Bradford West Gwillimbury councillors have lots on their plate tonight.
And if you want to experience it first-hand, the meeting, held in the Zima Room at the BWG Public Library starting at 7 p.m., is open to the public.
Here are four items to keep your eyes on.
Closed door session
Bradford West Gwillimbury council meets for a closed door or in camera session before the public council meeting begins to discuss pending litigation and the disposal or acquisition of lands.
Any resolutions passed behind closed doors will be presented during the regular council meeting.
Earplugs anyone?
Braidwood Homes (Bradford) Inc. is hoping to move forward with construction of 91 residential units – 20 semi-detached homes and 71 townhomes - at 70 Melbourne Dr., a property immediately adjacent to Sobey's.
However, a noise study found that noise levels generated by the store’s rooftop unit and its loading dock would exceed permitted noise levels for a residential area.
Sobeys, as a pre-existing legal commercial use, declined to undertake mitigation on its property.
Valdor Engineering looked into placing equivalent mitigation features on the Braidwood property, but decided that the result – an 11 metre high, 220 metre long acoustic barrier – was neither “practical or feasible.”
Instead, Engineer Peter Zourntos will be on hand tonight (Item 12.5 on the agenda), asking council for an “Alternate Class 4 Area land Use Designation for Area Noise Control” for the Braidwood lands. In other words, he is looking for approval for a “noise sensitive land use with relaxed noise limits in an area of existing legally established noise sources.”
The designation allows residential infilling and intensification in areas that otherwise would be considered too noisy for housing.
That’s not to say Braidwood won’t have to put some mitigation in place.
As part of the Subdivision Agreement, the builder will install a 4-metre-high acoustical fence barrier along 100 metres of the north property line, reducing to a 1.8 metre high privacy fence in the west, and a 2.4 metre sound barrier in the east. They will also have to register the noise issue on title on all purchase and sale agreements.
Urban Forestry Update
BWG’s Community Services Department will present an update of its Urban Forestry Program tonight.
In 2015, the town carried out an urban tree survey of about 5,000 trees - about 50 percent of the trees on urban rights-of-way and boulevards. The survey identified 1,717 “priority trees” in need of removal and replacement.
Over the past four years, $100,000 per year has been allocated in the budget to provide maintenance and removal/replacement. The report notes “all identified maintenance activity listed within the initial 5,000 trees surveyed has been completed with the available budget provided.”
For 2020, though, Community Services is looking for additional money.
While the department hopes to continue maintenance and replacement programs for Parks and Property ($100,000 standard allocation) and for boulevard trees (another $100,000 standard allocation), it is also asking for $35,000 for the next phase of the tree survey, and $25,000 to follow up on a suggestion from councillors for “ten substantial oak tree plantings.”
In other forestry news, the Emerald Ash Borer treatment of selected trees appears to be working, for now.
Q1 and Q2 Reports
Halfway through 2019, Fire and Emergency Services, By-Law Enforcement and Building departments have filed their reports for the first and second quarters, comparing this year’s activity levels with last year, for the same time period.
BWG Fire and Emergency noted that fire call volumes have continued to increase “as the population and the number of structures within the town has grown.”
Of 1,610 calls in quarter one and quarter two, 931 or 57.83 per cent were medical assists. Another 14.76 per cent were false carbon monoxide and smoke alarm calls. Fires and explosions made up only 1.74 per cent of calls.
By-law Enforcement found that most activities increased in the first six months of 2018.
The town issued 2,959 parking tickets (up 4 per cent), received 84 calls regarding uncollected garbage or yard waste (up 8 per cent); 71 zoning infractions (up 22 per cent), 160 calls regarding property standards and clean yards (up 21 per cent), and 411 traffic service calls (up a whopping 125 per cent). Animal control calls were down 12.8 per cent, while the expected increase in cannabis-related calls, after legalization, never materialized.
The Chief Building Official reported that building activity and permits continued to decline, reflecting a slowdown in the residential market. Expected revenues from permits and development charges are “below budgeted levels.”
Council agendas can be viewed online, under Council and Committees.
