Mailing addresses, parking bylaws, the Highway 7 roundabout and food trucks were a few of the issues discussed at the Jan. 18 Guelph-Eramosa council meeting and the Jan. 20 strategic planning committee meeting.
Everton mailing address
Residents of the hamlet of Everton are concerned about their postal code. Everton currently shares its N0B 2K0 postal code with Rockwood and Canada Post does not recognize Everton as a separate community from Rockwood.
“The folks in Everton put stuff to be delivered from UPS or wherever and if they put Everton on it they can’t find it because the Canada Post system says it’s Rockwood,” Mayor Chris White told the Advertiser on Jan. 21. “So now they’re going into Rockwood looking for something that’s in Everton.”
The residents have requested that their mailing address and postal codes reflect their actual address in Everton.
Council passed a resolution requesting that Canada Post add Everton as a valid community within the N0B 2K0 postal code and it will be sent to MP Micheal Chong for his support as it is a federal issue.
Parking bylaw
Parking is now prohibited on either side of Mackenzie Street between the fire hall and Gzowski Street as well as on either side of Hillside Drive leading into the Gazer Mooney subdivision.
Mackenzie Street has been deemed a fire route to ensure unrestricted access for emergency vehicles.
The no-parking zone on Hillside Drive is an adjustment to parking changes made last year when the township removed the parking ban on the whole area.
“We realized that the entrance into the subdivision … people come down there fairly quickly and there’s no sidewalks, no streetlights or anything so we just took parking off that little strip because by the time they get into the cul-de-sac they’ll be slowed down,” White said.
Noise bylaw
Council approved a noise bylaw exemption for 10 days for night construction of a roundabout at the intersection of Highway 7 and Jones Baseline.
“They’re going to probably be having to do some things at night … I’m sure they’re going to be closing the roads and that and I want to make sure that that’s minimized so if there’s a couple days when they’re in a night making a bit of noise, if MTO (Ministry of Transportation) desires that to move the project along, of course we’re going to support it,” White said. He said he was concerned about access to the Mustang Drive-In Theatre, which is often accessed off of Jones Baseline just south of Highway 7.
“So the sooner they get that done the better,” he said. “Anything that impacts business we should try to mitigate as much as possible.”
Rockwood Mews
Council approved Guthrie Lane as the name of the private laneway that’s part of the Rockwood Mews project. Flying Officer Jerry Taylor Guthrie was a member of the Royal Canadian Air Force and died overseas in July 29, 1944. His parents lived in Acton Ontario and his name is on the Rockwood Cenotaph.
Information videos
At the Jan. 20 strategic planning committee meeting council considered a 90 second long information video explaining how water rates work that could potentially be posted on the municipality’s website.
“What we’re doing around a bunch of different issues is we’re trying to look at ways to communicate better to the public,” White said. “So in the case of the water bill … the people on the water systems we’re trying to communicate out to them why the rates are what they are, how it works and the rest of it.”
If the information-video works then the township may consider making other videos for other municipal business.
The video will be coming back to council in February for final consideration.
“I think it’s a way of explaining to people how municipal governance works,” White said.
Food truck discussion
White explained that one of the issues that came up in the bylaw review is food trucks.
“Right now they’re a prohibited use,” he said. “We need to take a good look at what we can do, whether or not we want to move forward with them.”
The township has begun putting together a plan to look at what might be permitted and what might not be permitted.
“It’s just the beginning of a process determining how you would make them a permissible use but what would that look like?” White said.
A local resident has showed interest in running a food truck in the township.
“The bottom line for us, I think our goal is not to stifle competition, it’s not to get in front of business but it has to be an equal playing field,” he explained.
