Congratulations are in order
Congratulations to Access Orangeville. As a result of their commitment to making Orangeville a more accessible community, Orangeville was chosen to receive the David C. Onley award for leadership in Accessibility. Also congratulations to Westminster United Church who were recently honoured with the ‘Promoting a Barrier-Free Community’ Award for their dedication to accessibility.
All Fired Up….
A local resident, Tony Reynolds along with his wife Susan arrived at council with major concerns about the wood burning pizza oven at Bluebird Cafe. “The smoke from their pizza oven threatens the health and safety of our home.” Mr. Reynolds said. “We are here today to ask the town to protect our right to breathe clean air.” Essentially, the Reynolds were asking that Town Council create a by-law preventing The Bluebird Cafe (and other restaurants) from using wood burning for their pizza ovens – he would like them to have to use natural gas to use that oven.
“There is no safe exposure level to wood smoke”, Mayor Williams said “If you smell it you are breathing it in.”
Councillor Bradley was concerned that they would have to look at more than just the burning of wood for industrial purposes, that it would have to be wider spread than that. “I would tend to think that what we would have to do is look at a wood burning ban in the Town of Orangeville.”
“I would like to see them (chimineas) banned everywhere in Orangeville, quite honestly.” said Councillor Kidd. He would also like to see no more wood burning fire permits handed out until this motion is taken care of.
While Councillor Wilson is not personally a fan of wood burning, he is concerned about the ramifications of banning legal products such as wood burning devices.
Deputy Mayor Maycock was concerned that this discussion and report would do little to help the Reynolds’ family with their concerns and suggested that a conversation be started with The Bluebird Cafe to attempt to reach a compromise “Once we start infringing on people’s property rights, we are going down the wrong lane.”
The motion for the report was passed by Council and Councillor Kidd put forward a 2nd motion asking that Orangeville stop allowing burn permits until after the report comes back to Council. His motion gained the support of Councillor Bradley and Mayor Williams, but did not have enough support to pass.
Now, for MY humble opinions on the matter…Well, for starters, what started as the concerns of a couple of residents about a specific issue spiralled quickly into what seemed to be tangents by some members of council about their personal opinions about wood fires. I, for one, don’t feel as though banning wood burning is the right solution. I am sympathetic to the Reynolds concerns, however I also don’t feel like forcing The Bluebird to stop using wood is right either. Is their no compromise? Perhaps there is a solution that doesn’t include creating yet another by-law.
I put the question out on social media on Monday: “Tonight at council they discussed the possibility of banning all wood burning in Orangeville…what are your thoughts?”….residents are NOT happy with this idea at all. Here are just a few of the comments….
So, what are your thoughts??
Humber College
Joe Andrews, Director of Humber Orangeville Campus spoke at Council about Humber’s plans for expansion and presented council with an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding). “This new MOU was created to specifically support the expansion of the Orangeville campus at the Alder site.” Mr Andrews said “The objectives are very clear…it is our intent to expand the Orangeville campus.”
Within 6 months of signing the MOU, a feasibility study will be conducted to address the expansion at which time if both the Town and Humber are in agreement, Humber will be investing $10 million into the expansion project. The hope is that with the expansion will come the ability to host numerous other courses of study at the Orangeville campus.
As most are aware, the Town of Orangeville was let down a few years ago by Humber and their skepticism was made clear at Council. Councillor Campbell brought forward a number of concerns “I was on Council in 2005 when we went into debt to borrow $3 million dollars to buy land for Humber and we were told that the campus would be up and running in 2009 with capacity for 2000 students…we all know what happened.”
Councillor Wilson was also reluctant to support the MOU not because of what happened in the past, but due to the mention in the MOU of costs to the Town. “I don’t think there should be any costs to the Town to permit construction on our property. It would seem to me that that should be our sole contribution, if any, to this undertaking.”
“The MOU is really the first step in the process” explained Ed Brennan.
“We’re here, we’re committed and we would love to see this work as well” said Laurie Rancourt, Humber’s Vice President of Academics.
The motion to sign the MOU was passed with only Councillors Wilson and Campbell voting against it.
I am excited to hear that Humber has plans to expand….again. I am excited for the prospect of some new courses of study coming to Orangeville. I am excited for the potential of jobs coming to Orangeville. However, I am cautiously optimistic this time around…and I do have some questions that I hope Joe Andrews can perhaps answer for me.
1. It was stated that the Orangeville campus is currently home to 220 students. What makes you confident that an expansion at this point is the right thing to do when currently the Orangeville campus is only at 50% capacity?
2. Has there been thoughts of which programs would be offered in addition to the current programs? Is the hope that some of these programs will draw people to our community?
3. Rather than utilizing $10 million to expand at its current location at Alder, is building a separate facility an option?
Mr. Andrews, if you could help the citizens understand what will be different this time around…I know I’m not the only one who would love to see this happen…it would be great for our town!!
What would you like to see happen with Humber??
