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PODCAST: Farming family flags unfair treatment by City of North Bay

'I get that we're trying to protect the drinking water supply for North Bay but I think there's some misguided plans or ideas about how to do that effectively'
BayToday Staff
2024-10-22-matt-parfitt-echo-podcast
Matt Parfitt of Parfitt Farms.Echo Essentials Podcast/YouTube

In the Echo Essentials Podcast clip above, Matt Parfitt, a spokesperson for the local Parfitt Family Farm visits the Echo Essentials Podcast studio to highlight the City of North Bay's restrictions on rural and agricultural land use that he feels are not science-based and unfair to rural property owners several kilometres away from Trout Lake. 

Co-hosts Scott Clark and Dave Dale are joined by Parfitt who raises several issues about an attempt to sever part of the Parfitt property located on Four Mile Lake Road. An experienced geological engineer, Parfitt suggests the city has unfair and unscientific restrictions affecting rural landowners far from the drinking water source of Delaney Bay.

Parfitt says one recently discovered restriction prohibits agricultural use within 30 metres of a property line and he says it was added unnecessarily to the city's official plan in the early 1990s. Another issue is the 300-metre setback for septic systems from Trout Lake watershed tributaries. He said it all but eliminates the ability to sever lots for any residential properties, even though they are about eight kilometres from the city's source of drinking water and the soil types in their area are better suited to attenuating phosphates.

"I get that we're trying to protect the drinking water supply for North Bay but I think there's some misguided plans or ideas about how to do that effectively," Parfitt states.

Find the full-length episode of the podcast featuring Matt Parfitt and other podcast offerings at North Bay Echo, recorded in the North Bay Echo Community Podcast studio.

The Echo Essentials Podcast ties together all of the elements of the North Bay Echo Community Podcast Network and is hosted by Essentials newsletter editor Dave Dale and Echo’s principal partner Scott Clark. North Bay Echo is a network of podcasts focusing on our community. Guests on the weekly Echo Essentials Podcast reflect on the challenges and issues facing North Bay while Clark and Dale discuss the topics and podcasts featured in the newsletters.