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Mono launches new bylaw webpage to educate residents

January 27, 2022   ·   0 Comments

By Sam Odrowski

The Town of Mono recently announced a new initiative, aimed at educating residents about its bylaws.

Mono launched a new webpage for its bylaws last week, sharing information like the Town’s bylaw policy, how to file a complaint, outstanding compliance orders, charges currently before the Provincial Offences Court, and the process when someone gets charged.

The new webpage can be visited at: townofmono.com/government/bylaws

Mono Mayor John Creelman, who spearheaded the initiative, said the new webpage replaces an older one that was very sparse in content.

“It didn’t have for instance, the chart showing the Part III POA charges – that’s brand new,” he said. “We included for the first time a link to that policy so that people can see precisely how we proceed with inspections.”

Another significant addition to the new webpage is information about recent changes to Mono’s bylaw enforcement policy, which is no longer complaint based. It is now enforced through a combination of complaints and giving bylaw officers discretion to investigate and lay charges where they see violations in plain sight.

With respect to the new webpage, Mayor Creelman said it’s great to have all their information in one place, where people can either do a word search (Ctrl-F), or click on an actual bylaw and get the wording of it.

When speaking with the Citizen, Mayor Creelman stressed the importance of being informed on Mono’s bylaws and abiding by them. Issues arise when people decide to build or do things on their property that it isn’t zoned for, he added.

One example of a bylaw violation that happens frequently, according to Creelman, is the importation of fill (earth material) for construction projects from outside of Dufferin County.

Mono recently enacted a bylaw stating that fill must be sourced from the local region, which is intended to avoid contamination issues.

“The reason for the insistence on County of Dufferin is that it lessens, but does not eliminate, the possibility of contaminated fill coming in from say the City of Toronto where there’s a lot of fill being generated by the construction of the LRT Line on Eglinton, as an example,” Mayor Creelman explained. “Not all that earth is pure and free of contamination, so we felt that by saying locally sourced, it lessens the possibility of getting fill that is problematic.”

Creelman said he’d encourage people to check out the new webpage to get educated, especially before doing anything with their property or thinking about opening a commercial business.

“Visit the page, you’ll quickly find out if you can do it, and if you can’t do it, how you can apply for a zoning change, or how you can apply for a permit, as an example. We have all of that information now readily available for people to peruse on our website, and we’re going to make future improvements,” he told the Citizen.

“The bottom line is that we work towards compliance with our bylaws. We work with the property owners to come into conformity with what the spirit and the letter of our bylaws are. It’s not that we go out and we simply lay a charge immediately, we try and get behind why something is happening and we try to work with property owners. We give them deadlines, and charging somebody under the Provincial Offences Act as a last resort.”

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