MINUTES

 

TORBAY ENVIRONMENT & TRAILS COMMITTEE MEETING

 

Wednesday, May 29, 2002

 

Present:          Shirley Thorne                                   Peggy Manning

Mike Wawrzkow                                Madeleine Florent

Marion Crowley                                 Sandy Sandeman

Michele DuRand                                Harvey Best

 

1.                 Introductions and Approval of Agenda:

The agenda was approved with the addition of two items: Parks and Recreation and the Torbay Hillside Festival.

 

2.                 Approval of Minutes of the Last Meeting:

The minutes of the April 24 meeting were approved with the addition of Harvey Best’s name under the list of attendees.

 

3.                 Business Arising from the Minutes:

3.1       Trail’s End:

The development plan has been approved and the road to the brook has already been cut. We will need to take photos soon of the areas around the pond for future comparison. We will be preparing a brochure which will be handed to new residents informing them of the designation of Western Island Pond as a critical wetland and advising them of their role in maintaining the ecological integrity of the area. Peggy and Harvey volunteered to help prepare the brochure and Shirley will ask Susan Boulos if she would be interested in participating. Also, members will be emailed to see who else would be interested in working on this.

 

3.2       TETC/Town Newsletter:

It is unfortunate that some typing errors were left in the text of our newsletter due to retyping by the printer, however, overall the process went very well. Madeleine reported that Bob Codner does not at this time feel that an editorial committee for the town newsletter is needed. For the next newsletter, we will be advised what the requirements are in terms of font, deadline, etc, in plenty of time so some uniformity can be maintained without the printer having to redo our section.

 

3.3       Property Beautification Awards:

Discussions are continuing on how the awards will work this year. Peggy has discussed the idea of dividing up the first prize with Ross and Bob, both of whom had no objections. The idea is to have perhaps 5 winners instead of just one first place thus reducing competition. Other things being considered are the time interval between the same property winning and possibly adding new categories, e.g. new homes, most improved, etc. A list of local businesses has been prepared

 

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and the sub-committee will be getting together in the next two weeks to prepare the letters seeking donation of prizes.

 

3.4       Neighbourhood Clean-up Report:

Including the Gully clean-up, over 48 bags of litter were collected. Irving is planning to hire a student to complete their clean-up. The town hopes to be able to hire a student this summer to pick up litter around town. There is still lots of litter around particularly around the schools.

 

3.5       Torbay Newfoundland Pony Project:

Shirley has emailed Annette asking for more information about their planned project for which they have requested TETC support but to date has not received a response.

 

3.6       Liability Insurance for Volunteers:

We have written to Bob Codner and received confirmation that all volunteers involved in the Gully Project are covered under the town’s liability insurance, as are all TETC volunteers.     

 

3.7       Washrooms in the Kinsmen Centre:

Bob Codner has been advised of our concern regarding the constantly running water in the Kinsmen Centre men’s washrooms and he will be looking into this.

 

4.                 Gully Project Steering Committee Report:

Activities on the Gully project are progressing very well, including tree planting, clean-ups, etc. Work on the brochure and web site will begin soon. The recycling program has netted over $250 so far. Bridie Molloy has agreed to donate all their recyclables to us as long as we pick them up on a weekly basis. Shirley, Madeleine and Harvey agreed to share the pick-up duty. We will do a letter to Nancy Coady thanking them. It is suggested that, in order to save time, residents count their recyclables before bringing them in to Nova and obtain the pink slips before leaving. Two suggestions put forth were that we get residents involved in feeding the ducks in the Gully and that we consider building a nesting platform similar to the ones built by students in Carmanville. 

5.                 New Business:

5.1       Meeting with Mayor Bob Codner:

Shirley and Madeleine met with Bob on May 16 to discuss a number of matters of interest to our committee.

 

5.2       TETC Terms of Reference:

Bob will be getting back to us concerning the changes he wants done to the draft document. Neil Dollard of the Stephenville Crossing wetland project has requested a copy of our terms of reference.

 

5.3       Jones Pond:

Madeleine tabled correspondence from Kenneth and Kathleen Knowles of Middle Cove outlining their concerns for the protection of Jones Pond. While the pond itself is in Middle


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Cove, approximately half the perimeter on the north side is in Torbay. A request was recently made to Council by the landowner to rezone the bulk of this area from “rural” to “development”. The town of Logy Bay-Middle Cove is keen to preserve this pond and has approved a 50-metre buffer on their portion. The committee agreed that it would like to support efforts to protect this pond particularly as the landowner on the Torbay side has plans to sell the land to a developer. A letter to Council will be prepared proposing that a 50-metre buffer be placed on our section of the pond perimeter.  Madeleine will advise the Knowles of the committee’s decision and will suggest they contact their council and have them write to our council.

