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Serving the Mapleton Community
Community News Volume 46 Issue 22
Drayton, Ontario
1 Year GIC - 2.05% 3 Year GIC - 2.20% 5 Year GIC - 2.50% Daily Interest 1.55%
Friday, May 31, 2013
Municipality continues to seek ways to move mountain of topsoil in Drayton
Doing Drayton proud - Students, staff and volunteers from Drayton Heights Public School took part in the Special Olympics Track and Field event at St. James High School in Guelph on May 24, competing with schools from both the Upper Grand District School Board and Wellington Catholic District School Board. photo by Kelly Waterhouse
by Patrick Raftis DRAYTON - The search continues for a solution to a massive mound of topsoil bordering the backyards of several homes in a subdivision here. Public works director Larry Lynch advised Mapleton council at its May 14 meeting that he has discussed the situation in the Drayton Heights subdivision with Peter Armbruster, chief operating officer of subdivision developer Activa Holdings. A number of Drayton Heights residents have been living with what councillor Andy Knetsch has described as “a mountain of topsoil” along their backyards since 2007. Council wants Activa to consider solutions, but recently supported the developer’s request for a five-year extension of draft plan approval on the subdivision.
Final approval of the extension rests with the County of Wellington. Lynch said Armbruster is willing to consider the idea of giving the topsoil away to those willing to haul it out, however he conceded the material isn’t high quality fill. Armbruster estimates the pile contains about 40,000 cubic metres of material and can’t be easily moved. “It did cost about $100,000 to put it there and it will cost about $100,000 to move it,” Lynch said. “That wasn’t a very good financial option for them.” Lynch stated he would continue discussions with the company about the problem. “I’ll stay on it the best I can,” said Lynch. Later at the May 14 meeting, councillor Jim Curry provided notice of intent to
introduce a motion that would require the developer to present a “detailed plan” for removing topsoil before any further building permits are issued for Drayton Heights. A total of 46 detached and 10 semi-detached lots remain in the subdivision draft plan. Future registrations are contingent on additional capacity being allocated in Drayton by the Ministry of Environment. “I’m getting calls on this from the public. It’s to the point where windows are getting broken,” said Curry. Curry told the Community News he has received numerous complaints about the situation from subdivision residents, including one caller who said a window in their home had been damaged by a piece of material from the topsoil mound. He said the caller didn’t clarify “how it was propelled.”
Municipal operations discussed at town hall meeting in Mapleton by Patrick Raftis DRAYTON - Less than a dozen citizens showed up for an update on local municipal matters at what was billed as a “town hall” meeting at the PMD Community Centre on May 23. Those in attendance heard from Mapleton council and staff on township operations, including 2013 capital projects, the municipality’s five-year roads and bridges plan, parks and recreation master plan, water and wastewater issues and the new corporate strategic plan. Mayor Bruce Whale led off the meeting with an overview of the municipality’s 2013 budget, which saw the township’s tax levy increase by 12.27 per cent and the tax rate increase by 7.34 per cent. Whale explained challenges such as ongoing reductions in the Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund (OMPF), a transfer from the province to municipalities intended to make up for a decrease in the municipal share of farm taxes, make it difficult to hold the line on taxation while providing services. For 2013, Mapleton received $85,900 less than 2012 in OMPF funding. While noting municipalities anticipate the funding level to eventually “stabilize,” Whale said, “I’m certain we’ll continue to see that drop over the next five years.” The mayor pointed out the municipality has a “healthy level” of reserves, with “just under $6 million” between general reserves and reserve
Budget talk - Mapleton Mayor Bruce Whale provided an overview of the municipality’s 2013 budget at a town hall meeting in Drayton on May 23. photos by Patrick Raftis funds for designated purposes. “If you keep building reserves, you’re going to have flexibility down the road,” Whale pointed out. He explained it’s important to have sufficient funds in reserve to be able to take advantage of shared infrastructure funding programs offered by the provincial and federal governments. Councillor Neil Driscoll opened a presentation on roads and bridges by noting finances may force the municipality to reconsider the level of service it can provide in some areas. “We have a lot of small bridges that are probably over 100 years old in the municipality that we just can’t afford to replace,” said Driscoll. He noted, “it’s not the bridges themselves that are hard to finance, it’s the engineering and the GRCA requirements.” Financial restrictions will also likely mean there won’t be many current gravel roads
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getting paved in the township in the near future. “At this point in time we can’t afford to create new paved roads. We just have to try and maintain the pavement that we have,” said Driscoll. In response to a question on bridges, public works director Larry Lynch explained that rather than replacing bridges on some roads, the municipality could designate them for use by horse and buggy only in order to facilitate the large Mennonite community in Mapleton. “It’s a lot easier to go around a five mile block in a car than it is in a horse and buggy,” he noted. Load restrictions that would limit vehicular traffic to “cars and pickups” might also be an option on some roads, Lynch added. Councillor Mike Downey, who provided an overview on parks and recreation matters, noted new washrooms at the Moorefield ball park are
Town hall meeting - Mapleton council members discussed various aspects of municipal operations at a town hall meeting in Drayton on May 23. From left: councillors Mike Downey, Andy Knetsch, Neil Driscoll and Jim Curry. among the priorities in this year’s budget. “We kind of sprung it on our director of public works at the last (regular council) meeting. It’s in the budget so we’ll get it done,” he said. Downey noted that again this year, several recreation projects will be completed with the assistance of local service groups through the municipality’s 50/50 funding program. “I just can’t express enough my appreciation for the service groups in our community,” Downey said. A new partner for the municipality is a group planning to build a tennis court/ ice rink facility in Glen Allan. Downey noted the municipality will be providing $30,000 toward the project, with the community group kicking in the other half. Councillor Jim Curry provided an update on water and wastewater issues. Curry explained, with areas of the municipality experienc-
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ing water volume and pressure issues that affect firefighting capability, the municipality has commenced an environmental assessment as a first step toward the construction of a water tower or standpipe. “It’s very essential for health and safety,” he stated. Curry explained the municipality is currently seeking to have the wastewater capacity at the Drayton sewage treatment facility upgraded from 750 to 950m3/day. To this end an assimilative capacity study is being done on the Conestogo River and meetings with environment ministry officials are planned in the fall. Currently, capacity restrictions at the sewage treatment plant are preventing further development in Drayton. Councillor Andy Knetsch discussed local economic development activities. “We as a community face a lot of different challenges, so it’s really important that we think outside the box when we
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look at the money that is drying up at the provincial and federal levels.” Knetsch told the gathering the local economic development committee (EDC)is currently updating the existing strategic plan for the sector and working with Wellington County on a business retention and expansion project, which would see Mapleton focus largely on the agricultural sector. Knetsch also pointed out the EDC has heard from local business owners recently expressing interest in re-establishing a Chamber of Commerce in the community. Business owners who are interested are urged to contact EDC members and the committee will attempt to help move the project forward. Knetsch also said the expansion of rural broadband needs to be an area of focus for economic development. EDC members and staff recently participated in the Western Ontario Continued on page 6
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