by CONNIE TABBERT
Editor
COBDEN — A severance on Grants Settlement Road was approved by Whitewater Region council last night, but it took Mayor Hal Johnson to break the tie vote to allow it.
Joe Kowalski is severing off a parcel of land that is in front of Whitewater Brewery, which is at the intersection of Grants Settlement Road and Fletcher road.
“This upsets me,” said Councillor Dave Mackay, noting “good farmland” will be disgarded so a house can be built.
Chief Building Official Doug Schultz said, “It is good farmland, but it’s zoned rural,” to which Coun. Mackay quipped, “I don’t care. I want it noted I am voting against it.
“I was sent here to protect farm land and that’s what I intend to do,” he added as he requested a recorded vote.
Coun. Mackay noted in the last 15 years, six million acres of prime farm land has been lost in Canada and only six per cent of all Canada’s land mass is tillable land.
“Every time we let something like this go, it means your grandchildren are going to go hungry,” he stated.
Councillor Daryl McLaughlin questioned if there would be a change in the property’s designation.
As far as Mr. Schultz knows, it will remain a rural zoning unless a request is put in to change it. It’s one severance for one house “unless he goes for something different,” he added.
Reeve Terry Millar questioned Mr. Schultz if there is a problem with the mapping and zoning of land within the township.
“What is the science behind it and how it will affect other decisions on our Official Plan amendment,” he questioned.
“Do we not need to redo the map and get real. If Dave says that land is good agricultural land, then it should be mapped as such, not (mapped) by someone in Toronto. And, if we’ve got other land that’s mapped as agricultural land that we know darn well isn’t agricultural land, shouldn’t that be designated for buildings?”
In Mr. Schultz’s opinion, “Sometimes mapping doesn’t tell the truth. There are some places it’s not totally correct, regarding official plan mappings and zonings.”
Reeve Millar said council needs to make decisions regarding the land in the Township of Whitewater Region.
Pointing to Coun. Mackay, he said, “That man made a good point. He knows the land. Nobody in Toronto knows that land like that man right there.
“We know all the land in this area and we’re smart enough to figure out our own maps without some student drawing circles on a map telling us we can’t touch the land. That’s where I would like us to think a little.”
Mayor Johnson agreed with Reeve Millar, that it’s this council that should be looking at the land zonings within the municipality.
“There’s lots of land available in this municipality that’s less than marginal and could be built on,” he said.
Mayor Johnson questioned if the land in question could be marginal agricultural land.
Coun. Mackay said no. There’s a “very good crop of soybeans” growing where the severance is being requested. He believes it’s Grade 2 agricultural land, and that’s only because the land has to be drained.
“Just look at the crop it’s growing,” he said. “That’s prime land to me.”
Mayor Johnson said the vote on this severance has to be in regards to the “current rules and regulations as presented to us tonight.”
Reeve Millar and Mackay voted against the severance while councillors Cathy Regier and McLaughlin voted in favour of the severance. Councillors Chris Olmstead and Charlene Jackson were not at the meeting.
Chuckling, Mayor Johnson said, “This is the one we’ve been waiting for for nine months. I’m going to vote yea.”
However, he added seriously, the future of this municipality must be looked at and he was glad Reeve Millar and Coun. Mackay voted the way they did, standing up for agricultural land in Whitewater Region.
