REPORT ON COUNCIL
October 12, 2004
Committee of the Whole Meeting: 9:02 a.m. – 6:43 p.m.
Regular Evening Meeting: roughly 7:00 p.m. – 7:42 p.m.
All Members of Council present.
CONFIDENTIAL / CLOSED SESSION: 4:46 p.m. – 6:43 p.m.
NEW CAO/CLERK APPOINTED: As of November 1, Tiny Township will have a new CAO/Clerk. Her name is Ruth Coursey. She is currently the Director of Planning & Development for the City of Orillia. Prior to that she was Director of Planning for the Town of East Gwillimbury.
FREE COMMUNITY INFLUENZA IMMUNIZATION CLINIC ON NOVEMBER 15: This will be conducted by the Simcoe County District Health Unit in the Township Offices on Monday November 15th from 3 to 8 p.m.
SIDEWALK SNOW CLEARANCE: Council approved the purchase of a used sidewalk plow (which can also be used for sidewalk and road sweeping and for grass cutting). This plow will be used in winter to clear 5 kilometres of sidewalks of snow in the Township’s hamlets and for grass cutting the rest of the year.
OPP QUARTERLY REPORT: Inspector Greg Skinner reported that assaults are down a little, break & enters up somewhat, thefts (from vehicles) are down, and that most calls to the OPP have to do with alarms, 911 calls, and vehicle collisions.
With regard to the incident on Labour Day when a group of people destroyed vegetation at a private beach in spite of the protests of the owners, Inspector Skinner said that the OPP’s investigation into this vandalism and mischief to property is not yet complete.
He noted that 42% of traffic complaints involve ATVs and dirt bikes. The OPP has prepared a Media Release concerning Off-Road Vehicles. It says that operators must comply with Ontario Regulations 316/03 of the Highway Traffic Act; vehicles must have a plate showing the number of their permit; operators must have a valid driver’s license and obey the rules of the road; they must wear a helmet; may NOT carry a passenger; are NOT permitted to drive on roads in Tiny; and the vehicle must have proper brakes, lamps and windshield.
WORK COMPLETED BY DAVID LAMBDEN: In conversation after the meeting on September 18, Councillor Rob Panasiuk learned from Professor Lambden that he has prepared a series of binders concerning Concessions along the western shore of the Township. The information in these is almost complete. Inquiries are to be made as to what must be done to get the information completed and released to the Township.
REQUESTS BY ENCROACHING NEIGHBOURS TO PURCHASE BEACH ROAD ALLOWANCES: No decisions were taken about these requests. Various points were raised. Councillor Peggy Breckenridge felt it inappropriate to sell a 66′ road allowance as a building lot when the Official Plan requires building lots to have a frontage of 100′; she argued that a set of principles should be in place to guide staff when such requests are made. Councillor Ray Millar emphasized that the Township’s Financial Procedures By-law must be followed if a sale is deemed appropriate. Councillor Panasiuk noted that whatever is done, there must be a punitive element. An encroaching neighbour should not be able to create a situation where the Township is forced to sell, and certainly not be able to purchase Township land at the market rate. He felt it more appropriate that the Township take a hard line in order to send a message to those contemplating encroaching on Township property: either encroachers must be required to remove encroachments forthwith; or, if sale of land were deemed appropriate, it should be at double the market rate; or, if a lease were appropriate, it should be at a punitive rate. Deputy Mayor Maurice emphasized that the Township has a responsibility to maintain access to the water for the Township’s inland residents and that it might be inappropriate to sell any beach road allowance. Mayor Klug noted that where drainage might be required, it might be appropriate to sell a beach road allowance with a drainage easement on it.
SPACE FOR CONSULTATION OF DOCUMENTS: Ever since the room behind the reception desk in the Township Offices was taken over for offices, there has been no comfortable spot where members of the public may consult documents and records. Staff is to consider options available under current circumstances and also to review general space requirements in the Township Offices. In the course of the discussion, there was reference to space in the disused school in Perkinsfield. There was no reference to the office space in the new Wyevale Fire Hall nor to the office space in the recently built pump house south of Perkinsfield.
ORAL SUBMISSIONS TO COUNCIL: 1) George Lawrence, Chairman of Tiny’s Residents Working Together, raised a number of questions about the handling of encroachments onto township road allowances in Concession 1. He pointed out that removal of fences, retaining walls, gardens, pillars and the like will wreak havoc with the appearance of stretches of Tiny Beaches Road. In some areas the traveled portion of the road is entirely on one side of the road allowance with the result that encroachments on the other side are substantial. The Manager of Public Works indicated that he was willing to “work with the owners” – i.e. he was willing to be flexible about the timing of the removal of encroachments, but was not willing to enter into encroachment agreements. There is, apparently, a list of plants that owners may grow on the road allowance adjacent to their property.
2) June and Jim Felix spoke about their desire to continue their practice of launching their sea-doo with the help of an ATV through one of the parks in the Georgian Bay Estates area. Under current rules – no motorized vehicles in parks – this is clearly inappropriate. However, as there is no boat launch site in the northeast quadrant of the Township, some thought is to be put into finding an appropriate location.
