Planning ban... Drive-thru update

[posting]

Should Kingston consider a ban on drive-thru retail services? See below for a summary of action on this issue by other municipalities across Ontario below.

-- Kingston Electors


CATCH News – February 2, 2008

Drive-thru update

The issue appears to be going nowhere fast in Hamilton, but other Ontario cities are moving to restrict or even ban new drive-thrus. Proposals to restrict or ban drive-thrus was addressed by councils in Mississauga, Peterborough and Kitchener last month.

Peterborough council decided last week to order a study on how they can restrict drive-thrus, especially near residential areas. The city’s planning director suggested they could be banned from the downtown and other pedestrian oriented areas of Peterborough.

In Mississauga, councillors referred proposed restrictions to their environment committee in mid-January. If approved, required setbacks and pedestrian safety requirements could make it impossible to establish new drive-thrus on smaller lots, says the Toronto Star story on the move.

“I've always felt we had too many drive-thrus ... It's a problem," the paper quotes Mayor Hazel McCallion. "I don't think we can ban them, but we certainly have to get them under strict control."

Pedestrian safety is a concern in Kitchener where councillors voted unanimously last week to ensure people don’t have to cross the drive-thru lineup to get into a donut shop. More extensive restrictions, including a possible ban on all new drive-thrus, will be discussed by the council in March.

According to the local newspaper, Kitchener recently won two Ontario Municipal Board decisions blocking drive-thru applications – one in a mixed-use pedestrian-friendly area and the second because it “compromised pedestrian safety”.

The issue was raised in Hamilton more than a year ago, forming part of a series of climate change recommendations made by Environment Hamilton to council in February of last year. Staff were instructed to provide a follow-up report to the ten-point list, but that has yet to happen.

However, planning staff responded in December to a follow-up request specific to drive-thrus. Bill Janssen, the new director of strategic services and special projects, told the planning committee that the city could consider some restrictions in the new official plan and comprehensive zoning bylaw due to be finalized in June 2009.

“Rather than an outright prohibition, the best approach would be to limit drive-thrus through specific geographic locations of the city,” he said. “And we’ve already done that in the downtown through the secondary plan, parts of the waterfront through the Setting Sail secondary plan.”

However, in January, the committee removed the ban in the latter plan in the face of the objections related to a land development near Barton Street.


CATCH (Citizens at City Hall) updates use transcripts and/or public documents to highlight information about Hamilton civic affairs that is not generally available in the mass media. Detailed reports of City Hall meetings can be reviewed at www.hamiltoncatch.org (http://www.hamiltoncatch.org/).

[Dogma]

City needs managed growth

Posted 5 hours ago

At a time when the City of Kingston is discussing a new amalgamated Official Plan and developing a new vision for managed growth in our community, it is important to be clear on some of the terms being used in the public discourse about development in Kingston.

The Kingston Home Builders Association represents residential developers and homebuilding companies responsible for construction of more than 80 per cent of all new homes in Kingston. We think it critical to point out that managed, sustainable growth is in the best interest of all Kingstonians.

In a recent Blue-Ribbon Panel column in the Whig-Standard ("Councillors do a lot of their work out of the public spotlight," Dec. 5, 2007), city councillor Vicki Schmolka made passing reference to the term "urban sprawl," a term that is often used loosely when discussing development.

In our view, most people would define urban sprawl as random, unplanned and uncontrolled growth springing up in areas beyond the built urban boundary.

Councillor Schmolka chairs city council's planning committee and is well aware that the municipality currently has three official plans that regulate where, what kind, and, to some degree, when development can occur.

She understands that a thorough system is in place to regulate development, so we find it odd that she claims Kingston is experiencing "urban sprawl" as most people understand the term.

On the contrary, we have planned and managed growth. The development community is governed by detailed conditions for managed growth found in the municipality's Official Plan. We currently have three thorough and comprehensive official plans inherited from the pre-amalgamation days that will soon be unified into one Official Plan. These plans draw on the best growth forecasts and budget estimates from the qualified staff at Utilities Kingston, the city's engineering and public works departments, and numerous experts employed by the municipality.

There are also many zoning restrictions, standards, environmental protections, assessments and site plan approvals that govern development.

We assume (and certainly hope) that Councillor Schmolka and others who refer to "sprawl" are not taking a "no growth" position.

As an industry, we provide a service, producing new homes for a community that desires options and choices. We have to ensure we'll be able to meet the full range of critical housing needs that Kingston will have as it grows over the next 20 years. In 2006 alone, for instance, city data indicate homebuilders started construction on 639 housing units in Kingston with a market value of at least $150 million. There is a clear and ongoing demand for the construction of new homes.

Reducing the supply of land currently designated for development will only serve to drive up the prices of homes in Kingston, reducing affordability. If demand for new homes stays strong, in keeping with growth in the local economy and low interest rates, housing prices will tend to keep pace with general inflation - so long as there is an ample supply of development lands available. It is when well-intentioned "smart growth" strategies aim to restrict the supply of developable land that housing prices tend to spike.

