Burlington Agricultural & Rural Affairs Advisory Committee Meeting

Minutes

Meeting #:
Date:	Wednesday, March 24, 2021
Time:	7:00 P.m. - 9:00 P.m.
Location:	Virtual

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1.

Members Present:

Glenn Portch (Chair), Norm Richardson, Vanessa Warren, Jamie Fisher, Maura Romanelli, Sarah Pralet, Larry Campbell, Vincent Sowa, Michiel Barnard, Simon O'Keefe (alternate) and Peter Starcevic (alternate)

2.

Regrets:

John Timmis

3.

Others Present:

Councillor Angelo Bentivegna, Kelly Cook (Planner) and Jo-Anne Rudy (Clerk)

4.

Welcome new members:

• Glenn welcomed new members and all participated in roundtable introductions.

5.

Declarations of Interest:

None

6.

Approval of Minutes:

6.1

Approve minutes from meeting held February 17, 2021

On motion, the minutes from the meeting held February 17, 2021 were approved as presented.

7.

Delegation(s):

None

8.

Regular Items:

8.1

Orientation 

• Jo-Anne provided an orientation for new members and advised that a virtual city orientation session is scheduled for all advisory committee members on Wednesday, March 31, 2021 at 6:30 p.m. via Microsoft Teams Live. The session will go over the city’s goals, values and organizational structure, along with polices, rules and procedures.

8.2

Planner's update

• Kelly advised that the Nelson Quarry application to amend the Niagara Escarpment Plan is now available on the Environmental Registry for comment until April 26, 2021.
• Kelly advised that Planning staff are working on a response to the Growth Concepts and initial Regional Official Plan Amendment (ROPA 48) that have been proposed by Halton Region as part of its Regional Official Plan Review. Planning staff comments will go to City council in June for endorsement.

8.3

Broadband in the rural area 

• Vanessa advised that she was unable to connect with Tom Williams from Standard Broadband; however, she spoke with Ralph Blauel from the Region of Halton who indicated that there were currently two applications before the federal government for funding through the universal broadband fund - one through Standard Broadband for rural Ward 6 residents and the other through the Region. Unfortunately the deadline to apply was March 15; however, Vanessa stated that she had been made aware of a program for rural residents with Starlink which will be starting mid to late 2021. 
• Vincent noted that, as one of the Ward 6 residents who worked with Standard Broadband, they are expecting to hear back from Tom Williams within the next couple of weeks on the status of the application and added that he would provide an update at the next committee meeting.

8.4

Update from Region's Agricultural Working Group (Regional Official Plan Review)

• Vanessa advised that the first Regional Agricultural Working Group meeting was held on March 17 and noted that this was a facilitated kick-off meeting so there was limited opportunity for discussion. She noted that future meeting dates have not yet been set. Updates will be provided at future BARAAC meetings. 
• Jamie advised that the Halton Region Federation of Agriculture (HRFA) is working on a project where there will be individual meetings held in April for rural landowners to review the draft Regional Official Plan mapping on their properties. This is open to all rural landowners and if interested, meetings can be booked through contacting Nancy Comber at the HRFA at  

8.5

Representative on Halton-Hamilton Source Protection Committee 

• Kelly advised that Conservation Halton is looking for a representative on the Halton-Hamilton Source Protection Committee and noted that Burlington does not have any formally vulnerable areas in the rural area. While there may be other rural water quality issues in Burlington related to private services, they fall outside of the current mandate of the Source Protection Committee, which is focused on municipal drinking water sources. Regardless, as the role is to represent agriculture generally, members were encouraged to look into it if interested. 

8.6

2021 Work Plan

• Jo-Anne facilitated a discussion for members to identify and prioritize items for the committee's 2021 work plan.

• Regional OP review (#1)
• Rural economic development (#2)
  • Gather and explore rural and agricultural business creation/expansion case studies to better understand economic development.
  • Farm related businesses and examples of what works in other municipalities
  • Meeting with Burlington Economic Development (invite to Apr/May mtg)
  • Discussion with NEC for new farm businesses
  • Metrix for measuring success
  • Document the approvals process
  • Ecosystem services and landowner compensation
• Sustainability/Stewardship (#3)
  • Soil management and its importance in reducing the carbon footprint
  • Development of a community-driven stewardship program (later)
  • Climate Adaptation Plan
  • Private tree by-law (RPF come back for conversation with ctte)
•   Fire prevention for farms (reach out to Fire Dept)

Issues

• rural internet access

9.

Other Business:

None

10.

Adjournment: 9:04 p.m.