There’s only one item on today’s agenda:
That Council move into an In-Camera Meeting of Council pursuant to Section 239 of the Municipal Act, 2001, as amended for the following reasons:
Item A – Litigation Involving Identifiable Individual
Who knows? No agenda has been posted yet but it’s scheduled for 5 to 7 pm. Visit the calendar on the town’s website; usually a choice of html or pdf agendas are posted.
Almost half of the one hour August 24 Accessibility Advisory Committee meeting was spent on the new LCBO site plan at the Walmart plaza.
The Municipal Property Audits, reviewed back in 2018 to 2019 will be revisited by members using the Building & Spaces Accessibility Assessment Form; – there should be no surprises regarding the lack of accessibility at the town hall and Gordon House, as I’ve pointed out numerous times.
The Site Plan Review – 400 Sandwich St. South was discussed at length and focused on the town’s right of way and a sidewalk on Pickering. Apparently, the town asked the developer about a sidewalk several times but couldn’t demand it because it is town property and a municipal decision.
About fifteen minutes later.
Motion 1: to approve with the referring the sidewalk question to 2024 budget.
More discussion and clarification: approving it unconditionally or conditionally? waiting to hear back whether that’s going to be approved? the committee doesn’t have approval capacity – can make recommendations, endorse, but not approve. This can proceed with or without this committee’s endorsement.
Without a seconder, the motion on the floor was read: that the Site Plan for 400 Sandwich Street South be endorsed by the Amherstburg accessibility committee, and that consideration of a sidewalk on Pickering Drive from Sandwich to the proposed new LCBO store be brought to the 2024 budget deliberations. The Chair didn’t think they had a motion and asked if they did.
Motion 2: that the Accessibility Advisory Committee favours this development but calls on the developer and the town to put a sidewalk there.
More discussion.
The clerk was asked to read back the motion:
that the site plan for 400 Sandwich Street South be favored by the accessibility advisory committee and that the Accessibility Advisory Committee calls on the developer and the town to put a sidewalk from Sandwich Street South to the LCBO along the municipal right of way on Pickering drive.
More discussion. Favoured?
The motion is read again:
that the development for 400 Sandwich Street South be supported by the Amherstburg Accessibility Advisory Committee in principle, but that the Amherstburg Accessibility Advisory Committee calls on the developer and the town to put a sidewalk from Sandwich Street South to the LCBO along the municipal right of way on Pickering drive.
More discussion: Supported?
Motion amended to say that the Accessibility Advisory Committee calls on the developer and the town to build a sidewalk there.
Motion is read again:
that the Amherstburg Accessibility Advisory Committee calls on the town and the developer to build a sidewalk along Pickering drive to service the new development.
Carried.
Accessible On-Street Parking: public consultation will b held in the fall for the downtown core.
Multigenerational Swing Installation Jack Purdie Park: little discussion but I’ll have more on that in another post.
On to UNFINISHED BUSINESS and Maintenance of Tactile Surface Indicators and a motion that carried: the Amherstburg Accessibility Advisory Committee recommends that the town implement a maintenance schedule to paint tactile surface plates that have rusted.
There really needs to be a time limit on speeches and we could still do without the personal anecdotes that do not move the town business forward.
Council’s debate of Councillor Allaire’s motion for a survey of all residents regarding Open Air lasted almost fifteen minutes: who received a survey? who should be surveyed? who was surveyed? when to survey? who should vet the survey? should all events be surveyed? we’ve had many open air surveys to date, correct?
Councillor Crain was the sole opposition. He said he can’t grasp why Open Air specifically; and it was already mentioned that we’ve done an Open Air survey for residents and businesses so he felt a survey just on Open Air seems to be wasting staff time in his opinion; he would consider it if they opened it up to all events.
The waste of time, in my opinion, was the almost fifteen minutes that resulted in what Councillor Allaire wanted in the first place.
the burg watch: to CAO Critchley: would you please advise on what dates did admin/tourism dept. conduct Open Air surveys of Amherstburg residents/ratepayers?
CAO Critchley I believe that there have been several community surveys placed on Talk the Burg with respect to Open Air in the past but I do not have the precise dates. As you may know, Council has asked that a new survey be prepared and it will be issued in the Fall.
the burg watch: knowing the precise dates would be helpful for the public and for decision makers. a ‘talk the burg’ site search yielded no results.
CAO Critchley: I am attaching copies of all surveys that we were able to locate regarding Open Air. I would note that we have surveyed visitors to Open Air and the businesses inside and outside the footprint. We have not done a resident wide survey, however that is being prepared and will be done this year.
How many surveys were there?
