The Township of Whitewater Region held its regular council meeting on December 16th at 4:45pm, via Zoom call.
Zoning Bylaw Amendment
The Council of the Township of Whitewater Region heard a zoning by-law amendment for a property part of Lot 27, Westmeath concession, Lot B to revert a severed portion from a commercial zoning exception 1, to a waterfront property, in preparation to add it to the surrounding lands for residential use.
The property was close to Powers Road, and is also known as Put-in Trail.
The severance was part of a development agreement with Whitewater River Rafting to develop a private road known as John Park Trail.
There was also a development order to provide new access from a private road to the north of the newly-enlarged lot.
Planner Ivan Burton received no public presentations on the zoning.
“Staff are entirely supportive of it.” He said.
Councillor McLaughlin asked for clarification if it was the old River Run put-in.
“I do believe it was used by Wilderness Tours in the past.” Catherine Curry, planning intern with J2PG Consulting, representing the applicant, Whitewater Rafting Pembroke Lmd. “It is no longer used due to their move to River Run.”
The motion was voted on and was carried.
Announcements
Reeve Regier announced that CAO Rob Trembley’s performance appraisal was completed at the last closed session, and thanked him for “his dedication”.
She also announced that the Virtual Community Inaugural Meeting appointed her Vice-Chair of development and Property.
She announced that they were joined by MPP John Yakabuskie
Councillor Mackay announced Beachburg Fair was having a lottery for Kuboda side-by-side as a fundraiser, with tickets at $20 dollars.
Councillor Jackson wished everyone Merry Christmas.
Mayor Moore also said that Janet Collins would be leaving the Township position of Asset Management.
“Janet joined us in 2017 and helped us tremendously along the way.” CAO Trembley said.
Joint Request for Proposal
The Council received a report “That Council of the Township of Whitewater Region approve the award of environment monitoring and reporting services for the solid waste sites for a three-year term to Jp2g Consultants Inc. as per the Request for Proposal at a total cost of $107,574.57 inclusive of non-refundable H.S.T. “
Shodson said. “We put out an RFP and got several bids from qualified consulting companies. What they’re reporting on groundwater sampling, landfill sampling. They have to acquire an accredited laboratory. They have to prepare a monitoring report prepared by a qualified geology.”
Of the five proponents, he said J2PG, who had previously done it for the Township, scored highest mostly due to their “excellent” pricing.
‘We’ll look at 40 percent saving.” Shodson said.
Councillor Mackay asked where the other countries from. Shodson said that they were mostly from across Ontario, and that J2PG being centered in Ontario.
No other questions, and the motion was carried by vote.
Fire Department Plan
That Council of the Township of Whitewater Region saw a motion to approve the changes to the Whitewater Region Fire Department Organizational Structure under a Part-Time Fire Chief model; and receive an update on Fire Master Plan recommendations and department activities.
Fire chief Guy Longtin presented.
“Since I’ve been in this position for nine months now, I’ve seen a
“We’ve decided it would be best to have two deputies, and split the municipality into two areas, with one being responsible for one area.” he said. “We’re just streamlining everything.”
Johnathan McLaren said that the changes would improve efficiency.
He said they’d hired 19 fire fighters in 2019, and planned to hire 15 more in 2021, and were conducting interviews by Zoom.
“Guy has kind of saved our bacon.” CAO Trembley said. “He’s agreed to stay on until May.”
“The model is a better use of resources right now.”
Councillor Nicholson asked if the gaps in reception were to be addressed.
McLaren said that the gaps in their communication network in the region was “on our radar, even though it wasn’t on the plan recommendation.” He said Ivan [Burton] was looking into it with the internet companies.
McLaren was prompted by comments by Nicholson to request the Council give direct guidance regarding icewater rescue, as it would be a ‘tremendous cost and training’ to implement.
CAO Trembley said that he “Did not want to bog down the new Fire Chief” with such a large project.
Councillor Mackay asked if they were building a cement tank at the industrial park, and that it was floating over.
McLaren said they were ‘working on that’.
Counciller McLaughlin asked why there were only 9 staff at Forester’s falls, which McLaren corrected was the number of calls, not the staff.
Reeve Regier asked where the stations on the report were located.
Station 1 was Haley’s station, 2 was Cobden, 3 was Forester’s Falls, 4 is Beachburg, and 5 is Westmeath.
Mayor Moore said that it there should be a plan on paper to deal with fire response for boats on the Ottawa River for icewater rescue.
“It’s something we can’t put off anymore.” he said.
