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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1975-06-26, Page 22ie 4 ARAPURtigy 131 lY ii O ROYALE Asst'd. color print PAPER TOWELS JOHNSON a JOHNSON RAID House and Garden 450 mls BUG KILLER 1 99 n ;11 o• Ii P nl 1 II I Ili II om ni oil lir miiipio• jr 411 III kiln" .ilmth, Package of 10 NEO- '119 CITRAN UI SUMMER $119 CRICKET DISPOSABLE LIGHTERS ea. -1ELL VAPONA 610-PEST STRIeFai$2 .4%, Bottle of 100's 14 oz. \10 "ogls MO,/ ftliTED Pir ARRID EXTRA DRY Unscented, scented, un- scented powder, light powder $1,6 DEODORANT/ 8 Bottle of 24 tablets $ I. 24 2 Main St., Senior& We reserve the right to limit quantities on advertised items 1 'Street t Ife for 100 yec.rs, but will it ev 0 rhoppors? • I v in e and By Nancy Andrews EgmondVille and' Seaforth has Amalgamation of Harp111110Y, been street talk ever since the location of the railway stimulated growth in Seaforth at the expense of the two older villages, Although the idea has been ttrouttd sp long., and remarks by local citizens on the result, good or bad, from- such an act appear sporadically in the Expositor, seldom has the subject been dealt 4". with seriously. The remarks, made usaally as a jest in times of stress Bike at a public meeting where a resident may complain of lack of services, and another will return why don't we join Seaforth? The standard reply seems to be, Seaforth doesn't want us. Not surprisingly, most people weren't ecstatic about talking 41; about how they feel on the subject realizing they could be hung equally for being a diehard or a radical. Seaforth's Mayor, Betty Cardno said there hasn't been any talk about it lately but a council committee made a recommendation to the Seaforth planning board to take a look at the pros and cons. The committee felt, she said, if •fi the town wanted to expand its major industrial park which is 17 acres located south-east of the railway tracks, they would have to consider annexing area from the surrounding municipality. A smaller industrial area is established at the north west corner of the town. The industrial park is in its • infancy, right now, but as Clerk Robert Franklin said one large business could buy up the whole area. A survey of the town was commenced in 1969 to determine an alterantive to this existing industrial area that had been determined on previously when the town adopted its first zoning bylaw. Planning consultants '10 selected the land south-east of the railway tracks as a suitable location for industry. There is more land for development in the town, the mayor explained, but not all would be compatible with existing development. The Ontario Municipal Board approved the location of the • industrial site. In the event the site proved to be too small l a requirement to annex some land could .arise ithe mayor said. There are a lot of vacant lots, but that doesn't mean people are willing to sell them, she said. In the past, if people valued a big lot or their privacy, they would not sell the extra land at a low price. In the past, assessment on undeveloped lots has beer • reasonable, she said, but this may change with the cost of installing sewers. There may be additional lots come on the market, she said. One Government One of the reasons amalgamation or annexation might be considered could be because of the provincial government's policy to try to have as much built-up area as possible under one government, she said. One reason for supporting amalgamation would be the desire for a comprehensive planning polid. As Mayor Cardno said: "Our planning board can do all we want on our side of the line. On the other side of the line they could have a chicken coup or pig pen and we couldn't do anything about it. County planning director, Gary Davidson, said planning is not hampered by the fact that Harpurhey, Egmnondville and Seaforth are not one, since county planning has jurisdiction' over the whole county. Planner technician, Brian Murdoch said the planning department's main control was in -4 its recommendations to the county's land severance committee. In a practical sense, there is only one community with one downtown commercial area, not three. Social and recreational life doesn't stop at Seaforth's town limits. Residents of Harpurhey and Egmondville enjoy local shops, parks, roller skating at the arena and swimming in the pool and in a number of cases Seaforth Muncipal Water Service. Neither Mayor Betty Cardno or Gary Davidson would say tar residents in those neighboring suburbs were enjoying the benefits of Seaforth's urban life without bearing the tax burden of these extra services. Most economists admit, however, there exists external benefits from living outside town limits since it means lower taxes but with at the same time all the -advantages from proximity. Hidden Costs Town residents often pay hidden costs through their taxes for shopping convenience and the ar ena such as the cost of street 14 lighting, sidewalks, police protection, and costs for sewage for industries. on In a way it could be said town residents subsidize those living in Egmondville and Harpurhey. How significant this subsidization is, is difficult to assess since this happens in the largeit