Tooth Fairy offering free teeth cleaning

 

The lead up to the July 16 South Dundas Council meeting foreshadowed of lively debate and potential conflict, but the end result was quite the opposite.

Those opposed to the potential grain terminals at the Universal dock along Lakeshore Drive, the owner of the dock, the Grain Farmers of Ontario, and South Dundas’ planning department, were all on the agenda for the meeting, to make presentations, but a lawyer’s letter presented to council by the initial delegation of concerned citizens put an end to any potential council or staff input, feedback or questions.

So, each group was given about 10 minutes to make their planned presentation, and did so. 

An estimated crowd of about 150 had gathered to watch the proceedings.

Chris Rowntree, spoke on behalf of the citizens group, saying that allowing the grain terminal to be built on this land does not conform with its light industrial zoning. And that allowing it under the guise of calling it a warehouse is indefensible in a court of law.

He then had Gerben Schaillee, who is part of the concerned citizens group, read aloud a letter from the group’s lawyer, Donald R. Good of AGB Lawyers in Ottawa.

Good maintains that classifying a grain terminal as a grain warehouse is erroneous.

“This appears to be a deliberate misuse of the word ‘warehouse’ to simply avoid  the proper re-zoning process which would allow public input into the addition of this new permitted use in the M1 zone,” said Good.

“To proceed to issue a building permit, will subject the Township to potentially expensive litigation,” said Good. “I encourage the Township to reconsider its position and not issue a building permit until the property has been properly vetted through the re-zoning process.”

Following Rowntree and Schaillee, Tom Kaneb, owner of UTI made a presentation. 

He noted that  these lands have been industrial since prior to 1967, pre-dating some of the neighbouring homes and many of their current owners. 

“The tension that we have here is often felt when residential areas expand close to older industrial areas,” said Kaneb. “We know that we need to try and reach an accommodation.”

“We are designing into the project modern dust controls and low noise aeration fans to minimize dust and noise,” he added.

Kaneb spoke of the local economic benefit to farmers and to South Dundas and to the support that the project has from area farmers.

“We intend to proceed with the support of the community and will do our best to meet all laws, regulations and zoning requirements,” said Kaneb.

Again, because of the legal involvement brought on by the concerned citizens group, council did not question or comment on the matter.

Following Kaneb’s presentation, Grain Farmers of Ontario delegate Warren Schneckenburger, told of the need and importance of this new terminal in South Dundas.

“We are fortunate here to have two end users, Ingredion (formerly Casco) and Greenfield Ethanol, but their maximum capacity has been realized,” said Schneckenburger. He explained that the result is a reliance on the Port of Prescott, which fills very rapidly in the fall.

“This issue is bigger than South Dundas,” said Schneckenburger, pointing out that grain regularly flows to this area from a much larger region regularly coming from about 5,200 producers.

Once again, South Dundas council refrained from questioning or commenting on the presentation.

Included in council’s information package was a key information report from Donald Lewis, manager of planing and enforcement, regarding the status of the status of the project.

Council did not allow Lewis to speak to the report.

According to the report, a peer review with planning consultants has confirmed that the grain terminal proposal meets zoning requirements and currently staff are in the process of determining if all applicable laws have been satisfied.

The proponent has secured the required County Road setback permit, and have sufficiently addressed truck traffic concerns. 

In its current form, the proposal does not require any South Nation Conservation permits. 

Ministry of the Environment staff are in the process of reviewing the application.

[…]

 

Jamie Pollock, an accountant from Craig Keen Despatie Markell LLP, presented the 2011 auditor’s report to council during the May 15th South Dundas council meeting.

“There is a $642,503 surplus moved into the working capital reserve,” began Pollock, “so you had a good year.”

Following this, Pollock went through the details, breaking down the figure into departmental numbers and statistics.

The sum of it all, according to Pollock, came down to “you had a very good year. Administration did well. You should congratulate your administration staff.” 

He informed council that the net financial assets were just under $5.1 million, “so it went up by $1.1 million,” he said. “So, you’re still in a very strong financial position that way.”

The non-financial assets such as vehicles, buildings and so forth were declared to be in the $63 million range.

He said the expenses amounted to $9.9 million and then proceeded to congratulate council on the new sewer plant in Iroquois, which is 100% government funded.

He cautioned council about possible future financial issues, bringing to attention the issue of aging landfill sites. Pollock pointed out that one is at capacity and the other has approximately four to five years left before it’s full.

He also pointed out that “there’s nothing set up to finance” the closing of the two landfill sites. 

“It’s a large liability coming and you have nothing set aside to address this.”

“You should set up a reserve to help finance that cost. If you don’t do anything,” he predicted, it could lead to a “general spike in taxation rates to cover that cost.”

He ended the topic, strongly suggesting that council “get ready to avoid a massive tax spike.” 

Moving toward the conclusion of his report, Pollock told council “you have a good collection of your taxation dollars from year to year.”

He informed that the working capital is at a good ratio and that the working reserves, in terms of the percentage used for expenditures, is also at a healthy level.

“You’ve always been strong with your reserves,” he said.

Following Pollock’s presentation of the auditor’s report, deputy-mayor Jim Locke said, “it sounds like a good report card to me,” pointing out that “all the recommendations for 2011 were adhered to.”

“It’s a great position we’re in,” agreed mayor Steven Byvelds saying he’d like to “especially thank staff for monitoring our budget and making sure things are done on time and on budget.”

“We do acknowledge the landfill issue and maybe that’s something we’re going to have to look at.”

“Council is aware of the water/sewer deficits,” he continued, suggesting they may have to “look at user fees.”

Council accepted the draft financial statement at the May 15th meeting. 

Going forward the township treasurer will provide council with a follow-up draft at the next council meeting. 

Once that has been approved, the report will become available to the public.

[…]

Pork Fest is the newest event being planned to take place in South Dundas this year.

Still in the very early planning stages, the Morrisburg Downtown Business Improvement Area, notified South Dundas council of the event earlier this month.

According to the letter, the Morrisburg DBIA will host the one day Pork Fest on Saturday, August 22.

Few details of what a Pork Fest involves, are available at this point, but the letter states that Pork Fest, will involve all things pork, ribs, bacon, pulled pork, sausage, etc. 

“We will be looking to partner with other community groups to make this event one that benefits, not only the downtown businesses, but also the community,” said Grace McDonough, coordinator for the Morrisburg Downtown Business Improvement Area.

DBIA events take place at the Morrisburg Plaza.

[…]