Some Wildlife Photos

Here's some photos taken while working at the office today - Deerwood Forest. These photos are all part of my cynical campaign to grab the environmentalist vote.

Milling For Campaign Signs

Yesterday I rolled some poplar logs onto the mill bunks and gave them a saw. You may remember me cutting these dead trees down in Deerwood Forest then skidding them to the mill yard about a month back.

After charging the battery (new battery charger), replacing the start cord
(after it broke), and fixing the throttle cable (broke) the milling went as smooth a silk.

Stack of loose boards fresh from the mill.

View from atop the 'cant' wood passing through the mill blade.

It was nice to smell the fresh cut wood and give it a good air-dry stack.

I like to do things all the way through - not just one part. That's why I find the logging, skidding, milling connection. I see it all come together from start to finish. And when I put the signs up with the paint on? Putting the whole thing together is a satisfaction that money can't buy.

Believe me, no part of the whole is easy. It's all a hard struggle. But that makes the final reward all that much better.

The Municipal Councillor's Guide & Offical Plan Analysis

To better understand the duties of a municipal councillor, I downloaded an on-line version of the Ontario provincial government's publication, The Municipal Councillor's Guide (click for link).

It's a good 76 page read containing an overview of what a councillor should know and points to further readings.

My recent interest in the content of Seguin's Official Plan and the Questionnaire used as an input to its development (see previous post) is touched on in the guide. I discovered that a municipal council and planning department is not required to do exhaustive public consultation in either developing or reviewing official plans.

Here's an excerpt from The Municipal Councillor's Guide (p. 51):

When preparing an official plan, municipalities must inform the public and give people an opportunity to voice their concerns and opinions. For example, council must hold at least one public meeting before the plan is adopted. A special meeting open to the public, prior to the public meeting, is also required for a five year official plan review.

In effect, nothing even close to a mail-in questionnaire is required by the province for Seguin official plan development or review. Taking this to an absurd level of compliance, councillors could be listening to their iPods, playing video games while constituents "voice their concerns and opinions" during the single, proscribed public meeting.

So, my brief analysis of Seguin's Official Plan Questionnaire is that it was more than what the Province of Ontario requires of council to consider as public input for creating an official plan. I leave it to the reader to judge the merits of the Questionnaire.

The Deer Return!

I'm happy to report that the deer have returned from their winter yard to Deerwood Forest!


This is the start of fair weather indeed. Only one yearling is missing from this band of moochie characters. It's always good to see them back.


This is the start of fair weather indeed. Only one yearling is missing from this band of moochie characters. It's always good to see them back.

Seguin's Official Plan: The Questionnaire

Here's the scan (as promised) of Seguin's Official Plan Questionnaire sent to Seguin landowners in 2004. The Questionnaire is eight pages in total. Click the images for a larger view (so you can actually read it).

After the questionnaire, I include scans of the 'Official Plan Survey Overview' (four pages) dated Jan. 2005 as provided to me by the Seguin planning department on March 17th, 2010.

My next post will include my brief analysis of both the Questionaire and the Results Overview.


SEGUIN'S OFFICIAL PLAN QUESTIONNAIRE:

page 1

page 2

page 3

page 4

page 5

page 6

page 7

page 8

SEGUIN'S OFFICIAL PLAN SURVEY OVERVIEW:

page 1

page 2

page 3

page 4

Seguin's Official Plan: The Vision

After reading Seguin's Official Plan - the document which guides council on policy decision - two important points struck me:

(1) The 'vision' which determined the content of the Official Plan was based on a questionnaire presented by Seguin's planning department to Seguin landowners for plan input. This is a quote from the first section, A.1, of the Official Plan:

The residents of the Township were given the opportunity to provide their input into the planning process by completing a questionnaire covering a broad range of issues from water quality to future development. The Township’s residents responded in incredible fashion, with a return rate of over 31%. The Vision for the Township of Seguin and for this Plan is a result of that input [emphasis mine. The next Seguin One blog post will display Seguin's 'Official Plan Questionnaire' in full with results included -BP].

