Lakeshore Advance, 2013-07-10, Page 7Wednesday, July 10, 2013 • Lakeshore Advance 7
Lambton Shores Association still dealing with by-law issues
Lynda Hillman -Replay
QMI Agency
"now much are we going to pay?"
was the themed question to Deputy
mayor Elizabeth Davis- Dagg at the
annual Lambton Shores Community
Association meeting June 29 th at the
Grand Bend Legion.
'there were 38 people at this meeting,
primarily Plan 24 owners. Davis-Dagg
rose to give what she referred to as "her
perspective" regarding the update of the
sewage treatment plant, but the ques-
tions to follow centred on what this Pro-
sed plant is going to cost the 2,70()
mbton Shores people who are the
sets. Most of the people in the gallery
are on a sewer system. Mayor Hill Weber
later spoke on behalf of council. Coun-
cilors Dave Maguire and John Russell
were also in attendance.
Pat Ilenry asked the same question
he has directed to the political leaders
In the past. Ile wondered why, this
multi-million dollar facility is not being
put on the tax base for all of Lambton
Shores as the roads and arenas are. A
resident from Southcott Pines later told
the Lakeshore Advance "that is all great
if the people in zones 3 and 4 (South-
cott Pines to the Cut) were going to be
part of this facility, but since they have
been taken out of the scenario, "why
would they pay for something they can't
use and have not been asked if they
want to make deferral payments for the
future?" Henry said the costs of opera-
tion should be the users but the capital
costs should be that of all residents of
Lambton Shores.
Gerry Rupke, a Lambton Shores
resident who paid the one time $100.00
membership fee said with the size of the
proposed scope change, they might as
well scrap the project." Davis- Dagg said
if they do not get the $14.9 Build Canada
funding, he will get his wish.
Both Davis Dagg and Weber said that
council has not discussed or made a
decision as to who will pay for the new
facility, as they do not know what the
costs will be, established it.
In a 2011 meeting with Gary Scandlan
of Watson and Associates it was dis-
cussed that If the three partners, South
1 luron, Bluewater and launbton Shores
agreed to go ahead as planned with the
original agreement, the 2,700 current
sewer users in Lambton Shores would
have had an increase in their fees to the
tune of $22 a year. That did not happen
and Bluewater backed out for now and
Zones 3 and 4 were taken out of the
plans. Scandlan said, at that 2011 meet-
ing, that $22 a year would he staged
over 4-5 years with an increase to cur-
rent users of $3 or $4 per year until 2016
when the full $22 would be charged. As
a worse case scenario, Scandlan said In
2011 the cost to current users; with no
partners the costs would be an esti-
mated $250 per household.
Ron 1Iohnes asked why the original
plant was so oversized and also asked
about the increase in rates. Davis-Dagg
reminded the forum the approach they
are using is "the only approach South
1 luron would accept:' She asked with no
assurance of future dollars (not includ-
ing the funding Iutmbton Shores is still
waiting to be approved) was this munic-
ipality willing to pay for a supersized
plant. She said Lambton Shores have
J -Dees can go ahead with patio as a test case
Lynda Hillman -Replay
consultation, it will mean merchants are
QMI Agency utilizing public property to snake a profit,
(where the public was very much against
this practice when a group came to town
wanting to slake money on the beach for
volleyball) that the cost reimbursement
was much like the cash in lieu issues
where one business paid and another slid
not. Council agreed to authorize staff to
implement the change immediately
throughout tho municipality.
)-Dees in Grand Bend will be permit-
ted to house their amain street patio if they
tisfy the criteria set before them in a
Lambton Shores street by-law.
At the June 20th meeting, Jim Davies
owner of J.D.'s Summer House
appeared before Council as a delegation,
requesting permission to establish a side-
walk patio. This is a test case and council
will evaluate at end of season to deter-
tnine if policy should change.
The criterion requires the execution of
an encroachment agreement. Senior
Planner Patti Richardson said since
Council's next meeting is not until August
1st, when such an agreement would be
considered by council, staff requested
they pass a resolution allowing the patio
to be established, prior to council approv-
ing the by law for the encroachment
agreement, and after Davies has executed
the encroachment agreement.
