Search
Better Farming OntarioBetter PorkBetter Farming Prairies

Better Farming Ontario Featured Articles

Better Farming Ontario magazine is published 11 times per year. After each edition is published, we share featured articles online.


Municipal Board ends anti-solar farm bylaw

Sunday, May 10, 2009

© AgMedia Inc.

by BETTER FARMING STAFF

The Ontario Municipal Board has repealed East Hawkesbury Township’s bylaw suspending solar farm development within its boundaries.

Linda Rozon, the township’s CAO and clerk-treasurer, says she received the order Friday afternoon, too late for it to be added to council’s meeting agenda Monday night.

“I will tell (the council) what happened,” she says, noting the municipality’s next steps will be to prepare for another, related, Board hearing in June.

Last August the municipality introduced a one-year moratorium on solar farm developments.  Solaris Energy Partners Inc. had proposed to build a solar farm on 300 acres of prime agricultural land to generate 30 megawatts of electricity. Solaris appealed the township’s bylaw to the Board.

In a written decision, Board member Marc Denhez stated that the bylaw gave the township council necessary breathing room to study the issue. The study is now complete and Denhez has repealed the bylaw because it “has no further practical purpose.”

Shawn Wylie, who owns a dairy farm neighbouring the proposed solar development, says neither the municipality nor Solaris stand to gain from the decision.

He points out that Solaris can’t proceed until it has obtained rezoning and site plan approvals. The Board will hear Solaris’ appeal of the township’s decision not to issue these over three days, beginning June 22.

Wylie says solar farms have no place on prime farmland. “There’s enough urban sprawl as it is.”

He’s concerned the development may generate stray voltage, which can cause health problems in cows and ultimately reduce milk production. Wylie milks 120 cows.

He says Solaris has assured stray voltage is a “non-issue,” and therefore won’t introduce monitors that might help to signal a problem if it were to occur.

Solaris says the project would inject $10 million into the local economy and generate 100 jobs, 10 of them permanent.  

It maintains the municipality’s bylaw violates provincial planning acts and the proposed Green Energy Act, which directs planners to promote solar energy.

Neither East Hawkesbury Mayor Robert Kirby nor Greg Pruner, Solaris president and CEO, could be reached for comment.

In an article in Better Farming magazine’s April issue, Kirby estimated the two hearings could cost the municipality as much as $80,000.

Pruner noted in the same article that the municipality initially was positive about the project. “We actually met with the mayor and council. We got their blessing . . . They were quite excited about the economic development.”

Rozon says the municipality has not received any other applications for solar farms. BF

Current Issue

June/July 2025

Better Farming Magazine

Farms.com Breaking News

Cattle Stress Tool May Boost Fertility

Friday, June 27, 2025

Kansas State University researchers have developed a cool tool that may help reduce cattle stress and improve artificial insemination (AI) results. The idea came from animal science experts Nicholas Wege Dias and Sandy Johnson, who observed that cattle accustomed to their environment... Read this article online

Ontario pasture lands get $5M boost

Friday, June 27, 2025

The governments of Canada and Ontario are investing up to $5 million to strengthen shared community grazing pastures. This funding supports the province’s plan to protect Ontario’s agriculture sector and help cattle farmers improve pasture quality, ensuring long-term sustainability and... Read this article online

Health Canada sets rules for drone spraying

Wednesday, June 25, 2025

Health Canada has approved the use of drones, also called Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS), for pesticide application under the Pest Control Products Act (PCPA). Drones are considered aircraft by Transport Canada, but Health Canada treats them differently due to their unique... Read this article online

BF logo

It's farming. And it's better.

 

a Farms.com Company

Subscriptions

Subscriber inquiries, change of address, or USA and international orders, please email: subscriptions@betterfarming.com or call 888-248-4893 x 281.


Article Ideas & Media Releases

Have a story idea or media release? If you want coverage of an ag issue, trend, or company news, please email us.

Follow us on Social Media

 

Sign up to a Farms.com Newsletter

 

DisclaimerPrivacy Policy2025 ©AgMedia Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Back To Top