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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-05-12 Minutes 1 - 3 CLARINGTON AGRICULTURAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2011 MEMBERS PRESENT: Ted Watson Eric Bowman Brenda Metcalf Mary Ann Found Les Caswell John Cartwright Tom Barrie arrived 7:45 Councillor Wendy Partner arrived 8:00 Marlene Werry STAFF: Faye Langmaid, Ron Albright (Engineering Services) REGRETS: Gary Jeffery, Don Rickard, Jenni Knox ABSENT: Mark Bragg GUESTS: Four members of the public. Vice Chair Ted Watson welcomed all to the meeting, members of the committee introduced themselves. Adoption of''Agenda 011-10 Moved by Eric Bowman, seconded by Brenda Metcalf "That the Agenda for May 12, 2011 as amended, be adopted" CARRIED Approval of Minutes 011-11 Moved by Brenda Metcalf, seconded by Eric Bowman "That the minutes of the April 14th, 201`1 meeting be approved." CARRIED Guest: Ron Albright, Manager of Infrastructure Capital Works for Engineering Services Ron thanked the committee for the invitation to attend their meeting. Ron provided a presentation on the difference between reconstruction and rehabilitation showing some of the works that have been carried out in the past couple of years. Ron's presentation included the capital works for this year. Agricultural Advisory Committee of Clarington May 12, 2011 Question/Answer Session (during presentation) Q Are we doing a disservice to the taxpayers by improving the Roads that others use to shortcut to the 407 (e.g. 6t" 7 1 and 8t" Concessions)? A It would be a disservice to residents who live in the area to not improve the roads, the Municipality has to contain its liability issues and avoid further decline of the road surface as it would just be a higher cost at a later date to improve the road. Q Why have the speed limits in rural areas been lowered? A If they are not posted the default speed from the Highway Traffic Act is 50 km/hr, this was a new requirement in the Highway Traffic Act"a' couple of years ago. If we have assessed the geometries and it can be increased the speed is posted at an appropriate level. Q When you install signage warning of farm equipment, if;there ultimately is an accident who is liable. A Should it go to court the judge will decide, can't speak for them.: -We would have a good defense because we have taken all of the precautions we should have. Q What is the liability of not having guiderails? Would it be better to have guide posts? A The alternative to not having guiderails is to reconstruct the embankment which is often not possible within the road right of way. Older roads have guide posts, the new standard is guide rails or post and cable as they provide better protection to the driver. Q When engineering guidelines are being drawn up is there input from the agricultural community. A The I eng neering 'guidelines deal with the safety of the drivers of all vehicles equally, and do not specifically address agricultural equipment. Road rehabilitation projects do not go through the same detailed design process as a reconstruction and roads are typically resurfaced to match the existing road profile, the decisions on the treatment is,addressed by'Engineering. Q What about cutting down the hill? A Expensive proposition and may go beyond the roadway limits into the adjoining fields, at that point it may not be as beneficial as anticipated. Not typically within the scope of a rehabilitation project. Q Some fields flood from the roads as the ditching is inadequate and the roadway actually steers the drainage to the field. A If it is a rehabilitation, versus reconstruction, the likelihood is that it did not really change from previous, some roads do not have ditches they just fall away into the field. A reconstruction would look at new drainage works and ditching'. Q Typically for rural roads it is high float going back on high float, what do you do to the pothole in pothole areas of those roads? Agricultural Advisory Committee of Clarington May 12, 2011 A In those cases there will be a "grader patch" to deal with potholes and rutting. Q Stevenson Road bridge, are you going to narrow the areas between the railings? A No, there will be a culvert replacement and it will allow for some widening out. Q What is better steel culverts or concrete? A Prefer concrete box culvert, makes the construction easier and will last longer. Q Is there a load limit for culverts? A If there is it will be posted. Q When do you rehabilitate an intersection (e.g. 57 and Taunton)? A In that specific case there are some property issues, Ron will get timing from the Region.of Durham and let Committee know. Q 407 stopping at Harmony, but Harmony is not designed to take tractor-trailers, neither is Concession 7. A Working with the Province on an implementation committee, imagine there will be improvements to Harmony south to Taunton to take the anticipated traffic and loads. The remainder of 407 is supposed to be built out by 2020, Clarington will continue to work with the Province to address interim traffic impacts as the difference between Simcoe and Harmony has not improved the situation for Clarington. Once complete the 407 extension will be,beneficial to the Municipality but we will have to deal with the short term impacts during construction. Q What is going on with Green Road? A Green and Ruddel Road,S are both being improved in conjunction with subdivision development. They,,are being reconstructed to an urban standard. Q Why does every cross-,street on.Highway 2 in Bowmanville need a traffic light? A Traffic volume on Highway 2 warrants it, there are other considerations in established "downtown" urban, areas other than just vehicles such as pedestrians and that,is why the signals in downtown Bowmanville operate differently than those in West Bowmanville. Q Are lights on Highway 2 timed (synchronized with each other)? A Bowmanville