Sept 13/04 Report – Part 1 of 4

Present: Collins, Mitchell, Braden, Bruckler, Ferguson , Jackson , McCarthy, Merulla, DiIanni

Also present: McHattie, Pearson, Whitehead

Media: Kevin Werner ( Brabant ), Ken Mann (CHML), Eric McGuinness, Paul Morse and Andrew Dreschel (Spectator), Maggie Hughes (CFMU).

Collins: are there any changes to the agenda?

Clerk: Yes, please note that there is an addendum to today's agenda. And the order of the meeting will be a consolidation of both. There is an added delegation request from Mr. Mark Sanderson , president public relations Veolia water North America . With respect to item 8.2 on today's addendum to the agenda . The committee will note that there are 4 delegation requests to speak at today's meeting with respect to this issue - items 4.1, 4.2 and 4.4 and the aforementioned added item. If it is the committee's pleasure to hear the delegates, they should make their delegation after staff present their report - item 8.2

Collins : Just following that I would add if there is anyone else in the council chambers this morning that wishes to speak to 8.2 as a delegation that we entertain those requests at that time So I'll come back to the committee for approval if we have further speakers who wish to speak to us. On the changes to the agenda. Can I get a motion on that? Merulla and Braden. all those in favour? Carries. Thank you. Approval of the minutes 3.1of June 21, 2004 meeting.

Mc Carthy : Item 11- minutes 04-014

Collins : I'm not sure procedurally that you can oppose an item that already been passed at the time unless there was a procedural error at the time.

McCarthy : I just want to be recorded as opposed to it in the minutes.

Collins: To the minutes? Absolutely. Item 11 - It would be difficult to isolate that . If you want to be recorded as opposed to the minutes then we can record that. On the minutes that have been presented from June 21 st - a motion on the minutes. Moved by McCarthy, 2 nd by Bruckler. all those in favour? Carries with C. McCarthy being recorded as opposed.

4. DELEGATION REQUESTS

4.1 Grant Ranalli, Chair of the Hamilton Water Watch organization, August 3, 2004, with respect to Hamilton Water and Wastewater Operations Contract.

4.2 Ken Forster, Chair of the "Safe on 52" Committee, August 26, 2004, with respect to Highway 52 safety issues.

Delegation requests. We've had additional delegations come forward since the printing of the agenda . Can I get a m motion on the new delegations requests that have come forward . Merulla/ Braden. All those in favour? That carries.

5. ITEMS REFERRED FROM COUNCIL AND OTHER COMMITTEES

5.1 Notice of Motion from Councillor Pat Saito Regarding Funding of GO Transit (Referred from Council on June 16, 2004) Resolution adopted by Peel Region pressing the provincial government to assume full costs of providing GO Transit and to order all municipalities to imposed development charges to cover a portion of the capital costs of GO Transit, and other demands.

Items referred from council and other committees 5.1. a notice of motion from C.? [?past issue?] regarding for funding of GO transit referred to council on June 16 th 2004. All 5.1. C. Braden ? Can I ask staff re 5.1. are we looking for a report on this or.. GO transit funding?

Rinaldo: There's no report at this time.

Collins : I would look for a report on this, It's a motion from another municipality so I'm not prepared to move it this morning without discussion on that. C. Merulla?

Merulla: I'll table it until that report is..

Collins: Refer to staff for a report - come back at a later date on that? Moved Merulla 2nd Braden All those in favour? That carries.

5.2 Commemorative Street Sign - East 34th Street (PW04091) - (Ward 6) (Referred from Committee of the Whole on August 11, 2004).

Collins. 5.2 commemorative street sign E 34 th St. refer to committee on Aug. 11 th Ward 6. C. Jackson?

Jackson: I appreciate that comm. in council when I was away tabled this matter. It came through the mayor's office a request from one member of the neighbourhood regarding the heroic act of Mr. Daly. [..?..]He sacrificed himself for another. Having said that , I've had a contact which has been documented from a direct member of the Daly family which is that we do not proceed at this time with this matter, so I would ask that we just take no action on this at this time. I would move that.

Collins : Motion and to receive the report. Moved Jackson, 2 nd Ferguson.

Ferguson : Just proves the process. Thank goodness C,. Merulla moved tabling this It came up last meeting but we won't worry about the future. It came to my attention in police services as some way to treat the process.

Collins: On the motion to receive. All those in favour? Carried.