"This will expedite Mr. Davies patio
approval for this season," she said.
Mayor Bill Weber told the Lakeshore
Advance he spoke against the change
because there was no public
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agreed in principal to mandatory
inspections of septics and that
the Pinery Park has more than
they can use in capacity.
It was asked at this meeting if
the hold-up for the Build Canada
dollars was clue to the 14 individ-
uals who asked for a bump -up
request and the answer was that
Build Canada clearly states if
there is a scope change the dol-
lars could be Jeopardized.
BYLAW
In her report Sandra Cronk,
chair of the Plan 24 committee
explained the issues that still
remain in the Plan 24 area. (Pian
24 includes Main Street north to
the outer limits of Grand Bend).
"In March, members of the
LSCA attended a meeting of the
Short Term Rental Accommoda-
tions Committee. Among other
topics, the Committee discussed
the education letter that was to
be sent to I.aunbton Shores resi-
dents, outlining the responsibili-
ties of property owners. Even
though Councillor Bonesteel
requested that the letter be sent
to all Lambton Shores property
owners, as has the LSCA several
times, the Committee decided to
send the letter to Plan 24 resi-
dents only. We attempted to have
some of our issues clarified at
this meeting, but to no avail. 'lite
sleeting ended with a motion to
disband the Committee. They
had reviewed bylaws from other
communities acid concluded
that there is nothing inherently
wrong with our bylaws as they
are written. 'the'y Just need to be
enforced," explained Cronk.
She continues, "The issue of
illegal parking at the corner of
Woodward and Centre contin-
ues, but now new parking signs
have been installed, designating
a private parking space, large
enough for two cars, at right
angles m the street, in the middle
of the "No Parking Zone." in
response to the l.utnhton Shores
Community Association's con-
cern about this situation, Coun-
cillor Dave Maguire wrote on
May 15, 2013: "I would agree with
your assessment that the current
arrangement does contravene
our current parking by-law, and
will be asking staff to remove the
newly erected signage:' 'Ihe signs
are still there. As you will recall,
after Councillors had the Munici-
pal property at that corner sur-
veyed and told the owners that
there would be no parking there,
a car parked perpendicular to the
property line all last summer,
even after we reported this at our
AGM. The Bylaw Officer was
"allowing" it, apparently."
in a letter to this group, Cronk
said the municipal clerk "In
addition (to other difficulties),
once the charge is laid, if the per-
son chooses to challenge the
charge and appear in court, on
numerous occasions, the judge
has either dismissed the charge
or has reduced the $300.00 fine,
which does not improve enforce-
ment issues."
Cronk saki after their presen-
tation to council in January and
after it was reported in the news-
paper that they felt "there needs
to be more consistent bylaw
enforcement and council should
reconsider who it hires to be the
bylaw enforcement officers,"
they were contacted by another
bylaw enforcement company
who is "willing to do this job for
Lambton Shores as it does for
many other local
municipalities."
Cronk explained that their
information states that, "With
each occurrence, you will
receive an "Occurrence/Activity
Report" that will describe in
detail the events that led up to
the citation being served and
anything that is necessary to
corroborate the citation (such as
video/photo evidence). '('here
will also be a brief description of
any activities while officers are
on patrol and any enforcement
and education action taken
throughout a shift. Also the
information reported is used to
develop detailed reports for
court if needed. Our "Video/
Photo Evidence Program" offers
conclusive proof of an offence
being committed. Our officers
are outfitted with a state of the
art video system that captures all
facets of a situation from the dis-
covery of the offence, to the
serving of the citation. This pro-
gram is also a benefit for the
court when having to prosecute
a case before court. Our pro-
grams have helped our unit havt'
a )3'3( closing and conviction
rating in any of the municipali-
ties we are contracted with."
'I'o that end, the Lambton
Shores Community Association
has submitted a letter to Council
requesting that they open up the
bylaw enforcement contract to
tender.
x
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