Councillor’s Corner - February 2020
By Ian Mead
As I’m writing this, it is February 10th. Lynda and I are in sunny but chilly San Diego where our daughter Carri-Lyn is having her second child and our 6th grandchild. Here’s hoping all goes as plannedJ
Ribbon of Life and the Comprehensive Zoning Bylaw Review
In my message in a previous Councillor’s Corner, I mentioned that the Comprehensive Zoning Bylaw is up for review and I wanted to take that opportunity to have the front yard set-back changed from 25 feet to 50 feet or more. This will bring us more in line with all the other municipalities in our region. I also want to have staff craft a bylaw to provide rules to maintain a healthy ribbon of life.
I brought this initiative forward at last summer’s AGM’s for Crane and Blackstone and asked for a show of support which was given followed by letters of support to staff and Council from both the Associations.
Last fall, the TOA held a Deerhorn Conference where representatives of ALL TOA Associations were invited to the Stockey center for a day of information sharing and feedback. A significant part of the meeting was an interactive question session regarding potential changes to the Comprehensive Zoning Bylaw. This was made interactive by giving each Association delegate an electronic device so that they could vote electronically on the multiple choice questions. The first question was who you represented – inland lakes or Georgian Bay. That allowed them to separate answers by inland lakes versus Georgian Bay – good idea!
One of the questions related to whether the front yard setback should be increased. By far the majority of inland lake delegates voted yes. When asked what they felt it should be changed to, the majority of inland lakes delegates voted 20 meters or 66 feet.
As a result, the team (staff and consultant) said “we will be looking at increasing the front yard setback on the inland lakes to 20 meters and see what kind of response we receive”.
So, the ball is rolling and we should see some proposal this Spring/Summer. As I’ve mentioned before, I believe this is a very important “best practices” step to preserve our water quality.
As we go forward with this initiative, if you have any questions or concerns, I am as close as your E-mail or phone.
Floating Docks – Don’t Buy Foam
As you all know, our lakes, rivers and oceans are being polluted with large amounts of plastic waste. Lake Associations are starting to organize clean up days and the results of some clean ups last season were astonishing. The clean up’s clearly indicate a need for change as it relates to single use plastic items and especially plastic bags. There’s definitely a need for change in the use and disposal of plastic items.
There was one item that really stood out and that was pieces of dock foam. MNRF have also found inordinate amounts of dock foam in fish – not good!
Blocks of foam have been used in the construction of floating docks for many years now and these docks are coming to end-of-life. Not only is the dock wood at end-of-life, the foam floaters are disintegrating and polluting our waters.
Please check the status of the foam in your floating dock/raft and if it needs replacing, please use the rigid plastic floaters. In the past, foam has been cheaper and hence more popular. The price of rigid plastic floaters has come down considerably but is still a bit higher than foam. Please pay a little extra and use rigid plastic floaters. The health of our lakes and fish will thank you.
N.B. When you buy a new floating dock, be sure to arrange to have the old one disposed of. Just leaving the old one in the water some place is not acceptable!
Protecting our Cottage Properties in the Event of Fire- Forest Management
For many years now, our family has been consciously leaving most of our cottage property to nature.
Over the last few years we’ve lost about 10 good sized trees to weather events and have removed some more due to disease or end-of-life. The large portions got cut and split for firewood - anybody need firewood?? The branches have just been piled in the back of our lot waiting for Mother Nature to turn them back into soil which may not happen in my lifetime!
As a result of the massive bush fires in B.C, California and Australia, reports are coming in that these fires are more dangerous because of the amount of fuel they have to sustain them. That fuel, in a lot of cases, is abundant because we have left fallen trees and branches where they lie and in my case at the cottage, the huge piles of brush that I have created.
Well, I have decided to reduce the amount of “fuel” a fire will have as a result of perhaps a lightning strike. I have decided to rent a good chipper this summer and help accelerate getting this brush back to the soil.
Don’t get me wrong, we won’t be raking the forest, just getting rid of most of the fuel that a fire would need to do severe damage. Raking your cottage property, especially close to the lake allows nutrient loaded rain/runoff to easily reach the lake – not good!
Food for thought!
Clear Lake Subdivision (Update)
As mentioned before, the developers of this subdivision have been charged by the MNRF due to some disturbance of Rattlesnake habitat. As of right now, there has no decision on what will be done.
Are you on my E-mail List?
If you currently are not on my E-mail list and would like to be, just send me an E-mail at ianm@vianet.ca and ask me to add you.
Cheers
Ian