city to the smallest hamlet, Also with the county taking over many functions such as the library and district school boards much of this subsidiztion has stoppd. Perhaps 'this,, explains, however, why Councillor Cleave Coombs of Tuckersmith, who lives in Egmondville, said a comparable home in Seaforth would cost more in taxes and the owner would have a smaller lot. In the past few years, there has been increasing demand for urban,— services, such as streetliglting, sidewalks, and just recently some Tuckersmith rate payers felt more township funds should be spent in supporting neighboring municipalities' recreation facilities. Two years ago, Reeve Elgin Thompson of - Tuckersmith suggested- the possibililty of ,Vanestra and Clinton joining, because he said: "Our needs and their are not the same." Too much land He said he was tol 4 count •lanning re is too m uch and wi • afferent land uses between the two urban areas for union. When asked if he would support amalgamation of the three areas, he sad: "That's u p to them, if they want freedom we will give it to them. No way will we drive them away." He said he couldn't ask residents of those areas if they wanted to, "leave home" in fear of them thinking the township doesn't want them. In the past; there has been an increasing demand for services in Harpurhey and Egmondville. Water is being supplied to Egmondville, the Ministry of the environment is requiring sewage facilities for ,the area, and there have been demands for street lights, sidewalks and more funds for recreation. Councillor Coombs said he didn't think people realized these things cost money and the money comes from taxes. Tuckersmith clerk Jim McIntosh said there are 160 households in Egmondville TUCKERSYLITH REEVE ELGIN THOMPSON and 110 in Harpurhey with combined assessment about $462,000. The population for Tuckersmith is 3,065 with total assessment at $4,242,790 in 1975. The majority of the assessment comes from farms, he said. Mayor Cardno said farmers have to install their own lights so you can see why they weren't very "sympathetic". to the 'demands , of the residents of Harpurhey and Egmondville for more urban services. Also spreading the costs of urban services over the whole township would increase taxes on farms and could possibly make some operatitins uneconomical. It is the township's practice, therefore, to assess back the cost of providing urban services to the benefiting ratepayers. Councillor Coombs said: "As far as council goes, I think they would be glad to get rid of it, because most of the area is farming and we've had so many problems with Vanastra." If enough people are demanding services, Councillor Coombs said they'd have to provide them. Vanastra is paying through the nose for many of its urban services, he said. In the past amalgamations have been considered as a more economical and sound way to provide services. Gary Davidson said, "Evidence points the other way", with regard" to it being cheapened. Mayor Cardno explained one of the problems if . annexation or amalgamation occurred would be that newly annexed areas would want more services immediately. "No way, we can take you in and say we won't do anything for you within a number of years. That wouldn't be fair game." Fifty-Fifty The pros and cons are about fifty-fifty, she said. Right now, .she said, Seaforth has problems In providing, water to their ewn people. The other areas would want the same services even though at present they might have adequate service, she said. All those living on ,ditt roads would want them asphalted 'or paved, Councillor. Coombs said. "It could be very costly really," the mayor added. They could demand sewage facilities, water supply !policing, (now the areas are policed by the OPP at no cost to the residents) streetlights and sidewalks, she said. Councillor Coombs doesn't feel savings would occur. from amalgamation. The bigger you get the larger expenses, and the larger your tax bill is, he said. The mayor said if did, newly amalgamated areas wanted more services it should be arranged how the costs should be assessed. "I think we would be doing the town a disservice by spreading it over the whole area," she said. Councillor Coombs said: "Seaforth doesn't have enough money to take over such a thing. People would want sewers, better water system. It would be, fantastic." Amalgamation of Harpurhey and Egmondville with Seaforth makes sense to Walter Scott, manager of the PUC and PUC CommissiOner Edmund Daly. In 1969. the lagoon system was built with the capacity of serving Seaforth, Harpurhey and Egmondville. Now Tuckersmith township is talking about building additional capacity to service those two areas. Engineering Mayor Ca.rdno said it. is possible the standards had changed over the last few years. Gary DAvidson said: "It's a matter of engineering", rather than a "we're not going to hook up" attitude that will decide if they hook up, or build additional sewage' facilities. In fact, the Ministry of the Environment would be the ones to control who connects to the system or not, he said. If Egmondville and Harpurhey connected into the Seaforth lagoon, it could mean lower rates for everyone' because of more people to help support