Lake Association because “It came in at an earlier time, so I didn’t see it in time to include it (in this report).”

Councillor Ron Sutherland said the development proposal was complicated and raised a lot of issues that had not been satisfactorily addressed. He said that Mills lists three lots with water frontage on wetlands, but earlier maps had indicated that eight of the lots had full frontage on wetlands, and the current report makes no reference to the fact that the whole of Long Bay is an environmentally significant wetland.

Sutherland produced a map which showed the entire bay as wetland, and gave notice of a motion to deferthe matter until a new report could answer a list of questions that had been raised by the public but were not addressed in Mills report.

Councillor Ron Sleeth asked how the water depth in Long Bay had been measured: Mills said he had measured it from a canoe three years ago, and he did not remember how he determined that the water was at least ten feet deep.

Councillor Norm Roberts said “There are a lot of unanswered questions here; perhaps we need an independent review.”

Councillor Pat Barr agreed, saying, “we shouldn’t rush this until we have more answers.”

Councllor Mark Schjerning thanked Sutherland for his work, and asked why there was no mention of a lake assessment from the Ministry of the Environment. Lindsay Mills replied that the Official Plan says only that an MOE report “may be required.” Schjerning pointed out that because of the potentially negative effects of development on a lake, MOE assessment was essential. He also said there must be some standard method of determining water depth, and this should be used.

Deputy Mayor JohnMcDougall said that there were “a lot of grey areas” and agreed that a peer review was not intended as a criticism, but a way to “provide another set of eyes”.

Mayor Ron Vandewal pointed to the two very different maps of wetland area, saying; “we obviously agree we need to get this sorted out before going further.”

CAO Wayne Orr said he would bring the notice of motion to Council next week for a formal decision as to the next steps.

“Creative Condominiums”

Township lawyer Tony Fleming gave a lengthy presentation about the advantages of including condominium developments in rural subdivisions. He explained various terms peculiar to this form of development.

Noisy Fireworks

Bob’s Lake resident Richard Kind gave a brief, detailed presentation on the problem of noisy fireworks throughout the summer, often late at night. His concerns were supported by results of an informal survey of 57 lakeside residents, and a review of noise bylaws in neighbouring Townships. He asked that Council consider adding fireworks to the South Frontenac noise by-law, with perhaps an exception for May 24, July 1, and July 4 and the two days each side of them.

Strategic Planning for South Frontenac

CAO Orr obtained Council’s agreement on some general questions to guide discussion at the Strat Plan open houses to be held throughout the Township during the last week of March:

1) Is South Frontenac heading in the right direction?

2) What should the future of South Frontenac look like?

3) What are your top three priorities for South Frontenac?

4) What would you like to see changed in South Frontenac?