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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-05-10 Minutes L I - 1 4 8 f 3 4 Draft minutes—Not yet approved by Committee NOTES OF MEETING OF SAMUEL WILMOT NATURE AREA MANAGEMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE HELD ON-SITE TUESDAY MAY 109 2011 AT 6:30 P.M. Present: (Voting) Councillor Corrina Traill Jim Cleland Clayton Morgan Pat Mulcahy Brian Reid Michael Goleski Staff Present: Peter Windolf Regrets: David Best Absent: Warren May—1VINR Shirley Minifie Geoff James Greg Wells—GRCA 1. Agenda Additions -Trail condition -Future planting projects Acceptance of Agenda MOVED by Clayton Morgan, seconded by Councillor Corrina Traill THAT the agenda for May 10, 2011 be accepted. CARRIED 2. Minutes of April 12,2010 Corrections None Approval of Minutes MOVED by Pat Mulcahy, seconded by Brian Reid 2 THAT the minutes of April 12, 2011 as amended be approved. CARRIED 3. Issues arising from the Minutes Jim Cleland and Clayton Morgan stated that they did not receive the April minutes. A copy of the April 2011 minutes will be mailed to them with the May minutes. 4. Sub-Committee Reports Jim Cleland inquired about the availability of committee members for a site maintenance work evening. Several members are available on Wednesday May 18. The group will meet at the Cobbledick parking lot at 6:OOPM to clear the weeds around the perimeter of the parking lot, remove fallen branches from the trails and pick up litter. Jim also recommended that steps be built into the side of the bank leading from the woodchip forest trail to the creek. The issue can be investigated further but there were concerns expressed about the maintenance and liability of providing steps down the bank. Clayton Morgan mentioned that a very long stretch of trail on the west side of the SWNA was completely covered in water. Operations will be doing a trail inspection this spring to rectify some issues on the SWNA trails and will be asked to look at this section specifically. Councillor Traill asked about the status of linking our SWNA blog to Facebook. She offered to contact Jennifer Cooke in Communications and Marketing to create the Facebook link since staff doesn't have access. 5. Updates Kiosk Construction The low bidder for the Kiosk was Taxis Contracting. Taxis also built the Cobbledick Road Kiosk in 2007. The committee reviewed the recommended location for the Kiosk on the south side of the access road leading to the Toronto Street parking lot. This location would be prominent to the Waterfront Tail and Toronto Street. The Kiosk information panel could help draw Waterfront Trail users into the site and the location would also be a visual "beacon" for the east side of the SWNA. Motion to approve the recommended Kiosk location MOVED by Pat Mulcahy, seconded by Michael Goleski THAT the recommended location for the Kiosk be approved. CARRIED The Kiosk sign will be designed and constructed separately by Page Graphics. A draft of the sign graphics was received just in advance of the meeting and was reviewed with the 3 committee. Both the map and the information panel will be reviewed more thoroughly by staff and revisions will be requested. The revised sign graphics should be available for review at the June meeting. The committee inspected a sample of the Chameleon sign panel that will be used for this Kiosk. It has the same warranty but is considerably less expensive than a fibreglass sign panel. Viewing Platform Construction Willow Brook Ltd. of Orono was the accepted low bidder for the Viewing Platform. A Purchase Order will be issued pending reference checks since this company has not done work for the Municipality before. The anticipate completion date is July 15. The committee reviewed the location of the platform on the east edge of the marsh. Since the platform is to be located within the regulatory limit, the building permit will be approved upon receipt of GRCA approval. Pitch-In Dqy report Brian Reid reported that 3 or 4 bags of garbage were picked up on Saturday April 23. The weather was poor so there was a small turn out. He also remarked that there is now more litter to be picked up on the Cobbledick side. The committee has requested 4 additional 45 gallon garbage cans for placement at strategic locations. This would help minimize the littering that is occurring on both the east and west sides of the site. The SWNA committee would empty the cans and replace the bags as needed. The garbage would be brought out to the closest parking lot and left for Operations to remove on their regular schedule. Councillor Traill will discuss this further with Operations. Birds of Prey Event June 18 At the April meeting the committee discussed a proposal from the Mountsberg Wildlife Centre for a Birds of Prey themed event at the SWNA. Brian Reid attended a similar presentation at a Durham Field Naturalist meeting given by another group called Wild Ontario. Brian remarked that the presentation was very well done. Wild Ontario was contacted for a proposal to do a similar presentation at the SWNA. The program would give the public an opportunity to observe live birds of prey and learn about their characteristics, biohistory, and their adaptation to the habitat they live in. It appears that Wild Ontario's cost will be less than Mountsberg. Pending receipt of a firm estimate from Wild Ontario they will be hired for the June 18 event. The location for the presentation would be along the Waterfront Trail on the east side of the SWNA. The location is close to the Toronto Street parking lot and easily accessible for residents walking to the site from the Port of Newcastle. 4 6. Other Business Doors Open Event at Kendal Pond The committee was advised of a Doors Open event scheduled for June 11 at the Kendal Pond. Shirley Minifie resignation and SWNA Committee numbers By e-mail Shirley advised that she was moving to Port Hope and would have to resign from the committee. The committee also discussed the need for more than 8 members for this term. Additional members could help with the many projects that the committee wishes to undertake. Previous SWNA committees have had 10 or more residents appointed. Some members specifically requested Karin Murphy who had applied for this term but was not re- appointed. The Clerks Department will be contacted with a request to fill the existing vacancy and to add two additional members. Trail Conditions Jim Cleland reported that there are still several problem areas on the trails that need attention. It was agreed that we would wait for Operations to do their trail review before taking any further action. Future Planting Project Michael Golesld recommended planting eastern white cedar to help absorb water at certain problem areas. This could work in some areas but others may require swales and culverts to divert overland flows. Since there is not current funding available for such a project it will be re-assessed in future. Accessibility Training The Clerks Department has advised all members of Municipal Boards and Committees that Accessibility Training is required for all members. The training sessions have been scheduled as follows; Wednesday, June 1 — 7:OOpm to 8:30pm OR Thursday, June 2—2:OOpm to 3:30pm Both sessions will be held in the Council Chambers on the second floor of the Municipal Administrative Centre at 40 Temperance St, Bowmanville. SWNA committee members have been asked to contact June Gallagher at 905-623-3379 ext. 2106 or email: ial lag her clarington.net to advise which session they are able to attend. 5 Any members that have attended one of the previous sessions in 2009 are not required to attend again, but should advise June Gallagher. Motion to Adjourn MOVED by Clayton Morgan, seconded by Councillor Corrina Traill THAT the meeting be adjourned. CARRIED Adjournment: 8:55 P.M. Next Meeting: Tuesday June 14, 7:OOPM Meeting Room 1A Notes prepared by P. Windolf