Part 1: PEC Council Recap: Housing Debate, Pit 2907 Concerns, and Key Approvals - 10/21/2025
- PECConnect
- Oct 21, 2025
- 3 min read
Council met on October 21, 2025 at Shire Hall in Picton, with Janice Maynard chairing and Sam Brandenhorst acting as mayor for the evening. The meeting opened with the land acknowledgement, housekeeping items, and confirmation of the agenda. There were no conflicts declared and no closed-session business.
View the entire PEC Council Meeting, or continue for speaker comments and councillor votes >
The early part of the meeting leaned light. Council shared announcements, including excitement over the Blue Jays making the World Series, reminders about upcoming public meetings tied to a ballot question, and a community fundraiser in Ameliasburgh for a local family dealing with a serious medical emergency. Several proclamations were read, including Child Care Worker and Early Childhood Educator Appreciation Day, Indigenous Veterans Day, Miss Supertest Day, and Financial Literacy Month.
Deputations Shift the Tone: Concerns Over Pit 2907
The tone shifted once deputations began. Paul Allen spoke at length about Pit 2907 on Ridge Road, raising concerns about how a long-dormant aggregate pit was relicensed by the Ministry of Natural Resources without a site plan and with permission to extract below the water table. He argued that this amounted to a significant change in use, should have triggered public notice, and posed risks related to water protection, traffic, and quality of life for nearby residents. Council members asked questions about consultation, enforcement, royalties, and whether extraction had already occurred. The discussion ended with council agreeing to have the mayor and staff review the materials and consider making representations to the province.
Staff Reports: Incremental Approvals and One Key Deferral
From there, council moved through several staff reports. They approved changes to allow the Chief Building Official to issue conditional building permits under specific safeguards, mainly to help projects start earlier without skipping safety or planning requirements.
A report on sidewalk winter maintenance was deferred to allow a councillor to be present. Council also approved the updated five-year rural road improvement plan, including continued use of surface treatments, exploring more contracted road work, and flagging a future road condition assessment for the 2026 budget.
The most heated and longest discussion of the night centered on the Prince Edward County Affordable Housing Corporation. What started as a governance housekeeping report turned into a wide-ranging debate about whether the corporation is effective, whether it should remain independent from Shire Hall, and whether public money is producing results. Councillors spoke openly about frustration, slow progress, funding barriers, and the role of private developers. A motion was introduced to ask staff for a report on what dissolving the housing corporation would look like, but that motion failed on a tie vote. Council did approve the governance updates, including clearer wording on council representation on the board.
The meeting wrapped up with routine items, including an amendment to a salt supply bylaw, consent items, confirmatory bylaws, and adjournment just before 9 p.m.
Disclaimer: This article is based on a meeting with an approximate duration of 1:58:017. Due to the length of the meeting, our team was not able to independently review the full recording in its entirety. As a result, we relied on software-generated transcription, automated summarization, and automated recognition of speakers and participants, which may not be entirely accurate. All transcriptions, summaries, and related content are prepared by our team in good faith and on a reasonable best-efforts basis. The content is provided for general informational purposes only and is intended to support public understanding of the topics discussed. While reasonable efforts have been made to present the information accurately, automated processes may result in errors, omissions, or unintended misinterpretations. This article does not constitute an official, certified, or verbatim record of the meeting, and it should not be relied upon as such. Readers are encouraged to consult original source materials, official minutes, or recordings where available for confirmation or clarification. Questions, requests for clarification, or suggested corrections may be submitted to hello@pecconnect.ca for review and consideration.
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