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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2015-07-16, Page 18PAGE 18. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JULY 16, 2015. Week 2 Courses - July 19-25 (see course descriptions at www.blyth1419.ca) 20 Monday 21 Tuesday 22 Wednesday 23 Thursday 24 Friday 25 Saturday 9:00-10:30 Marbling for Kids 9:00-12:00 Intro to Rug Hooking Pt 1 of 2 9:00-12:00 Intro to Rug Hooking Pt 2 of 2 9:00-1:00 Large scale marbling projects 9:00-5:00 STREETFEST, in Blyth … Drop by the tent on main street to see samples of the work created during the Fashion Arts and Textile Studio and to stitch your own design onto the community collage. 1:00 - 4:00 Surface Design/ Quilting Technique – Furrowing 6:30-9:30 Open Artist Studio - KNITTING NIGHT .. with Expert Irene Kellins 1:00 - 4:00 Silk-screening 6:30-9:30 Sustainable Fashion & Clothing Swap (At Purple Poodle) 1:00-4:00 Creative Practice - Inspiration and Ideation 6:30-9:30 Open Artist Studio - QUILTING with Trina O’Rourke 1:00-4:00 Open Artist Studio RUG HOOKING with expert Marjorie Duizer 6:30-9:30 Small Business Info Night 1:00-4:00 Open Artist Studio - INDIGO & DYE TECHNIQUES eek 2 C 20 Monday 1:00 - 4:00 W ourses - July 19-25 (see c uesday eek 2 C 21 T or KidsMarbling f 9:00-10:30 1:00 - 4:00 ourse descr ednesday ourses - July 19-25 (see c 22 W 2 9:00-12:00 Hooking Pt 1 of 2 o to Rug Intr 9:00-12:00 1:00-4:00 1:00-4:00 t w 23 Thursday iptions aourse descr 24 Frid marbling pr Large scale 9:00-1:00 2 of 2Hooking Pt o to Rug Intr 9:00-12:00 1:00-4:001:00-4:00 .blyth1419.ca) day wwt w 25 Saturday eet to see str the tent on main Dryth … Bl STREETFEST 9:00-5:00 ojects marbling pr Large scale 9:00-1:00 1:00-4:00 .blyth1419.ca) eet to see the tent on main y op b Dr in,, STT, TeQuilting Surface Design/ 1:00 - 4:00 ecT ellinsK ene t IrExper wNIGHT ... KNITTING - Studio Artist Open 6:30-9:30 wingor– Fur Surface Design/ echnique oodle)Purple P p (At Clothing Swa Sustainable Fashion & 6:30-9:30 eeningSilk-scr 1:00 - 4:00 ene with KNITTING Artist wing 6:30-9:30 1:00-4:00 erina O’RourkkeTTr TING with QUILLT - Studio Artist Open 6:30-9:30 Ideation - Inspiration and e Practice eativCr 1:00-4:00 p (At Sustainable Fashion & TECHNIQUES Y& DDY Studio Open 1:00-4:00 o NightInf Small Business 6:30-9:30 Duizer t Marjorie exper HOOKING with UG RStudio Artist Open 1:00-4:00 eated ork crw samples of the during the Fashion .collage unity comm design onto the our ostitch y Studio and to exTTets andArTECHNIQUES YE - INDIGO Studio Artist Open 1:00-4:00 eated samples of the during the Fashion design onto the wn our o Studio and to extile G2G Inc. summoned by county to discuss concerns Continued from page 1 press release stating that the trail would be open July 1, it took landowners, Huron County staff and councillors by surprise, ratcheting up tension between the organization and adjacent landowners who felt the consultation process and consideration of their concerns was being circumvented. Scott Tousaw, Huron County’s head of planning and development, said that to date, the G2G Working Committee has met six times, and that issues are being systematically worked through, as is the group’s mandate. He said he expects that the group will report back to council in the fall, ahead of the next public consultation meeting. He also recounted some history regarding the trail, saying that council had, at one time, endorsed the trail in principle, deciding it was a worthwhile venture that could assist economic development throughout the county. However, with several concerns known at the time, Huron County Council decided that a working committee should be struck to help work through the issues. It is that process, Tousaw said, that is currently ongoing. The process will take time, he said, and answers will not be arrived at overnight, so the committee does need some time to complete what it was mandated to do. “The input from this delegation is helpful, but the working group is doing its thing and will be reporting back to council in due course,” Tousaw said. Tousaw said he wanted to be clear about the working group’s meetings and speak to those who have said they have felt “shut out” by the process. He says the meetings are open to the public, but they are not public meetings – saying that it’s important to understand the distinction. While members of the public are free to attend meetings, the members of the committee are the ones who are discussing the issues and working through concerns. He did add, however, that while the meetings are open to the public, they have not been advertised in any way. He said that perhaps an e-mail list could be created going forward to let concerned parties know when meetings will be taking place. He did say, however, that the group is trying its best to be transparent. Gross said that both she and her husband Bryan are members of the working group and she felt the concerns of adjacent landowners were not being heard throughout the process. She says the proponents for the trail in the working group are “doing what they want” and concerned landowners aren’t being considered. “They aren’t listening to the landowners,” she said. In the group’s presentation, Gross said that farmers could be on the hook for tens of thousands of dollars, whether it be through increased insurance rates, lost crop contracts or other costs associated with the trail. She said that farmers shouldn’t have to pay so that others, who have nothing personally invested, can create a recreational opportunity. The trio stated that few answers had been provided to the landowners in the past year, but this led to more questions had been raised in place of answers. Gross said that G2G Inc. claimed to have raised $100,000 for the trail in a four-day period last year, but then claimed that it didn’t have the resources to contact the landowners. Equations such as that, Gross said, simply don’t add up. She also accused G2G Inc. of using “delay tactics” in dealing with adjacent landowners’ concerns. Huron East Mayor Bernie MacLellan said the April press release stating that the trail would be open on July 1 was a “blunder” on the part of G2G Inc., saying that the previous night at Huron East Council’s July 7 meeting, G2G Huron Representative Paul Vander- Molen stated that the release was a misstep on the organization’s part. While MacLellan agreed that the working group process is ongoing, councillors should be kept informed of its progress. He suggested that perhaps minutes or meeting recaps could be sent to councillors on a regular basis. North Huron Reeve Neil Vincent, who has been outspoken in his criticism of the trail, said that he hasn’t seen anything from G2G Inc. that makes him confident that the landowners’ concerns will be taken into consideration. Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh Reeve Ben Van Diepenbeek agreed with Vincent, saying that there are far too many issues still present to go ahead with opening portions of the trail, as G2G Inc. has suggested it will later this month. As a result, Van Diepenbeek said he felt Huron County should put the trail “on hold” until the issues are dealt with to everyone’s satisfaction. Tousaw told Van Diepenbeek, however, that isn’t something the county is able to do. “G2G Inc. is a private, non-profit group that makes its own decisions as an independent body,” Tousaw said. Van Diepenbeek countered, however, saying that perhaps G2G Inc. could “rescind” its announce- ment, but again, was told that isn’t something the county can do. “That’s not under our control,” said Huron County Warden Paul Gowing. “That’s beyond what we can do at this table.” Howick Reeve Art Versteeg, however, said he felt the horse had left the barn and that council was way behind schedule on the project. “They’ve opened the trail on their own because we’ve wasted so much time,” Versteeg said. “We should have made this decision a year ago.” Versteeg said that the issues being raised by the adjacent landowners aren’t new and those involved with G2G Inc. are motivated entrepreneurs – the kind of people who find a way to get things done, no matter the challenges they face. It was his opinion, he said, that the trail will eventually evolve to a state where the county is barely involved with its regular operations, if at all. Vincent said that it was unfortunate that this project was being carried out “at the expense of [the trail’s neighbours” with several entrepreneurs wanting to “line their own pockets” with the development of the trail. Huron East Deputy-Mayor Joe Steffler, however, had a more direct approach to solving the problem, saying that those involved with G2G Inc. need to “sit down like adults” with the adjacent landowners and hammer out the details of the trail. “That sounds like a working group to me Councillor Steffler,” Gowing said, referencing the existing working group. Goderich Deputy-Mayor Jim Donnelly referred back to his previous life as a lawyer and a judge, saying that the “burden of proof” in this situation falls upon G2G Inc., saying that those behind the trail must prove that the trail can exist without inconveniencing its neighbours. MacLellan then made a motion, requesting that G2G Inc. be summoned as a delegation, at which time its representatives can update council on the trail and its current status and the consultation process with the adjacent landowners. The motion carried. Continued from page 15 passable alternative to the trail must be provided with “one or two” possible exceptions. Those exceptions, he said, will be changed when the current leases expire and will be written in to make the trail completely passable from one end to the other. Lee said that is likely a year away, which means that trail development will likely be “static” during that time, with portions opening when they’re ready, but not the complete, end-to-end experience. Councillor Nathan Marshall said he was concerned about the ability for farmers who have their land dissected by the trail to travel from one end of their land to the other. VanderMolen, however, told Marshall that farmers will always have the right to cross the land and that there won’t be any fencing installed that will prevent them from doing so – a rumour that had been circulating. Another agricultural concern has been the trail’s proximity to livestock operations, such as chicken barns or beef pastures. The trail, Lee said, is between 60 and 240 feet wide in sections. However, if there is a tight section of the trail where close proximity to livestock is a concern, those sections are able to be buffered. One councillor mentioned the concern of avian flu, saying that if there was heightened biosecurity in a specific sector, the trail could become a major concern. VanderMolen responded by saying that if there is a very serious outbreak that could pose a very serious threat to a farming commodity, the trail could always be closed if absolutely necessary. Councillors asked about trespass- ing onto neighbouring farms, which has been a huge concern of adjacent landowners. However, Lee said, with the Trespass Act in effect, trespass- ing is illegal off of the trail. He also said that the issue is pre-existing, as the trail is already there and unmain- tained as an abandoned railbed. “Since the railbed was removed in the early 1990s, there hasn’t been a situation,” Lee said. VanderMolen addressed the fears of some, saying that there is always a chance something bad will happen, no matter what kind of activity someone is undertaking. He cited council’s decision to hold the meeting in Brussels that night, rather than the usual Seaforth location, saying that there was a chance something bad could have happened as a result. However, G2G Inc., VanderMolen said, is planning on doing everything it can to be “good neighbours” to its adjacent landowners. VanderMolen addresses council The future of healthcare Career Connections in Healthcare, an event carried out by HealthKick Huron at the Brussels Business and Cultural Centre on Saturday, was aimed at high school and post-secondary students considering a career in the healthcare industry. Here, Erin Ross, left, a clinical psychologist with the Clinton Family Health Team, speaks with Tori Kellington, centre, and Lexi Poelman, right, about the world of healthcare. (Vicky Bremner photo)