In the newest draft of Erin’s site alteration bylaw, Mayor Allan Alls, councillor Matt Sammut and town staff have recommended adopting Halton Hills’ fill bylaw.
That decision was made after reviewing the site alteration committee’s recommendations as well as the Town of Halton Hill’s bylaw and committee structure.
“I noted that there are still a number of changes that need to be made to the draft bylaw presented tonight,” chief administrative officer Kathryn Ironmonger said at the March 17 meeting. “In addition, staff need to make sure that the fees are appropriate with this bylaw as well.”
The process now is those changes will be made and the draft will be sent to council for review. The bylaw will then come back to the April 21 meeting for council’s consideration.
“I really do want to get [the bylaw] in place before the season starts,” Alls said. “And this is a huge leap over what we did before, because basically it says ‘no fill’.”
Councillor John Brennan is concerned about the proposed exemptions. As it stands in the draft bylaw, the exemption includes fill under 200 cubic metres. Brennan said he thought the committee recommendation was higher than that.
“So as to not unnecessarily catch people who are doing minor work to their landscaping or to their driveways and that sort of thing,” he said. “I know the committee did a lot of work, a lot of research, and came up with a higher number, so I would recommend we think about that.”
Brennan also wondered where the provision is for testing by the applicant. He said one of the recommendations was that soil testing be done for every predetermined number of loads.
“I think that was an important part of what our committee was recommending,” he said.
Brennan is also concerned there is no provision for a road damage deposit.
Alls said that provision was being left for the road superintendent because the distance on the road would cause a variation in the deposit required.
Brennan also suggested fewer councillors be assigned to the site alteration committee. As it stands in the draft, two councillors, the mayor (ex-officio) and three citizens will make up the committee. Brennan suggested fewer councillors, so the appeal process will be fairer, and four or six community members.
“I would recommend that there be no more than one member of council on the committee,” he said. “If we only have one member of council there, we really clean up the potential for appeals and we really cut down on the potential for people to argue that the process has been unfair to them in case they have been turned down.”
Councillor Rob Smith agreed committee membership is a concern.
Councillor Jeff Duncan asked about the wording for exemptions. The draft bylaw states there is an exemption if a site is less than 0.5 hectares and taking under 200 cubic meters of fill. He wanted to know if that is a combination or if it could be either of those stipulations. Alls confirmed it was an either/or provision.
“The initial premise of this bylaw is there is no fill in agricultural land, which is all of Erin outside the urban boundary,” Alls said. “So my understanding is this would be outside the urban area; in the urban area is a different story all together.”
Councillors were asked to go through the draft bylaw and inform Ironmonger about changes and additions they want. The draft bylaw will be forwarded to the town solicitor for review and comment.
