Facility rates, zoning bylaw amendments and septic inspections were a few of the items discussed at the Erin council meeting on May 19.
Zoning bylaw amendments
Council approved the recommendation of senior planner for Wellington County Sarah Wilhelm to allow staff to decide when a zoning bylaw amendment application is complete.
Until now a planner has reviewed the application for completeness and brought a report to a meeting for council’s approval before a public meeting could be set. However, Wilhelm said it is often difficult to get this approval and contact the applicant within 30 days of the application submission, as the planning act requires.
She said the best way to rectify this is to give staff the authority to deem a zoning bylaw amendment application complete and set a public meeting date.
Council will still be made aware of the completed application before the public meeting and will have time to review the planning report.
Currently, the only other municipality in Wellington County that requires a planner to bring a report to council is Guelph-Eramosa Township.
Septic inspections
The town will be sending an outreach letter to 127 property owners in the town affected by the mandatory septic inspections required under the Ontario Building Code which is tied to the Clean Water Act and Source Water Protection. These inspections will be occurring across Wellington County and are in areas where, if not working properly, the septic system could produce threats to drinking water.
The town is holding a Septic Social at Centre 2000 theatre on June 4 from 7 to 9pm to offer information about septic maintenance and the inspection program.
The Town of Erin, Guelph-Eramosa Township and Puslinch Township are working with the Township of Centre Wellington to hire one consultant for the three municipalities to do the required maintenance. The contract will be for up to three years and WSP Canada Inc. of Cambridge was hired for $112,850, excluding HST.
Water department hire
Council approved the hiring of a summer student from June 15 to Sept. 4 in the water department. The pay rate will be Grade 3 on the town’s part time wage grid.
Tax rate and levying bylaw
The residential tax rate for the town increased about 2.9 per cent in 2015 over the 2014 rates. The blended tax rates, including the town, Wellington County and education portion increased 2.2% over 2014. For a residential assessment of $100,000 that means about $8 will be added to the ratepayer’s tax bill fortown purposes, $17 for the county and $0 for education over the rates in 2014. The ratepayer with a residential assessment of $100,000 will pay $287 to the town, $649 to the county and $195 for education this year.
The Town of Erin will receive about $5.8 million from taxes, Wellington County will get about $13 million and education boards will received about $4.7 million with about $23.5 million being collected in total.
Council approved these rates for 2015.
Tennis court resurfacing
Roth Associates Landscape Architecture Inc. was hired to consult on the Erin Tennis Club court-resurfacing project. The financial impact of this hire falls within the budget for the project.
Facility rates
There will be a 3% increase in rental fees for the Erin Community Centre/Centre 2000, Hillsburgh Community Centre and Hillsburgh Sports Fields with the exception of public skating at Centre 2000.
The report said that the public skating rates at Centre 2000 were high in comparison to the surrounding municipalities so the rates were lowered.
“Public skating rates should be affordable especially for families with limited incomes,” the report said. “The lowered rate we hope will bring more people out and back to skating during the ice season.”
The rates will be effective from June 1 to May 31, 2016.
Operational review
The town will be having a special meeting for the operational review report on June 23 at 1pm.
