Oxford County Politics

Oxford County Council, May 8th

Wednesday, 08 May 2013 17:32 JW

By Brian Donlevy,

Oxford County is going to continue to provide IT services to Tillsonburg, at least for the next year. But, because of the amount of work involved it will also be necessary for the County to hire a full time computer person for a year. Staff told County Council that because of the amount of work involved in learning Tillsonburg’s IT system, County staff have been falling short of their objectives for 2013. The contract employee will be onsite in Tillsonburg. The deal to provide the service will be on a cost recovery basis. Since taking over IT in town, the County has collected an average of $4,500 per month for their expertise.

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Smile, you will be on candid camera when you are outside the Thamesford and Norwich Libraries. County council has agreed to spend $5,000 to install the video gear. The cameras will be in place to protect the security of the building, monitor for property damage and personal injury.

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Another urban/rural split emerged at County Council. The County wants to expand its works yards north of Woodstock in East Zorra Tavistock Township. But the County also wanted to tie the works yard into Woodstock’s waste water. The last time an issue similar to this came up at County Council it involved homes in Norwich Township near Patullo Drive in the City. County Council voted on urban/rural lines to defeat the extension. The works yard expansion is a million dollar project and includes new truck bays, a truck washing station and office space. The yards are located on County Road 30 in East Zorra Tavistock. The site is already serviced by municipal water and this request is for connection to the waste water system. There is a concern about the size of the facility and the size of a septic system that would be necessary to service the site. In the end, one urban Councillor, John Lessif of Tillsonburg voted with the rural councilors to extend the services so the renovated and updated works yard will get wastewater servicing. Final vote was 6 in favour and the four other urban councilors opposed.

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Oxford County Council has made their final decision on the question of development charges for Oxford Gardens in Woodstock. Oxford Gardens had been appealing their assessment of more than $460,000 in development charges. They were asking for relief because the 84 unit expansion was institutional in nature. When the site was purchased in 2004 the project was considered institutional under the development charges bylaw. The bylaw was changed in 2008 which meant the development of Oxford Gardens was no longer considered institutional. Owners of the project said they should have been captured under the pre 2008 bylaw but both the City and County disagreed. Oxford Gardens appeared before County Council in September and County Council made their decision in January. The County’s share of the development charges is $237,000 and the balance was assessed by the City of Woodstock. But Oxford Gardens did not walk away empty handed as Council decided in closed session to negotiate a deal to compensate Oxford Gardens for unforeseen costs and obligations around the original sale of the land. Oxford Gardens will receive $160,000. The company still has the option of appealing the denial of the development charges exemption to the Ontario Municipal Board.

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Oxford County wants Walker Environmental to get the opinion of an epidemiologist as part of the Environmental Assessment around the proposed landfill in the Carmeuse Quarry in Centreville. The county has passed a motion asking Walker to include this expertise on their peer review team. An epidemiologist studies patterns, causes and effects of health and disease over short and long terms by identifying possible health risks. The community liaison committee had brought this request forward to Walker Environmental and the opinion expressed by the company was that an epidemiologist was not necessary. Ingersoll Mayor Ted Comiskey says he brought the motion forward to push the company to bring this specific science into the discussion. Even though the motion passed, it does not guarantee that the services of an epidemiologist will be part of the peer review. The County cannot place items on the terms of reference. Those will come from the company subject to the approval of the Ministry of the Environment.

South West Oxford township council, May 8th

Wednesday, 08 May 2013 16:48 JW

By Brian Donlevy,

South West Oxford has done a lot of work making all of its services and buildings barrier free, but there is still some work to do. Most of the local halls are now wheelchair accessible, with work still to be done at Dereham Centre Hall. The other outstanding work involves accessible ground cover and playground equipment in two parks.

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South West Oxford is moving ahead with more energy conservation measures. The township is going to do lighting upgrades at four locations, the Works shop, the Folden’s Work Yard, the West Oxford Hall and the township storage building. The township is taking advantage of a $1500 grant at each of the locations to keep conversion costs down.

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New hall, parks and recreation committees of South West Oxford Council will have clear guidelines for making decisions in both the short and long term. Council has approved terms of reference and guidelines for all of the groups. The local groups work with council to provide them with ways to improve recreation facilities. The local committees are also responsible for upkeep and maintenance of the facilities as well as developing and running local organized sports teams.

