Pontiac council report - Engineers’ recommendations on lot size rejected by split council
Mo Laidlaw
The council meeting on August 12, 2008 was attended by over 20 taxpayers.
New ward boundaries
Several residents were upset with the procedure to contest the bylaw on electoral boundaries, which reduces the number of wards and councillors from seven to six, with new ward boundaries. Guy Bilodeau said that it was not clear if the time limit was 15 calendar days or working days. In this case the Fête National and Canada Day came within the 15 days and he thought he had delivered 30 names a few hours late. Director-general Sylvain Bertrand replied that one day’s grace was given and that a total of 86 signatures were received, not enough to oppose the bylaw.
Madeleine Carpentier complained that she had sent her signature in by registered letter on 28 July, but no-one was available to sign for it at the town hall and it was not picked up from the post office until 6 August.
The bylaw on new electoral wards was passed by five votes to three, with councillors Dagenais, Gougeon and Middlemiss voting against.
Doreen Sigouin was concerned that people in the east end of new wards 1 & 3 (in Eardley and Luskville) would have to vote in Quyon (and so wouldn’t vote) but was assured that polls are not related to wards. There will be local polling stations for all voters, including those who for example live near Masham, to encourage all eligible to vote.
Ms Sigouin also asked if the bill for paving had been paid, not being impressed with the number of patches on Tremblay road. Mayor Eddie McCann said that $500,000 has been held back until the municipality’s consultant engineer is satisfied.
Dollard Olmstead asked for something to be done about ATVs speeding and cars racing on Wolf Lake road near Cain road. There’s lots of noise and his wife was almost hit going to the mailbox. He’s called the MRC des Collines police, and “they always come, two hours later.” The police need licence plate numbers.
Lot sizes in Breckenridge
Following council’s receipt of the preliminary hydrogeological report from Fondex Shermont, Councillor Jean Amyotte proposed the second draft bylaw to increase the size of lots for new subdivisions in ward 7 to 8000 m2, about 2 acres. The first draft bylaw was rejected in November 2007, leading to the request for the hydrogeological study in April 2008.
The Fondex report covered ward 7 and part of ward 6 up to Braun road. It found that the main constraint to development in this area is the risk of septic systems contaminating well water. This is due to the shallow layer of soil over bedrock, making the aquifer vulnerable to contamination from septic systems. Poorly built wells may also allow contaminants to reach the water table. Small lots where wells and septic systems are close increase the risk of contamination.
Residents at the consultation meetings held last fall were mostly concerned that there was insufficient water to supply many new wells, but the engineers did not see this as a problem, although they mention that drilling deeper in limestone may produce water containing sulphur or salt.
Two acre minimum recommended
The engineers’ report recommends minimum lot sizes of 2 acres in most of the study area, where the soil is shallow. In the northeast part where there is more than 5 metres depth of clay and silt over the rock (mostly zoned as farmland), they recommend minimum lot sizes of 1.5 acres. Because clay is fairly impermeable, septic systems on clay need to be larger and have a shorter working life, hence the large lot size requirement despite the depth of soil, to allow room for replacement of the tile bed.
Streams and wetlands are other constraints to development that need to be taken into account when subdividing land into residential lots.
New technologies
The report mentions new kinds of septic system that include: sand filters; systems that collect effluent (after treatment) and send it to the Ottawa River; and community septic systems, all three of which require municipal involvement. However these technologies do not reduce minimum lot size requirements according to the report. For specific subdivisions, studies of water supply and septic system feasibility must still be carried out before lot lines are finalized, and may allow smaller than “minimum” lot sizes.
Councillor Tracey commented that increasing lot sizes was “not solving the problem, but putting it off for 50 years. We should put in collector lines for sewage,” and reduce lot sizes so that there are more taxpayers (to pay for the increased infrastructure). Councillors Middlemiss, McKenny and Dagenais joined councillor Tracey in voting against the bylaw, which was rejected by 4:4.
Money matters
Bills for $76,605 and fixed expenses of $265,096 for July were approved.
Work costing $48,092 for public works was accepted. This includes ditching on River, Rivière, and de la Baie, a trench at the dump, culverts, new speed-limit signs, asphalt and gravel.
Other matters
An agreement will be signed with the City of Gatineau to ensure mutual assistance in the event of a major emergency or disaster.
Northern Watertek will be asked for an estimate for tests to identify the cause of the algae problem in the Black Bay area. If septic tanks are the problem the municipality is responsible. If it is farm runoff the provincial ministries of agriculture and environment will be involved.
Proceedings will be undertaken by the municipality’s lawyer against two more “files” where bylaws have been violated.