(2) The final requirement of the Official Plan is section F.8 entitled, 'Official Plan Review Process'. Here's section F.8 in its entirety:

F.8 OFFICIAL PLAN REVIEW PROCESS

The assumptions, objectives and policies of this Plan shall be reviewed at least
once every five years at a meeting of Council, which shall be advertised in
accordance with the Planning Act, as amended.

The five-year review shall consist of an assessment of:

a) the effectiveness of the Plan in protecting water quality, natural and
cultural heritage resources, natural resources and habitat and the general environment within the Township;

b) the continuing relevance of the vision that forms the basis of all policies found in this Plan [emphasis mine -BP];

c) the degree to which the objectives of this Plan have been met; Township of Seguin Official Plan F-16 October 22, 2007

d) the amount and location of lands available for urban development;

e) whether the Township has realized a desirable balance of commercial and industrial assessment in relation to residential assessment;

f) the Township's role within the District and its relationship with other municipalities;

g) development trends in the District and their effect on development in the Township; and,

h) the nature of any Province-wide planning initiatives and their implications
on the Township of Seguin.

i) regard to provincial interests under Section 2 of the Planning Act, as
amended from time to time, and, consistency with the Provincial Policy
Statement, 2005, as amended or revised from time to time.

So, contained within Seguin's Official Plan is (A.1) the source of the Official Plan, and (F.8) the requirement for its review of the relevance of the founding vision as determined by the questionnaire.

Seguin's Official Plan

In my effort to better understand municipal politics in general and Seguin Township in particular, I've read Seguin's Official Plan. This plan, serving to direct the affairs of the township for the next fifteen years, is an essential read for anyone living in Seguin, I feel.

You can read a copy of Seguin's Official Plan online (click here).

Also available to read (same webpage) is the lengthy Zoning By-Law passed by council in 2006 which is derived from the Official Plan in order to set elements of the plan into Seguin municipal law.

I've heard a number of complaints from different people in Ward 1 about negative impacts resulting from the official plan, though various politicians or municipal staff are blamed for one reason or the other. Yet the actions of staff or councillors are most often constrained or directed by the principles set forth by the Official Plan and the Zoning By-Law derived from it.

In a very real way, the people of Seguin and their government are limited by the constraints of the Official Plan. At least, that's my understanding at the moment. I'll be the first one to admit I don't know everything.

Letters To The Editor

Parry Sound District (McKellar) resident, Gord Zulak, had his letter to the editor printed in our local paper, the North Star (included below).

Gord's letter interested me because he expressed the views of many residents, I believe. So I looked up his phone number in the book and gave him a call yesterday morning.

Gord was good enough to give me some time to discuss his ideas. We had a lively discussion. Gord, a former council member in McKellar, knows local politics and it was a good education for me to just listen to his words.

What I took away from the conversation was the need for district municipal governments to encourage business development for residents. As a laid-off carpenter myself, I agreed with Gord and feel that seasonal service work (construction, tourism) with the related annual down cycles are the cause of the area's lower than average household incomes.

I don't want to get into the residents vs. cottagers perspective at all. My goal is to use Seguin's 'Environment First' policy to bring employers to area because they want to align themselves with the future of a green economy. Live/Work/Play in a healthy environment.

If Seguin is notorious for it's environmentalist public policy, I say, let's sing it loud and proud.

Road Salt Poisoning

Road salt is toxic to freshwater fish according to a University of Toronto study reported by The Globe and Mail today.

An excerpt from the article describes the findings within a lagoon beside the 401 highway...

The salt water "knocks out fish," Dr. Eyles said, adding that in the most contaminated areas, only older fish can survive, while younger ones move to areas of the lagoon closer to Lake Ontario and its fresher water.

In 2004 Environment Canada issued a voluntary code of practices to encourage municipalities to reduce the amount of salt applied to roads.

Is it time to review Seguin's use levels of this de-icer?

Taxes vs. Services

Government taxes citizens in order to provide them with services.

Want lower taxes? Then we get less service from government. That's assuming Seguin isn't just burning the dollar bills to heat the township office in winter.

This is the basic trade off that goes back and forth over time - taxes vs. services.

Right now I'm writing the survey for Ward 1. I hope the survey will help me discover what people want from government in terms of services when I campaign door-to-door this summer and fall.

And you know what will happen. Isn't it always the same? We want lots of services and low taxes. Wouldn't it be nice?