HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2013-02-14, Page 16PAGE 16. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2013.Rail Trail divides Morris-Turnberry Council
While the Guelph to Goderich
Rail Trail has found traction in other
municipalities including North
Huron and Ashfield-Colborne-
Wawanosh Townships, council
members in Morris-Turnberry were
divided by the proposal for the
recreational trail.
Deputy-Reeve Jason
Breckenridge, in response to a
request from the group responsible
for the trail for support in principle,
stated that he is concerned that the
trail doesn’t take the rights of
property owners who may have their
livelihoods put at risk due to the
open nature of the trail into
account.
“Landowners had that land used
for the railroads and now it’s going
to have an uncontrolled unregulatedusage,” he said. “Until it’s explained
how the trail is going to be
controlled, I can’t endorse it.”
Councillor Neil Warwick was also
concerned with the creation of the
trail, but that was due to the fact that
it was bypassing any sort of public
consultation period.
“There needs to be some sort of
public process if this is the way the
plan is heading,” he said. “It needs to
have public process so that
landowners along the trail can have
their say.”
Huron County Planner Carol
Leeming stated that she had a
chance to attend one of the meetings
for the Rail Trail organization and
that, as far as she understood, it was
a grassroots group looking to
approach the province to make the
trail happen.
She said that the trail was beingbuilt through Perth, Wellington and
Huron Counties and there was hope
that the route will be maintained by
an organized trail association that
will be responsible for maintenance
and upgrades.
She said that it was her
understanding that the group would
be approaching the host counties to
take on the leasing of the land for the
trail, which belongs to the
province.
Breckenridge asked if any kind of
permits had been discussed, to
which Leeming said no, however she
said that was a discussion for the
future.
“The trail organization, or
whoever is going to be operating the
trail will have to decide if permits
are necessary,” she said. “It’s likely
going to be a long and lengthy
process given that the trail is notaccessible right now. There needs to
be a lot of work done and a lot of
money spent for the trail
improvements. They won’t look at
issues like that until they know what
the future of the trail is.”
Leeming said that sections of the
trail are used informally right now
for walking and snowmobiling, and
that she was sure people are walking
on it already if the trail hasn’t
become part of a farm.
Breckenridge asked if it was legal
to use the trail currently. Mayor Paul
Gowing explained it wasn’t.
Gowing also said that, while he
understood Breckenridge’s
concerns, the request was for
council’s support of the idea and that
the details would be investigate later.
Breckenridge, along with
councillor Jamie Heffer, said that
they couldn’t support the idea inprinciple because when council had
been originally pitched the idea by
the group they had questions that
still hadn’t been answered.
“I still can’t support this issue,”
Heffer said. “Even if we had public
consultation, the limited number of
adjoining property owners would be
small compared to the number of
people interested. We still have these
concerns to deal with.”
Breckenridge suggested that
council defer the motion until
they receive answers to their
questions.
The motion to defer was carried,
however Gowing stated that council
should provide exact questions for
the group to answer. It was also
mentioned that Gowing and
Councillor Jamie McCallum should
attempt to get in touch with other
municipalities dealing with the trail
when they attend the Rural Ontario
Municipal Association
(ROMA)/Ontario Good Roads
Association (OGRA) convention
later this year.
The United Way of Perth-Huron
travelled both counties on Jan. 31
despite snowsqualls and high winds.
Their goal was two-fold, to raise
awareness about United Way and to
raise money towards their goal. This
well-executed tour left the United
Centre in Stratford at 6:30 a.m. in
the morning and included stops in
Wingham, Goderich, Varna,
Clinton, Exeter, Seaforth, St. Marys,
Milverton, and Stratford.
As United Way visited each stop,
member agencies shared stories of
hope and explained how United Way
funding helps the people of our
communities. Some of the
highlights of the day included
hearing from One Care about a 90-
year-old woman who is able to live
independently because of Meals on
Wheels, Easy Ride transportation
and visitation volunteers; a young
boy shared how important the St.
Marys Youth Centre is to him – “a
safe place to be”; a woman’s story
was read about how Emily Murphy
Centre provided protection for her
and her children. And, everyone was
so thankful when a seven-year-old
boy put his allowance in the
donation jar and an 11-year-old boy
donated his birthday money! What
an amazing day!
