Let the backyard burning begin - in January 2016, that is.
City Council has quit its contemplation to lift the restrictions on recreational backyard burning within city limits by approving an amended bylaw after a long, drawn out deliberation.
After sitting on the community services committee and council docket for over a year, the proposed bylaw amendment came to a head at Monday night’s council meeting where it was passed with an 8-2 majority vote.
“I think this is very much a Northern Ontario type of thing and, quite frankly, it is finally about time that it’s off the docket; this should not have sat on the committee from this spring,” Coun. Daryl Vaillancourt said before casting his vote. “Nothing we ever do, good or bad, is ever set in stone; we can always change our mind.
“I put my faith in the Fire Chief and all of his staff that, if this does become a problem, which I don't believe it will, that I hope he will come back and he will talk to his council to see if there’s any changes that we need to make,” he added.
Urban areas are currently prohibited from recreational or open-air burning. But over the past eight months, Fire Chief Grant Love and his team at the fire department have been drafting the new bylaw to reflect the city being made up of two zones: an un-restricted rural burning area and a non-rural recreational burning area.
(see the map in our photo gallery)
Assuming the bylaw clears the final consideration, recreational burning would, for the most part, be opened up to all areas of the city that are serviced by city water services and fire hydrants, allowing for recreational fires if the property in question meets a list of requirements.
Those criteria, put simply, will require the fire to be set in a safe location six metres from any structure and adjacent property lines, must be burned in a manufactured burning appliance using charcoal, briquettes, or dry seasoned wood only, and under strict wind and time restrictions.
Each property owner would also need a permit from the fire department, estimated to cost between $25-$85, which Love said they are hoping to make as easy as possible by eventually adopting an online application.
“I don’t believe the sky is going to fall […] if somebody is having a reasonable, small, controlled fire in their backyard,” Vaillancourt said bluntly. “Quite frankly, with the 18-foot radius from any object, I suspect that excludes a predominant amount of homes in our community.”
Rural zones, which are classified as those not serviced by city water and fire hydrants surrounding the settlement area, will be eligible for both recreational fires and other types of open air burning, like agricultural open air fires.
Above all, Chief Love told council the new bylaw wouldn’t require increased operating costs or employee demands, even if they receive higher-than-usual call volume in the early days of the bylaw.
He said the only change they might expect is increased diesel fuel for deploying the fire trucks for each call, which currently costs them approximately $10,000 annually.
“I’m not seeing this as something that is going to be too onerous,” said Coun. Mac Bain. “The fact is, we’re not in downtown Toronto where we have a skyscraper beside us; we live in Northern Ontario where people for generations have enjoyed a camp fire.
“It just boggles my mind that it has taken this long to get this resolved,” he added.
In the absence of Coun. Mike Anthony, the only disapproving votes came from community services chair Mark King and George Maroosis.
“We have an obligation to pass good law; but this bylaw, it’s got so many ifs, ands, maybes,” said the latter. “To pass a bylaw like this that [...] has all these rules and regulations with the chance that a fire truck with four firemen is going to arrive when a neighbour finds a reason to complain just doesn’t make a lot of sense.”
Last week, Coun. King predicted that the recommendation would garner council’s consent, despite not supporting lifting the restrictions himself.
But on Monday, he was still surprised at the strong support, while also voicing concern for the aging demographic and the health risks brought to light by residents who passionately presented against lifting the restrictions throughout the process.
“I actually didn’t expect them to be that overwhelmingly in favour of it,” he said after the meeting. “I have some concerns with respect to the costs towards the fire department and, not only that, but I think we have a moral obligation to breathe clean air.
“I think the largest single issue for me is the fact that we do have an aging population probably about two years older than the average in the province of Ontario,” he added. “We all know that as you become older, certainly you’re subject to respiratory problems, and I think that we actually would error if, in fact, we were about to pollute the air that they do breathe.”
Ultimately though, what most council members consider to be a standard component of living in northern Ontario will once again be made available city-wide in the new year.
“This would not take affect until January 1, but to me I think it would be a shame not to try this in the community for at least a year,” said Coun. Chris Mayne. “It’s not perfect, but over the course of the first year as the fire department does respond to complaints, there will be room to adjust the recommendations in the future.
“I think a lot of people in northern Ontario get enjoyment from sitting outside in the fresh air and this is something that encourages people to get outside and enjoy their property more than they otherwise might do,” he concluded.
