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Ecowrappin'
Taking the time to dream big
Tuesday, January 2, 2007
I have never written very much in this column about my role as a municipal councilor for St Clair Township. I have generally tried to focus on environmental messages or reports on local environmental achievements. Frequently I have described Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) projects that have happened locally.This time I thought I would try a different approach. I am going to write about my home municipality and some of the considerations involved in making decisions for it. First of all please understand that I consider this township to be "God's Country". I have been known to describe it that way to many people. I think of myself as the beneficiary of the good decisions made by my ancestors to come and live here.
Although my father's people came to Canada about 30 years before my mother's did they stayed in Newfoundland until the 1950s. My mother's ancestors came straight here in the 1830s. I was not born in Sombra Township, now part of St Clair Township, but like my mother's people I got here as soon as I could.
The new township council and the Department heads recently held a strategy session. It was all about big ticket things that we felt need to be done. A lot of it is carrying through with plans already under way. Some of it was wish listing as well. I felt it was important that we conduct this exercise and dream big in completing it.
When I am first on a site in my DUC field staff role I prefer it when the landowner dreams big. You should always start out that way and then determine what is feasible considering the resources available. As municipal leaders it is important that large dreams are considered and worked towards. If we do not imagine what may be achieved we relegate ourselves to a gate keeper role and all our efforts are consumed by the day to day requirements.
Positive economic things are underway in St Clair Township. The largest ethanol plant in Canada just started production and is already considering expansion. Two natural-gas fired hydro generation plants are under construction. The Lambton Generating Station will continue to operate and we hope that emission scrubbers will be installed on the two units that do not have them. We are being considered as a potential location to build a new petroleum refinery.
Economic developments are to some degree a result of history, geography, municipal preparedness and luck. It should never be overlooked that municipal councils of the former Moore and Sombra Townships put in place planning and zoning requirements that seem to be paying off now more than 30 years later. While the current council will take the credit much of it is actually owed to past councils who demonstrated good judgment for more than two generations in order to be prepared.
In 2006 we received the assets of the St Clair Parks Commission within our township as the commission was dissolved. All the river front parks, two campgrounds, and a golf course now have to be included in management of our parks, arenas, pool and community halls.
From an operational perspective there are infrastructure imperatives that can not wait. We have systems in place to prioritize and schedule projects for roads, sewers, bridges, and waterlines. As infrastructure gets older it can require greater costs to maintain & repair. Eventually you have to do complete reconstruction. As a result we are always planning major capital reconstruction projects.
All things considered are rated on a scale taking into account health and safety factors, cost savings or paybacks, asset replacement needs, growth related needs, and service enhancement. There is some acknowledgement that other considerations may factor in on some projects.
Those other considerations are really what I started out to write about. As municipal leaders we have another responsibility. We need to ensure that our township continues to be a place where people can enjoy a healthy place to live. We need to set an example for the whole township on how to reduce the negative impacts to the planet of providing municipal services.
I firmly believe that managed development can be done in ways that will be sustainable. The hardest part will be changing the mindset of people. As municipal leaders we must be concerned with livability for future residents. We need to plant more trees and soften the shorelines of the St Clair River where possible to improve spawning opportunities for fish and wildlife. We need to conserve energy in numerous ways. We must ensure that development occurs in a sustainable manner and at the same time provide even greater protection of our natural areas.
I feel that provincial legislation already in the works is going to directly impact many farming landowners and that St Clair Township will have a role to play in implementing legislated requirements more fairly.
At the same time we will have to lobby the province to get those other two units equipped with scrubbers at Lambton Generating Station. We know that we will need the power so let us stop procrastinating on having cleaner emissions while we wait for even cleaner technology to replace it.
Environmental sustainability is one direction that the township needs to move towards. I know that it means regular hard work for generations and involves many people in succession to make it happen. That is my idea of dreaming big for municipal strategy.
Darrell Randell works for Ducks Unlimited Canada as a Conservation Programs Specialist in South West Ontario. Before that he was a Lambton County Pork Producer for 25 years. He served 2 terms on Sombra Township Council, 1994-2000, and is currently a councillor in St Clair Township. He is a past president of the Lambton County Federation of Agriculture. He was a founding member of the Rural Lambton Stewardship Network and served as chairman of that group from 1995-2003. He and Nancy have 3 grown children, each of whom they are extremely proud.
