Body: Committee of the Whole Type: Minutes Meeting: Committee of the Whole Date: December 14, 2010 Collection: Council Minutes Municipality: South Frontenac
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Minutes of Committee of the Whole
December 14th, 2010 Meeting No. 36 Date: December 14,2010
Time: 7:00 p.m. Location: Sydenham Present:
Mayor,
Gary Davison
Councillors,
John McDougall Allan McPhail Cam Naish Bill Robinson Del Stowe Mark Tinlin Ron Vandewal
Larry York Staff:
Wayne Orr, Chief Administrative Officer Lindsay Mills, Planning Coordinator Call to Order
The Mayor called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. 2.
Declaration of Pecuniary Interest. There were no declarations of pecuniary interest.
Delegations
(i)
Jim & Helen Hill and Dan Cormier, re: Unopened Road Allowance
Helen Hill reviewed for Council the history of the property and the surveys from 1 965 through to the current day. The end result has been that the property that Jim’s family had owned and now they own has been reduced from 110 feet of frontage to 77 feet. This is a result of locations of the road allowance. She noted that this has come to Council
before and that Council had agreed to sell the property however they are looking for this to be granted to them as a way of resolving these past issues. She made note that the application process references that Council may consider where an error has been made by either survey or township action she once again reinforced her request for consideration.
The 2010 survey conducted by Hopkins and Cormier actually shows that the building is m part on the established road allowance. Dan Cormier pointed out in reviewing the surveys the actions that may have or may not have been taken by previous surveyors. He advised Council that the Hill’s do have the option to pursue the ownership of the land based on possession but this would lead to court cases with the township and other neighbours. He went on to say a property owner can’t acquire a road allowance by occupancy and that the legislative tests are quite onerous. Councillor Vandewal clarified that there has always been a road allowance in this area and asked whether anyone else has looked at this situation. No Council or staff have been out to the site at this time.
Jim Hill commented that the road allowance is not suitable for development.
Councillor Stowe clarified the requirements with regard to squatter’s rights and once again this is not a likely situation of that. When asked specifically, the Hill’s responded that what they were looking for was to be granted thirty feet of the road allowance to make their property whole. Councillor York inquired with regard to the right of way over the public lands.
Minutes of Committee of the Whole th December 14M 2010
Councillor Vandewal felt it was appropriate to advise the Hill’s that Council’s direction
to date has been never to close and give away road allowance leading to water. The policy decisions of May 4th were commented on again. The Hill’s pointed out that the Township of South Frontenac has inherited any Bedford
errors tot were made as well as any benefit and that it is now the responsibility of the township.
Direction from Council was to have staff and Council look at the road allowance before
this comes back for further discussion. The survey that Dan Cormier has produced is attempting to reach a solution and resolve the issues as opposed to proceedmg through the courts.
(ii) David Townsend and Joan Cameron, Southern Frontenac Community Services David Townsend and Joan Cameron presented the activities and services provided by the Southern Frontenac Community Services. A copy of their presentation is attached to these minutes. With respect to the former Grace United Church, Southern Frontenac
Community Services is pursuing a lease to purchase or a purchase of the property. Ideally they are looking to turn this into a community use facility for other community partners. Their hope is that the lot would allow for future expansion as well so that it would become a hub for social services within the township. Southern Frontenac Community Services is not in a position at this point to ask Council
for anything specific to this purpose. At this point they are only exploring their options. They felt that it was important to create a forum for an annual update on their services. Councillor McPhail commented that as a former board chair he is aware of the services
that are available and that the demand for service space is real. Councillor Vandewal asked what efficiencies will be gained by consolidating the two »
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sites into one.
Councillor Stowe made inquiries with regard to the board process. Joan Cameron confirmed that they are looking for board members and that they meet at 6:00 p.m. on the last Thursday of each month, and the week before is an executive »
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committee meeting.
When asked by Councillor York for the specific requests, they reiterated that they had no specific request at this time. It was clarified that this committee does not have Council
appointees to the board nor is it a requirement for their board composition. Mayor Davison inquired as to what level of funding, support and cooperation they were receiving from social services. David Townsend confirmed that they have received extended funding that allows them to break even on certain services.
Mayor Davison thanked both delegations for their attendance. 4.