 

5.4       Gosse’s Pond:

Ken Hannaford has visited this pond which is one of our two critical management areas under the Habitat Management Plan. This pond is an important rainbow trout spawning area and has a substantial population of Canada Yew as well as unusual flora. Unfortunately there is evidence of poaching, severe ATV damage and clear cutting on one side.  Ken has placed some gravel in the stream to improve spawning beds for the fish. We will need to contact Fisheries about the poaching activity and monitor activity in the area closely. Hopefully, we will be able to make use of the signage that SAM is looking at to better inform the public about the uniqueness of this area.

 

5.5       Mapping of Trails Project Update:

The sub-committee met with MUN representatives last evening to get this project off the ground now that we will have two students to undertake this project. By the end of the summer, we will have a data bank which will be stored at MUN which we can use as we wish and which will be useful for many different kinds of project, e.g. roads, waters, etc. Once the vectorizing is complete later this summer, we will take aerial photographs and start categorizing types of trails and other features of interest. Harvey will be meeting with Bob Codner and Gerry Hayes tomorrow to discuss details and financing.

 

The committee is now accepting volunteers who will be interested in walking the trails and verifying locations using GPS. Anyone interested should contact Harvey Best or any member of the executive.

 

5.6       Environment Week, June 2-8:

Shirley has written to the schools suggesting a beach clean-up challenge for Oceans Day on

June 8.

 

5.7       Literacy Program in Torbay:

We have sent a letter to the elementary school supporting the proposed literacy program. Shirley will contact the school and get more information on what is planned.

 

5.8       Recreation Committee Meeting:

Madeleine will contact Tina to get an idea of the agenda for their next meeting so we can determine whether we need to send a representative.


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5.9       Heritage Committee Meeting, June 5:

Harvey volunteered to attend this meeting if he was available.

 

5.10     Community Hikes:

The next hike will be to Jones Pond on June 23. We will meet at the Town Hall at 1:30pm.

 

We will not not be repeating the Canada Day Mayor’s walk along the Father Troy Trail this year as the town has many activities planned for that day anyway. We hope to have a “full moon” hike in August featuring ghost stories and special effects. More news later.

 

1.                 TETC 2002 Budget: 

Our approved budget for the year was $3,000 and, so far, we should be able to operate within this amount. The mapping project will require $1,300 instead of the estimate of $1,000 but we should be able to offset this increase. We may need to ask Council for some funds to cover the purchase of aerial maps when the times comes. Our free internet access will end in late June but the monthly charge thereafter may be lower than anticipated. Madeleine will report on this at the next meeting.

 

2.                 Meetings Attended by Committee Representatives:

7.1       Town Council Meetings, May 13 & 27:

Matters of interest already reported on.

 

7.2       Conservation and Stewardship Conference 2002:

Madeleine and Ken attended this conference in St. John’s. The conference featured many interesting and informative speakers. The main purpose of the conference was to provide guidance to the Newfoundland and Labrador Legacy Nature Trust on funding priorities. At this point, the organization has an amount of $80,000 which is available to groups for conservation and stewardship projects. One possibility being thrown around is a video to publicize SAM.

 

7.3       Stewardship Association of Municipalities Meeting, Torbay, May 24-25:

There were 27 participants from across the province at this meeting hosted by the Town of Torbay. The Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Operations Manager attended the meeting as did representatives of the TETC. Ken did a very informative presentation on the Gully project and a video on Stephenville Crossing was shown. The meeting took place at the Airport Boardroom and participants were given a tour of the man-made wetland project on the airport runway. The next SAM meeting will take place in Winterland in October. Minutes of the SAM meeting are being prepared by Shirley. 

 

3.                 Other Business:

8.1       Torbay Hillside Festival:

Plans for the festival are continuing. Volunteers for the TETC booth so far (subject to confirmation) are Shirley, Ross, Harvey, Peggy, Marion and Madeleine. Other volunteers are welcome.

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8.2       Presentation by Keith Hogan:

Shirley accepted a copy of David Suzuki’s book “Good News for a Change” from Keith Hogan who recently attended a meeting of the Canadian Parmaceutical Association as president of the Newfoundland and Labrador branch. Dr. Suzuki was the guest speaker at the conference. Shirley thanked Keith for his gift which will be available to members who wish to read it.

 

8.3       Pesticides:

This item was raised as an issue the TETC should look at. The item will be placed on a future agenda.

 

8.4       Presentation of Award to Shirley:

Marion presented Shirley with the Parks and Recreation Association 30th Anniversary Award designed to honour volunteers for their outstanding efforts and valuable contribution to local recreation and leisure services in the community. Congratulations Shirley!

 

4.                 Date of Next Meeting and Adjournment:

The next meeting will take place on Wednesday, June 29, at 8:15pm at the Kinsmen Centre.

 

The meeting adjourned at 10:00pm