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11 21 2001 Public Mtg-Settler's .' . . . Transcription of Tape of Public Meeting November 21, 2001 P-116-0 1 (Settler's Ghost Golf Course) . Mayor Beard "The next item is a public meeting and this public meeting has been called under the authority of The Planning Act to obtain public comments with respect to the proposed zoning by-law amendments to rezone subject property at Line 1 North and Horseshoe Valley Road from Agricultural/Rural and Environmentally Protected EP Zones to Private Recreational and Environmental Protection Zones to permit the establishment of a golf course and associated facilities. And that's file No. P-116-01. To date, the Council ofthe Corporation of the Township ofOro-Medonte has not made a decision on the proposed amendment other than proceeding to a public meeting. Only after comments are received from the public, Township staff and requested agencies and within an appropriate time period will Council make a decision on the proposed amendment Notice of the Public Meeting was sent out to all required agencies and land owners within 120 metres/400 feet of the subject property and posted on the subject property. Madam Clerk, has there been any correspondence received on this matter?" Marilyn Pennycook "Yes Your Worship. The correspondence dated Nov. 21,2001, from Charles F. Burgess, Director of Planning and Technical Services, Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority." Mayor Beard - "Thank you. All persons present will be afforded the opportunity of asking questions in respect to the proposed amendment to the zoning by-law. I'll now turn the meeting over to Andria Leigh, the Township Planner, who will explain the purpose and affect of the proposed amendment. Andria." Andria Leigh - "Thank you Your Worship. As the Mayor has indicated, the purpose oftonight's public meeting is to obtain comments with respect to a proposed zoning amendment. The subject property is again, in a gray shade in this location. This is Line 1 North. This is the Horseshoe Valley Road in this location. The property is approximately 116 acres in size and is currently in a zone Agricultural/Rural and Environmental Protection. It's . . . 2 also currently designated Rural and Environmental Protection to Overlay and Environmental Protection One. The intent of the proposed rezoning would be to allow for an eighteen-hole golf course as well as the associated facilities that would go with a golf course. In order for Council to consider such an application in accordance with the Official Plan there are a number of studies that are required to be completed by an applicant. In this particular case the studies that have been completed to date are a hydrogeological assessment, an environmental impact study, Stage I to III archaeological assessment, a water budget and storm water management report and a traffic impact study. Most of those studies have been reviewed by Purereview Consultants for the Township and in the case of the traffic impact study, because of the Horseshoe Valley Road being a County road, it has also has been reviewed by the County of Simcoe. All of those studies are available for review at the Township office for anybody to look at at any point in time. As well, any of the review comments are also available for public information as well. If the amendment on this particular property was approved, again it would be subject to site plan control to ensure that the outline of the golf course, the sighting of the buildings, the parking areas, the landscaping, are all addressed at the satisfaction of the municipality. The purpose of tonight's meeting is to obtain any comments from the public prior to Council considering this application. The intent would be that any comments would be reviewed through the planning department. It would then be brought forward in a report to Council for their consideration. Your Worship, Mr. Rick Hunter, who is the consultant for the applicant would like to make a few comments prior to opening it up to the public comment." Rick Hunter - "Thank you Your Worship. As mentioned, my name is Rick Ilunter. I'm planning consultant with Planscape and we represent Norm Grant ofFST Holdings who are the proponents for the Settler's Ghost Golf Course. With me this evening as well is Gord Neilson from McCalsky, Neilson Associates, who has prepared the environmental impact study and will briefly comment on it as well as the other environmental reports that have been prepared and were mentioned by Ms. Leigh. All of these reports including an agricultural assessment have been finalized over the past several months. The original zoning amendment application was submitted in February of2001 and over the summer, these various reports and including a number of redesigns of the golf course have been made. . . . 