it. Mayor Cardno agreed this would sound logical but with prices skyrocketing, it would be difficult to assess Walter Scott said the cost of water, hydro and insurance rates could lower if Egmendville and Harpurhey was brought into the corporation limits. More people would be able to help finance a new reservoir if needed. Presently 10 Harpurhey ' residents and 17 Egmondville residents are paying double the town water rate for water from the town. In Egmondville water is supplied partly by private wells and partly from a township water system. WhenSeaforth was testing the new well on Brantford Street, they found it lowered the water table in several private .wells. For this reason, they had to pump at a lower rate. Yet with ' extra pumping capacity, Seaforth could have supplied all of Egmondville with water. Buy Water In Harpurhey, many find it cheaper to buy water from privately owned wells. Yet the PUC is continually getting more requests for water supply from there. In the past, the PUC has dealt with individual demands for water. As it is, Mr. Scott said, people are suffering from lack of pressure. In other words, someone else has problems washing their hair, when his neighbor on the system is watering his grass. Old and small water pipes in Harpurhey need replacing, but residents on the system don't want to share the cost of replacing them, Mr. Scott said. Mr. Scott said the PUC has started to refuse to add more residents to the system in Harpurhey "We are at the limit," he said. The difficult problem of payment arises because one user can't cut off the system without cutting off all the others. No one wants to replace the pi pes because of the cost involved. Mr. Scott said there may be no alternative but to cut them off until they replace the pipe. He said it was a "gesture of friendship" that they allowed their water to go to residents in a neighbouring municipality". Mr. Daly said he would like the ratepayerg of Egmondville and Harpurhey to join together and work through the Tuckersmith council. Then the council could approach the town about supplying local residents with water. Can't plan Mr.- Scott said at present they can't do planning for that area. "We just wouldn't want to take it over at a mom ent's notice. We need planning in designing reservoirs," he said, Mr. Scott said the wells in Egmondville may not be sufficient to supply the potential growth of the area, Mr, Daly said on George Street there are two hydro ,power lines one on each side of the boundary. One serving rural Egniondi{ille, the other Seaforth. "That's crazy", he said. "We have sufficient 11,:dro lines at corporation limits to deal with annexation. The system is there. it's just a question of where the power is coming from," Mr. Scott said. Likely the fire insurance rates are higher in Harpurhey and Egmondville because these suburbs don't have any hydrants, he said. Although some residents live within 500 feet of a town SEAFORTH MAYOR BETTY CARDNO hydrant, they still don't pay for the service, he Said. Councillor Coombs said due to the holding capacity of the fire trucks and the closeness to Seaforth, there probably wouldn't be a great difference in insurance rates. Another expense in the "suburbs", is the extra land needed to service the lot witha septic tank and private well. Mr. Scott said that means there is one lot where there could have been two. He predicted that this could necessitate a 50 per cent larger lot in Egmondville and Harpurhey than 'in Seaforth. "This is the time to make up their minds or they will be left with a lot of wasted land," he said. An extra large lot is not necessarily bad, for some people enjoy a large lawn, but if eventually these areas get sewage and water services and have to pay for frontage, it's going to hit some residents rather hard. Mr. Scott said: "I would like to operate efficiently without regional government. you can't without amalgamation or cooperation with Harpurhey.'.' Mr. Scott said he often has complaints from Egmondville or Harpurhey residents saying, "What are you going to do about my drain?" He said he tells them, "You're in the wrong town office." "When Seaforth is right urhe next door, some peopld catrt understand why we won't r ep,Oir certain things," Mr. Daly said there has been a trend toward amalgamation in farms and that the same things-Is involved with Harpurhey, Egmondville and Seaforth. He said at one time a farmer could operate efficiently on 50 to SOQ acres of land but with equipment so expensive and one tractor costing perhaps many thousands of dollars a farmer needs 500 to 600 acres. Recently the PUC bought a truck for $32.000. To operate efficiently and to keep the truck busy, they sub-contract the truck to other municipalities. lnstread of taking one day for two trucks and three or four men to dig a hole for a pole, two m en can dig ten to t fifteen holes a day, Mi. Scott said'. - . Dig Poles He said they get contracts from as far away as St. M aryl to dig poles and do streetlighting for work for Dublin and Staffa so if it's economical for other small villages to get the PUC to do minor work, it would be even more 'economical if Seaforth did the work in Egmondville and Harpurhey because the cost of travelling