Business Items
(i)
Report from Lindsay Mills, Planning Coordinator, re: Changes to Site Plan Agreement, Part of Lot 6, Concession VII, Portland District
Lindsay Mills reviewed for Council the brief history of this property. In 2006 an application for rezoning to permit a car wash was approved. The owner was given two years to complete the site plan details and those have not as yet taken place. The former Council directed action be taken and correspondence has been sent out requiring compliance with the site plan. Before Council now is the request from the property owner to amend the site plan to accommodate an auxiliary building in the southwest
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Minutes of Committee of the Whole th
December 14", 2010
corner of the lot as well as to remove the requirement for berms and fencing. The site
plan’s original intent was to create a visual barrier between property owners to the south and north with vegetation matter for vehicles passing the property west of the car wash. More recently on the lots both north and south of this property solar panels have been
erected as a business venture by the property owner. From a planning perspective, Lindsay Mills confirmedteat he could support the auxiliary use of the building and also the removal of the berm however he felt that the vegetative material on the west side of
the property facing Road 38 is still required. He did comment that perhaps security would be needed &om the property owner to ensure that he will in fact fulfill his
obligations under the site plan and failing that the original site plan provisions would
prevail.
An email from Linda Stewart, a party to the original rezoning was brought to Council’s attention. It outlined her concerns with the potential site plan amendment:
Questions from Council were clarified with regard to the time line for building
construction, time lines associated with what needs to be complied with under the original site plan and whether the township could place requirements on the nature of the
buildings being proposed. The consensus from Council was that conditions were
required in order to move forward with this plan and that generally there was a support for the auxiliary buildings however Council wanted to ensure that the site plan provisions are going to be adhered to this time around.
The property owner was asked specifically to address the nature of the building that is
being proposed as well as the time line. In response, Scott Asselstine indicated that the
building would be similar in materials to match the car wash. He has not gone to a contractor to inquire on the costs or feasibility of the project. As for a time line he indicated that he was concerned that he may not fit into a contractor’s schedule for
sometime. When asked again for a time line he confirmed that he was hoping to complete it by the end of 2011.
Council’s direction was to have staff draft a revised site plan that would reflect the
requirements for security, time line and a provision to ensure that the fall back point was the original site plan. This was the overall consensus of Council. (ii)
Memo from Wayne Orr, Clerk-Administrator, re: Budget Cycle
Wayne On- presented to Council a draft budget cycle for the 2011 budget.
Council expressed concern that the budget cycle needs to be moved quicker through the process this year and in fact that the 2012 budget should be prepared even earlier with potential discussions in 2011.
Councillor Vandewal felt that establishing direction for staff should occur earlier in the process.
Other comments from Council included compressing the period of time and focusing on the discussion rather than on the outstanding needs or wish lists of staff. Wayne Orr confirmed that he would revise the plan and move towards a quicker process however he did indicate that staff would need time between receiving direction and presenting a preliminary budget to Council.
(iii) Memo from Wayne Orr, Clerk-Administrator, re: Committee Membership and Structure
Council has expressed an interest in working through the committee membership and structure to ensure that the appoinbnents made by Council will be effective and efficient. With respect to Conservation Authorities, the direction was as follows; Cataraqui Region - likely appointees would be Councillor McPhail and Councillor VandewaL
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Minutes of Committee of the Whole th December 14m, 2010
Oumte Conservation - likely appointee would be Councillor Robinson
Rideau Valley Conservation - likely appointee would be Mayor Davison and Deputy Mayor Tinlin as an alternate.
Cataraqui Trail - Council felt that only two Councillors were necessary, both Councillor Stowe and Councillor York indicated an mterest in this position.
Police Services Board - A member of the public is currently being recruited. Questions on whether this could be expanded to include more citizen representation were asked. It was confirmed that for every additional citizen representative, an additional provincial appointee is required. Council was satisfied with leaving the board at three members.
With respect to the Police Services Board, Mayor Davison will relinquish his position on the board to Deputy Mayor Tmlin however he will reserve his right to serve on the board as outlmed in the Act.
In terms of the process for reviewing citizen appointees, the Mayor, future representative Deputy Mayor Tinlin and the CAO will review the names and submit recommendations to Council.
With respect to the Committee of Adjustment, there was discussion and debate among Council on what size of committee was appropriate, whether it should be de-politicized with a greater citizen representation. In an effort to build consensus. Mayor Davison asked each Council members for their opinion. Overall there was support for maintaining the four/four split with several Councillors expressing alternate views. Keeping in mind that the Committee of Adjustment is likely to maintain the four/four split. Deputy Mayor Tinlin, Councillor Robinson, Councillor York and Councillor Vandewal expressed an interest in serving on this committee. Councillor Naish expressed interest as well however he made an agreement with Councillor York to serve next year. In terms of the process for evaluating public interest, Council directed the current chair, Councillor
Vandewal, Wayue Orr and Lindsay Mills, Planner to review applicants for skills, interests as well as community representation and to present to Council their recommendations for these appointees. The initial response for the Central Fire Committee was that this committee was not needed.