Next Council Meeting
Summer is quickly upon us and so is the summer schedule for Council. The next regular meeting of council is scheduled for Monday, July 13th, 2015
peter jovic says
June 18, 2015 at 4:14 pmI think banning wood burning is totally wrong
People such as BAG OF SAND,CHIMNEY CLEANERS would be drastically affected
Also people have invested millions of dollars for stoves and fireplaces
Regulation is the key and perhaps there might be a filtration system in the near future
that would prevent toxic fumes
I do not like the occasional smell from the farmers fields but would not want to ban them
I do not like emission from diesel and gas powered vehicles but do not want them banned
Please people tread lightly on this issue
Bill Lewin says
July 3, 2015 at 3:47 pmPlease do not ignore the science most scoff at the health consequences of burning But the is also the damage to our Environment. Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment give 17 reasons to ban wood burning’ http://www.ehhi.org/woodsmoke/utah_17reasons_0115.shtml
Bill Lewin says
July 3, 2015 at 3:50 pmtypo should be there not the opps
Cathy Baiton says
July 3, 2015 at 4:13 pmThe Reynolds family has brought forward a very important issue. If being forced to suffer the harmful impacts of wood smoke pollution could happen to them, it could potentially happen to anyone in Orangeville, until a strong proactive bylaw preventing it from ever happening again is implemented. It is encouraging that Orangeville’s Mayor and some members of Council understand that wood burning is a serious public health and environmental problem.
I believe that no one should ever have to compromise when it comes to the quality of air that they and their families and neighbours are breathing. Everyone deserves the right to breathe clean, healthy, smoke-free air, and that right should be protected for every member of every community.
Cities like New York are moving in the right direction, by banning new installations of wood burning appliances.
Hopefully Orangeville officials will take action to protect the essential human right of all rights to breathe clean, healthy smoke-free air, in and around their homes and neighbourhoods.
“The American Lung Association recognizes that pollution from the combustion of wood and other biomass sources poses a significant threat to human health, and supports measures to transition away from using these products for heat production. . . . The American Lung Association encourages individuals to avoid burning wood in homes where less polluting alternatives are available.”
– American Lung Association, Public Policy Position on Energy
Linda Baker Beaudin Founder Air Is Precious says
July 11, 2015 at 11:59 pmHaving family members who have lived in Orangeville for a long time it was disheartening to hear that a family would be made to suffer from a toxic form of negative airborne pollution such as woodsmoke. It is quite possible that any family could be placed in a position where woodsmoke from a woodburning restaurant, wood food smoker, woodburning stove, woodburning fire pit, cob oven or any number of devices that use wood as a fuel source could harm the health of innocent people, many unaware of the health hazards of woodsmoke.
Hopefully community leaders will take positive pro-active action to end all forms of urban woodburning that are a toxic trespass, a known public health hazard and a nuisance. Woodsmoke pollution contains many similar cancer causing chemicals as tobacco-cigarette-smoke yet our lung health is protected via the adoption of bylaws/bans and prohibition ensuring that we have healthy air where we work, play, enjoy sporting events, dine with our families and many other venues. There must not be a double standard when it comes to our health and the air we share with others. Woodsmoke from any source does not have a place in a community where homes/business are in close proximity to the other.
Fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) when breathed goes deeply into the recess of our lungs causing irreparable damage. Those most harmed are the unborn child, the young, the fragile elderly. Woodsmoke pollution harms everyone.
There is no safe level of smoke to breathe and this form of community pollution must be addressed with the same stringent polices as we have for all smoking issues where our lung health is placed at risk.
As I would hope that residents in Orangeville remain woodsmoke-free I also hope that something as terrible that has happened to this family will never be repeated again. Everyone deserves the right to breathe healthy air…air that is tobacco-smoke-free, woodsmoke-free and pollution-free.
When it comes to our health and the air we all share particulate matter…does matter. Woodsmoke is associated with Cancer, Asthma, COPD, Cardiac and cardio vascular disease and many other woodsmoke-associated diseases.
The time is now to protect the lung health of all Orangeville residents and the community air they share. No community can be called green or environmentally friendly if woodsmoke is present in that community.
It is time and long overdue that communities move forward regarding this toxic issue of woodsmoke/woodburning in Orangeville and many other communities. No person, family, child should ever be made to suffer from breathing woodsmoke-polluted community air.
The right decision will be that ensuring all residents will have clean air to breathe in the future will be the testimony and legacy of community leaders who were…..willing to lead!
Hopefully Orangeville Mayor and Council Members you will lead the way with clean woodsmoke-free air polices that will encourage other communities to see the necessity of doing the right thing for everyone of all ages.
anonymous says
July 22, 2015 at 1:42 amNot being able to have a few marshmallows? Ridiculous. Sounds like the fire department budget is pretty robust. Too much decision making has come down to a few people at the local level. Most people commute 2-6 hours a day for a job! Why don’t we do something about that? Enbridge (mega corporation) will benefit. Wish we had more progressive people in politics.
anonymous says
July 22, 2015 at 2:25 amAnother comment, thank you Mr. Maycock for this- “Once we start infringing on people’s property rights, we are going down the wrong lane.” We were very fortunate to have someone like this present during some of the draconian sign and tree by-laws proposed in the past. The way some of these councillors are so eager to ban and control is a bit scary, naive and always from a place of good intentions. We shouldn’t scare off business especially now during a time of a shaky economy-high student debt, unemployment and underemployment and spiraling consumer debt. We need ideas now. Revenue generating ones.