SERVING MAPLETON AND MINTO
THE
COMMUNITY NEWS VOLUME 52 ISSUE 13
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638-3328
THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2019
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Draft strategic plan unveiled By Aryn Strickland
Anniversary carnival - Harriston Skating Club members celebrated the club’s 60th anniversary with a skating carnival at the Harriston arena on March 24. Participants included: from left: front: Calista Glazema, Finn Oxby, Kirby Fischer, Mya Fischer, Lily Oxby, Lexi McCarey, Alida Ciaveralla, Montgomery Cox, Jaylene Roswell, Hayley Roswell, Jacob Zettler, Mason Decaire and Brynlee Graham; middle, Caleigh Lubbers, McKayla Lawrence, Angie Gallagher, Madelyn McIntosh, Rayven Gunson, Emma Andrade, Emily Swanson, Paige Vidic, Logan Decaire, Madison Jennings, Aviannah Hunter, Hannah Andrade, Jordan Griffey Hann, Ella Kelly and Lucia Ciaveralla; back, coach Karen Moore, Victoria Howe, Carmyn McCutcheon, Shayla Glazema, Megan Wright, Emma Martin, Sammy Lawrence, Shaelyn Thompson, Kim Weber and Sophie Glendenning. More photos on page 2. Photo by Patrick Raftis
County to pay $418,460 for portion of Drayton garage project By Aryn Strickland MAPLETON - Council here has approved a cost sharing agreement between the township and the county for a wash bay at the Drayton garage. Part of the March 12 motion directed staff to write an invoice for $418,460 to the county for work done on the wash bay. In total, the county’s portion of the wash bay will be $557,035. Part of the project includes some asphalt work
and a grey water pipe, which have yet to be completed. The cost for that work has been estimated at a total of $138,575. CAO Manny Baron explained the motion was “just to tidy up any loose ends left with the work garage. The township expects to receive the money within 30 days of the invoice date.” Baron added that the money will go directly into capital reserves. Baron’s report to council indicated that “On Nov. 19, 2013 the shop behind the
municipal offices caught fire and was essentially destroyed. The remaining structure was demolished and plans for a new shop began.” The township commissioned a new shop in 2016. The township will pay for the gasoline it consumes at the shop, based on a quarterly average. The township will also “bill 8% of all utilities for the shop based on the square footage they are using,” according to the report. Councillor Marlene
Ottens asked whether the county will be doing the outstanding projects like the asphalt and pipe work or if the township will and “have to invoice [the county] for that amount at a later date?” “[The county] will handle that work and, for instance, if the work comes in at a little bit less [the county is] going to owe us some of that money,” said Baron. “If it comes in at a little bit more we are going to owe them a little bit of money but they are going to take responsibility for that work.”
MAPLETON - Council, staff and consultant Bill Winegard presented a draft of the township’s strategic plan to the public on March 21. It was the first presentation before widespread publication for public feedback. The plan, described by Mayor Gregg Davidson as a “guiding document,” offers multiple larger projects within five over-arching goals covering infrastructure, the economy, recreation, municipal administration and financial sustainability. Some of the goals offer clearer accomplishment markers than others. The first goal - “maintaining and upgrading municipal infrastructure to serve local residents and businesses and to encourage growth” - focuses on upgrading the wastewater treatment facility. One of the directions is to reach an operating intake capacity of 1,300 cubic metres per day. Others, like “township will explore potential solutions for the expansion of the medical centre,” are less clear, but that was by design, according to Winegard and Davidson. “[The strategic plan] is supposed to be a motivator,” explained Winegard, of Winegard Consulting.
Davidson added council wants the strategic plan to be “flexible” so that it stays viable over council’s four-year term and it offers solutions as issues arise. The intent is to have staff annually report to council on the township’s progress towards these goals and council will in turn inform the community with a more clearly defined form of measurement. Winegard added that when future budgets come forward, they would identify how specific items followed the strategic plan. Four residents were in attendance for the public open house. Local resident Lori Woodham asked if the more clearly defined measurements come back in the report annually. Winegard said he expects there to be a separate staff report to identify clearer measurements once the draft strategic plan is more widely circulated and adopted. He also expects subsequent annual reports containing measurements for elements of the strategic plan. With the 2019 budget already passed, Davidson made a point of saying council remains cognizant of funding limitations. Some of the elements in SEE MAPLETON » 3
Land sale for micro cannabis production facility approved Second marijuana facility in industrial park expected to cost about $4 million PALMERSTON – Minto council has approved the sale of a parcel of industrial land here for a micro cannabis production facility. On March 19 council authorized an agreement to sell a 1.73-acre parcel at the back of the Palmerston Industrial Park to Cambridgebased BlackRose Reserve Inc. A micro cannabis facility is restricted to a “cannabis canopy space” up to a total of 2,150 square feet. “This facility would also be organic and focus on recreational cannabis,” stated
business and economic manager Belinda Wick-Graham in a report to council. The report notes discussions with Sean Rozon from BlackRose Reserve Inc. began in May 2018 when Rozon met with Mayor George Bridge, chief building official Terry Kuipers and Wick-Graham to discuss available land for the operation. In January, Rozon offered to purchase the land for $35,000/acre, for a total purchase price of $60,550. The planned facility includes a 5,200ft2 greenhouse (2,150 for cannabis cultivation) and 5,500ft2 for
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production and other related activities. The facility cost is estimated at $3.5 to $4.5 million. BlackRose Reserve Inc. has hired its management team, which includes a PhDtrained master grower and a vice president of quality assurance with over 25 years’ experience, as well as Sean and Kyle Rozon. Security clearance applications have already been submitted to the RCMP for Health Canada. The company expects to hire six full-time employees during its first year of operation with potential for more
WEEKLY WAG
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By Patrick Raftis
as the company grows. “Mr. Rozon has put a really great team together,” said Wick-Graham. Blackrose Reserve is the second company to purchase land for marijuana production at the Palmerston Industrial Park. Krosinski Enterprises Ltd. of Mississauga purchased land in 2017 and has been working with Health Canada on the approvals process. That business is planning construction of a 5,000ft2 processing facility and three 5,000ft2 cultivation greenhouses, to produce medical cannabis and, “as the law permits,” recreational cannabis. The report notes a sitespecific rezoning will be required to allow a canna-
“The past is to be respected and acknowledged, but not to be worshipped. It is our future in which we will find our greatness.” - Pierre Trudeau
bis facility on the Blackrose Reserve property, which is not yet fully serviced. “Based on our previous experience with the cannabis licensing process, we understand the length of time it takes to become a licensed producer (18 to 24 months); as such we are comfortable selling these lands at the back of the industrial park,” WickGraham stated. BlackRose Reserve Inc. has agreed to pump sewage to the existing manhole and when the sewage lift station is installed the business would be connected at the Town of Minto’s cost, as the lot is being sold as serviced. A tender has been issued to extend the water main and road to the back of the industrial park.
BILL’S
Although the 10,700ft2 building is 603ft2 shy of the minimum 15% lot coverage, which Graham said, “We’re okay with it” due to the triangular shape of the lot. Costs associated with opening up the back portion of the Palmerston Industrial Park, expected to be included in the 2019 capital budget, are estimated at $200,000 for road work and $35,000 for a water main extension. The project would generate an estimated $27,606 in development charges and “possibly more should development charges increase,” the report states. A motion to authorize the sale was approved unopposed. Councillor Dave Turton was absent from the meeting.
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