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Huron-Kinloss frustrated about lack of control over wind farms By Lynda Cooper, myFM Radio |
Huron-Kinloss council To Comment on this article Click Here |
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A public meeting in Huron Kinloss Monday (July 26) was held to amend the township's Official Plan to conform with the Bruce County Official Plan. Township mayor Mitch Twolan says it was suggested to council, by the county solicitor, to amend the Official Plan and policies in relation to wind turbines because the province's Green Energy Act supersedes what municipalities want in their jurisdictions. "We had some housekeeping issues to deal with in our Official Plan," he says, "addressing the Mennonite policy, community improvement policy and the dynamic beach study by Baird and Associates for the lakeshore area south of the Point Clark Lighthouse down to Amberley Beach." But he says the majority of the people at the meeting wanted to hear what council could do to address problems with wind turbines in the township. "The planning and zoning issues, dealing with wind turbines, have been taken out of our hands and taken over by the province," he says. "The biggest issues are setbacks and health concerns. This municipality went to an OMB (Ontario Municipal Board) hearing about setbacks in 2004 and we lost. We told our residents we're not prepared to go back into a legal battle; we've been down that road before." He says the township is trying to mitigate issues as best it can. "Council is frustrated as well, but we want to work through the process and come up with some solutions." One of those solutions, he says, is for each resident to contact Huron-Bruce MPP Carol Mitchell (agriculture minister) and the Ontario premier's office and have their concerns heard.They should also take their concerns to the public meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 10, being hosted by the proponent of the Bluewater Wind Project. That meeting will be held at the Ripley-Huron Community Centre, 5:30-8 p.m. Twolan says that even though council's hands are tied, it will continue to listen to the concerns of township residents, and try to help where it can. As for the Arran-Elderslie bylaw, which calls for municipal councils to have control over where wind farms are located in their municipalities, Twolan says Huron-Kinloss has supported the bylaw but will not duplicate one for the township.
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 Huron-Kinloss mayor Mitch Twolan "We
could be opening ourselves to litigation if we create a bylaw similar to
Arran-Elderslie," he says. "We're not comfortable with that. As I said,
we've been down that path before."
[About a decade ago, Huron-Kinloss ended up in a legal battle in defending its nutrient management bylaw policies. Subsequently, the province brought in the Nutrient Management Act which took control over industrial livestock farms away from the municipalities.]
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