6. CONSENT ITEMS

6.1 Temporary Closure of a portion of Teal Avenue and Garden Avenue for the Samuel Plate Sales Employee Picnic (PW04099) (Ward 10)

6.2 Left Turn Restriction - 724 Mohawk Road East (PW04101) - (Ward 6)

6.3 Contracting Services for CCTV Inspections of Existing Sewers RFP C11-87-04 - PW04105/FCS04109) (City Wide)

6.4 Minutes of the Glanbrook Landfill Co-Ordinating Committee Meeting held on May 31, 2004.

6.5 Minutes of the Glanbrook Landfill Co-Ordinating Committee Meeting held on July 26, 2004.

Collins : Consent items 6.1 to 6.5. Anything [..?..] consent for discussion? Mover for consent [..?..] 2 nd c.

Bruckler. All in favour of consent items? Motion carries.

7. PUBLIC HEARINGS/DELEGATIONS

7.1 Permanently Close and Sell a Portion of Public Unassumed Alley at the Rear of 334 Upper Gage Avenue, Hamilton (PW04098) - (Ward 6)

Collins: First on the agenda - permanently close and sell a portion of public unassumed alley at the rear of 334 Upper Gage Ave. I'll ask our staff to take us through the report.

Marilyn Preston : I am presenting to you an application from the owner of the property at 334 Upper Gage Avenue .to close a portion of an unassumed alley directly behind their home. The alley runs between Crockett St. and Concession St. with access from the Crockett St. end. The applicant wishes to close the alley to add additional living space as it is not maintained by he city, does not serve a public use and is an area for drug use and is an easy escape route for those vandalizing adjacent properties. The alley is located on the north side of Crockett and it runs n/s in the [..?..] bounded by Upper Gage , Concession, East 39 th and Crockett. The alley is intercepted at the north end by another unassumed alley. However there is no physical connection as the privacy fence has been installed at the Crockett alley entrance.

As you can see in this photo taken from the Crockett St. looking north and there's a short section that is travelled for the first couple of houses and then you hit a point just past the break in the fence line there and that's not travelled and is grown over with shrubbery and trees.

Notice that the proposed closures were circulated to city staff , utility companies and there were no objections, and there were no conditions pertaining to the sale of the alley. and no [..?..] is required for the closure of this alleyway. Letters were circulated to area residents - 86 letter in total. Two respondents were opposed to the alley closure and 13 were in favour. Of the 2 who were opposed, they both live south of the closure area so they will still have access that exists today . The one indicated they would also want like to close their portion of the alley so it's one of those situation when if I can close mine, I won't object to this other one. The other person opposed was just concerned about future access. The closure portion is north of their property and they will still have the access that exists today.

If the closure application is approved, the applicant will be responsible for preparing and registering the necessary survey. They've paid the closure fee and they will also be paying the advertising sheet for this application. and the land will be sold to that owner for $1 which is the standard fee for residential alley transfers. The alley has not generated specific concerns and as access to those 2 residents opposed to the closure will still be maintained , public works dept supports the closure application for the closure of the alley.

Collins: I'll now open it up to members of the public speaking on the closure of 334 Upper Gage Avenue. Anyone here to speak to that item? I'll open it up to members of the committee.

Jackson : I have no difficulty supporting this item . I'll speak just for my ward. Some parts of the northern part of the mountain, similar to the lower city wards that were built several decades ago and these alleyways at that time proved beneficial. I won't speak for the other wards, but I know over the years they have become problematic and they have ended up being what you have seen up in the picture where it has been difficult and the city has not wanted to assume the liability. There's been problems of clean up and they have just been on ongoing eyesore from time to time, but they do provide some form of accessibility for those that don't have driveways and other forms of coming in off the residential side streets. Most of our roads are much more modern now with greater accessibility . My only wish would be that individual homeowners would come forward eventually wanting to do exactly what this home owner has done and eventually get all these unassumed alleyways off the city's docket. So I've had no objections from the neighbourhood through my office . I'd be happy to move it at this time.

Collins: 2nd by C. Ferguson. C. Braden?

Braden : Since the property percent wise, this increases the area of the lot substantially, even if it's been a practice before to give these things away for a buck , then why don't we try to maximize revenue here. I don't mean maximize; I just mean make this thing worthwhile.. All we're saying is you can have it if you pay all the fees., and it's got to be worth $2000 or something like this . Why continue to give away this asset - and still have all your [?bureaucracy?] attended to?