downtown is not tied into the network and the synchronizing does not account for the change from mostly vehicle traffic to the mix of vehicle and pedestrian. Q Mill Street in Orono will it get reconstructed or rehabilitated? A It is not in the current forecast but it is on Ron's radar and the program is reevaluated every year. Q When did half loads come off this year? A A couple of weeks ago (Region of Durham Roads - April 30, 2011, Clarington was May 2, 2011). Q Half-load signs stay longer than they need to be up. A Try to get the signs down ASAP and typically on the same day half loads are lifted. Agricultural Advisory Committee of Clarington May 12, 2011 Q Are the same engineering guidelines for roads applied all across Ontario? A No, rehabilitations often are not meant to meet the overall MTO guidelines, they respond to the conditions of that specific site and rehabilitate the road in more or less its original geometric condition rather than reconstruct it, it will also depend on the classification of the road, the amount of traffic, etc. There are standard guidelines that all municipalities draw upon such as Transportation Association of Canada (TAC) as well as Provincial Highway Design Guidelines but each municipality may have slight changes to their standards to suit their specific area. Q Roads in Waterloo area appear to be more conducive to agriculture. A That would also be a reflection of the horse/buggy traffic on the road in that area. Council Referrals — OPA #80, Provincially Significant Wetlands Since the last Meeting of the AACC, Karen Tremblay appeared as delegation at Council and there have also been a number of letter/communications to Council. In response Council requested that Planning organize a Town Hall meeting with CLOCA and MNR, the landowners are to be notified by regular post. Events have somewhat eclipsed the input from the sub-committee. AACC will be informed of the Town Hall meeting when it is organized. Accessibility Training Everyone was notified of two time,options, if you are unable to attend there will be another session in the fall. Also if you have taken the training previously then please notify June Gallagher in Clerk's.;The training deals with how to accommodate any of the members of the public that-come before the committee; it is mandatory for all committee members. Liaison Reports DAAC —Tour of Durham College facility in Whitby was very interesting. Turbines are not all on at once because of vibration they cause in the building. The roof is covered in solar panels, testing of different technologies to see which are best. Carpentry is taught, including renovation techniques. Campus plans for new environmental wing and culinary program where presented to the committee. It was very interesting and if you get the chance take a tour. DRFA —Marlene and Tracy Werry were guest speakers on agri-food and agri-business and how the Region is trying to expand and retain business in this area, the Durham Region Official Plan and the indoor farmer's market initiative. June 3rd 6 p.m. is Cattlemen's BBQ with DRFA at Knox farm- $10.00 for tickets. Guest speaker and Ken Knox will be honoured as he is being inducted into Ontario Agriculture Hall of Fame. Agricultural Advisory Committee of Clarington May 12, 2011 CBOT— April 27th was the CBOT Annual General Meeting, Donald was re-appointed as Agricultural Advisory of CBOT. Tom, Steve and Glen Barrie received the Agriculture Business of the Year Award. Clarington Farmer's Market — Dates are May 22nd to October 9th; looking for additional vendors. Other Business Fence Viewers/By-law— Could it be interpreted that if one neighbor is agricultural and one is residential the fence could be half chain link and half.,page wire? Not what the wording of the By-law says, it would be page wire and if the,residential wished for something greater they would have to install that at their expense on their property. If members have questions best to discuss the issues with Len Creamer who could respond to them. Half-loads — DAAC provided information on the Right to Farm and�whether it affects off- farm and on-farm transportation during half load season. The Right to Farm legislation addresses "time" as in time of day and allows farmers to ignore noise by-laws to undertake typical farm work. "Time" does not refer to season and does not override the Highway Traffic Act restrictions about half-loads. Brochures- there are two versions, committee and preferred one with photos; rather than emphasis on chicken/egg eliminate one of those photos and go with a different commodity group. Broadband — Marlene updated the committee on the funding that has been received from the Province ($1 million), the total project,will be $3 million. Quite a bit of that work is in Clarington. Bell will be providing 3 new points of presence and upgrading a line from Oshawa to Bowmanville. Marlene would like to hear from Committee members that have issues with high-speed reception -Brenda, John, Wendy, Tom all have issues. Rural Funding Opportunity http://wvvw.foc-fac.ca/en/AboutUs/Responsibility/agrispiritfund applicationprocess e.asp is the website for the funding opportunity. Planning Services has a small stewardship budget and could provide some;funding as well. One of the ideas of interest was a maple tree planting program I along roadways. There was a program that happened 100 years ago, most of the trees are now gone or in poor condition. They could be along the fencelines at the edge of roadway just inside the private property line. This will have to be further explored and a program set up if. Future Agendas Dean Jacobs to provide an update on Official Plan Review at July Meeting. Faye will provide an update overview on Port Granby project at August Meeting. Eric Bowman moved to adjourn. CARRIED Next Meeting: June 9th, 2011 Sheila Hall from CBOT Agricultural Advisory Committee of Clarington May 12, 2011