Continuing awareness of definitions, the Canadian Public Health Association article, Accessibility and Usability of Play Spaces is another resource that fully explains ‘accessible’ and ‘useable’ playgrounds.
‘When adapted or specialized equipment is made available, it is often limited in quantity and engaged with alone, thereby highlighting the functional limitations of that child and further segregating them from their peers.’
CANADIAN PUBLIC HEALTH ASSOCIATION ACCESSIBILITY AND USABILITY OF PLAY SPACES MARCH 2019
If you can’t locate information on the town of Amherstburg website, do a search. When I typed in ‘delegate’ the drop down menu appeared as this:
A click on the town of Whitby delegation request form resulted in a list including this:
Clicking on that link resulted in a pdf of the Amherstburg Delegate Request Form:
Searching delegate request yields different results including different names: delegation request form which is online and Delegation Registration Form – Amherstburg which links to Drainage On-Site Meeting Delegation Regist:
The online delegation request forms differ. Amherstburg’s asks if you have contacted Administration regarding this matter and asks that speaking notes and/or presentation materials be attached.
Whitby’s asks for preferred attendance: either in person or virtually and also states, Additional information regarding appearing before Council can be found on whitby.ca/delegations.
The number and type of comments here and on Facebook about children with disabilities is concerning. I can’t imagine anyone would choose to deny any child a fun playground experience.
There seems to be some mis- and disinformation regarding playgrounds that children with disabilities can equally access and enjoy. I also think there is ignorance about the fact that the terms accessible, inclusive, and useable are not interchangeable.
The AODA and Canada Safety Association Standards are minimum requirements and nothing in the legislation stops anyone from exceeding those minimum standards.
When there is a claim that a playground is AODA or CSA Annex H compliant, it might mean that only some elements are accessible but the playground still might not be inclusive.
There are a number of excellent resources for municipalities to refer to if decision makers decide they will exceed those minimum standards and build playgrounds that are inclusive and useable.
Holland Bloorview’s EPIC Lab has teamed up with Dr. Kelly Arbour-Nicitopoulos (University of Toronto), Ms. Ingrid Kanics (Kanics Inclusive Design Services, LLC), and Dr. Jennifer Leo (University of Alberta) to create a comprehensive report titled, “Creating Inclusive Playgrounds: A Playbook of Considerations and Strategies.”
The development of this playbook has received generous support from Canadian Tire Jumpstart Charities’ Inclusive Play Project and their mission to build more inclusive play spaces across Canada.
following the post, Free Speech As Delegates, I emailed members of council:
on a few occasions i’ve requested that you update the 2014 procedural by-law posted on the town’s website. the by-law that most directly affects democracy should reflect current accessibility and human rights legislation and it is within your authority as representatives of the public you serve to address the issue and implement a best practice.
to assist you, i reached out to the centre for free expression and have included the response below. i urge you to do the same. it should suffice that residents who want to voice their concerns to those elected to listen state the topic/concern/subject matter and be given their 5 minutes of your attention and your consideration and decision.
there should be no administrative burdens or barriers to democracy.
amherstburg’s first local blogger
‘Thank you for reaching out to the Centre for Free Expression.
It is not unusual for municipal councils to ask delegations wishing to speak to council to register in advance, as your CAO indicates. It is also normal that the requester be asked to specify the agenda item to which you want to speak. All this is helpful in ensuring an orderly meeting in which all those wanting to be heard can be heard.
That said, I have never heard of a municipality requiring the delegation speaker’s notes, much less the text of the speech, to be submitted ahead of the event. And, I have never heard of a requirement for a copy of the notes or speech text to be submitted with the application to appear. Sometimes when I appear before parliamentary bodies they request a copy of my submission ahead of time so they can distribute it to the committee members and, where there is simultaneous translation, to give a copy to the translators so as to help them. But, this is only after I have been accepted as a speaker and it is not a requirement.
While I feel it is both wrong and bad practice for your municipal council to do as yours is doing, it is not illegal to the best of my knowledge. It is something that should be fought in the court of public opinion.
I hope this is helpful.’
Copyright – this information is protected by Canada’s Copyright Act. Request written permission from the burg watch at gmail dot com.
Thanks to a reader who alerted me to this fire hydrant on a Dalhousie Street sidewalk that may impede access and use by persons using mobility devices. It seems odd that inclusivity is increasingly being mentioned but then we encounter barriers like this, or playground equipment that may not be useable, or gravel parking lots. What is being done to be inclusive in meaningful ways? Will this be fixed?
Anyone can view the virtual hearings via the link in the Public Notices for two upcoming hearings:
the burg watch 