3 Following this evening's meeting a separate planning report will be submitted that summarizes the project, that outlines the planning issues and specifically responds to any questions that may be raised this evening. As mentioned by Andria, tonight's public meeting is only one ofthe steps in the overall process of review. Your Worship, the number of items have been resolved over the last year as well. The preparation of the archaeological assessment of the site has been reviewed and cleared by the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Recreation. We note that there were no significant archaeological resources identified on the site and that included when the site went through a stage III review in the archaeological assessment which actually involved plowing the fields and searching in detail for artifacts. Comments have also been received from the County of Simcoe Roads and Engineering Department advising that the proposal would not significantly impact the operation of the intersections within the immediate future and that's defined as between the next ten to fifteen years and that the County will not require any road improvements at this time. In a couple of minutes, Mr. Neilson will address the issues related to the environmental reports. Based on our review and the work of the other consultants that have worked on the site, we're satisfied that the proposal does have regard for the Provincial Policy Statement, that we saw addressed in the issues that are raised in the County of Simcoe Official Plan and in the Township ofOro- Medonte Official Plan. As Andria mentioned its in Rural designation with an EP designation over part of it so the main part of the golf course is in the Rural designation, the rear part which actually fairly significantly slopes leading back towards the property of the Copeland Forest, is part ofthe Environmental Protection designation and as you can see from the site plan that is here, that area is going to remain protected and is not going to be impacted by the agricultural at all. I suppose it will be subject to site plan approval and in addition to the usual items that are dealt with in site plan as far as location of the club house, parking, the landscaping on the site, I believe there will also be requirements for implementing the best management practices for the operation of the golf course as well. Again, these are standard items in evaluating golf course development. I would ask Mr. Neilson now to comment on a couple of the environmental findings on the site." . . 4 . Gord Neilson "My name's Gord Neilson. I'm the author of the Environmental Impact Study. The purpose of the Environmental Impact Study was to look at the biological and physical conditions on the property determining environmental opportunities and constraints, possible impact post land use change, compliance with environmental policy and recommendations to mitigating factors. It establishes an environmental blue print to guide the design, construction and operation of the golf course. It draws on infoTIllation from all members of the project team which included storm water our engineers, hydrolgists, hypergeologists, golf course architect, the planner and baronogist. The property from a natural features perspective is quite straight forward. It consists mainly of farmland. The area at the North portion of the property is forested and slopes down towards the Copeland Forest ansi and towards a Copeland Forest wetland. There is a significant wetland that goes off the property. Apart from that, in the parking areas of agricultural use there are established hedgerows and an area of pine plantation in the south end of the property. The soils on the property are very sandy and have important infiltration characteristics and that functions in feeding the downgrading of wetlands. Water that falls from this property largely goes into the ground and feeds down through the wetland through the shallow aquifer system. That aquifer system is separate from a lower aquifer system, from the intermediate aquifer which is where irrigational arm is proposed that we can help. So the irrigation water comes from an aquifer which incurs below the downgrading Copeland Forest wetland and has no relationship to that wetland. And Burnside Weather took the detailhydrogenoxenburgdidlong from pumping on that well and did monitoring on the wetland and Seefichzones associated with the wetland had no impact. MOE has issued a permit to take the water for the required golf course irrigation supply based on the following background Burnside submitted. Storm water management is addressed in the environmental impact study. It's an important component of both construction and operations of the golf course. Golf course management is also addressed in the EIS. So again its got to take a detailed course management plan will include requirements for integrated pesticide management and for conservation. With respect to the . . 5 . integrated pesticide management, that means that the golf course is required to have a qualified superintendent who has taken courses on turf grass disease, whose job it is to make sure that as little chemical as possible is applied in controlling that turf grass disease and that means going out and spotting disease early and using other solutions as a first priority other than chemical solutions. That not only makes good environmental sense, its also very cost effective. It easily more than pays for the salary of a good superintendent to use such a program. It means that when a decision that a chemical is needed, it means applying it in only a spot treatment and it means applying it only under very specific weather conditions. There is also commitment for its undertaking a monitoring program during both construction and operation of the golf course to make sure that all the measures are being taken to protect the environment affected and if any problems develop, they're found quickly and can be solved quickly. In summary, the EIS demonstrates the ability of the course to fully respond to the environmental sensitivity for this landscape, including its location on the Oro Moraine. And we believe the proposal fully responds to the environmental policies ofthe Township, the County and the