Marilyn Preston : I'm not in that position so I can't answer that specific question. I know it is an approved link that we are charging so that's something that we can look into but I know from the home owner's perspective it does, by the time all is said and done it is about a $2000-$3000 output they are giving to acquire that piece of land.

Braden: That's what I figured. I figured that for the home owner, they're going to have to bear some costs, but that's a problem of doing business. It costs money. My issue is - should we have a policy where we , in fact, sell land for a dollar? I think that policy needs to be revisited.

Bruckler : Is there any opportunity for perhaps looking at the entire alleyway? We circulate notices about this closing, but offering up the alley to all the residents . In doing so collectively it would probably reduce the cost to each of these individual owners then you could probably go over to what C. Braden's talking about and get some additional dollars, but it then would be advantageous perhaps to have the entire alleyway closed up because it's stopped up in the middle now , so it's dead ended if you will. . Has there been any discussion about that , closing up the entire alleyway and making that offer to those individuals?

Preston : I know in the past we have had neighbourhood groups that have formed to do this . but there's also still the issue that for some residents it may be cost prohibitive for them to become involved because every individual property owner has - every property has to be surveyed . So it may be cheaper to have the surveyor out there once to do the entire alley , but it would still be every individual property owner that would have to pay and ideally it would be great to close the entire alleyway but it just may not be feasible for some of the owners. We can offer that - we have offered that in suggestions to neighbourhood groups , but it's really up to the individual owners.

Merulla : With respect to the cost to the city through maintaining such alleyways . I know I get some calls. - litter - it becomes a fire hazard . What does that cost the city on an annual basis?

Preston : I'd have to get one of our public works or our road people to comment. For sure there's an expense when the city goes out with crews and trucks . I can't give you enough ...

Merulla : I'm sure it's quite substantial so. in essence the type of agreement that does pose a cost to residents is in many ways dealing with loose ends relating to these alleyways with some are assumed, some are unassumed. C. Braden who was talking right now should perhaps listen to this answer so it might change his mind on this issue. - so you have an understanding of assumed and unassumed alleyways and the cost of maintaining these 2 corporations far exceeds that of trying to get that $2000. Marilyn- perhaps you could explain to C. Braden the difference between assumed and unassumed alleyways and the predicament we're in in older parts of the city.

Preston: With the assumed alleyways , the city has already spent money to generally put concrete in the alley and in a lot of situations that was done because of these vehicles travelling though the alley and also the majority of the people have access to their rear garages. With the unassumed alley the city does not go in to do maintenance . Occasionally they do - if there's a hazard or there's standing water . So I guess you could look at it that the amount of money we would have to acquire from a property owner to close that alley when the city does not want to be going in there to do maintenance on the alley is probably a very good trade-off.

Collins : I have no more speakers on 7.1 - may I have a mover C. Braden for a 2 nd time.

Braden : Not to this particular application, but can I just put an idea forward that might be relevant 30 years from now. When Hamilton re-develops and they put the granny clause - what they do in every other city , not every - but many cities , those alleys might become crucial - to have a way of accessing that kind of development whether you call it rear or whatever you want to call it. . I think that staff should be looking at that possibility because we tend to be looking at today and not the future - and this city really will be developed in the future - and those alleys will provide legal access to some of that next generation of housing. So, I don't want to hold this one up but that idea needs to be looked at because we seem [..?..]

Collins : No further speakers, moved by Jackson, 2 nd by C. Ferguson. 7.1 All in favour? Any opposed? 7.1 passes.

7.2 Bob Steele, Project Coordinator, Niagara Water Quality Protection Strategy (NWQPS), Regional Municipality of Niagara, to present "The Completed Strategy". (Note: Request to appear approved by Committee on June 7, 2004)

Collins : Next on the agenda 7.2 Mr. Bob Steele, project co-ordinator from for the regional municipality of Niagara Water Quality Protection Strategy to present the complete strategy to the committee.

Bob Steele: My name is Bob Steele. I'm with the public works dept. regional municipality of Niagara and I'm here today with head of the Niagara Region Conservation Authority Mr. Andy Burke and the director of water and waste water operations for Niagara Region Mr. [?Chatto?]. [..?..] will assist me with some of the follow-up questions that you may ask on this presentation. I'd like to thank you again for the opportunity to provide you with an update on the Niagara water quality protection strategy.

