HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2015-05-14, Page 15THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MAY 14, 2015. PAGE 15.
Several local business people are
eager to see Morris-Turnberry
Council agree to North Huron’s
Cross-Border Servicing Policy,
councillors heard at their May 5
meeting.
Doug Kuyvenhoven, Executive
Vice-President of Royal Homes and
Klaas Jorritsma, Vice-President of
Operations, visited Morris-
Turnberry Council with a message:
sharing the benefits of growth is
better than no growth at all.
Kuyvenhoven and Jorritsma both
touted the benefits of pairing with
North Huron, stating that, even if it
were a 50/50 deal, Morris-Turnberry
would still come out ahead.
“North Huron has all the capital
costs of sewer and water and
service,” Kuyvenhoven said. “You
need to have shovel-ready property
and that means having serviced
property.”
Kuyvenhoven went on to say that
other municipalities are seeing
buildings go up, businesses come in
and tax dollars increasing and he
wants both Morris-Turnberry, where
Royal Homes’ main building is
located, and North Huron to benefit
from those kinds of advantages.
The duo stated that they were
looking to parcel off and sell
property with the hopes of
encouraging growth, but said that, as
long as North Huron and Morris-
Turnberry were feuding, it didn’t
look like an development would
happen very soon.
“If I were at the table and you guys
said you’re not going to share profits
with me in a joint venture, I would
walk,” Jorritsma said. “We’re not
looking for answers now, just giving
your our perspective.”
The perspective, according to
Kuyvenhoven, is one based in facts.
More than 40 years ago, when he
was 12 years old, his father was
being courted by Wingham to build
Royal Homes, which at that point
was just an idea instead of the
company that employs
approximately 100 individual in the
area now.
“No one had enough land,”
Kuyvenhoven said of the
municipalities he and his father
toured. “The Wingham Mayor,
DeWitt Miller, however, was
persistent and wanted us to locate
there. A farm was bought across the
road from Wingham, and council
agreed to provide water across the
road. You can be grateful for that.
There’s no tax sharing on that deal,
all the taxes are coming to Morris-
Turnberry and the services are
coming from North Huron. If it
weren’t for Wingham doing that, we
couldn’t be there. I see a lot of
potential around us for lots of
industry but nothing gets built if
there’s no services.”
Council was less than receptive of
the presentation, however, with
Gowing stating that, if North Huron
wanted more income, they were
welcome to tax their own residents.
“It’s our right, within our
municipality, to tax our properties,
and it’s their right to tax their own
people,” he said. “They’re asking for
a 30 per cent tax share before they
will run the services, but services are
supposed to be user-paid and that
extra money won’t be tied to
services. They want it to go to
general coffers.”
Gowing said that the costs that
would be bore by Morris-Turnberry
for maintaining its infrastructure in
and around developable land still
needs to be paid for, so, to give
North Huron 30 per cent of the taxes
received (which is approximately 40
per cent of the total taxation),
Morris-Turnberry would need to
increase taxes collected on the land.
“That’s not what we’re
suggesting,” Kuyvenhoven said. “If
you charge 30 per cent extra, you
cost yourself out.”
Gowing asked what the 30 per
cent would be for in North Huron,
since the services are already being
paid for, however Jorritsma saw it in
a different light.
“You’re not giving the owner any
incentive to part with their
resources,” he said. “What choice
does Morris-Turnberry have here?”
Councillor Jim Nelemans, who
joined the meeting midway through
the presentation, said that Morris-
Turnberry has many other options,
but didn’t elaborate.
Kuyvenhoven said that council
was dwelling on the negative instead
of looking at what could be.
“You’re saying 30 per cent isn’t
right for North Huron to put into
general coffers, but that’s not what
you should be looking at here,” he
said. “The 70 per cent you’re going
to get, since the services in that area
are already paid for, is all profit.”
Councillor John Smuck said he
felt the entire situation was unfair to
Morris-Turnberry because, as
Morris-Turnberry representatives
have claimed in the past, Wingham
paid for very little of the services
that now belong to North Huron.
