REPORT ON COUNCIL
September 10, 2007
Committee of the Whole Meeting: 9:00 a.m. – 1:42 p.m.
Regular Evening Meeting: 7:00 p.m. – 8:39 p.m.
All Members of Council present during Committee of the Whole. Mayor Peggy Breckenridge absent during the Regular Evening Meeting.
CONFIDENTIAL / CLOSED SESSION: None.
NO SUNDAY GUN HUNTING: The last Council rejected gun hunting on Sundays. Recently, Staff was asked to ascertain whether it were possible to allow Sunday gun hunting for geese management only, only to find that hunting cannot be limited to one species: it must also include small game, deer, moose, birds etc. With this information in hand, Council decided not to re-open the matter. Sunday gun hunting is still forbidden in Tiny Township.
INDUSTRIAL WIND TURBINES – A NEW APPROACH: Representatives of the Coalition of Residents – Tiny (CORT) and the Wind Power Steering Committee for Tiny Township Residents (Committee) met with members of staff and proposed that the Township engage an Environmental Consultant to investigate and provide a preliminary report on the parameters, scope and costs of a visual impact study. They suggested that a number of groups be advised of the commissioning of the preliminary report and that their participation in the study be invited, among them Ventus Energy Inc., the Beausoleil First Nation, the Provincial Ministry of Parks and Recreation, the Provincial Ministry of the Environment and the Federal Ministry of the Environment. CORT and the Committee volunteered to pay the costs of the preliminary report and of advising other groups. The thought is that a visual impact analysis could be used for projects throughout Ontario. Council decided to accept the offer.
AUDIT COMMITTEE REJECTED: Council decided not to pursue the Township auditors’ recommendation that an audit committee be established.
WOODLAND BEACH PARK MASTER PLAN: Michael Sullivan of LGL Limited presented a draft Master Plan for Woodland Beach Park. The ideas in the Plan grew out of a public information session with Woodland Beach residents on July 21.
Recommendations for improving the Park include drainage, definition of public areas, installation of “Pay as you go Parking” for non-residents, improved access to parking permits for residents, more picnic tables, garbage and recycling bins, reduction of the number of access points to give vegetation a chance to regenerate, improved access for seniors and the disabled, and more signage. There was a list of short-term actions, and another of long-term, more expensive actions.
The Plan emphasized community stewardship.