Councillor Schmolka also expressed concerns about how municipalities will fund the services and infrastructure needed to meet our future housing needs. The figures the councillor used in her column, however, seemed to confuse infrastructure costs with annual maintenance expenses. One-time capital costs to service new residential developments with roads and water mains are not the same as expenses for ongoing services, such as snowplowing, which are covered by our annual taxes.

In fact, for more than 30 years the city has been utilizing a sustainable economic model under which current growth funds future growth; it relies on the use of development charges, impost fees and lot levies paid for by developers and homebuyers when they procure building permits. As of the end of 2007, through contributions to these funds via building permits, the municipality had collected $6 million in its development charges fund and $16 million in its impost fees fund.

The municipality collects these funds, which are generated by new construction, and holds them in a reserve fund to pay for the extension of major roads, water main trunk lines, new sewage pumping stations, additional traffic lights, new parks, and fire stations. Our property taxes don't pay for growth-related improvements to the city's infrastructure; the development charges fund and impost fees fund do.

Annual costs for snowplowing and maintenance of existing infrastructure is another matter. These are routine operating costs covered in all municipalities by property taxes. Concern about these types of costs should not be used to justify restricting overall housing choices and supply, which will only serve to curtail future growth, reduce funds for infrastructure, limit the housing supply and force housing prices up.

We hope that clarifying how development is managed and municipal infrastructure is financed will serve to dispel the myth that we are experiencing unplanned, uncontrolled or underfinanced growth in Kingston.

As an industry, homebuilders firmly believe that our customers should have ample choices in their housing selections at fair and affordable prices - something that is not achievable when the supply of developable land is inadequate to meet the needs of our community.

Barry R.Smith
Kingston

- Barry R. Smith is president of the Kingston Home Builders Association.

[Dogma]

Pesticides used to control pests

Posted 21 mins ago

It seems to me there is a bit of hypocrisy at City Hall; nothing new there. I am referring to the issue of banning the "cosmetic" use of pesticides.
The Buy-A-Net organization, which raises awareness and money to assist in the eradication of malaria in the Third World, asked city council to proclaim a World Malaria Day. Although council decided to only recognize the day locally, it certainly agreed to the concept. To council, it seems to be all right to use chemical pesticides in Third World countries but not in Kingston.
Having lived for a year in a country in which malaria was at epidemic proportions and having had a friend contract that disease, I fully support the mission of Buy-A-Net. However, they use a chemical insecticide, deltamethrine, to eliminate the disease.
Deltamethrine is widely accepted as a viable solution to the problem. Another viable option is DDT, which, if used properly, is ***** and effective, and is used more and more in developing countries. A mild solution of DDT and water is sprayed on the interior walls of houses. Exposed mosquitoes are killed. DDT is probably the most effective solution worldwide.
Since the banning of DDT by the United Nations, some reports state that 30 million people have died needlessly due to this ban brought on by bad science and selfish, irresponsible individuals. Around five million people a year are affected.
"Cosmetic use of pesticides" is a term coined by the "ban pesticides" group, when, in fact, most people use chemical insecticides and herbicides to control noxious weeds and insects, and not for "cosmetic" purposes. When the incidence of allergies escalates in Kingston, which is already known as a high-risk area for allergies, and when insects destroy lawns and attract wildlife - for example, skunks, which are known carriers of rabies - I at least hope that council will accept some responsibility.
A little history: the biggest cause of illness and death during the construction of the Rideau Canal was malaria. Kind of makes you think.
Don Scott Kingston

[Lydia]

Hold on to your hat falks, The Pesticide ban isn't the only one that is coming YOUR WAY. Take a look at a copy of an e-mail Leonore Foster has sent to her voters. Another industry to be destroyed because of BAN happy council cound happen. Apparently it is being discussed that idling your car should be banned. Could that affect companies such as, Tim Hortons, McDonalds, Banks, etc.
In the winter if you are idling your car long enough to heat it up so that you don't freeze driving it to work or whereever you are going, you could be breaking the law? I guess there must be a need to even discuss this because as you KNOW WE ALL IDLE OUR CARS FOR THE FUN OF IT??????

Another reason I HATE BANS. How many officers will there be going around and handing out tickets? Of course look at the bright side of this. Maybe we could HIRE thousands of inspectors to go around inspectiong your lawns for chemicals, cars for idling, etc. Hum, wonder what else we can have a ban on???? lol lol. I know I would LOVE THIS BAN. Ban on councilors who waste our money on BANS.


From: Leonore Foster <lfoster@cityofkingston.ca>
To: LFoster@cityofkingston.ca
Subject: Your Input Requested on Idling By-Law
Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2008 11:28:54 -0500

Dear Resident:

Your input is requested on the proposed Idling By-Law.
* You can make your comments online by going to: http://www.cityofkingston.ca/residents/environment/idling/ where more information on the Idling By-Law is available. Comments submitted online will be accepted until Friday, March 7.
* There will be a public meeting hosted by the Environment, Infrastructure and Transportation Policies Standing Committee which will take place on Tuesday, February 26, 7.00pm, at the Portsmouth Olympic Harbour.
* You can also mail your comments to:
Kim Leonard
City of Kingston
City Hall
216 Ontario Street
Kingston, ON, K7L 2Z3

Please let your neighbours know, as I may not have their email address.