TETC Minutes April 2010

Present Ross Traverse, Sylvia Warkentin, Madeleine Florent, Terry Sanford, Geoff Gallant, Helen Spencer

1. Minutes were approved

2. Development. There was discussion on how to improve development plans in Torbay so that there is less negative impact on the Torbay environment. Some suggestions were

• If developing 10 lots, at least one must be for green space, i.e. a 10% green space (not money) rule
• When town issues a building permit, the site should be evaluated and decisions made about keeping as many trees as possible instead of clearing the site of all trees.
• Unserviced lots should be a minimum 1 acre size, like in Middle Cove in order to preserve the rural character of Torbay and particularly to protect individual water supplies.

Geoff suggested that TETC make a quarterly report to Council. He also suggested we write to council via him on protecting trees and lot size and Dominion Hill.

3. Dominion Hill. The appeal about Dominion Hill rezoning was not heard because it was not an acceptable item for the appeal process. However it may well resurface elsewhere. There was discussion about how to prevent this (rezoning of Conservation Land along the coast) everywhere in the province – the issue is arising now in Pouch Cove, and to prevent it from happening again here, because fighting it time and again is a lot of work. Terry will draft a letter to council asking them to lobby government on this issue since this issue has also caused considerable stress to council too.

4. EHJV Habitat Management Plan There will be a separate meeting to discuss the new EHJV Habitat Management Plan. It will be at Sylvia’s home on April 22 at 7.30pm.

5. Newsletter There was a reminder that articles are due for the newsletter. Madeleine is having trouble condensing the article on coyotes. Because we have a large number of articles we may have to have a larger newsletter.

6. Torbay Tree Day On Monday morning Helen, Ross and Beth will go to look at potential sites for planting trees in Torbay. Beth will make sketch maps of the sites and where Ross think trees should go so that we can get approval for planting. Ross says we can probably only expect a 20 to 30% success rate. He also suggested we give every child at the elementary school a tree to plant on Arbour Day. Madeleine suggests we might want to buy some bigger trees for planting too.

7. Bird ID presentation Judith Blakeley has agreed to present on bird ID and run a bird/plant hike. The former will be in May and the hike in June. Dates to be finalized.