Sunday, March 13th, 2005
We get together again after another 3 months of running around in circles in the big dipper. Once again we had decided last week to drop everything, but let me first recount a little…
Last time, I left you with the idea that the Town Planner would write the new regulations, but, in fact, nothing of all this is done yet. The municipal council absolutely whished to obtain a recommendation from the town planning consultative committee (TPCC), which had not succeeded agreeing the first time that the Town Planner had presented our project. This time, the TPCC asked that we supply architect’s plans before making a decision. Obviously, it does not make sense for us to spend all this money without some assurance that they will do something whatsoever later.
I wrote a letter asking the council to reject this option, and giving all the reasons why they should proceed with the modifications to the regulations. I even identified the two that needed modifications, and in which way it could be done. At the February 21st meeting, the council nevertheless accepted the TPCC recommendation. At the question period, I intervened without much success in order to try and obtain an explanation on the logic behind what they are asking from us.
At the end of the meeting, the mayor and the councillor for our district came to meet us and we discussed for a good half hour. In conclusion, the mayor invited me to meet him at City Hall with the other parties concerned to see how we could agree. I was supposed to try and obtain a letter from an architect providing information on the type of construction that we wish to build. The meeting was set for the morning of March 8…
I have tried repetitively without results to find a Quebec architect who would be interested in "earthships". I talked again with Mr Martin Liefhebber in Toronto who encouraged me to convince them to accept plans from an Ontario architect, but he can truly do no more before the regulations are changed. I later talked to the General Manager who rather discouraged me, I was ready to cancel the meeting. We had already started making plans for other types of construction with more conventional techniques, that would not require modifications to the regulations. Finally, Monday March 7th, I contacted the Town Planner and decided to go to the meeting all the same.
I therefore found myself, on Women’s Day, in front of five gentlemen in order to find a meeting ground. Mister Mayor directed discussions with much determination and at the end of one hour we had reached a conclusion. The Town Planner will have to write the modifications to the regulations to present them at the caucus of the council on Monday March 14th.
If it is accepted, the notification of the motion and the deposit of the first project of a regulation will be done at the meeting of March 21st. Later, there will be a public consultation some time in April. I will then participate to the information evening to answer questions from perplex citizens…and there are some who are fiercely opposed from what I have heard. Obviously, they know nearly nothing about the project, it is only a matter of convincing them.
If opposition is not too great and there is no demand for a referendum, things will follow their course and a permit should be ours at the beginning of summer. The billbook is very tight but still possible. I will tell you about modifications the next time when I will have perused the details.
In the meantime, the Department of Environment has gone and done it to complicate everybody’s life. Since January, it is henceforth necessary to have a soil study for every new septic tank installation. Nobody knows exactly who is supposed to be empowered to sign this additional paperwork, but it is agreed that it will cost at least an extra 700$, and that there will be delays potentially significant to obtain the permits.
One still does not understand why compost toilets are forbidden. I would like Mr Mulcair to explain to me what risk there is to these. At worst, somebody who does not maintain his equipment well will have shit in his house. It seems to me it should encourage people to manage things well. And for me, to urinate and defecate in drinking water is definitely immoral. It is enough to think about all those who do not have the vital minimum, or who have to walk kilometres each day to fetch water, to get indignant with such a practice. If one wants to speak about durable development, it is easy to calculate that there is not enough water on the planet so that everybody can behave like we do.
Food for thought until the next one…