Committee Recommendations Approved at June 22 Burlington Council Meeting

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At the June 22 Burlington Council meeting, numerous recommendations were approved from the June cycle of committee meetings. Below are some of the highlights split up by committee.Click this link to go through the full post-meeting minutes for all recommendations that were approved at the June 22 Regular Council meeting: Post-Meeting Minutes - Regular Meeting of Council_Jun22_2021.Click these links for the minutes from the June 7 and 8 Special Meetings of Council:

Minutes from the Corporate Services, Strategy, Risk and Accountability (CSSRA) Committee; Environment, Infrastructure and Community Services (EICS) Committee; and Community Planning, Regulation & Mobility (CPRM) Committee meetings can be found under the “Related Links” header at the end of this post.There are also separate posts for City and Regional Councils approving:

HIGHLIGHTS:CSSRA COMMITTEE (June 7)

• PUBLIC NOTICE POLICY — Office of the City Clerk report.Recommendation:

Approve the Public Notice Policy attached as appendix A to office of the city clerk report CL-09-21.

Carried unanimously by Council.

MAYOR MEED WARD’S TAKE:I'm grateful to our City staff and Clerk's Department for keeping us on the right side of our policies and public accessibility. Having a one-stop spot for our residents will certainly help to keep them informed of all that is happening at City Hall. • RISK GOVERNANCE & ENTERPRISE RISK MANAGEMENT UPDATE — Corporate Strategy Department report.Recommendation:

Receive and file corporate strategy report CS-09-21 providing an update on the risk governance and enterprise risk management progress and implementation.

Carried unanimously by Council.

MAYOR MEED WARD’S TAKE:We have a great structure and good timelines here. I look forward to seeing the metrics and dashboards staff referred to, and being able to identify and deal with potential issues before the bubble up. It truly positions us to be a future-focused organization as a municipality. CPRM COMMITTEE (June 8)

• MAJOR TRANSIT STATION AREA (MTSA) AREA-SPECIFIC PLANNING TERMS OF REFERENCE — Community Planning Department report.Recommendation:

Endorse the proposed Terms of Reference for the MTSA Area-Specific Planning Project attached as Appendix A to community planning department report PL-27-21; andAuthorize the Director of Community Planning to engage consultants through a Request for Proposal process to carry out the work, in accordance with the above noted proposed Terms of Reference; andDirect the Director of Community Planning to finalize the Engagement and Communication Plan for the Major Transit Station Area area-specific planning project based on the Draft Engagement and Communication Plan attached as Appendix B to  community planning department report PL-27-21; andApprove the single source procurement for “Downtown Urban Centre and Burlington GO Major Transit Station Area Flood Hazard and Scoped SWM Assessment Phase 2 Study” to Wood Environment & Infrastructure Solutions, who completed Phase 1 of this project and have the background information and hydrologic and hydraulic models to complete Phase 2 within the March 31, 2022 deadline, at an upset budget limit of $170,000, exclusive of tax.

Carried unanimously by Council.

MAYOR MEED WARD’S TAKE:There’s been work already done on MTSAs that we can build upon. We certainly need to protect employment, build public parks and amenities. I encourage everyone, including property owners in the areas, to participate in this process so your input can be part of the conversation. It will take us a year and a half to get there. We’re building new cities, in reality, at all of our MTSAs. This work will have implications for the future of our city as a whole. • SUBMISSION ON THE REEGION OF HALTON'S GROWTH CONCEPTS DISCUSSION PAPER — Community Planning Department report.Recommendation:

Direct the Director of Community Planning to submit community planning department report PL-21-21 and Appendix A as the City of Burlington’s submission on the Region of Halton’s Official Plan Growth Concept Discussion Paper by the comment submission deadline; andDirect the Director of Community Planning to provide any additional comments to the Region, if any, upon Council approval.Direct the Director of Community Planning to provide City Council’s position on 4103 Palladium Way in Staff Report PL-21-21 (pg 20-21) to reflect the following:“The employment conversion request for 4103 Palladium Way is currently under further consideration for employment conversion through the Region’s Growth Concepts Discussion Paper. However given the unique nature of this site, which is subject to a site-specific policy in the new Official Plan, the introduction of a retirement home on this site resulting in an employment conversion may be supported if it can be demonstrated that the further development will have no new impacts on the function of the abutting employment area as an integral component of the permitted long term care home.”

Carried unanimously by Council.

