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Home My WebLink About2014-03-13 Minutes AGRICULTURAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE of CLARINGTON MEETING THURSDAY, March 13 th, 2014 MEMBERS PRESENT: John Cartwright Brenda Metcalf Don Rickard Ted Watson Les Caswell Mark Bragg Tom Barrie (7:35) Eric Bowman Jenni Knox REGRETS: Mary Ann Found, Councillor Partner STAFF: Faye Langmaid GUESTS: Fred Horvath, Director of Operations, Gord Weir, Fire Chief Councillor Hooper Ted welcomed all to the meeting, everyone introduced themselves. . Adoption of Agenda 014-05 Moved by John Cartwright, seconded by Eric Bowman That the Agenda for March 13, 2014 be adopted CARRIED Approval of Minutes 014-06 Moved by Eric Bowman, seconded by Jennifer Knox th minutes of the February 13, 2014 meeting be approved CARRIED Presentations: Gord Weir and Fred Horvath provided an overview of the damage that occurred during the ice storm and the actions taken by the Municipality in response to the storm. The storm was expected and due to the anticipation of the storm, the Municipality was well prepared, the Emergency Plan that the Municipality has and activates responded well to the challenges presented by the weather. Gord is responsible to getting the Control Group ready and activating the emergency plan; part of the activation of the plan is also notifying the Region (DEMO) and the province to ensure that all work in a coordinated manner. In this case Hydro One was more prepared and responsive than Veridian; Veridian is a smaller entity and did not have the same level of resources to pull on. Hydro One was able to pull crews in from other locations in Ontario to respond. Operations staff and the contractors that were on standby were able to respond immediately. The new labour restrictions about the amount of time on the job were adhered to, changes in the collective agreement allowed for 24 hour operations by a skeleton staff and supervisor which improved Operations ability to respond. Operations continues to clean-up from the Ice Storm and respond to additional weather events. This winter has not allowed for many days to address other tasks. th Agricultural Advisory Committee of Clarington March 13, 2014 Lessons learned from this event that will be included in the Emergency Plan are the need for back-up generators at the warming centres (Rickard and Newcastle and Operations Yard 42). Relocate the courtesy sand shed to avoid disruption to our Fleet entering and exiting the yards. Investigate options in providing timely snow removal in the BIA areas. Overall 384 municipal street trees were lost, the Ontario Disaster Relief Fund submission has been over $1 million and is climbing as we move into spring, we have had a couple of roof failures. Still working on clean-up, concern for the valley areas, especially Soper Creek as much of the debris has not be cleared and if we have a quick thaw or freeze/thaw, ice jams and flooding could result. Committee members expressed their congratulations and appreciation to the Municipality for the work that has been done and how the emergency was handled. Business Arising from Minutes th CBOT Agricultural Summit - March 18, to attend contact Laura Wood at CBOT, 9:30 to early afternoon, focus on 3 distinct areas, agri-business, opportunities in agri-business and intergenerational transfer. Have 45 people registered to attend. be publishing soon. Commemoration been in contact with the VAC (Garry was on the Board for many years). Examining tree planting and seating area near the VAC in partnership with them. Once VAC has determined what they are willing to contribute we will work with them. Planning Services will allocate $500 towards the project. Others can contribute as they wish; Soper Creek Railroad Club will be approached as well. Sustainability goals and benchmarks - a sub-committee was struck, they have determined 5 th goals and will be attending the Sustainability Committee on March 20 to discuss the goals and benchmarks. The Municipality currently monitors a number of quantitative measures in relation to agriculture (e.g. number of acres of land redesignated from agriculture to other land uses; overall this is not a good indicator as the urban boundaries have not changed much since 1996; the reduction in agricultural lands has been by redesignated to natural heritage). Discussion around other types of measures and the difficulty in collecting the data; such as the number of (the land base or the business); value-added items are not tracked by Stats