Development Charges
In June I voted with council to have the Development Charges payment due at Subdivision Agreement stage instead of at Building Permit stage. This is a change from how it has been for the last four years. The objective of this change is to get the money owed to the Town sooner. There were many compromises to this motion that will allow the building that is in progress to not be affected. There was also a compromise that would see the payment due divided into a 40% due at the front end and 60% due at Building Permit stage or at the one year anniversary, whichever comes first. I agree with these compromises as I believe it is important to create a business environment that would allow small developers to continue to build in our Town. It’s also important that the town is not carrying the debt for developers.
Airport File moving forward
With the unanimous support of council, I tabled a motion that will have the town review all the testing that has been done at the TAC (airport) site with a consultant. Following this review, TAC may need to do further testing via Bore Hole sampling. This review will give us the information we need to move forward in a strategic fashion. This review will be taking place right away and any further testing should be completed before the end of the summer.
Request for an exemption to site alteration and fill by-law
BG Properties in Tottenham made a deputation at Committee of the Whole on August 10th asking for an exemption to the fill and site alteration by-law. BG Properties are developing a residential subdivision on the 4th Line. The site has 32,000 cubic metres of surplus topsoil. BG Properties was approached by Mr. Sam Brouwer (a local farmer) regarding the topsoil. He would like to have the soil moved to 6300 5th Line to enhance his agricultural crops. Council asked many questions at this meeting to Gerald Gervais from BG. The soil is Table 1, no money is being exchanged for this, it will be approximately 2500-3500 trucks worth. They would have to abide by the noise by-law regarding when the work is to be done, as well, council can make more rules on the timing, including not during the weekends and not during the beginning and ending of school. My major concerns are the traffic, noise, dust and danger associated with so many trucks as well as the impact these trucks combined with the MNR regulated pit at the 10th and 5th will have. Council and staff are also looking for some assurance or compensation regarding the condition of the roads. The item will be on the agenda for this Monday’s meeting (August 24th) so let me know what you think.
Fill By-Law to be updated
With unanimous support from council, I have asked the town to update the fill by-law and to review the draft fill by-law that was provided to council by the OSRTF (Ontario Soil Regulation Task Force). This volunteer group has been drafting this document for many years and it is a best practices document for dealing with fill.