Province. Thank you. I believe Norm Grant would like to say a few words." Norm Grant "Good evening. Now that you've heard the technical side of our proposal for Settler's Ghost, I think its appropriate and if you'll bear with me and give me a couple of minutes to understand the emotional side to what we are proposing. My background is in golf properties. For the last ten years I have specialized in golf properties throughout all of Canada, and the North East end of the u.S. That's allowed me the opportunity to see a variety of different concepts and deal with experts in the golf industry. But more importantly I've got a firm understanding of where the golf industry has been and where it is today and most importantly, where its going to be in the future. Recently the National Golf Foundation completed a study dealing with golf participation in the World. We have always ranked within the top two. Two years ago we were second behind Sweden and in the most recent study, we are number one in the World for golf participation. That, in conjunction with Sports Canada's study, who just completed a six year study in looking at participation with in this country, golf is number one in this country - not hockey, not soccer, not lacrosse - just golf. As a result of . . 6 . those two findings, there's an underlaying tone with the golf industry. And there are two areas within golf participants that are serving or fueling that growth. Women and children. Women take up the game of golf in the greatest numbers. They also give it up the fastest as well and the reason for that is the lack of facilities that are comfortable and environments for them to come and learn how the play the game of golf. Children are not welcome typically at most golf courses that are built in this country. Most golf courses are too long, they're too expensive and they're too hard. They cater to a very small component of golf participants in Canada. Settler's Ghost has taken those results and what we've tried to do with the design is build a golf course that's friendly for the family. That's our marketplace. This golf course will have five sets of tees put in place on it. Four of your traditional tees that will be able to offer adults their ability to tee it up from different sections of the golf course, but most importantly, and I think to my knowledge the first of its kind in Canada, we have designed on every single hole, kid's tees, from 150 to 200 yards out from every hole. And there's two reasons for that. The first is to ensure their experience is as successful as possible. That brings the kids back to what I believe happens to be the greatest game. The second is from a family unit standpoint. They can go collectively down each particular hole and play the game of golf, regardless of their ability. Again, catering to the family golf. In designing this golf course, we have worked on looking at a number of different grasses and there is a reason for that and that is we want to minimize the amount of water use in this golf course and we also want to minimize the amount of chemicals that are used in maintaining this golf course. From an operating standpoint, our golf course will be very reasonably priced. We are not going to be competition to Horseshoe. If anything, we will probably be a very good adjunct to their marketing ability. We don't have hotel rooms. There's no design here for any type of hotel component to it at all. Kids will be welcome. With our training programs that will go on here, if a child shows up at Settler's Ghost without a set of golf clubs, they'll be given a set of golf clubs free of charge to go and play. In fact, we're going to do two other things novel to I believe this Country. We're going to bring back the caddy program. We're going to train kids in this area, in Oro-Medonte, to go through a complete training program and be in a position to learn how to caddy, so that a golfer coming to Settler's Ghost on prime time, he'll have the option of either carrying their bags themselves, or renting a golf cart, but for the same price, they'll be allowed to take a . . . 7 caddy. A child or kid from the area will have the opportunity to obviously learn different areas in expertise within the golf business. But most importantly there will be defined periods of time during the week at this golf course where kids will have the opportunity to play for free. This is the second time I've said it in public and that will be part of our marketing. Kids will play for free on this golf course at certain times. From an archaeology standpoint, our theme was Settler's Ghost and the name is obviously attractive and it's catchy but what we're trying to do is we're trying to celebrate the history ofOro-Medonte. We have an archaeology find on this property on the ninth hole. It dates back to the 1400's. That will be incorporated into the design of the golf course so as people play the ninth hole, they will in fact have the opportunity to learn a little bit about who used to be on the land. On top of that, for the majority of every tee walk in this golf course there will be a piece of antique farm equipment. The story as to what that equipment was used for, how it was used and when it was used. So not only is it a golf game, it's a different experience. It gives them an appreciation for the history of Oro-Medonte. One of the things that is interesting in looking at the impact of golf courses in the community: Harvard business school did a comprehensive analysis in the North American market on the impact of golf courses. And, without