MINUTES
TORBAY ENVIRONMENT & TRAILS COMMITTEE MEETING
Wednesday, February 25, 2004, 7:30pm, Kinsmen Centre
Present: Shirley Thorne Mike Byrne Madeleine Florent
Mike Wawrzkow Harvey Best Marian Crowley
Sandy Sandeman Bob Schmiedendorf Krista House
Annette Stapenhorst
Special Guests: Honourable Jack Byrne Carmen Rowse
The agenda was approved with some additions.
Minister Byrne presented the Committee with a cheque for $5,000 from Municipal Affairs to aid in the construction of the outdoor classrooms. This was followed by a discussion of future plans for the Gully and possible sources of funding for the boardwalk and the interpretation centre.
Mr. Byrne indicated that he has pursued the issue of the replacement of the culverts on Torbay Road with the Minister of Roads, Services and Transportation and has placed the culverts at the top of the priority list for the district this year.
Carmen Rowse, HTES representative on the Gully Project Steering Committee, presented a cheque for $2500 which was raised by students during a recycling blitz to assist in the completion of the classrooms. The official presentations will take place during Education Week in March.
The minutes of the last meeting were approved with the following updates:
(1) Forest Landing: the developer has spoken to the contractor about the possible inappropriate disposal of waste materials. Harvey suggested that we should address this issue in the broader context as this occurs regularly around town. Recently there was dumping of asphalt on Pine Line for example. Mention should perhaps be made in our next newsletter in an effort to make people aware of the hazards of disposing of toxic materials, particularly in areas close to water sources.
(2) Hazardous Waste Day: inquiries have been made about the possibility of Torbay holding a hazardous waste day similar to what has taken place in St. John's and other communities. However, it appears that MMSB is planning something regionally so we will wait to see what develops.
Madeleine gave an update on the project. A lot of the work of late has been focused on funding
applications for phase 3. The EcoAction application was submitted on February 1 and some additional information about the Blueline Innovations pilot has been requested and is being prepared. Two successful workshops with Ross Traverse were held this month and plans are under way for our Backyard Habitat Workshop and Open House on April 17 and 18 respectively. Anyone interested in the workshop should contact Krista as soon as possible as half the seats have already been reserved.
The recycling program has gained some momentum since the notice was placed on the town sign. The town has provided a blue box for donations which is located outside the Kinsmen Centre.
In line with our focus on climate change and energy conservation plans in phase 3, Mike W. offered to do a pilot in the next few weeks of his new greenhouse gas emission inventories software possibly using HTHS. This would serve as an excellent demonstration project and the results could be reported in our newsletter or put on display at our Open House. Krista will put Darla in touch with Mike W. to further explore this idea.
5. Planning for Annual Neighbourhood Clean-up
May 29 was picked as the date for the annual neighbourhood clean-up. Everyone agreed the amount of litter around town has been increasing and we should make an extra effort this year to get residents out and participating in the clean-up. A meeting was set for April 7, at 7pm at the Kinsmen Centre, to plan the event and strategize on how to get people involved. We will ask to have this meeting advertised on the town sign and a notice placed in the town's upcoming newsletter. Our theme will be 'Don't let Torbay go to waste!'. Other means of advertising the meeting will be emails to the membership, notice on our web site, notices on mail boxes, etc. We should also involve children and youth and speak to our contacts there about how this could best be done.
It was decided that, instead of issuing a separate TETC newsletter, we would set aside one page of the next Gully Project newsletter for general TETC business.
A meeting is tentatively planned at Shirley's house for next Sunday, February 29, to prepare the material for the newsletter.
Shirley and Harvey are on the Come Home Year Organizing Committee and will report back to us as plans emerge. We will as a committee want to look at what ideas we can come up with to mark the year, probably in conjunction with our booth at the Hillside Festival.
This conference is very timely in view of the increasing interest in the subject of pesticides in our community and elsewhere. It was agreed that we should send a memorandum to the town
asking them to share the cost of sending Krista to this conference with the TETC.
Our comments about this draft policy are due in to the town by this Friday. Bob S. and Mike W. will send their input to Madeleine who will coordinate the response to Corrie. Education is key to good management of developments in wetlands and other areas at risk of flooding.
The government has released a Discussion Paper on revisions to the pesticide regulations and is asking the public for written comments by April 23. Copies of the paper are available on the web site: http://www.gov.nl.ca/env/publications.asp or can be obtained by calling 729-2556. All members are encouraged to review the document and to make their views know either by sending them to the government directly or to Madeleine who will coordinate a response for the committee. Right now, enforcement seems to be the biggest problem as well as the lack of provincial legislation that would allow municipalities to ban the cosmetic use of pesticides.
Francis Thorne will replace Mike Wawrzkow as treasurer of the TETC. Mike will prepare a financial report for the next meeting. Mike has agreed to continue as treasurer for the Gully Project.
No other changes to the board have been made at this time.
11.1 Eastern Trail Riders Association Meeting
With regards to current efforts of snowmobilers in the area to form an association, it was pointed out that the TETC has been supportive in the past of any effort that would enable snowmobilers to organize and has encouraged snowmobilers to contact us to discuss issues of mutual concern. When we obtain more information about the new organization and its mandate, we will consider sending a letter of support.
11.2 Newfoundland Environmental Industries Association AGM, March 4 & 5, St. John's
The theme of the meeting is 'Facing Challenges, Finding Solutions'. There are several keynote speakers (Anderson, Osborne, Efford, Byrne, Dunderdale, etc), exhibits, and seminars. Given our committee's mandate, this is a worthwhile meeting for Krista to attend and we will inquire about special fees for voluntary groups. Funding may be available from the Gully Project budget.
11.3 Climate Change Workshop, Fluvarium, February 25
Harvey and Krista attended a one-day workshop on climate change organized by Environment Canada. One of the goals is to set up a community of interest province-wide so people can network. A significant amount of funds will become available from the federal government for work in this area.
The next meeting will take place on Wednesday, March 31, at 7:30pm at the Kinsmen Centre.
In an effort to gain more visibility and increase our membership, we would like the notice of our meetings placed on the town sign on a monthly basis. Mike will follow up with the town to see if this could be done on a regular basis.