Council this Week: Highlights from the October 25 County Council agenda - 20231025

10/23/2023

Council this Week News and Events

Organics collection, environmental resources policies and more

County Council meetings are broadcast live at www.oxfordcounty.ca/livestream. To download the full agenda or view past recordings of council meetings, visit www.oxfordcounty.ca/council.

Please note a name change for Councillor Bernia Martin (City-County), formerly Bernia Wheaton, effective October 20, 2023. Councillor Martin can be reached at her updated email address: bmartin@cityofwoodstock.ca. The full listing and contact information for Oxford County Council members is in the Council section of the website.

Options for an organics (green bin) collection program

Oxford County is bringing forward different options for exploring an organics collection program for residential food, leaf, yard, tissue/paper towel and pet waste. The report to Council outlines scenarios for source-separated organics collection (green bin program) and their impacts and considerations for the County’s waste management program.

Council will consider a multi-year organics management program that potentially begins with a green bin collection program in 2026, followed by the implementation of a local organics processing facility at the County’s Waste Management Facility. The first step towards implementation is the selection of a preferred organics processing option for covered aerated static pile composting, a technology that has been used successfully by other Ontario municipalities and North America. This option would require expanding the current leaf, yard and waste compost facility at the Oxford County Waste Management Facility to also process organic waste into high quality compost that can then be sold.

Over a 20-year in-service period, a County-wide organics program has the potential to divert at least 6-8% of Oxford’s overall residential waste from the landfill, extending its service life by approximately 10 years. The potential also exists to intercept certain amounts of industrial, commercial and institutional (non-residential) organics waste generated across Oxford.

PW 2023-42: Organics Resource Recovery Technologies Feasibility Study

Community consultation on environmental resources policies

County Council will receive a paper on suggested environmental policy directions at the next Council meeting, a key step in Phase 2 of Oxford County’s Official Plan Review. The paper is intended to serve as the general basis for community engagement on various environmental policy considerations, which will then help inform the future development of proposed updates to the County’s environmental policies. The County is reviewing its current policies to ensure they reflect current federal and provincial requirements; that environmental resources are protected and sustainably managed for the long term; and that the County is prepared to adapt to and mitigate the impacts of a changing climate.

The County’s environmental policies guide the protection, restoration, and enhancement of natural heritage features and areas (e.g., woodlands, wetlands and valleylands), water resources (e.g., streams, rivers, groundwater and drinking water) and soils, as well as addressing land use considerations related to climate change, open space (e.g., parks, trails) and natural hazards (e.g., floodplains, steep slopes and erosion hazards). More information and a short survey to provide input will be available online starting October 26 at www.oxfordcounty.ca/speakup.

CP 2023-289: Phase 2 Official Plan Review (Environmental Policies) – Suggested Policy Directions

Rent control increases for County Rent-Geared-to-Income units

County Council is being asked to approve a 2.5% increase in the maximum rents for all Oxford County Community Housing buildings in 2024. Oxford County Community Housing units are 100% rent-geared-to-income, meaning that tenants will never pay more than 30% of their income on rent regardless of the maximum rent amount. The report notes that maximum rents have not increased since 2012.

HS 2023-18: Oxford County Community Housing – Maximum Rent Increase for 2024

2024 Grant requests

Social Planning Council Oxford - Stephanie Ellens-Clark and Brittany Saggau
Ingersoll Pipe Band - Doug Collins
Oxford Invitational Youth Robotics Competition - Lisa Wells and Brad Hammond
International Student Exchanges – Oxford - Bryan Smith
Oxford Physician Recruitment Group - Brad Hammond
Oxford Ontario Health Team - Teresa Martins

Questions or comments?

Council this Week highlights Council activities for the public, employees and community partners. Please send your questions and comments to communications@oxfordcounty.ca