MAYOR MEED WARD’S TAKE:This is outstanding work from our City's planning department and the analysis is thorough. I appreciate the providing of different perspectives. I know the decision at Halton Region is going to be an extremely difficult one. There’s a lot of concern in the community around development in greenfield farmlands. We have to protect our ability to produce things locally, as we’ve seen the importance of that emphasized during a pandemic; but we’ve also seen the changes in perspectives and our communities needing to grow. This will be a challenging discussion at Regional Council. I appreciate our staff’s approach, we plan to be able to accommodate growth, but we cannot guarantee it. EICS COMMITTEE (June 10)

• CLIMATE ACTION PLAN UPDATE — Environment, Infrastructure and Community Services Department report.Recommendation:Approve the Mayor and City Clerk to sign an agreement with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to receive funding from the community efficiency fund, subject to the approval of the Executive Director of Legal Services and Corporation Counsel, to complete a feasibility study for a Home Energy Retrofit Program in Burlington; andApprove $15,000 from the green initiatives reserve fund to support the development of the Electricity Mobility Strategy; and,Approve the Mayor and City Clerk to sign an agreement with the Ministry of Energy, Northern Development and Mines to apply for and receive funding from the municipal energy plan fund, subject to the approval of the Executive Director of Legal Services and Corporation Counsel, to complete an Electric Mobility Strategy for Burlington.Carried unanimously by Council.

MAYOR MEED WARD’S TAKE:Our City is serious about climate change mitigation efforts at the municipal level, but we can't do it alone. Funding from upper levels of government are key in helping us meeting the goals laid out in our Climate Action Plan. • CITY PRIVATE TREE BYLAW 02-2020 IMPLEMENTATION PLAN — Roads, Parks & Forestry Department report.Recommendation:Refer the City Private Tree By-law 02-2020 implementation update report RPF-07-21 back to staff; andDirect the Director of Roads, Parks and Forestry to prepare a supplemental report, which could include a workshop or special meeting of Environment, Infrastructure and Community Services Committee, to address how the below listed proposed amendments may be incorporated into a new City Private Tree By-law so that Council will have the necessary information to accept final recommendations (SD-20-21):Adopt a simplified, on-line, tree residential removal permit issuance that requires no mandatory inspection; andTree permits will be required to remove any tree greater than 20cm’s in diameter other than one that has physically fallen, irrespective of species or state of health, unless the city or its agents require that tree(s) be removed; andTrees less than 20cms in diameter do not require a permit; andA tree permit will be sufficient for a single project, whether for one or several trees as identified in the application form; andA tree permit fee will be $300; andThe applicant is responsible to provide two (2) acceptable replacement trees for each individual tree removed; andIn the event that a property, which is subject to a tree removal application, is sold then the responsibility to plant outstanding replacement trees or pay cash-in-lieu remains the responsibility of the seller; andReplacement trees may be planted by the applicant on their own property or by written agreement on another person’s private property. Costs to be born as agreed between the parties; andIf the applicant is unable to plant replacement trees, then they will pay cash in lieu of $400 per tree to the city; andAll cash in lieu replacement fees will be used entirely for planting trees, not administration costs; andEnforcement of the City Private Tree Bylaw shall be the responsibility of building and bylaw department; andAll other fees and fines will be reviewed in alignment with the principles identified and approved by Council and recommendations brought back for approval; andCity Arborist will make available a consultative service to residential permit applicants, should they wish to receive them. Such service should be provided within 5 days of application being received and may provide recommendations to the applicant. Applicant is under no obligation to accept such recommendations. There will be no regulatory role for forestry staff with respect to private homes, renovations, extensions, swimming pools, decks, hot tubs, sheds or any other such property improvements; andAll other aspects of City Private Tree By-law 02-2020 will be reviewed by city staff, including legal services, in alignment with amendments identified and approved by Council and a revised version brought back for approval; andAmended City Private Tree By-law 02-2020 again be brought back for review of effectiveness and process efficiency, one year after its implementation date.Carried unanimously by Council.

MAYOR MEED WARD’S TAKE:I want to thank Counc. Paul Sharman for digging into this and bringing forward his motion with proposed amendments to our City's Private Tree Bylaw. I’ll assume we all want to preserve trees, that we want to have a streamlined process that is light on red tape and staff time. We need to determine how best to achieve that.I see this the first of several steps. We need to see what the financial impact is and other implications might be. We will get more information on this in July and September. This gets us started on the path.My goal is to streamline the complicated process, make it easier for our residents and staff. Something that’s easy to understand, and easy to calculate the fees. A flat fee for me would be quite acceptable. I love the idea of having to display the permits.I never intended this to be financially destructive to our residents, but rather it was meant more as a disincentive to bring down trees -- and at the end of the day, people paid the fees and took down the trees anyways. We will have data now to see in real time what is happening to our tree canopy across the city. RELATED LINKS:

—*Posted by John Bkila, Mayor’s Media and Digital Communications Specialist

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