On Monday, September 30th, Clarington Council took a BOLD step forward to address the concerns of rural property owners. A Motion made by Councillor Neal, seconded by Councillor Trail, was passed unanimously. This is ONLY THE 1st STEP in resolving the major issues regarding the new proposed by-laws that affect almost 3,000 land owners. (See the full Motion here)
The Motion calls for:
This Motion, if ratified on Oct. 7th, will be a major step to improve communication with the rural property owners who recognize the impact that increased environmentally protected areas (EP) could be quite serious.
It will ensure that errors on the mapping can be corrected for those who ask for a free site visit. I strongly encourage you to register for a site visit if you do not understand why so much of your property was zoned EP.
However, we are concerned that the staff are planning to undertake these site visits in the early spring during the wet and rainy season. We must encourage site visits when our land is dry and heavy machinery can be used. Remember this past spring!
And most importantly, we must go back to mapping that designates as EP only the areas that are absolutely necessary based on laws and regulations. Our fear is that there will be an attempt to add more EP land in rural Clarington than is necessary.
We thank those who have attended many meetings of Council and Committees to date, however the next Council Meeting on Monday, October 7th at 7 pm. is a critical step in our efforts. Plan to come out and support Councillor Neal and this Motion. We have seen a major step forward so let’s not allow it to be weakened or result in a step backwards!