A new business location and the purchase of new municipal equipment was on the agenda for the Oct. 7 Guelph-Eramosa council meeting held at Rockmosa Community Centre in Rockwood.
New business location
Vivere Ltd. a wholesale distributer and global exporter of outdoor products specializing in hammocks, is relocating to the intersection of Whitelaw Road and Wellington Road 124 from its current location at 6876 Paisley Road.
“They’re currently located in the City of Guelph with various storage facilities around Ontario,” township planning associate Kelsey Lang said at the meeting. “This development would consolidate all their storage facilities into one and move the headquarters to the township.”
The business conforms to the Wellington County official plan designation of rural industrial and to the zoning bylaw. Council approved the site plan application and entered into a site plan agreement with Vivere Ltd.
Both councillors Corey Woods and Mark Bouwmeester declared a pecuniary conflict of interest due to prior relationships with the business, and stepped out of the meeting when the site plan application was being discussed.
Sidewalk plow
Council approved director of public works Harry Niemi’s recommendation for public works to negotiate with Ed Stewarts Equipment for the rental of a sidewalk plow for 2015 and for pre-budget approval for the 2016 buyout purchase of the same plow which meets the township’s needs.
“Recently public works identified a tractor capable of 44 inch wheel base which gives us a little bit of room on either side going down some of the narrower sidewalks in town,” Niemi told council. This is the only supplier public works employees have found that meets the sidewalk specifications.
With an anticipated delivery date of November the rental cost would be covered under the 2015 operational budget and the purchase buyout would be covered as a capital item in the 2016 budget at a cost of approximately $110,000.
“We’ve got a bunch of sidewalks in Rockwood that are smaller than the piece of equipment that we currently own,” Mayor Chris White said.
“If anybody lives on those roads, we tear the front off your lawn every time we sent the plow … we’ve tried to find a piece of equipment that at least fits the sidewalks.”
Bouwmeester asked if it was possible to rent the plow now without committing to a purchase.
“That would be part of the negotiation but the equipment is coming from overseas and I would need the commitment to the supplier to literally get it on the boat to come over,” Niemi said. “So there’d be a certain level of commitment or expectation to purchase.”
Bouwmeester said he was concerned because council hasn’t yet gone through the 2016 budget process.
The recommendation was passed with White and councillors David Wolk and Louise Marshall in favour and Woods and Bouwmeester not in favour.
167 Joliffe Avenue
On Sept. 8 council approved the removal of the holding provision and approved the site plan application conditional of the owner entering a site plan agreement for the property on 167 Joliffe Ave. in Rockwood.
The application is to allow for a seven-unit commercial complex on the site.
“The holding provision was put on the property to make sure that certain requirements were met before the site could be developed, in this case it was that a market impact study was conducted to ensure that any commercial uses on the property wouldn’t impact downtown Rockwood,” township planning associate Kelsey Lang said, continuing to explain that the study has been conducted and downtown Rockwood won’t be affected.
The site proposal has two buildings on 0.75 acres of land abutting Highway 7/Main St., Ridge Road and Joliffe Ave. The building to the south is estimated to be 605.8m2 and house five units and the building to the north east is estimated to be 292.8m2 and house two units.
“Just to be clear, this was approved by the OMB (Ontario Municipal Board) 20 years ago, what we’re dealing with today the holding provision was there specifically for the commercial impact so when that’s out of the way there’s no reason to have it in place,” explained Mayor Chris White.