Much has been accomplished since someone came to this group , came before council 2 years ago to give you an introduction to this water protection initiative and today I'm, essentially going to bring you up to date where we are at the moment and give you an understanding of the next steps. It may be trite to say since you have heard that water is essential to our life, but certainly in a post-Walkerton environment this point resonates more clearly than ever before. In the Niagara watershed, water management is very complex. You have a multiplicity of agencies from the federal govt. through the provincial govt. , the local municipal municipality , the region itself as well as the partner municipalities that form part of the watershed. Indeed you even have cross border relationships within Niagara that makes it even more difficult to co-ordinate and direct common activities towards a common end. Because of the multiplicity of agencies involved , there's an obvious need to integrate our activities. to ensure that the work being done is streamlined and co-ordinated within an overall framework.

The origins of the NWP Strategy came essentially a little more than 2 years ago when the Med. Officer of Health . representatives of public works , regional planning in Niagara as well as the Niagar Peninsula Conservation Authority and sr. members of the Ministry of the Environment came together to recognize that in a split jurisdiction environment there are a a lot of gaps and overlaps that have occurred , and the key points to try to avoid this in the future as we move on to protect the valuable resource.

The strategy itself - essentially it's a watershed-wide framework . It is multi-jurisdictional and it's a guide essentially to ensure that stakeholders know how to best manage human activities that affect our ground and water resources. It's intended to build on past experiences where we have been successful, current initiatives and there are a number of new activities that have come out of our process which are meant to improve the overall quality of water and the quantity of this resource. You'll see why essentially we're here today.

The watershed is approximately 2500 sq. kilometres and about 75% of it falls within the region of Niagara. 25% is obviously outside with about 11% falling within Stoney Creek, Binbrook and part of Glanbrook. I think it's important to note that the [?colours?] represented before you - there are 3 major components of the watershed - water and contaminents that all flow into Lake Ontario, that flow down the Welland River into Niagara River and flow to the south towards Lake Erie. It is also interesting to note that we have a significant amount of water in our region and some may ask the question - where's the concern?

I think to get an understanding of where the issues really lie you'd have to look at a community that's approaching ½ million people - a community where there's a demand through expanding, urban development, through local enterprises, tourism, a burgeoning agricultural industry. There's a significant demand for water resources on this very finite basis for our water supply. Over time, you're looking at a greater number of water users asking for more and a greater amount of clean abundant supply of water. If we continue the way we have in the past, we will recognize that essentially intensive human activities and urban development has caused some grave problems with regard to out wetlands, our [..aqua fir?..] for ground water, our surface water, our lakes and rivers, and we are trying to take steps now to ensure that this problem is not repeated in the future.

Our process was carried out over about a 15- month period . It was a very fast paced exciting process that involved presentations to municipal councils, 3 general public meetings throughout the watershed , the establishment of advisory committees and workshops that were held with about 150 people representing various community groups throughout the watershed involved and there was an extensive outreach program involving brochures, websites and a variety of newsletters and a variety of other public consultation techniques. The [..?..] in front of you essentially sums up the key elements in the process. - the establishment of a vision that Niagara's watersheds will contribute to an improved quality of life for all living things .

In the process there was a characterization of the watershed, identification of 100s of water-related issues that had to be addressed. And those issues which were categorized into human health , property risk and liability ,agriculture, natural environment, recreation and commercial water use. From that, there were a series of actions that were identified to address these significant water issues. Those actions could be in the form of projects to deal with clean-up and to deal with ensuring that contaminents were addressed properly , policies or studies to look at what else could be done or what had been overlooked or not collected in the initial elements of the study.

From it, the actions were directed throughout the watershed on a broad basis or at specific sub-watershed areas. These 32 sub-watershed areas were called local management areas. I've illustrated one of those local management areas that affect the city of Hamilton. Basically the headwaters of the 20-Mile Creek and the information that we provided to your public works dept and your planning dept. identified threats, identified areas of sensitivity, identified where action has to be taken in the future here and in 31 other areas throughout the watershed where we have to take steps to ensure that we protect and improve our water sources.

I mentioned that 340 actions - essentially where there was a synthesis down to 140 specific actions were identified that would be undertaken over the next 3 decades. Of these actions, only about 40% are new. 60% of them are actions or activities that are currently under way. being undertaken by the city of Hamilton , by the conservation authority , by the Ministry of the Environment and by other agencies. the important element of this study to get an understanding of what the collective efforts are and how they're being directed to improve the watershed, so it's important to address these existing actions.