wouldn't even be involved. Yet, instead , Ontario 1-lydro does the work there, Mr. Scott said. Annexation could occur three ways, Gary Davidson said. The people in the area, Seaforth town council or Tuckersmith could request it formally from the Ontario Municipal Board. Annexation usually occurs when a municipality is short of land. "Seafortli isn't hung up for land," he said, and "you annex because you need it." Amalgamation, on the other .hand, is, a question of reducing the number of municipalities and this has been done in the course of regional government and re-structuring studies, he said. Mayor Cardno said one of the reasons why amalgamation has been suggested in ether places was the non-cooperation between areas. Lack of Co-operation Mr. Scott said there is a real lack of cummunication between the town and its "suburbs". Mayor Cardno said: "I think co-operation is improving. I see a big difference in the last ten yers I have been on council. "I'm a strong believer that you don't have to put everyone under one roof to get them to work together, if they have a good reason to work together," Mayor Cardno said. - With regard to surrounding municipalities helping to fund the arena, she said, "I think a lot of our problem could be solved by a Community Recreation Board. She said people are getting to realize their responsibility in helping to fund town facilities. Mr. Davidson said generally municipalities have been able to work out inter-municipal problems between themselves. To the remark that there seems to he a lack of communication Seaforth, Egmondville and Harpurhey from Belden's Atlas of Huron County, 1879 , between the municipalities, Mr. Davidson said it seems like that 'because "you are in a small pumpkin patch. You don't hear about it when it's working, only when it's bad." Presently, the planning department is at least two years behind with its secondary plans for the municipalities. These are ,the detailed plans to be added to the official plan when completed. Study done Before annexation or amalgamation can take place, a feasibility study would have to be done and the county wouldn't undertake the study unless asked, Mr. Murdoch said. So far the secondary plan for Tuckersmith is a couple years from completion. If it becomes obvious when drawing up the secondary plans that these areas should join then 'a study may be undertaken, Mr.,Murdoch said. Mr. DAvidson said at present a committee of county -council is considering the possibility of re-structuring the county: This committee is just being set up. Mr. Davidson said he would hesitate to recommend amalgamation because the committee may find that Seaforth should become the urban center of a much larger area. In this case, Egmondville and Harpurhey would join but so would the rural municipalities. He said in Tillsonburg the OMB has held up a proposal to annex 16 acres until a county-restructuring study has been completed. Mayor Cardno said needs are completely different between rural and urban areas. "The pro-side to annexation would be that it would increase the town's tax base, add additional land to the industrial park and make ties closer between Harpurhey, Egmondville since they are involved in all the town's activities, she said. "You can police to a maximum number of people with a. certain number of men. To a point we could get big enough without adding to our cost," she .said. All the people spoken to, said before the town or Egmondville or Harpurhey proceeded with a `ptin, a sitiaT waillrhave to be done to assess some of the good and bad, andffie people would have to hivesay. We need them ,Councillor Coombs said: "The . only way it would come about is if Seaforth would really come out and say we need Harpurhey and Egmondville.'' "I was born in the area, maybe I'm an old stick in the mud, but I'd like to stay on its own," he said. "It would cost more in the long-run. I just hope I'm not on council' when that happens," he said. Art Finlayson, of Harpurhey, when asked about how he would feel about amalgamation said: "our taxes might be higher, but I think we would be. further ahead. I think we would get more service out here." "I still think it would be advantageous to put it all together. They re doing it in the big cities," he said. "I lived in the country all thy life, they said I built here because the taxes are cheaper, but it wasn't". He said he -built in Harpurhey because it was less urbanized. He said Tuckersmith council is trying to 'squeeze the pennies. "When we went to councilsa. for lights, they just kind of brushed us off," Mr. Finlayson id Shoo The problecmolfs the present system based on lack of co-operation was best illustrated when many Harptirhey • public school students had to be bused to Brucefield at increased cost instead of being schooled at Seaforth Public School which is just doVn the road. At present. amalgamation may be several y ears away and may hinge on the plans for re-structuring. the county. Before Seaforth could incorporate those areas, a study would have to be done to estimate the costs and foresee any problems. Betore a study is conducte'i, the public must decide where they stand on the issue and if it's even worth proceeding with a study.