Council adopts cultural action plan, given growth forecast update

Wellington North council has adopted a cultural action plan, learned about the township’s growth forecast and decided to review the municipal burn bylaw.

Cultural action plan

The cultural roundtable committee presented its action plan to council on April 4.

Tourism, marketing and promotions manager April Marshall explained the action plan has four goals: broadening municipal roles and partnerships, leveraging cultural resources to grow and diversify the economy, building a shared identity and increased collaboration, and increasing the vibrancy and aesthetic appeal of the downtown.

The plan is broken into three major focus areas for 2016.

One part, communication, aims to develop a series of self-directed tours to profile the cultural assets in Wellington North.

Another aspect of the plan is oral history. Karen Armstrong, one of the roundtable members, explained the committee would undertake a township-wide oral project to capture community stories.

“There’s a lot of great stories; people have a lot of history with the area and we want to make sure we capture those,” said Armstrong.

The plan’s third focus area is a cultural heritage and historical building strategy, which aims to preserve cultural buildings in Wellington North and look into the feasibility of a heritage committee.

Mayor Andy Lennox said he has a lot of questions on the implementation of a heritage committee and heritage designations, but he looks forward to learning about it. He added it will be an “opportunity here to discover what we have.”

The roundtable adopted the action plan on March 17 and council voted unanimously to support it.

Growth forecast

Wellington County is updating growth forecasts in the Official Plan.

County policy planning manager Mark Paoli presented the changes that would affect Wellington North to council on April 4.

Paoli, who explained the province updated the growth plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe area, including Wellington, said by 2036, the county population is expected to be 132,000. He added it was up to the county to allocate that growth to municipalities and individual communities.

Wellington North is looking at growth of 4,600 people and 1,700 households by 2036. Most of that growth (3,300 people) is allocated for Mount Forest.

“As an attractive community with full municipal services at the intersection of two provincial highways, Mount Forest is an important node for growth,” said Paoli.

Paoli said there is enough land designated for residential purposes, despite county projections indicating Mount Forest and outside urban centres will have a small land-supply deficit.

Paoli explained later that Mount Forest will most likely be able to provide the deficit of 30 units over the next 20 years.

The county is hosting a public meeting on the Official Plan amendments on April 21 at 7pm at the Wellington County Museum and Archives Aboyne Hall.

Burn bylaw working group

On Feb. 8, Lennox put forward a notice of motion for a review of the township’s burn bylaw due to “issues that have cropped up over time, relating to rural burning.”

On Feb 29 council approved the review. A working group was struck and met on March 29.

Lennox announced at the most recent council meeting the group was to host an information night on the burn bylaw review on April 13 at  Kenilworth Public School at 7pm.

Lennox said has received feedback from residents hesitant to burn brush due to possible township enforcement and/or penalties.

The working group has already suggested the use of simplified language and remove a schedule that lists the Provincial Offence fines. The group is reviewing the process for issuing a permit and visits by the fire department when a permit is issued. Fees and charges will also be reviewed.

 

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