Two actions, direct and indirect basically sum up what the water strategy will be doing versus the indirect actions of those activities that will go on under the aegis of these other agencies. The slide illustrates the 11 categories in which these 300+ actions have been grouped and gives you an understanding of the costs involved. Again, the direct actions are those that are intended to undertaken by the water management body and the indirect ones are the ones that are going to be undertaken by a variety of agencies and municipalities in parallel. You can see that the costs to the direct actions are approximately $11 million over 30-year period. Indirect actions, on the other hand about $170 million in the areas covered data collection and monitoring, watershed management , agricultural practice improvement, ground water protection and others.

What's the cost to the property owner within the boundaries of the regional municipality of Niagara? In this case we did not include Hamilton. We did not assess the impact on the Hamilton tax payer in that sense. We looked at what would happen within the 12 municipalities of Niagara and what the cost would be. If all those actions were undertaken over a 30-year period , the impact in terms of property taxes would be less than 1% - an average of $14 per year increase in property taxes, if indeed they were all carried out. In terms of water and waste water user fees the impact would be less than a 10% increase, or about $42 per year on average over a 30-year period. So the total cost is estimated about $56 per year per household.

It's important to note as I'm sure councillors are aware in the post-Walkerton environment Justice O'Connor's recommendations are now being formalized by way of legislation. We've reviewed the draft legislation and the water quality strategy is very much in parallel with the requirements of the new legislation. It reflects the source protection planning framework and the data base in which it is founded and anticipates the needs of the new legislation in terms of the establishment of community groups and the collection of the necessary information to properly manage the source protection requirements.

years ago when the Niagara Water Quality Strategy was introduced, a steering committee made up of representatives of all municipalities was established and I believe that C. Powers was your rep. In fact he was a very active member of that group. And a technical review committee was established including your staff from public works and planning. Now that we've completed the document and the necessary first step we have established ana interim committee - water strategy implementation committee and C. McHattie is the rep from Hamilton.. and we have members of your public works and planning staff on the action co-ordination team.

the water Strategy committee will be determining ultimately what form the water management council will take and establish an implementation group to manage it.

Here's an example of some of the priority actions for this year. The understanding now what we are doing collectively to solve water quality problems is fundamental to the strategy so one of the first steps is to harmonize our data monitoring. 2 nd we will be developing a watershed report card to look at our performance over time according to a variety of indicators . We will be undertaking best practices with regard to agricultural land use looking at how the agricultural community is dealing with its non-point source contamination and some of the issues associated with animal husbandry. We are undertaking a study and evaluating the status of our combined sewer overflows . It's a major issue in Niagara, We are now establishing a new funding relationship between the region and the local municipalities and we want to know where the priorities are - which CSOs are most significant in affecting our water quality through the region and attacking those one by one and effectively dealing with the consequences of the overflow problem We'll be developing region-wide storm water management policies developing sediment and erosion control policies , because of the spotty nature in which they are now being applied throughout each of the local area municipalities in Niagara and undertaking some ground water protection steps to follow up on a very significant ground water and ]?aquafir?] study that we are doing now in parallel with the water quality strategy.

What are the benefits over all? #1 water quality improvement. A co-ordinated approach to water management to avoid the gaps and the overlaps that I mentioned earlier, the application of best practices as we identify it and as they are proven , heightened public awareness about the points about conservation and water efficiency and the broader issue of watershed protection and finally increase water use efficiency.

What are we asking among the other members of the strategy - the conservation authority, the local area municipalities in Niagara, the region, the county of Haldimand? What are we asking for in terms of Hamilton's role? Fundamentally we are seeking your continued support in water strategy. We are delighted with the efforts you have made to contribute and to participate in this undertaking and we'd like to see them continue. We seek the ongoing participation of your staff and you willingly provided reps. to our groups and we are delighted with the perspective that they bring to the committees and the information they have provided which collectively contribute to our knowledge of the watershed - sharing of water-related information. We hope that continues and we expect that it will with your generous support.

And finally, where we identify areas of mutual benefit, we'd like to seek ways in which we can

co-operate and collectively address problems that may originate in the headwaters beyond Niagara's boundaries. It may be in the 20-Mile Creek area, in Stoney Creek or Binbrook, but certainly collectively with your aid, we can address some of these issues that are cross-boundary in nature.