He suggested they set February as a date to have a plan in writing.
“There’s a huge training and a huge expense in icewater rescue.” McLaren said. “The Ottawa River is an especially powerful river.”
CAO Trembley said they were also cleaning up the resources by updating theri contacts, and it can be done as general emergency management.
The motion was carried.
Welcome Packages and Business Showcase.
The Council received a report on a welcome package and associated reports.
Planner Ivan Burton presented the Township’s welcome package, prompted by a local business owner, to present to new businesses starting in the township, as a draft to get feedback from the Council.
He said it would be combined with pamphets and brochures for the region and maps of local areas to be circulated to new residents and businesses.
The Mayor thanked Burton for all his hard work, and suggested sending an email to clarify recent questions.
Councillor Charlene Jackson suggested the font wasn’t an accessible font.
Councillor Nicholson said the pack was “a great idea”, but recommended that Council become more active in picking a business each month and identify businesses for special promotion.
Councillor Nicholson also said that the Senior’s task force was collecting contacts and it could be added into a Community services page.
A vote was called, and the motion was carried.
Final Draft Growth Study Report
That Council of the Township of Whitewater Region receive the Final Draft Growth Study Report dated December 2020, as a guiding document, and direct staff to circulate a copy to MMAH and the County of Renfrew regarding Official Plan Amendment No. 11.
The amendment deals with an expansion with the village boundary of Cobden, Burton said.
“Our next step would be to fire an implementation plan to the County.” Burton said, saying that to accommodate the additional lands they needed to add 11 hectares south of astrolabe road, and to extend it 9 hectares down the highway.
CAO Trembley said that there is a lot of vacant land in Beachburg, which is why it wasn’t tweaked.
Councillor Chris Olmstead asked for clarification on the boundary limits, and asked if they require any rezoning.
Burton said that “there are definitely lands that are designate as future growth land, and any developer that wants to develop it would apply for rezoning at that time.”
Councillor Nicholson asked if there was any value of adding in the Highway 17 options and whether it would influence the highway’s shape.
“Ultimately, Highway 17 wen they align it, will be a significant corridor, and whatever happens would be important to out development.” Burton said.
“I’m concerned that we won’t have the right kind of housing for the zoning we’re after.” Nicholson said.
Burton said that there should be “varying types of housing units” and that the Township should be ensuring that ‘different kind of dwellings’ are being proposed.
“Developers typically get a sense of current market trends. Naturally, the market trend should be dictating what should be developed, but we should be ensuring a variety is being developed.”
The motion was carried.
Employee Group Benefit Plan Update
Treasurer Sean Crozier presented the employee Group benefit plan, based on assessment of whether or not to join
He said that it was not worth joining, and they should keep to their original plan.
“It doesn’t make sense at this time, but at 2021 we’ll be RPAs for broker services.”
No questions were asked and the motion was carried.
Corporate Insurance Annual Renewal.
Sean Crozier then reported on the corporate insurance renewal.
He said they were within budget with a ‘tiny increase in premiums’.
“I won’t get into the details of the different areas and different departments being insured. The good news is that the actuals are within budget.” he said. “We are within budget.”
No Questions were asked and the Motion was Carried.
Departmental Work Plan
The Council heard a report on the 2021 Department Work Plan.
CAO Trembley presented.
“Despite Flooding two years ago and COVID this year, we got a lot done.” Trembley said. “We built a solid team, we have a good management them.”
He said there were 22 strategy areas to cover.
There were no questions, and the motion was carried.
There were no Notices of Motion
The Council then approved the regular and closed minutes of December 2nd nd the Special Meeting of December 9th with a vote.
Correspondence
That Council of the Township of Whitewater Region request the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs to consider lowering the interest rate on Tile Drain Loans to 4% and increasing the yearly loan limit to $100,000, as advocated by Howick Township.
Councillor Mackay approved of the request.
Councillor McLaughlin said it was ‘long past’ and was eager to get it to a ‘fair and even interest rate.”
The Mayor agreed that it was ‘long overdue’.
The motion was carried.
They also received a letter for info to the Honourable Sylvia Jones and a letter to Mayor Bob Sweet
Councillor Jackson asked if there was a way to find out who else sat on the Whitewater Business Association, and was unable to reach Joe Kowalski for information.
CAO Trembley said that they could ‘take that back to do some followup.” and said he would send the information via email.
By-laws
The council voted on the bylaws, and were voted on unanimous, despite some technical issues.
The Mayor then adjourned the meeting at 6:35 pm