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South West Oxford is going to assist the Citizen’s Liaison Committee in getting the word out as to the proper time for folks to voice their concerns to the provincial government about the proposed landfill in Centreville. Council heard from representatives from OPAL and the Liaison Committee about time frames for responses. Walker Environmental, the group proposing the landfill in the former Carmeuse Quarry will be submitting draft terms of reference to the Ministry of the Environment in late May. Near the end of July Walker will be proposing their final terms of reference. These terms outline what information and studies Walker will carry out in order to satisfy the Provincial Environmental Assessment process to ultimately get the landfill approved.

Citizens who comment before the final draft of the terms are not responding directly to the Ministry of Environment. Their comments are going to Walker. After the company has submitted their proposed final terms and comments from citizens will go to the provincial body, but there will only be a 30 day window. South west Oxford council is investigating the possibility of including the exact dates for submission either in their regular Township newsletter, or may produce a special edition. They will also be investigating the possibility of hosting a town hall meeting.

Last Updated ( Wednesday, 15 May 2013 17:41 )

Beach volleyball comes to Zorra

Wednesday, 08 May 2013 16:46 JW

By Brian Donlevy,

Beach volleyball is coming to Thamesford. Zorra Township council has approved the project and township staff will be pitching in to help contain costs.

The township will be providing the sand and gravel to create the pits and staff will be responsible for moving it to the site near the Thamesford Arena.

Total cost to the township for labour, fuel and materials is just over $8,000. Work is expected to start shortly

Park in west end Woodstock to be reforested

Wednesday, 24 April 2013 19:56 BD

After what appears to be clear cutting of an area of parkland in the west end of Woodstock, the city has a plan to reforest the area.

According to Brian Connors, the Director of Parks and Recreation, the city hired Hart Excavating to remove all of the trees damaged by the emerald ash borer. At the same time, 30 sugar maples were also removed. The sugar maples were deemed by an arborist to be weak limbed, have a short life span and presented a future hazard to users of the trail.

All of the logs were removed from the site because of the potential for them to cause flooding of the creek that runs through Burgess Park. According to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency the felled trees could be used for lumber and firewood because the borer has now made its way through Ontario to the Quebec border.

Woodstock Parks and Rec will be meeting with the Upper Thames Regional Conservation Authority to discuss replanting but have committed to replanting 1300 trees.

The work cost the city $29,000, an amount that is under the tender bid cut off. A formal tender process must be followed by the city when the value is above $50,000. (bd)

Norwich April 23 Wrap

Wednesday, 24 April 2013 19:54 BD

Residents near Burgessville are objecting to the expansion of a hog operation on Evergreen Street south of the village.

An application for a minor zoning variance to allow the construction of a new hog barn was received by township council. If approved the operation would grow from 750 hogs to 1600.

The new barn would contain an indoor manure storage facility replacing an outdoor tank that currently exists.

Area residents at the meeting were objecting to the potential increase in noise, odours and possible contamination of the water table. There were also worries about the new building being 230 metres closer to the edge of Burgessville.

Council also heard that another accessory building on the property had been expanded and is being used as a welding facility which is contrary to the zoning of the area.

Council had to separate the issue of the potentially illegal welding operation and the zoning variation.

The welding operation is not allowed under the provincial planning act and the expansion of the building construction was done without any of the proper permits. That issue continues to be investigated.

A family considering a move into Norwich Township will not have to leave one of their dogs behind. Council has decided to grant an exemption under the township’s two dog rule. The current bylaw in the Township limits two dogs to a property, by from time to time exemptions are allowed.

In this situation a family moving in from Dutton/Dunwich has three dogs, which are allowed under that community’s bylaw. The eldest dog is 10 years old and the family does not want to face the decision of having to leave a pet behind.

There will be a third annual Norwich charity golf tournament. Due to the success of the previous two years, council heartily approved holding the tournament on Friday September 6^th. The township hopes that shifting the tournament to a Friday will attract more golfers. Over the past two years, the tournament has raised more than $8,600 which is divided up among various community groups.

There will be new life in the old Otterville Fire Hall. Norwich Township has been approached by Execulink to rent the building. The company will be using it as a sales base for the fibre optic program for the village. Council was told that having tenants using the firehall as offices it may make the building more attractive to potential purchasers in the future.

Norwich Council has approved a plan to formalize how disputes can be settled in the Township. Staff had been told that a concern of businesses still centres on red tape and trying to get questions solved. One solution proposed is if a constituent has a complaint, question or concern, and they approach the Mayor or Council, it would be simplest to arrange a meeting among the staff, the resident and the member of council, so there is not a delay in response and limits the chance of the message being misconstrued. (bd)

Last Updated ( Wednesday, 24 April 2013 19:57 )