I appreciate the fact that you've allowed me to speak today and I'd like to ask Mr [?Persik?] and Mr Burke to join me for any questions that council may have on this project

Collins; Any questions from the committee? C. McHattie:

McHattie: Our staff has been very impressed with the process and glad to be involved with it. It's a very positive and well-paced process . We're actually looking at a similar process here in Hamilton for the rest of our municipality Trying to get a sense of just having got involved now versus earlier C. Powers led the direction from Hamilton. What the government's structure was within the committee - it was a lead in the committee- obviously our public works dept have to play a key role in our case. I'm wondering, was it actually the Conservation Authority , through some of their provincial mandates that took the lead on this and will we need to think through some of those issues as we start from scratch to start of our process as well?

Steele : I'd like to pass that on to Mr. Burke. I think Mr. Burke can make some comments about the role of the Cons. Authority , how in the initial stages, the various participants came together.

Burke : I'd have to say it was a 2-headed monster . It started with [..?..] and myself, so it was really a joint effort between the Cons. Authority and the region and expanded to encompass our entire watershed, bringing in Haldimand and the city of Hamilton, so it was really a joint effort.

Mc Hattie: So, there's really no particular lead then if it was a joint initiative. I'm trying to get a sense of whether we should look to the Hamilton authority to lead that kind of process in our case. we've got Halton and [..?..] and yourself as well. But it's something we should look from your experience once we look at doing it ourselves in concert with the CAS..

Burke : I think the benefit that the CAs brought in the region of Niagara was the fact that we covered the entire watershed . Initially when we talked about this with regional staff we were looking at focusing on the region itself, but to deal with the entire watershed they agreed to expand the study area to the authority's entire jurisdiction , so we contributed financially through our general levy to the city and to Haldimand County, so I think there's some merit on doing it on a joint basis . We were closely involved with the region in terms of pulling together the terms of reference and moving ahead with the consultants but they were a key partner because there was about a $1.3 million price tag factor in terms of the strategy , the lion's share picked up through the region.

McHattie: It's an excellent process and I look forward to being involved in the next couple of months from Hamilton's perspective.

Burke . I've spoken to some of your staff about the work that you're planning to do and certainly we have material that we can pass on to staff to [?drive?] the foundation for your own initiative. I think it would be valuable to get a sense of the various technical components. It's very science-based. I think it should be clear that one of the reasons the budget was so large is that we wanted to make sure that we have a sound foundation to be able to address what';s changing within our ground and surface water regimes and where the threats are and where we can intervene most appropriately to deal with priority items and that kind of information, I''d be happy to pass on for your staff's use.

Collins : C. Bruckler.

Bruckler : Given that the Niagara watershed sort of cuts through the city of Hamilton , has there been much dialogue with the Hamilton Conservation Authority with respect to your project, given that some of the policies and projects that fall out of your review might have some impacts as to where we might be going?

Steele ( I think ?) I have to say first of all that this watershed is clearly within the Niagara Peninsula Cons. Authority's - it's parallel because of its physical delineation - it's not jurisdictionally connected to the Hamilton C.A. But in terms of the liaison and the common understanding of what's going on both sides of the ridge, so to speak this is something that NPCA has been undertaking from the beginning. They have established that relationship through Mr. Burke [Burton?]and his staff will be getting that kind of exchange all the way along through the process.

Collins : C. Mitchell.

Mitchell: I served on the CA in Niagara for 5 years and enjoyed that. 20 mile Creek goes around the back of my farm property - just an update on flood plain mapping for that area and there's a new committee that I sit on that has to do with the clean up and restructuring and repair of - there's lots of places where 20-mile creek is silted in and so on - just an update on that process.

Steele : I think that the best source of this information is to go back to the region's partner - the C Authority where they can give you an update on those 2 activities. What we are doing right now with part of the Water Quality Protection Strategy wherein we're starting the 2 nd year of watershed plan for 20-mile creek of which we've set up a steering committee to steer that through and C. Mitchell is on that committee . It's our expectation that by the end of 2005 that will be completed and there'll be a plan laid out and we can actually start to work with the agricultural community and other communities along the watershed to undertake the appropriate restoration works.

Collins : any further questions or comments? Mr. Steele, Mr. ? and Mr Burke, thank you for coming We appreciate the information that you provided and we look forward to working together with the region in the future on the strategy as well.

Motion to receive the information that's been presented? Moved by Ferguson, 2 nd by Mitchell. All those in favour? That carries.

Continue to Part 2: beginning with 8. Staff Presentations