Following these stories local
supporters including municipal
leaders, local businesses and caring
citizens donated 11 dollars and/or
multiples of 11. Major donations
included $2,000 from Barenberg &
Roth, $2,000 from Solis Foods,
$600 from local artists Erik Sansom
and Irene Miller, $644 from CUPE
and an extra corporate donation
from Royal Homes. Special thanks
Huron County Economic
Developer Douglas Barill had good
news for Morris-Turnberry council
during its Feb. 5 meeting; business
in the municipality is doing well.
Barill was at the meeting to
present the Business Retention and
Expansion report for Morris-
Turnberry which saw the responses
from 30 businesses tallied.
“There were 243 businesses
available,” Barill explained. “We
interviewed 30, which is more than
10 per cent which is well above what
we needed for a proper survey.”
Barill explained that the age of the
companies in Morris-Turnberry was
one reason for the township to be
happy.
“Thirty per cent of the 30
companies have been here over 35
years,” he said. “Not only that, but
you only have two businesses that
have been here one year. There’s a
lot in the four to 10 year bracket
which is fantastic.”
Barill explained that businesses in
the one-to-three-year bracket are the
ones that are most likely to not be
successful and the fact that the
municipality had so many past that
mark was fantastic for an area the
size of Morris-Turnberry.
Nearly half the businesses
interviewed said they would be
expanding, and most of those
forecasted an expansion of six to
eight per cent, which is better than
inflation according to Barill, all of
which are signs that business is dong
well in Morris-Turnberry.
As far as barriers to success, Barill
explained that businesses in the area
felt the biggest problem was internet
connectivity.
“The speed of internet connections
is something that council may want
to address in the next few years,”
he said. “This is a common
occurrence throughout the county.
We’re working to increase the
speed.”
The report also stated that
businesses felt that joint marketing,
training, networking, information
sharing and collaboration are areas
that could be worked on both with
the municipality and amongst
themselves.
After receiving the report, council
decided to create a committee to
handle implementing suggestions
from the report and to begin
addressing issues in the business
community, which was one of
several actions available with the
report.
Copies of the report are available
online at Morris-Turnberry’s
website at www.morristurnberry.ca
or in the township offices on Morris
Road.
The report will be unveiled at an
invitational meeting on March 6 at
the Wingham Golf and Curling Club
to the Morris-Turnberry business
community.
ELAINE (JOHNSTON)
ALBLAS
With heavy hearts the family
announces the passing of Elaine
Alblas at South Huron Hospital,
Exeter on Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2013. She
was in her 72nd year.
Elaine was the beloved wife of the
late Joe Alblas (1977) and the loving
mother of Kevin (Norma), Clinton;
Gary (Becky), St. Thomas; Glenn,
Exeter and Jay (Cindy), Christina
Lake, B.C. She was the cherished
grandmother of Kassidy, Brandi,
Damien and Owyn. Elaine was the
dear sister of Bernice Shortt of
Brantford. She is also missed by
nieces, nephews, cousins and
friends. She was predeceased by
parents Edward and Gladys
Johnston, brother Donald and sister
Doris.
Cremation has taken place. A
private graveside service will take
place at Woodland Cemetery
London, where she will rest beside
her husband Joe.
Donations may be made to a
charity of one’s choice in Elaine’s
memory and would be appreciated
by the family as expressions of
sympathy.
The details of your wedding will be recorded
in black and white for friends to read and you
to clip for your scrapbook if you tell the story of
your wedding in our 2012 Bridal Parade.
1 photo of the bridal couple plus
300 word write-up (write it up yourself or pick up a
form from The Citizen office and fill it in and
we’ll write it for you).
Just $25 (including HST) - must be paid in advance.
Your story will appear along with those of other bridal
couples from the past year. As well, the story and
photo (plus up to two additional photos from your
wedding) will, be published on our Brides in Huron
website (www.northhuron.on.ca)
for your friends around the world to enjoy.
Deadline extended to: February 22
Issue date: February 28
DON’T LET THE
MEMORIES
OF YOUR
WEDDING FADE
413 Queen St., Blyth
519-523-4792
541 Turnberry St., Brussels
519-887-9114
The Citizen
Email: info@northhuron.on.ca
North St. West, Wingham
Mac & Donna Anderson
519-357-1910
A cemetery is a history of
people, a perpetual record of
yesterday and a sanctuary of
peace and quiet today. A
cemetery exists because every
life is worth loving and
remembering - always
Distinctive Memorials of
Lasting Satisfaction
BOX 158 WINGHAM ONT NOG 2W0
Obituaries
Report brings good news for M-T
Care-a-Van reduces
United Way gap
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
Continued on page 19