REPORT ON COUNCILJune 11, 2005Public Meeting on the New Zoning By-law: 10:00 a.m. – 12:10 p.m. All Members of Council present.
Nick McDonald, of Meridian Planning Consultants, presented the current version of the new Zoning to the 111 residents who attended this, the third public meeting on the new Zoning By-law, which will implement the 2001 Official Plan and its Environment First philosophy. The current Zoning By-law was developed in 1966, and badly needs to be updated.The By-law puts in place each of the zones designated in the Official Plan and identifies the uses permitted in each zone, setting out exactly what can and cannot be done on each parcel of land in the Township and under what conditions.The new By-law imposes three kinds of Holding Zones that constrain what some owners can do on their properties in specific ways:- H1 deals with septic systems installed before 1974- H2 with private roads- H3 with Tiny’s 15-18 closed waste disposal sites. It also imposes a setback of 45 metres from the 178 metre flood hazard elevation on dynamic beaches. The County of Simcoe’s orthorectified air photographs for Tiny Township have been prepared to show the approximate location of this elevation line, and also of 15 m and 45 m setbacks from it. On Ministry of Natural Resources maps, 98% of Tiny’s shore is shown as being dynamic (subject to change as sand accumulates or is washed away and subject to wave uprushes during storms).
However,- Council has retained W. F. Baird & Associates Coastal Engineers to examine all 72 kilometres of Tiny’s shore for stretches that are certainly dynamic, stretches that may be, and stretches that are not dynamic. Their report is to be completed by the end of July. It is anticipated that much of the north and east shores of Tiny will prove to be not dynamic and thus new dwellings will be required to have a setback of only 15 metres from the 178 metre level.- The draft by-law attempts to minimize the impact of the new setbacks by permitting the expansion of the footprint of existing dwellings by 50% to the side and rear. Subsequently it was decided that the by-law would allow existing dwellings to expand their footprint to the maximum allowed by the lot size and setbacks, as long as expansion was done to the side or the rear, away from the lake. In addition, adding a second storey is permitted. Also there are provisions for replacing existing buildings, and for erecting decks and accessory buildings provided that none of these is closer to the 178-metre level than 15 m.- New buildings on vacant lots on dynamic beaches will still have to be set back 45 m from the 178 flood hazard level, unless an engineering study and a successful application to the Committee of Adjustment allows a minor variance.
In the new Zoning By-law Schedules (maps), the shore – the water’s edge – is shown wherever it is drawn on Registry Office/Assessment Office mapping. All Township-owned parcels on the shore are zoned OS. All privately owned beach blocks are zoned OS1.A number of points emerged in the course of the public meeting. One is that any minor variance granted before the new Zoning By-law is passed would still pertain. Another is that the setback for septics is not as severe as for dwellings. Even on dynamic beaches, septics need to be set back only 15 m from the 178 m level.
A third area of concern centred around one of the five major shoreline parks – Bluewater Park. One speaker spoke about the sand that the Public Works Department removes each year from that Park (at the next meeting of Council, the Manager of Public Works, Henk Blom, said that it had long been the practice of his department to remove sand that blew into walkways, and onto the road into the Bluewater Park, perhaps as much as 15 to 20 loads annually). Another speaker questioned the zoning of the park as OS when EP zoning was needed to protect and rebuild the dunes that had been bulldozed by the Township years ago, a move that destroyed the wetland behind the dunes. Yet another presented a plan for dune restoration that had been prepared by Jeff Peach, an expert in such matters. Others raised questions about the impact of the proposed by-law on vacant lots, about beach blocks that do not appear on the zoning schedules, and about the accuracy of the zoning schedules.
REPORT ON COUNCILJune 13, 2005 Committee of the Whole Meeting: 9:01 a.m. –4:01 p.m. Regular Evening Meeting: 7:00 p.m. – 7:41 p.m. Three members of Council present: Mayor Robert Klug and Councillors Ray Millar and Rob Panasiuk.
CONFIDENTIAL / CLOSED SESSION: 3:28 p.m. – 4:01 p.m.
OPP REBATE: In his May 31 Financial Report, John Theriault (Treasurer) reported that the annual refund from the OPP (which always overestimates its budget) was substantially greater than the $134,000 anticipated in Tiny’s budget. The refund was $352,995.
SIGNS FOR SHORE PARKS DELAYED: Months ago the Manager of Public Works, Henk Blom, assured Council that the signs showing the shape and extent of shoreline parks would be put up at all 31 locations by the end of May. At this meeting he assured Council that he had in stock 6 signs that presented no problems, that special posts were being prepared, but that there would be delays with other signs because of difficulties concerning property identification. We are aware of several 66’ road allowance parks that lack signs even though there are no issues of ownership. We do not understand the delay.
THE GREEN LIGHT: TOWNSHIP OF TINY FIRE DEPARTMENT NEWSLETTER: Councillor Millar had asked that the Fire Department’s 8-page newsletter be placed on the agenda for discussion, largely because he felt it was expensive, served little purpose, and was full of material reprinted from elsewhere that had little to do with fire fighting. As it happened, Randy Smith, our new Fire Chief, shared his view, and recommended that in future, the newsletter be a single sheet, appear more frequently, and be used internally within the fire department to convey to the volunteers what’s happening at fire stations other than their local one.
WATER SUPPLY FOR LAFONTAINE AND LE VILLAGEOIS:1) R.J. Burnside and Associates and Henk Blom, Manager of Public works, reported on the capacity of the Lafontaine water system which serves 57 households, and its ability to expand to serve 12 units proposed for the Brunelle Hardware complex, and 80 units in the proposed Le Villageois Seniors Complex. In addition to the households already served, the existing system has commitments to 52 lots in the two phases of LA Place that have not yet been built out. Burnside considered three ways to proceed, and then recommended that if all these needs were to be met, a schedule B EA would be required so that one of the wells could be re-rated, and the reservoir would need to be expanded, at an estimated cost of almost half a million dollars. Members of Council and staff made a number of points, namely, that if greater capacity were required for Le Villageois, a new well should be installed in advance and paid for by the proponent (Councillors Panasiuk and Millar). Mr. Blom, Manager of Public Works, felt that the existing reservoir could be upgraded, that the aquifer has enough water, that it is cheaper for Le Villageois to hook up to the existing system. 2) In her Oral Submission on the subject, former Deputy Mayor Patricia O’Driscoll expressed shock and dismay at the idea of assigning water to Le Villageois when there might not then be enough water for the long term needs of LA Place. She said that developers should find their own water supply. She expressed concern that when one of the Lafontaine system’s wells failed recently, the replacement well produced only 60 gallons per minute, rather than the anticipated 100. She revealed that the MoE had closed the file on Le Villageois on February 4th, and that the proponent knew that to be the case and had not told the Township.