Canada. Surveys would have to be done to collect data. Other measures of success are the awareness of CBOT and the position, # of kids participating in Farm Connections, # of youth involved in 4-H; local restaurants using local suppliers. Agricultural education of the general populous- as demonstrated by partnerships with UOIT, Durham College, Farm Connections, 4-H, Maple and Aggie, etc. Rural Economic Development geared towards promoting farms as businesses, creating an attractive business environment, on farm markets, value-added, advisory role with CBOT. Protection of agricultural land through Official Plan polices, new PPS, Greenbelt review and what to do with the whitebelt in Clarington to keep it in agricultural production. Encourage/Support of agriculturally lead initiatives for best practices On Trac, Environmental Farm Plans, ties back to economic development and creating a th Agricultural Advisory Committee of Clarington March 13, 2014 favourable business climate for farm businesses (not introducing additional hurdles to overcome at a municipal level). Support for local food movement - local, ties back to economic development on farm markets, restaurant supply and promotion of local. Correspondence and Council Referrals for Agri-Food Innovation Excellence Eric has applied with letters of support Clarington Heritage Committee letter of thanks for involvement with Heritage Week including support of barn photo inventory, 4-H involvement with film night, supplies to COAA for lunch with local produce, Maple and Aggie at Winter Wonderlearn. Provincial Policy Statement New version has been released will come into effect in April. Agriculture section has been updated with new definitions, clearer support for accessory farm- related uses and agri-tourism, redefinition of rural lands to ensure that intrusive uses that could hinder farm operations are not allowed. Faye will circulate the Rural Discussion Paper, Summary of Changes and New PPS to members by e-mail. Is underway, notice of the meeting in Clarington was late in being issued. Ted and Eric attended the Agriculture Focus groups, others can attend the sessions in Sunderland and Uxbridge. Agricultural issues were well represented by the Mayor in his discussion with the consultants. Hoping for a strong synthesis and analysis of the information provided. Liaison Reports DAACDate of DAAC tour is September 11, in Clarington with others participating. April 1, 2, 3 will be Farm Connections, if you would like to volunteer please let Brenda DRFA know. This year there will be media packages, volunteers are needed in specific areas of expertise to be on call if the media would like further aspects on a particular area of farming or in relation to a specific commodity group. October 16, 2014 Farm Connections is working on a gala as a celebration of agriculture. th Three purposes to recognize outstanding farmers, educate and as a fundraiser, the goal is $25,000. CBOT- Don has been asked and willing to continue as Agricultural representative to CBOT. Annual meeting coming up in April. Pickering and Ajax Board of Trade looking for an Ag Advisor. Future Agendas ck-up reactor could occur, the tour would begin at 7:00 p.m. Ken Hall will be the speaker, he is with Enbridge and has been invited to address the compensation provided to farmers along the route and the improvements they have made to monitoring, maintenance of the lines, emergency measures planning. th Agricultural Advisory Committee of Clarington March 13, 2014 Tour of the EFW with an agriculture focus, could include a broader audience (Soil and Crop) and DAAC all on same tour, this would be at a different time than a regular meeting. Also tour of Port Colbourne value-added site. Other Business Arbor Award Ted congratulated Brenda on being a recipient. A well deserved honour for her volunteer work with 4-H. National Energy Board (NEB) has issued decision on Line 9 Reversal. It has been approved with a number of conditions. The conditions set out by the NEB meet the conditions that the Province and many of the environmental groups had requested. The Municipality had supported the position of the Province. Trees for Rural Roads- applications are due by the end of March. Eric moved to Adjourn th Next Meeting April 10, 2014, 7:30pm. Lisa Backus will be staff member in attendance. Susan Chan, M.Sc.; Manager, Native Pollinator Program; Farms at Work Speaker is ǞǞǞ͵ŅğƩƒƭğƷǞƚƩƉ͵ĭğ ŷƷƷƦƭʹΉΉǞǞǞ͵ŅğĭĻĬƚƚƉ͵ĭƚƒΉwǒƭƷǤtğƷĭŷĻķ.ǒƒĬƌĻ.ĻĻ th Agricultural Advisory Committee of Clarington March 13, 2014