HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2013-01-17, Page 17THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 2013. PAGE 17. Council refuses to support solar projects
Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh
(ACW) councillors were
uncomfortable with the idea of
large-scale solar panel projects being
erected on rooftops in the township.
The council faced two decisions
on Tuesday, Jan. 8 during their first
regular council meeting of the year,
one which was on the agenda and a
second which was added afterwards.
Ontario Solar Provider Inc., a
Toronto-based company, had four
projects slated for Ashfield buildings
in Ashfield, three on Lanesville Line
and on Zion Road.
Bryne Davies, who was
representing the company, explained
that in December the current round
of Feed-In Tariff project (FIT)
approval process had begun and that
a point system determined who
received funding. One major
component of that system was
having the support of the
municipality. Other factors in thepoint system include when theprojects were applied for and if they
are involved with community
stakeholders, which Davies claimed
they were.
Council, however, didn’t support
Davies or Mark Dupuis, a
representative from Fritz
Construction which also had plans to
build solar panels under the new
round of FIT applications.
Councillor Doug Miller said that,
until more research was done into
the issue of fires and solar panels, he
wasn’t comfortable supporting the
construction of the solar arrays.
Dupuis explained to council that
there has been research done in
regards to firefighting, however that
information was yet to get to local
fire departments. He said his
company would be happy to help
with the training of local fire
departments and said that fighting
the fires was all a matter of distance
and the arc of water used when
fighting the fire.“The firefighters have to be 20 feetaway from the fire and have an arc
angle of 10 degrees, that way there’s
no chance for any voltage to travel
back,” he said. “It’s 100 per cent
safe, it’s just that the firefighters
aren’t aware of the safety parameters
yet.”
Councillor Neil Rintoul was
concerned with radiation and
interference caused by the solar
panels that he had heard of, and,
while both Davies and Dupuis said
that there was no research to cite
because there was no interference on
record, he still felt more information
needed to be gathered before he
was comfortable approving the
issue.
In the end, however, Reeve Ben
Van Diepenbeek explained that he
was just not comfortable approving
a recommendation for either project
because council didn’t have enough
time to evaluate the information.
Davies’ proposal was brought
forward close to the deadline for themeeting and Dupuis didn’t actuallymake it in time to be put on the
evening’s agenda.
“We need time to digest
information,” Van Diepenbeek
explained. “When I read what
information is here, I don’t think we
have enough to make a good
decision. We’re not here to just
approve everything. This was short
notice, and I think we were generous
allowing [Dupuis] to speak, but I’m
not ready to make a decision like
that.”
Dupuis, however, wasn’t happy
with the motion of support beingdefeated, asking council to outlinetheir reason. Council, however,
either remained quiet or echoed their
earlier concerns, stating that they
would like to see more information
about firefighting, radiation and
interference and on the projects in
general before putting their support
behind it.
Despite Dupuis explaining that,
without the municipality’s support,
the projects wouldn’t likely receive a
contract through the FIT program,
both deputations left without the
support of council.
Alliance raises $16,000
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By Denny ScottThe Citizen
Go Bald or Go Blue was the theme
for the day on Friday, Jan. 11 at the
St. Marys site of the Huron Perth
Healthcare Alliance, raising over
$16,000 for the Canadian Cancer
Society.
Staff from all four Healthcare
Alliance sites (St. Marys, Stratford,
Seaforth, and Clinton) participated
in an amazing event that went from
9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Over 50 participants
gathered pledges and/or made
donations in order to dye
their hair blue, have blue
streaks put in, or have their head
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