Burlington Agricultural & Rural Affairs Advisory Committee Meeting

Minutes

Meeting #:

Date:

Wednesday, April 19, 2023

Time:

7:00 P.m. - 9:00 P.m.

Location:

Virtual

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1.

Members Present:

Vince Sowa (Chair), Maura Romanelli, Sarah Pralet, Larry Campbell, Glenn Portch, Michiel Barnard, John Timmis and Peter Starcevic (alternate)

2.

Regrets:

Krista Harrington and Chuck Nyland

3.

Others Present:

Councillor Kelvin Galbraith, Kelly Cook (Planner), Stephen Duff (OMAFRA) and Jo-Anne Rudy (Clerk)

4.

Land Acknowledgement:

The Chair read the land acknowledgement.

5.

Declarations of Interest:

None

6.

Approval of Minutes:

6.1

Approve minutes from meeting held March 15, 2023

On motion, the minutes from the March 15, 2023, meeting were approved as presented.

7.

Delegation(s):

None

8.

Regular Items:

8.1

Census of agriculture for Halton (Kelly and Steve Duff, Chief Economist, OMAFRA) (1 hour)

• Kelly introduced Stephen Duff, Chief Economist, OMAFRA, and he provided an overview of the community profile for Halton Region and the Economic Impact Summary that contained statistical data such as:
  • number of farms, total farm area and farm operators
  • farm cash receipts
  • GDP and employment throughout Ontario's agri-food value chain across the province attributable to farm production in each country and region; and
  • number of agri-food businesses and employment in agri-food within the country and region.

8.2

Planner update

• Kelly advised that the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing (MMAH) is consulting on proposed policies for an integrated province-wide land use planning document. MMAH is seeking input on a proposed Provincial Planning Statement that takes policies from A Place to Grow and the Provincial Policy Statement to support the achievement of housing objectives.
• Kelly advised of more planning changes through Bill 97: the proposed Helping Homebuyers Protecting Tenants Act, 2023, which proposes a number of amendments to the Planning Act. These changes aren't targeted at the rural/agricultural area but will impact in some way.

8.3

Heritage Week event update 

• Larry advised that he will be attending a Heritage Week Subcommittee meeting on April 26 and will provide more information at the next meeting. He noted that there is the potential of having a speaker share the history of agriculture in Burlington.

8.4

Status of internet in Ward 6 update 

• Vince advised that most roads have cables, but the houses aren't hooked up yet. He noted that they are aiming for this project to be complete in June. Vince will provide another status report at the next meeting.

8.5

RT03: The Heart of Ontario Regional Tourism Strategy

• Vince advised that the Board of the Hamilton Halton Brant Regional Tourism Association has undertaken the development of a three- year Regional Tourism Destination Strategic Plan for the geographic region publicly branded as “The Heart of Ontario” and noted that he has been asked to be a task force member representing the Board.  RTO3 comprises 10 partners: Brant County, the Cities of Brantford, Burlington and Hamilton, the Regional Municipality of Halton (the Towns of Halton Hills, Milton and Oakville), and the Six Nations of the Grand River and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nations. A new three-year destination regional tourism strategic plan is being developed that reflects the tourism industry of post-pandemic times and will guide recovery and sustainable tourism industry growth in RTO3. 

9.

Other Business:

• Peter advised that he will be attending a meeting on April 20 hosted by Conserving Our Rural Ecosystems of Burlington Inc. (CORE) at Cedar Springs Community Club Hall regarding the status of Nelson Aggregates application to expand the quarry in Burlington's Greenbelt lands.
• Michiel stated that the lowered speed limit on Appleby Line has made speeding worse and asked what could be done. John added that Guelph Line has the same issues. Vince noted that the police typically have a Spring Campaign to monitor speeding and also suggested completing the Halton Regional Police online form to report traffic concerns.  https://www.haltonpolice.ca/en/services-and-reporting/report-a-traffic-concern.aspx
• Maura advised that she will be attending a meeting on April 20 hosted by Halton Region at Country Heritage Park regarding a Community Climate Action Plan.
• Vince suggested that perhaps the opportunity could be provided to other groups with an agricultural/rural focus to attend a future meeting to share information with the committee. Committee agreed that this would be beneficial on a quarterly basis. Someone from the Ward 6 rural group will attend the next meeting.

10.

Adjournment:

Chair adjourned the meeting at 8:54 p.m.