a doubt, it concluded that the surrounding lands around a golf course increase in value. So again, from the design standpoint, recognizing our neighbours that are here, and the impact and value on their real estate by having this golf course here, we have designed to keep everything, as far as the focal point of traffic, as close as possible to Horseshoe Valley Road. The choice is this. From this standpoint, as far as the design of the golf course, personally, if I was walking out my backyard, I'd rather look at a nice manicured golf course than a corn field, but that's my own personal opinion. Other people may be different, but at the end of the day, the impact with our neighbours, we're trying to minimize, when the golf course is completed, it has an impact on the value of their real estate for the positive. We want to teach kids how to play golf but we also want to give them the opportunity to work at Settler's Ghost, to give them the skills that they'll be in a position to take with them for the rest of their lives. In closing this evening, the reason we're here, obviously (end of side one of tape) . . 8 ........................ ..and the impact of golf in my life. So in closing, I thank you for your time. We certainly welcome any questions if we have not addressed them in this evening's presentation. Thank you very much." . Mayor Beard - "In order to ensure that everyone who wishes to have an opportunity to speak, we will have a five minute maximum time per person. The clerk will ring the bell to remind you there is one additional minute to speak and then once again, when your five minutes are completed. This is to give everybody who wishes, an opportunity to speak. There are a lot of people here tonight so for those who have questions, could the first question come forward and speak into the mike and state your name please." Barbara Sinton - "The Mayor has a smile on his face. I think he was expecting me. Mr. Mayor, Members of Council. My name is Barbara Sinton. I'm here tonight to voice concern as the property owners to the north of the proposed golf course. Points of concern: Certainly, some of these have been addressed in their presentation but I'm going to go through mine. Ground water usage: I'm of the opinion that the water for the golf course is going to come totally from a well which is at the same depth as neighbouring wells. What effect will this have on our supply of water? You supplied the report and I understand from Andria that there are some reports here. Location of vehicle entrance: I would hope the entrance would be at the top of the hill where there's a road allowance. If the entrance is to be on Line 1 North, then I would hope that the intersection off of Horseshoe Valley Road and Line 1 North would be reconstructed. All local residents know this is an extremely dangerous intersection with Line 1 North going off on the curve. The East-West traffic now have difficulty controlling their vehicles when negotiating the curve, yes, as a result of many accidents and even deaths. Additional traffic added by vehicles turning North on Line 1 off this curve would undoubtedly compound an already existing hazard. Also, Line 1 North would have to be rebuilt and I would think that that would be at the cost of the developer. It's my understanding of doing a little developing, that a lot of these costs come back to you. . . 9 No.3 the name of the Golf Course: Well, Settler's Ghost you know, that really upset me because I don't think there's any ghosts on Line l. You may have a good reason for the choice but ooh, kind of scary. . Pesticides: What is going to be used and what affect will it have on our water and the health of the residents? Thinking of the long-range affect on our children and our grandchildren, not to forget ourselves. We have a grass waterway on our property and we certainly don't want pesticides running into it. Thank you. What type of fencing will keep our children and animals safe and how high will it be. Golf bans travel at a fast rate of speed and often very high. It is not our intention to interfere with private enterprise but we need assurance that the developer has to meet an requirements to offset the additional risk of health and well being oflocal residents and also the public use of the Horseshoe Valley East-West corridor. Thanking you in advance and I will send you a letter." Mayor Beard - "Thank you. Gentleman, I assume that you are going to respond collectively to these questions. Next question please." Stephany Sinton - "Hi, my name's Stephany Sinton. I'm a neighbour of the golf course. My issue basically tonight is that my intention to use the property that I live on is for its purpose which is agricultural. I intend to have horses there. I have an in mind. I intend to have horses. I have small children. The fields that the golf course will back onto are my hay fields, which are presently a cornfield and two hay fields. I need to know what kind of fencing or what kind of prevention would you be providing so the golf balls are not landing in my hay field. I'm not going to go out searching for. They can end up in our shredder, which can end up in my hay, which I in turn will be feeding to my horses. That creates a huge issue for me. 1 f you use pesticides next door to my horses - I intend to have horses there that are high-end horses - they're not hobby horses, so pesticides and golf ball consumption is a huge concern of mine and also trail riding. I want to use the land for what it was intended to be used for. I need to know the answers for my questions. Thanks." . . 