There was a suggestion to form a public works committee that would have responsibility to provide direction and recommendations to Council on roads, bridges, sustainability, water and waste management. This would include three to four members who would meet with the Public Works Manager and the names suggested were Councillor
McDougall, Councillor McPhail and Councillor Naish and with Mayor Davison as exofficio.
The suggestion was that local representatives and local Councillors would no longer serve or be appointed to local recreation committees but rather the South Frontenac Recreation Committee would take a more active role and would have four Councillors
appointed to it along with the eight local representatives from the sub committees. The Council names for this committee included Councillor Stowe, Councillor Vandewal, Councillor Naish and Councillor McDougall. Other committees would serve as sub committees of South Frontenac Recreation
Committee including the Battersea Pumpkin Festival, Bedford Heritage Committee,
Bedford Recreation, Loughborough Recreation, Portland and District Heritage Committee, Portland Recreation, Storrington Recreation and the Verona Community Association.
There was no restriction placed on the size of the local recreation committees acknowledging the significant contribution of volunteers and the benefit that South Frontenac receives from their efforts.
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Minutes of Committee of the Whole th December 14th, 2010
The three cemetery boards will remain as they are with an expectation from Council that
tiT"gh the course o^m; year they will move towards amalgamating and providing continuity and consistency in these services and fees.
The Natural Environment Committee is a working committee and Councillor Stowe expressed an interest in continuing with that.
The Verona and District Medical Services Committee will continue to develop with Councillor McDougall being the representative.
There were suggestions for new committees such as a Finance and Administration Committee and a Planning committee similar to Public Works. Wayne Orr offered to brmg a report back to Council for their consideration to look at
how a revised Committee Structure may work and what the implications of that may be.
Council agreed that January 4th although previously cancelled as a Council meeting
would convene as a Committee of the Whole meeting that evening to continue without a written agenda, the discussion on committees. 5.
Information Items
Wayne Orr presented to Council the concept of hosting Uie Grand^ Tour, a bicycle trip from Quebec with approximately 1700 riders arriving in Sydenham an initiative in
August. Input from the South Frontenac Recreation Committee will be forwarded to Council sometime in the New Year for a decision. 6.
In-Camera
Adjournment
The Committee of the Whole meeting be adjourned at 10:48 p.m.
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Minutes of Committee of the Whole th
January 4m, 2011
Meeting No. 1
th
Date: January 4"’, 2011 Time: 7:00 p.m. Location: Sydenham Present:
Mayor,
Gary Davison
Councillors,
John McDougall Allan McPhail Cam Naish Bill Robinson Del Stowe Ron Vandewal
Larry York Absent:
MarkTinlin
Staff:
Wayne Orr, Chief Administrative Officer
Call to Order
The Mayor called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. 2.
Declaration of Pecuniary Interest. There were no declarations of pecuniary interest.
Delegations - nil
Business Items
(i)
Committee Structure
Wayne Orr presented to Council a summary of the feedback from the Committee of the
Whole meeting onndDecember 14th which had been distributed to Council elecb-onically on December 22
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The initial focus was discussion with regard to the last page, the proposed Council structure. There was discussion on how this came to be and what mitiated the changes that were suggested. Wayne Orr walked through how this stmcture would operate and the various roles of
both staff and the committees of Council. There was discussion amongst Councillors about the merits, concerns, drawbacks and benefits of such a proposal. General comments included; a need to keep the structure simple, if it isn’t broke not to fix it, the
importance of keeping public access to council committees rather than havmg all day functions and that this proposal seems to go too far too quickly. Through discussion there appeared to be a consensus that a Public Works Committee as well as a Corporate Services Committee and Development Services Committee would be appropriate. However a Community Services Committee was not felt to be necessary while the ongoing role of Committee of the Whole was felt to be necessary. Council did acknowledge the need to have the entire Committee of the Whole working on strategic planning, growth changes, and economic development as an initiative through this term of Council. Council then went through by committee, the Council appointees as well as the number of citizen appointees that would be appropriate. Council then proceeded to discuss which committees would be advertised and which would be appointed or extended.
Minutes of Committee of the Whole th
January 4m, 2011
A summary sheet is attached which outlines the feedback with regard to the particular committees and Council structure. 5.
Adjournment
The Committee of the Whole meeting adjourned at 9:10 p.m.
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