“The original system was done
through a majority share of
provincial grants,” he said. “It was
more meant for the area than anyone
else. All users pay for it the same as
the fire department, but now they
want to charge taxes on top of that
plus charging 1.5 times for use.”
Gowing said that the Morris-
Turnberry was being ‘cost-jacked’
by North Huron.
“Services are user-pay,” he said.
“North Huron has the ability to
charge more and will be now that
they found out they weren’t
collecting enough to sustain the
system. They say we’re not paying
enough, but they weren’t charging
their own residents enough.”
Gowing turned to other examples
of cross-border servicing, such as
the Wal-Mart plaza outside of
Goderich, which was serviced
through a private agreement with
Goderich.
Jorritsma requested that the two
municipalities get together for the
betterment of both, however Gowing
said he didn’t feel a solution was
forthcoming.
“We’ve had meetings with North
Looking for local heroes
There are so many people out there who do
so much to improve their community.
Now you have a chance to say thanks.
Nominate that special person for the 30th
Annual Citizen Citizenship Awards.
Each year a committee chooses an outstanding citizen from each of the Blyth and area
and Brussels and area communities to receive an award for contribution to the
community. If you know someone you think should be honoured, please fill in the ballot
and send it in. You may attach a longer explanation of why you think your nominee
should win, if you like. If you have nominated someone before and he or she didn't win,
please feel free to try again.
I nominate
as Citizen of the year for
I feel she/he deserves this award because
Nomination Deadline May 31, 2015.
Name and phone number of nominator
❑Blyth
& area ❑Brussels
& area
Deadline
extended until
May 31
NEWS
FROM BELGRAVE
McIntosh wins shoot
The community congratulates
Kesler Jardin, Ryan Jacklin and
Zeke Walden for obtaining the Dan
Beuermann award for the most
dedicated PeeWee hockey players.
They were honoured at the annual
Blyth Brussels Minor Hockey
Association year-end awards
banquet.
There were four tables of shoot in
play at the Community Centre on
Friday, May 8. Winners were: high
pink card, Mary McIntosh; second
high pink card, Mae Ritchie; most
shoots pink card, Liz Balser; high
white card, Stuart Chamney; second
high white card, Bill Logue;
and most shoots white card, Ross
Taylor.
The next shoot party is Friday,
May 22 at 1:30 p.m. Everyone is
welcome.
By Linda
Campbell
Call
357-2188
PEOPLE AROUND
BELGRAVE
The announcement of a Guelph to
Goderich Rail Trail grand opening
in July and events held even earlier
surprised members of Morris-
Turnberry Council.
During council’s May 5 meeting,
Councillor John Smuck asked
Mayor Paul Gowing, a proponent of
the trail, to explain what the
announcement, which stated the trail
would be open later this year despite
concerns from North Huron,
adjacent landowners and
farm groups, means for the
municipality.
“The announcement came from
the not-for-profit organization
Guelph to Goderich Rail Trail Inc.,”
Gowing said. “It looks like they
were trying to spur things along in
getting the trail open. I will hear
more information when the group
speaks at [Huron County Council
May 13 Committee of the Whole
meeting] but, outside of that, I can’t
shed any more light on it.”
Gowing said the trail has done
well in other areas, pointing out that
in Wellington County it allows users
to travel to and from popular
commercial spots.
“The rail bed is owned by the
province and Morris-Turnberry
doesn’t have any lease on any of it,
so there is no issue as far as our
connection with it,” he said. “North
Huron is leasing a part on the edge
of the trail and has had to deal with
that but, aside from that, I don’t
know what else to tell you.”
Smuck said he might attend the
Huron County Council meeting
regarding the trail if he can because
he knows some landowners would
like to be updated on the trail.
Councillor Jim Nelemans asked if
there were any concerns with the
trail that local property owners
should be aware of and Gowing
explained that some people have
expressed a concern with
trespassing, but he said that other
parts of the trail aren’t having any
issues.
“Landowners are now jumping in
and planting trees and keeping the
trail maintained in other areas,” he
said. “Local farmers are making
sure the trees on the trail are
getting water and the whole system
is getting put into pretty good
shape.”
G2G opening
announcement
shocks council
Continued on page 18
Businesses anxious for M-T, NH to work out servicing