[GREN-Exec] Regional Official Plan Update

Tue Nov 23 11:24:14 EST 2021

HI GREN Executive,

It has been another busy few days on the Regional Official Plan - particularly with the large webinar follow-up and then the Hamilton decision this past Friday night.  Thankfully, it looks like the week ahead might be a bit quieter which will allow more time to follow-up with Regional Staff, reach out to Planning Professors, and try to find creative ways that we can use Doug Ford’s mandated Land Needs Analysis in ways they never fathomed.

Many folks from GREN and the Waterloo area were able to spend most of Sunday morning on the Yours to Protect Summit which specifically delved into the Official Plans happening across the province.  There seemed to be a strong directive from the hundreds of people participating in the event to share information and materials on how we can be more effective with achieving better outcomes on these Official Plans.  I will follow-up more in the days ahead with the organizers and see what might be possible.

With regards to the Greenbelt Foundation grant that GREN has received to work on the Regional Official Plan as well as Greenbelt expansion from now until June 2022 there are some things that I am going to need Greg’s help with and I want to make sure that the Executive is fully engaged on.  The following expenses would all be covered by the $12,000 of grant that we have already received for the activities underway:

1) EcoSpark Funding - as part of the Ontario Greenbelt Alliance work and the sharing funding between organizations we need to send EcoSpark an invoice for $4,400 and they will send a cheque to GREN for this amount to help facilitate the work that we are doing on these Greenbelt and Official Plan projects.  Greg I will send you the specific details and perhaps you can prepare an invoice similar to last year.

2) Hold the Line - as part of our ROP, Sean Campbell at HTLWR wants to host a webinar with industrial land economists and progressive industrial planners from the UK and British Columbia on ways that we can better intensify our employment lands.  There has already been interest expressed in such a webinar by Regional Councillors and it would be aimed at Staff too.  They are wondering if we can fund a stipend for the speakers.  I would suggest that we fund them two $250 stipends for the two presenters. 

3) The Nith Valley Ecoboosters and 50x30WR have done an excellent job co-ordinating and co-hosting two recent webinars on the Regional Official Plan.  While they aren’t expecting anything I would like to send them $250 each of our funding to help with their efforts and expenses.  

4) Franz Hartman has been incredible at helping me with all of these Regional Official Plan and Greenbelt Expansion activities.  He has sent us his first invoice and a contract outlining his role/responsibilities that looks quite reasonable.  I would like to proceed to pay him the $664.88 for this first invoice and agree to his simple contract.

5) I have put in considerable time over the past months as well and I am submitting invoices as well under the Greenbelt Foundation grant for September and October.  I feel awkward invoicing for activities that historically have all been volunteer however, the sheer amount of time invested is far greater than anything prior.  What I am proposing is to charge a basic $40/hour rate as per the contract but then reduce this by only charging for half my hours put into activities - thus still donating half of my all my time put into things - thus working out to about $20/per hour or not much more than minimum wage.  Hopefully, this is a fair approach that recognizes my considerable efforts and time being invested in these environmental activities while stretching budgets as far as possible.  Presumably we can undertake a similar approach for anyone else who feels that they are putting in significant enough amounts of time that they need compensation for it.

Please let me know if you are in agreement with these 5 items and any questions or ideas.  We can have an Executive Conference Call to discuss things if it would be helpful or simply follow-up via e-mail.  I will work with you Greg on the financial details and the required cheques.

Let me know any thoughts or ideas.

Thanks,
Kevin.

---------------------

1) Dr. Franz Hartman Invoice. Timesheet, and Contract

2) Kevin Thomason Timesheets Invoice - October and November

-------------------------------------

Kevin Thomason

1115 Cedar Grove Road
Waterloo, Ontario Canada  N2J 3Z4

Phone: (519) 888-0519
Mobile Phone/WhatsApp: (519) 240-1648
Twitter: @kthomason
E-mail: kevinthomason at mac.com

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