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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-02-14 MinutesCLARINGTON AGRICULTURAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING THURSDAY, February 14, 2008 MEMBERS PRESENT : Gary Jeffery Brenda Metcalf Jennifer Knox Mark Bragg Eric Bowman Councillor Gord Robinson STAFF : Faye Langmaid Marlene Werry REGRETS : Tom Barrie Ted Watson Donald Rickard Ross McMaster ABSENT: Henk Mulders Orwin Bandstra Mary Ann Found GUESTS: Perry Sisson, CLOCA Rob Hersey, CLOCA Chair called the meeting to order at 7:35 p.m. Since there was no quorum, the meeting proceeded; however there are all items of business will have to be ratified at the next meeting. Adoption of Agenda 08-06 Eric ”That the Agenda February 14, 2008 be adopted” Approval of Minutes 08-07 Moved by Eric Bowman, seconded by Jenni Knox “That the minutes of the January 10, 2008 be approved as corrected.” Guests: Perry Sisson and Rob Hersey, CLOCA DFO Permits, Fisheries Act, Section 35, protecting the places where fish perform life function, fish habitat. Any harmful alteration, disruption or destruction (HADD) is an offence. Fish includes Marine animals, clams, and crustaceans. CA’s in Ontario have delegated authority for the Fisheries Act, CLOCA and GRCA are at level 3 and can take applicants the whole way through the process (not true of all CA’s). Information on Fisheries Act can be obtained from http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/oceans- habitat/habitat/water-eau/ It is entitled What does the Law require? What do I need to do? In addition, Perry wanted members to be aware that there are Operation Statements for Habitat Management Program, such as beaver dam removal. These are statements that provide detailed advice of how to address specific issues. CLOCA will assist applicants with working through the process, they will visit the site. Wetland Regulations, Ontario Regulation 97/04, when CLOCA was set up the regulation areas were determined by half lot and concession. With the advent of better mapping and aerial photography CLOCA carried out reviews of their boundaries and set them in relationship to the features and required buffers. The amount of land that CLOCA regulates has actually reduced over the entire watershed, in Clarington it is about the same. The best thing to do is ask CLOCA to visit the site, they can tell by the vegetation present whether it is wetland or not and what type of alterations can be made. It is not an outright ban on doing work but rather how the work is done, how it can be mitigated, compensated for, etc. CLOCA are hiring summer students to ground truth a number of areas, so if you are contacted please allow them access. Once areas are ground truthed they are removed from the maps. CLOCA provides this layer of GIS information to the Municipality annually. A request was made for a technical guide to support the Authority regulation. The MNR produced a nice public friendly document called Understanding Natural Hazards that can be downloaded from their bookstore: http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/MNR/pubs/pubmenu.html#lands A limited number of paper copies will be available at the next meeting. Business Arising from Minutes Resolutions with respect to fines and penalties for crimes that occur against farmers, such as vandalism, crop theft, trespass, etc were forwarded to the Crown Attorney, th Chief of Police and Youth Division. On Friday, Feb 8 members of the committee met with John Scott, Crown Attorney. At this point, having searched his files, Mr. Scott could not determine where the complaints by the Ag Committee are stemming from. He has not have files for prosecution, there have been no charges. He agrees that if there is a bad judgment by a Judge that is does not send the right message to the public but at this point he has no incidents. Staff Sgt. Pat Sayer was in attendance as well and indicated that the Police have to be informed of the incidents for any charges to be laid. The victim has to report, and the Police have to have evidence (which means you will AACC February 14, 2008 have to testify). If the issues are reported to the Police there will be a Report Number. While both Sayer and Scott are not minimizing the problems of theft, vandalism and vehicle damage the majority of their time is being consumed by other serious crimes. Some committee members were very surprised that there are no incidents that can be found. Faye to invite Pat Sayer to next meeting to address how reporting of incidents is recorded and whether they can be searched for “rural”, “agricultural” or similar words. Crimes should be reported to the Durham Regional Police general number 905-579- 1520 unless it is a 9-1-1 emergency. When reporting ensure that you retain your “incident number” for future reference. Reports from Committees 407-no meeting since last meeting DAAC- is concentrating on Tree Bylaw, very pleased with the changes. Information sheet on EFW and its affect on agriculture were circulated. Other Business Farmer’s Parade of Lights- Meeting with Police was held and kinks are being worked out. Permit for 2008 has been signed and submitted. th 150 for Bowmanville- Jennifer Knox and Gord Robinson working on having agriculture included in celebrations, they are looking for old farm equipment. Roundtable, Councillor Robinson has been invited by Pat Perkins to a roundtable on issues for agriculture with Christine Elliott. Gord will be taking forward the issues of highspeed internet for the rural areas, MPAC-assessments (urban fringe), sewage biosolids and paper fibre biosolids and spreading issues, pesticides. Suzanne McCrimmon of CBOT has resigned, Gord suggested a letter go from Agriculture Committee to Suzanne thanking her for her work on behalf of the agriculture community and farmer’s market. Brenda would like to see an article rebutting what was written to letters to editors about burn barrels on farms being addressed. Faye to contact Gord Weir suggest including something in quarterly broadsheet being published by Clarington. Suggested that a backgrounder on how pesticides are used by agricultural industry (cosmetic use versus agricultural use) be prepared. (Gary and Jennifer to collaborate). Carried from last meeting- Committee would like to see a resolution to MPAC and Ministry of Finance with regard to commercial and industrial assessment interpretations and how they are damaging initiative of on-farm green energy such as biogas, solar for farm use, wind, etc. Future Agendas AACC February 14, 2008 Mar Staff Sgt. Pat Sayer, DRPS (MPAC reps are not available) April Chris Duke of OMAFRA on Anaerobic Digesters (biogas) May Mary Jane Conboy of Well Wise Centre on Well regulations and funding for decommissioning Moved to Adjourn Jennifer Knox AACC February 14, 2008