10 Elizabeth Earle" Mr. Mayor, members of council, my name is Elizabeth Earle and I've lived on that line longer than anybody else that lives on it right now. We moved in at 1967 so I can tell you two things that I'm most concerned about and they really are the same things that both Stephany and Barb have mentioned: . Traffic The County says nothing needs to be done? We've had four fatalities within the last two years. That's only the last two years. Ask any of my neighbours, up until two or three years ago, how many times they replaced their mailboxes that were knocked out time after time after time. Ask anybody who lives on our line who wants to go into work in the morning. It's not unusual when I'm going in to wait at that corner for at least twelve to fourteen motor vehicles to go by. The only time I feel safe is when I go in front on my neighbours and he's got his tractor and wagon. The people that use that road now are not the people that used to. Okay, that's ancient history, but I'll tell you, they tailgate; they go well over the speed limit. It's no wonder that there are so many motor vehicle collisions, upsets and fatalities at that particular corner. And the County says nothing needs to be done. Poppycock!! If this course enters from that intersection, the children in the car or the van or whatever, man you're asking for child fatalities. There is another possibility. At least one. And that's the unopened Second. It's a natural. Yes, it's at the other end of the farm from the building. But what would you rather have. A dead child or another infant. That's my major concern. Of equal concern is the water. Both the grass waterways and there are two of them, both of which end up in our place. One goes across the Sintons property and through into our place and eventually into Copelands. The other one goes across the side road below Barb Dunsmores. Ask her about the effects of drilling and pumping on her well, and then it ends up again in our property. And, I know Neil is quite familiar with those two grass waterways. What happens if we have another drought as we did this past year? You tell me that pumping water, extra water for golf courses, is not going to affect somebody on the first? I didn't come down with yesterday's brain. There are studies that have been done. I was not aware of them and that's no problem of yours. It's simply mine that I didn't investigate. I will have a look at those studies. . . 11 . Those are our major concerns as residents. Is it going to increase the value of our property? We don't care. What we care about is safety for everybody on that First Line. It's very short but we think we're important and we care about safety for the people that are going to use the golf course. The many children let's keep them safe. That intersection is- Thank you gentlemen." Mayor Beard - "Next person please." Barbara Dunsmore - "My name is Barbara Dunsmore and I have property right across at the corner on the First. Now when they did the environmental study and the water, my well, when they were running the flow on the new well, they continually monitored it every two, three and four hours and in the end when I talked to them they had told me that my well was the only one that was affected really significantly and I had concerns about the fact that whether or not would I have a problem down the road with this water. And because of the depth of the well we have to have up there, and the fact that we do not have a lot of flowing water, it does concern me that my well could be a very strong factor. Thank you." Mayor Beard "Next questions or statements?" Joyce Sinton - "Mr. Mayor and Council. My name is Joyce Sinton and I live at the other end of Line One North, the dead end. And of course, I'm concerned about traffic on the road and there certainly will be more people turning around in my gate should the golf course be allowed. Trafficking concerns are really the only things I wish to speak about. If the entrance remains on Line One North, considerable improvements would have to be done to our road. I hope that consideration would be given to cutting the hill down so that it would be safer for people walking on the road because we do have children on the road but we also have seniors and near seniors that use the road as a walking program consistently. I just have the vision that somebody will come in and decide that they'd have the road hard topped because the current gravel situation is less than wonderful and hard top means increased speed. Increased speed would be very difficult on that road unless you significantly widened it - - - - - I too dislike the name 'Ghost' and I don't really want to live on Ghost Town road or Settlers Ghost's road or some such name which could easily happen . . 12 down the road as it becomes named by the commercial activity as has Horseshoe Valley Road. Everyone knows where Horseshoe Valley Road is and Horseshoe Valley was a private effort. So I would wonder if consideration would be given to 'Settler's something else -like Settler's Green. . Lastly, but maybe not so unimportant, we are bee keepers and I wonder if there'd be any provision in the plans that they would notify us when there is significant amounts of insecticide was going to be distributed on the golf course if this goes through. Ifwe could put something in place before this happens, it would be good news for us. Thank you." Mayor Beard - "Next person. Go ahead." Stephany Sinton - "I just wanted to ask also if it will be licensed. If you can drink alcohol on the course and also about garbage litter. I know now I can leave two bags out so I wonder about - Mayor Beard "These questions will be responded to when we wrap up after - . Next question?" Kathy Buckingham - "Hi. My name is Kathy Buckingham. I'm actually a resident outside of Craighurst and - - - - other event. I just wanted to say that as a parent with teenagers, I'm quite delighted that there is an opportunity both for children to learn how to golf in an area that is set up and appropriate and also a place for them to go and have recreation and to possibly learn or get ajob. One of the concerns I'm sure anybody who lives around Horseshoe is aware is that there are lots of things for people that are participating at the resort but for a lot of that community there is a broad range of kids, probably from about 10 to 16 that don't have as much to do. And when you don't have a lot to do, you often get into some mischief. And really, when I heard about this, and seeing and listening more to what it could cater to, I think that's a real benefit to the Horseshoe and Craighurst communities and I'm delighted about it." Mayor Beard "Thanks. Mr. Hough, did you have some questions?" Councillor Ralph Hough - "Yes I do. I'm sure they can address them in their wrap up. One ofthe issues that was raised was water, obviously, and I'm just curious on the depth of the well and also there was some talk of . . 13 . water conservation. I'm just wondering if you can expand on that a little and are you planning on using runoff irrigation or rely strictly on the well? What are your conservation methods for the water? And I misunderstood, I think, from some of the questions from Mrs. Sinton there, I thought the entrance was on the Horseshoe Valley Road but I gather from a later conversation that it may be on Line One. I couldn't see from over there. I do apologize." Martin Kimble - "I represent Horseshoe, I think you all know me. We haven't had the opportunity to see this and it's of interest to me and it will be of interest to Horseshoe. I mean fundamentally, we're certainly not against it, I don't think, but 1 do have some questions. It's a fairly small piece of land. And by the way, we will look at the studies that we now know exist and we'll have a full review of them. But, you've got eighteen holes on how many actual acres of usable land, I'm curious? You said it was 116 acres total? You're not using 20 30?" Norm Grant - "Sixteen." Martin Kimble - "Sixteen, is that cornered? Norm Grant - "Yes." Martin Kimble - "So you've got eighteen holes on 100 acres, so you won't have many trees left." Norm Grant - "Well actually, we're planting over 400." Martin Kimble - "I'm curious. I'm just asking questions about what will happen to the piece ofland because fundamentally you won't be able to build that golf course and if you don't have to build them, you won't have many left." Mayor - "Martin. I'd just as soon you come through the Chair so we don't get a crossfire and then it's not too difficult. You're being recorded." Martin Kimble - "I'm sorry. I was just curious as to what acreage was being used by the golf course itself in building it because eighteen holes on 100 acres is a pretty dense golf course. I was just interested in what the piece of land would look like when the golf course was complete and I am curious as to the impact of the traffic study. Because, as you know, as the Council . . 14 . knows, we've been engaged in a very very thorough traffic study for the region and I don't know whether the traffic study that the proponents did addressed the other traffic study that we had to do. So, I'd be curious as to whether that actually happens. As you know, the corner was removed from the traffic study that Horseshoe did, the one that Sintons have been referring to, at the request of Simcoe County. So we did address it because the Council asked us and that whole issue was removed from the Traffic Study so it would be interesting to see them. I will request those studies as well but I just wanted to express some concerns about what the tree coverage would be like after the fact and what the traffic issues would be." Mayor Beard - "Thank you Mr. Kimble. I'm sure Council appreciates your comments because I think there is a lot of knowledge in the studies that have been done there that win be helpful to all of us and the proponent as well. Next question please." Sandy Hosie - "My name is Sandy Hosie and I've been a high school teacher in this area for about twenty years. My subject has been physical education. I too share Norm's love of the game of golf and tried to bring that into our phys-ed programs in the high school level. One of the biggest problems that we've had in having golf as part of phys-ed program has been the high cost and to hear of him speak of a golf course where students can golf at a very reduced price or even for free, I think speaks very highly of a fàcility that's badly needed in this area and I've never ever heard of a golf course that would offer this kind of a feature and a program to students and I think anything that we can do that would encourage the involvement of students in the game of golf is something that we shouldn't - ---- Mayor Beard - "Next comment or question? Next comment or question for the second time? Then I would invite the proponent to state some of the answers to some of the things that have been raised tonight. Of course, I would expect that anybody has any concerns, they'll correspond as well." Man - "Your Worship, perhaps I may respond to a few of the questions. First, with respect to ground water usage and impact -' firstly, I do appreciate all the good comments and questions that were raised. With respect to ground water usage and impact on wells - the pump testing that was done, was done in summertime. The well that is being looked at is , . . . 15 . screened between 285 and 300 feet. The pump testing did involve looking at a number of the local wells, any wells which were considered to be within the zoning impact. I'm not the hydrogeologist, but have reviewed their work in some detail and the purpose of the pump test is to draw a substantial higher rate than would be drawn at during irrigation of the course. So the idea is to be able to determine through that at what level we are starting to impact and then back off until we do not have an impact. That work was done by Birksline to - all qualifYing materials - - - by unit three of environment who also have to look into impact on local wells. Of course that's done during a time when water levels were down so I'm quite confident that the work was thorough enough to demonstrate there won't be an impact. With respect to pesticides and concerns about impacts from pesticides - this is a concern that any golf course application that I've been involved in, I think it's been a common concern and rightly so. Golf courses, like any other industry, have an opportunity to do a better job than they've done in the past and that's the whole idea behind the pesticide management and planning of the golf course superintendent. I always need to compare golf courses to agricultural uses, especially in an agricultural community and I've got farmers in my family. But when you compare an agricultural use for pesticides are also used to a golf course use, first of all the acreage of land where tem- are being applied, the tees, greens and fairways in substantial amounts. Second, there is a law that on a golf course not to apply those chemicals and its not to find alternate solutions first. Third, there are on each golf hole the drainage will occur to areas where there is opportunities for infiltration and for the - enuation ofthat runoff through vegetation. So all of those things work together to reduce the potential for any outside impacts. And there has been a lot of research done on golf course impacts on ground water and the results which I've seen certainly do not indicate that there is hot potential for golf courses, a properly done golf course, to have an impact on outside Something to keep in mind to is that the modern pesticides are specifically designed. It used to be that the idea was that if a pesticide's been around for a long time, it's a good product and we've heard from mistakes in the past and the idea of the day is to have a pesticide which breaks down very quickly in the environment and which also has a much more specific impact or target impact. So the idea is that those chemicals are not around 48 hours or 96 hours after application. So if starts to move through the ground water, . . . 16 which is a very slow process, those chemicals are being broken down into our environment. Finally, and I believe _may wish to speak to some of the other questions that were raised. The issue of trees on the property - there is encroachment into the area - - plantation in the south end of the property. There will be removal of about 50% of those trees. We are confident that the golf course really can be provided which will announce about 50% of retention value including a broad band oftrees along Horseshoe Valley Road. As part of the commitment to the golf course, its also a naturalization plan which will occur in areas outside it's boundaries and the idea of that is to encourage natural succession of the long term by planting those areas with appropriate trees to those areas, trees that will spread vegetatively and then by making sure that those areas don't get managed and don't have any equipment run over them so that those trees get to grow. That's a long term investment but trees within the plantationary that we lost, there'll be more lost through planting elsewhere and essentially there's no encroachment on the forest itself on top. The only encroachment there is within a small area of plantation which sits on the tableland adjacent to the slopes and perhaps a handful of trees on the very top of the slope just to allow some stopping of one tee and one green. Thank you." Mayor - If there is no further from the proponents, Council wishes to thank all of those in attendance and your participation and will consider how the matter is reported from the decision. Written submission can be received at the Township Office until Wed. Dec. 5,2001 and those issuing deputations to Council be permitted with respect to this amendment. If anyone wishes to be notified of that passing of the proposed amendment, would you please leave your name and address with the Clerk. Now do you have a motion to adjourn this part of the meeting?" Marilyn Pennycook "Moved by Councillor Fountain, seconded by Councillor Marshall be it resolved that the public meeting regarding proposed zoning by-law amendment to rezone from Agricultural/Rural and Environmental Protection Zone to Private Recreational and Environmental Protection Zone to permit the establishment of a golf course and associated facility. File No. P-116-0 1. Adjourn at 8:09 p.m." . . . 17 Mayor Beard -"Any Questions? All in favour? Motion is carried. Our next public meeting has been called under the authority of the Planning Act to obtain public comments.. .end of recording