SERVING THE MAPLETON COMMUNITY
THE
COMMUNITY NEWS VOLUME 49 ISSUE 51
DRAYTON, ONTARIO
1 Year GIC - 2.06% 3 Year GIC - 2.11% 5 Year GIC - 2.25% Daily Interest 0.90%
638-3328
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2016
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Defining accessory use a major challenge in creating farm development charge By Patrick Raftis
Christmas horses - John and Margaret Northcote brought their team of percheron horses, Linda and Roda, from Arthur for the Alma Santa Claus Parade on Dec. 18. Additional photos on pages 2, 4 and 7. Photo by Jaime Myslik
Council re-appoints meeting investigator By Patrick Raftis MAPLETON - Council here has re-appointed John Maddox of JGM consulting as the municipality’s closed meeting investigator. The appointment was made over the objections of some council members who felt the township should consider obtaining the service through the Ontario Ombudsman’s Office. On Dec. 13 council approved the reappointment for a two-year term commencing Jan. 1. In a staff report, CAO
Brad McRoberts provided council with three options for dealing with potential investigations. Option one was not to appoint a closed meeting investigator and allow the ombudsman to assume the role by default. “There is no cost to the municipality for these services. Township staff have had no experience in closed meeting investigations with the Office of the Ombudsman,� the report notes. Option 2 was to appoint LAS (Local Authority Services), which has entered
into service agreements with some municipalities across the province. “The current cost includes an annual retainer of approximately $700, which the township would have to pay, plus the cost of an investigation at $225 per hour,� The third option was to support the County of Wellington appointment of Maddox, a former municipal CAO and regional director with the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. Maddox is currently the investigator for the
Township of Mapleton and Wellington County, as well as all but one of the other Wellington municipalities. “The closed meeting investigator position functions as an independent contractor,â€? the report explains. “An annual retainer of $300 for each member municipality will be paid by the county in January of each year (the county also pays a $1,000 retainer). The hourly fee of $100 with reasonable, receipted expenses being reimbursed, and the respective municipal mileage rate SEE INVESTIGATOR Âť 8
MAPLETON – Clearly defining what constitutes an accessory structure has becoming a sticking point in the township’s deliberations on a proposed development charge for farm construction. Mapleton’s current development charges bylaw includes a 100 per cent exemption for buildings constructed for “a bona fide farm use.� A proposal presented at a public meeting on Oct. 11 would see the exemption reduced to 75%. That would mean someone building a new barn, for example, would pay 25% of the non-residential rate of $2.65 per square foot of gross floor area, which works out to 66 cents/ft2. The proposal has drawn opposition from the Wellington Federation of Agriculture (WFA) and area farmers. Under the proposal, structures defined as “accessory� to the farming operation would continue to be exempt from development charges. At the Dec. 13 council meeting, CAO Brad McRoberts asked council to provide staff with “direction and clarity� on the definition of accessory use for bona fide farm use. “Staff wish to have the definitions clear without the need for interpretation,� McRoberts explained in a report to council. “In defining accessory
use for bona fide farm use council may wish to ensure that any definition of accessory use for bona fide farm use does not make development charges biased to a particular sector of agricultural farming operations.â€? The report continues, “For example, if development charges on bona fide farm operations were only applicable to structures which house livestock, then the development charges would be applicable to livestock operations and not to cash crop operations. “On a principle basis, the use of development charges is intended to be growth and expanding farm operations, including cash crop operations, are considered to have growth-related impacts. “Excluding cash crop operations would unfavourably place the onus on livestock operations and exclude growth related to cash crop operations. On the other hand, there are certain structures which council could consider accessory such as manure pits/tanks, silos, granaries, generator rooms, etc.â€? Councillor Lori Woodham said arriving at an acceptable definition for accessory structure might prove impossible. She suggested council should not implement the new charges at this time. “I think there’s a easy solution. Let’s just defer it SEE ACCESSORY Âť 7
New maintenance garage completed late, but project is on budget By Patrick Raftis MAPLETON - It’s taken three years but the Mapleton Public Works department is back “home� for Christmas. Earlier this month, department operations were moved into the new township maintenance facility built to replace the previous works shop that was destroyed by fire in December 2013. The township gained occupancy of the new shop on Nov. 7 and over the last few weeks staff have been setting up and moving equipment, supplies and tools.
“We are fully operational as of a couple of weeks ago,â€? stated CAO Brad McRoberts in a Dec. 15 email. Mayor Neil Driscoll said staff and township officials are pleased with how it’s working out. “So far I’m hearing the guys are really happy ... it’s really bright in there and it’s a nice working space,â€? said Driscoll. “I’m really impressed with how it turned out ‌ they really met our needs. It had its little bumps along the way, but now that its finished Chamberlain (construc-
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tion managers Chamberlain Construction Services) I think did a very good job.� The eight-bay garage, which is linked to the Mapleton administration building on Sideroad 16 by a corridor containing a meeting room, additional office space and other facilities, also replaces the Moorefield maintenance facility, which is now closed. Though an earlier completion target in August was missed, Driscoll told the Community News in a telephone interview on Dec. 15 that delays were due to
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minor issues and the project remains on budget. “We’re within our budget for sure,â€? said Driscoll. “There was just some small stuff ‌ where the shop connected to the office there were some things that our (chief building official) wasn’t happy with as far as how the electrical came through the building for fire protection.â€? Driscoll added one of the fire protection tanks wasn’t holding water properly, “so they have that fixed now too.â€? McRoberts said he is
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unable to provide “hard and fast� final figures at this point, but is confident the project will be on budget. “We still have some equipment and items to purchase but the project as a whole is under budget and will not be over budget,� he stated. The overall project budget, including equipment, construction, construction management and design, was $5,432,290 as approved in Mapleton’s 2015 capital budget. The construction estimate for the project was $5,155,542. McRoberts said a final
accounting report will be presented to council in the near future. Facilities in the building include a truck wash area, which will be shared with the Wellington County roads department. The county is expected to begin construction on a new maintenance facility of its own on the same site in the spring. The new facility will replace the county’s current Drayton roads department garage. Driscoll said an official public opening of the building will be held sometime in the spring.
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