Report on Council: February 12 and March 1, 2018

REPORT ON COUNCIL
FEBRUARY 12 AND MARCH 1, 2018:
Committee of the Whole Meetings: February 12, 2018: 9:00 a.m. – 2:16 p.m. and March 1, 2018: 9:00 a.m. – 12:13 p.m.
Regular Meetings of Council: February 12, 2018: 3:16 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.; and March 1, 2018: 6:00 p.m. – 6:40 p.m.
Deputy Mayor Steffen Walma and Councillors Cindy Hastings and Gibb Wishart present for both meetings on February 12 and March 1, 2019. Mayor George Cornell absent for both meetings on February 12, 2018, but present for both meetings on March 1, 2018. Councillor Hinton arrived at 9:34 a.m. on March 1 and did not attend the Regular Meeting.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

March 22, 2018, 6-7 p.m. – Recreation Master Plan Open House, SpringHill Suites Marriot, 612 Applewood Crescent, Vaughan (Conference Room)
March 22, 2018, 7-8:30 p.m. – Official Plan Open House, SpringHill Suites Marriot, 612 Applewood Crescent, Vaughan (Conference Room)
March 23, 2018, 5-6:30 p.m. – Official Plan Open House, Council Chambers, Tiny Township
April 18, 2018, 6:30-8:30 p.m. – Election Candidate Information Session, North Simcoe Sports and Recreation Centre, Midland
April 22-28, 2018 – Earth Week Calendar of Events
April 25, 2018, 6:30-8:30 p.m. – Recreation Master Plan Open House, Council Chambers, Tiny Township
May 1, 2018 to July 27, 2018 – Nomination Period for 2018 Municipal Election

STAFF:

On March 1, 2018, Council appointed Ray Millar to serve as the Township’s Director of Emergency Services/Fire Chief, as of March 12, 2018.

XPLORNET COMMUNICATIONS TOWER:

If all approvals are granted this proposed tower would be located at 4145 Crossland Road to make broadband available for a stretch of the shore.

APPLICATION OF CRH CANADA GROUP (CRH) FOR A RENEWAL OF ITS PERMIT TO TAKE WATER IN THE TEEDON PIT, 90 DARBY ROAD, CONCESSION 1:

CRH (which owns Dufferin Aggregates) has asked for a ten-year extension of its permit to take water from the well and wash pond in the Teedon Pit for use in aggregate washing. R.J. Burnside and Associates provided comments in 2016 that are applicable to this current application, recommending that “the current condition of nearby domestic wells should be established” and that monitoring at the Teedon Pit “should be expanded to include a staff gauge in the wash pond, a nested well with screens completed at a variety of depths (to monitor change in gradients during use of the wash pond), along with a number of wells completed in the aquifer(s) that are used by domestic wells in the area.”

Council directed staff to submit Burnside’s comments to the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change. Given the community’s interest, Dufferin Aggregates has extended the comment period regarding the Permit for 60 days beyond the original deadline of February 22, 2018.

GREENBELT EXPANSION:

Township Planning Staff attended the open house on expansion of the Greenbelt on January 31, 2018. They discussed the expansion plan with Provincial staff. Reporting to Council, Shawn Persaud (Planning) emphasized that the Greenbelt Plan prohibits significant urban development in a township like Tiny (but Tiny is not going to be assigned much urban development). Moreover, the Greenbelt Plan does not permit settlement area expansion into the Greenbelt (again, not a problem for Tiny). A key difference between municipalities within the Growth Plan but outside the Greenbelt (like Tiny) is that they are able to establish policies that may be more restrictive on mineral aggregate extraction than the Growth Plan’s policies, provided they remain consistent with the Provincial Policy Statement

POLICE SERVICES BOARD:

This three-member Board, which begins to meet in April, replaces the Policing Committee. Councillor Hinton has been appointed Council’s representative, Kevin Leonard the community representative, and the Province has yet to appoint its member to the Board. The Board’s rules and procedures are based on those of the Police Services Board of Penetanguishene. There is to be an informative press release in due course.

PARKING STRATEGY INITIATIVES:

The twenty or so streets covered by the parking program that attracted the most parking tickets in 2017 are to have improved signage. Most clarify existing parking regulations: in two instances the No Parking area is being extended to improve road safety. Seven signs are to be installed on existing posts (presumably because signs had been stolen); 42 others require posts and signs. The streets with the greatest number of parking tickets, are Nicole Blvd (43), Trew Avenue (31), Jackson Park (29), and Pennorth Drive (75). Apparently, many people bought a parking ticket from a machine on Trew Avenue then drove to Nicole Blvd to park, so some of the new signs will make it clear just where a paid parking ticket can be used. New signs are to be installed before the end of May.

DUFFERIN AGGREGATE HOURS OF OPERATION:

Between July and October 2017, concerns were raised about noise and hours of operation at the Dufferin Aggregate – Teedon Pit, 40 Darby Road, Concession 1, Tiny Township. Staff sought a legal opinion on the matter and investigated the hours of operation of surrounding pits. As a result, the hours of operation were moved from a 6 a.m. to a 7 a.m. start time as of January 5, 2018.

WYEVALE:

Soccer fields washroom building: Grant money ($53,405 plus GST) will cover much of the cost of the washroom building. Fundraising by the Wyevale Park Master Plan Implementation Committee is to cover the balance.

9-hole disc/frisbee golf course: Michael Lewis, a teacher at the Wyevale Central Public School applied for and got an experiential learning grant of $4360 to install a course directly outside the school. Students are to be involved in the planning, installation, mentoring of younger students, advertising the course. Council supported this project in principle pending review by staff and the Park’s Master Plan Implementation Committee.

WATER DEPARTMENT 2017 QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM REVIEW:

This presented information about infractions and connected matters about the township’s 16 water systems. It was reassuring to hear that at no point were there risks to customers and that all of the township’s water systems are operated in accordance with the Safe Drinking Water Act. With regard to the nitrate problem in the Lafontaine System, Keith Sherman of SSEA has been working with local farmers and will be making a presentation to Council at its next meeting.

In 2018, an upgrade to the SCADA system that monitors each pump house will lighten the water department’s work load by making it unnecessary for daily visits to pump houses to view statistics. Instead the statistics will be automatically forwarded to a central location.

MUNICIPAL HERITAGE REGISTER:

Two properties have been added to the Register: