[All] GREN Minutes of Sept. 26

[Susan Bryant]

GREN Minutes – Sept. 26, 2019
Christian Science Sunday School, 64 Water St. N, Kitchener




GREN Finances – Greg. $704 expenses do far this year.  $1,427 balance



GREN Website—Deaun. Patrick (who took over from Theo) has transferred the website to Word Press. There was some discussion of how to organize the site. GREN still needs a website developer and someone to run the site or to teach us how to update it regularly. Deaun will see if Patrick will do that and what the cost might be. Other ideas were to asking for money from the KW Community Foundation to hire a pro. Or to hire a student who needs community hours. Deaun and Kevin will continue to work on the issue.



GREN-all list serve: Need to figure out how to access this list so we can keep it up to date. Deaun and Kevin will sort this out while figuring out the website. Once we know the system, John will be responsible for keeping the list-serve up to date.



Logo status--Kevin. Kevin will send out the revised GREN logo to paid members. And will display it at the next meeting. The main problem with the old logo is that it showed up as a black blotch when photocopied.



Guest speakers from Wilmot Citizens for Safe Water--Rich Stevenson and Samantha Lernout. They shared the group’s concerns about a gravel pit proposal from Tricity Materials. The area is about 400 acres, and 30-40% of it is in a groundwater protection zone. There’s also a large wetland (a PSW), and the area backs onto the residential settlement of Shingletown, which will suffer from dust, noise, traffic and loss of value in their properties. Asphalt and concrete recycling is also proposed, and the road needs upgrades to handle the trucks.



GREN members offered various strategies for addressing the issue, including meeting with Kate Hagerman, the head of the Region’s EAC to seek their involvement and perhaps an impact study.



Proposed Changes to Provincial Policy on Aggregates  The Wilmot speakers noted that while the aggregate company can say now that they won’t go below the water table, it seems they could seek an amendment to do so at any time. This possibility spurred discussion of the larger issue of the province’s current review of policy on aggregates. The provincial policy is up for review and a clause in the current draft suggests that municipalities may have little or no say about what goes on. For example, the ROPP doesn't allow digging beyond a certain depth, but that provision is now threatened. It was agreed that GREN will make comments on the proposed policy. Greg will draft our comment. Comments to the province are due Nov. 4.



Federal Election.  5 events take place locally next week, part of 100 Debates on the Environment.



Cambridge – Oct.2, 7-9 – 7 Melville St. S., Cambridge

Kitchener Centre---Oct. 2, 7-9--Walter Fedy Building, Suite 111. 675 Queen St. S.

Kitchener South-Hespeler---Oct 2, 7-9-- Waterloo Regional Museum , 10 Huron Rd. Kitchener.

Waterloo – Oct. 9, 7-9--Theatre of the Arts, U of W, Ring Road

Kitchener-Conestoga – Oct. 9, New Dundee Community Centre, 1028 Queen St., New Dundee



Free tickets are available on Facebook and Eventbrite. Email WR100Debates at gmail.com<mailto:WR100Debates at gmail.com> with questions.





Regional Official Plan (ROPP) – Kevin. The ROPP is undergoing the 5-year review. We need to be involved. The review winds up by end of December. Regional Planner Alissa Bridge is in charge. The first consultation was attended only by developers. The Region needs to hear other voices--how much we like ROPP and that we need bolder actions on climate change.  Kevin will meet with Alissa and ask how GREN can help.



Region's Climate Change Adaptation Plan – Susan B. Comments on this phase 1 report are due by Oct. 7. The plan is fairly comprehensive in identifying issues and priorities, but is very high level. Specific action plans will be forthcoming in the next phase. We need to stress the urgency of getting those and also stress the need for climate mitigation plans to run in parallel. John and Susan will draft comments on behalf of GREN.



Protected Places Campaign—Kevin. Canada is way behind to meet 2020 targets for designating protected land and marine environments--and targets are too low anyway. Other places are doing much better. We're getting better, but... This is an issue that could be raised in the environmental debates.



Tax Carbon Stickers – Kevin has more for anyone who wants them. They’ve been very popular.



Hidden Valley – Yvonne.  Kitchener Council approved the master plan for HV. They will do studies in spring. The developer Benninger asked that his lands get more priority for development. The City said not until the studies are done. Gord Nichols spoke on behalf of GREN at Council, to a full house, since it was also the evening when many were attending to support the declaration of a climate emergency.



Next meeting—We’ll schedule a November meeting featuring Susan Koswan speaking on her Good Green Death project (body composting), and John and Susan B. on composting in multiplexes. Date to be announced.





Minutes by Susan Bryant, shbryant at uwaterloo.ca

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