HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2013-05-09, Page 9THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MAY 9, 2013. PAGE 9.
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While Huron East Council is still
left with more questions than
answers with the Seaforth Foodland
fire, after a special meeting on April
30 one thing is clear: Seaforth
residents don’t want to lose their
arena.
The emergency council meeting
was announced on Monday and
dozens showed up after word had
spread that Foodland owner Steve
Delchiaro and the Sobey’s
organization were considering the
Seaforth Community Centre as a
temporary location for a grocery
store.
However, with construction
estimated between six and 12
months, that would occupy the
centre’s ice surface, potentially,
through the entire 2013-2014 hockey
season.
Dozens of representatives from
various user groups, including
Seaforth Minor Hockey, as well as
broomball and ringette organizations
were in attendance for the meeting to
voice their displeasure with what
they called council’s pandering to
the Sobey’s corporation.
After a brief recounting of the
day’s events of April 27 from Huron
East Fire Chief Marty Bedard, Mayor
Bernie MacLellan addressed the
crowd, noting that he had received
numerous phone calls in the few days
between the fire and the meeting. He
said that Seaforth having a grocery
store is a crucial economic driver and
that not having a grocery store in
Seaforth for a year could be
devastating to the town’s economy.
He said that his first suggestion to
the Sobey’s representatives was the
Seaforth Agriplex, saying that it
“made the most sense” but that it
was quickly squashed due to health
and safety concerns.
Attention was then focused on the
community centre’s ice pad, which,
for many reasons, was more
favourable for Sobey’s.
MacLellan said that one of the
phone calls he received after the fire
was “not pleasant” and it really
disturbed him. The call, he said, was
from a representative of the
Northside United Church.
MacLellan said that the concern was
the group’s Coronation Tea and
Authentic Vintage Fashion Show
event, which is on June 8.
MacLellan said he was disturbed
because, while the representative
was upset at the prospect of having
to cancel the event, after advertising
and ticket sales had already taken
place, he was asking for financial
compensation if the event had to be
moved or cancelled.
MacLellan says that he and
council have to choose to do what isbest for the majority of the people inthe community and not simply try to
please any individual.
Deputy-Mayor Joe Steffler
lamented that rumours were being
spread via social networking sites
like Facebook, saying that council
had yet to meet and determine a next
step and that no decision had been
set in stone.
He said he believed that if the new
grocery store was to be built on the
former store’s footprint, that
construction times would be reduced
significantly and that he had no
reason to believe that a new store
wouldn’t be built by Dec. 1, which
wouldn’t affect the hockey season as
much as some thought.
Steffler urged those in attendance
to give council a chance to work out
a deal that would work for everyone
and to be optimistic, not pessimistic.
Councillor Les Falconer said that
there was no way of getting around
that the fire is a bad situation for
everyone and that it would involve
moving some events around no
matter which solution is chosen.
He said that with several area
arenas like Brussels, Hensall and
Bluewater, it is feasible that hockey
games could be relocated until
December and then brought back to
Seaforth when the new grocery store
is built.
If, in fact, the community centre
was used as a temporary location,
MacLellan said, the rent to the
municipality would have to be
“substantial”. Furthermore,
MacLellan said, a portion of the rent
collected would likely go to users of
the community centre to help
subsidize the costs of having to
travel to other arenas or to purchase
ice time elsewhere.
A common complaint among
community centre users who came
to the meeting was the lack of
communication from the
municipality. While clearly not much
time had lapsed between the fire and
the meeting, representatives felt an
e-mail or a phone call from council,
letting them know that the issue was
going to be discussed would have
been appreciated.
The case was made by several
different hockey parents that while
they agreed that a grocery store is a
large economic driver, so too is
hockey, and they felt that aspect of
the situation was being ignored.
One parent even related the fire
situation, which MacLellan called a
“crisis” to his own potential
situation, saying that if he had to
drive his young children out of town
to attend hockey practices that it
would be a “crisis” for him and his
family.
MacLellan said, however, that if
the municipality was to take the
community centre out of play for
groups like hockey and broomball, it
would then be the municipality’s
responsibility to try and replace the
hours they would be “taking away”
by handing over the centre to
Sobey’s.
A recurring concern from those
involved in minor sports was that
with dwindling enrolment, if players
are forced to spend one season with
another organization, they may
decide to stay with that organization
going forward, or they may just quit
the sport altogether.
Council did, however, remind
those in attendance that Sobey’s is a
private business and the municipality
cannot force the company to set up
shop in a building they don’t like, or
that doesn’t fit their specific needs.
With many questions remaining,
mainly surrounding the needs of the
Sobey’s organization, council, and
those in attendance, quickly came to
the realization that no final decision
could be made that night.
Councillor David Blaney said that
during the meeting, he searched for
portable buildings on his iPad and
found several options that could be
set up in the community centre’s
parking lot, for example, but he was
unsure if they would meet the needs
of a grocery store.
Several others suggested that in
the wake of a crisis, a temporary
grocery store should be scaled down,
to carry only the essentials and set up
shop in a smaller location; some
people suggested the Seaforth
Legion or the back portion of Vern’s
Pub and Grill as options. The
concern with scaling back, however,
was that if the store was too bare-
bones, that people wouldn’t shop
there anyway if they couldn’t fulfill
shoppers’ needs.
Several hockey parents told
MacLellan that if they were forced
out of the community for hockey, it
would only be natural that they
would shop in that community.
Whether it be Brussels or Clinton,
several parents said they typically do
their grocery shopping when their
children are playing hockey, so the
Seaforth community would lose both
its hockey and its shoppers under
that scenario.
Some were also concerned that
because Huron East was so proactive
in jumping to assist Sobey’s, that
because the ice pad was offered up
too early, that it would be difficult to
sell the company on a lesser option.
Council wanted to make that clear
as several take-it-or-leave-it
scenarios were proposed by
community centre users. MacLellan
said that council had to be careful to
not lose the store permanently with
such an aggressive approach and an
unwillingness to negotiate.
Once the large group of concerned
citizens left the meeting and council
continued discussion, MacLellan
warned council against proceeding
after only hearing one opinion on the
matter.
He said that if council asked to
hear from those who depended
greatly on the grocery store, another
group of a similar size would likely
show up and be just as vocal as the
community centre users.
He urged councillors to get the big
picture before making their minds
up.
No official decision was made at
the meeting, but council was
scheduled to discuss the issue further
at the May 7 council meeting.
In the meantime, however, site
clean-up was completed on Sunday
and engineers were brought in on
Monday.
By Shawn LoughlinThe CitizenCommunity centre users wary of Sobeys’ relocation
Destruction
An early morning fire late in April destroyed nearly the entire building save two of the outer
walls of the Seaforth Foodland. The grocery store, which is owned by Sobeys, is currently
looking at options to re-open temporarily in Seaforth. (Photo submitted)
POTTERY CLASSES
Blyth
519-523-4355
VerernrnnaVVeVe
&
JiJimim
a
Lee happy to sell company to son, friend
Continued from page 8
host municipality, Brett and Mark
said that thus far the municipality
has been a huge supporter, which
isn’t surprising.
“We’ve talked briefly,” Mark said.
“There’s been limited opportunities
to discuss our plans with the amount
of work we’ve got ahead of us, but
they’re definitely behind us. I think
we’re the number one
tourism-generating industry in the
area.”
Chris mentioned that the raceway
is part of programs that sell package
plans to people in Huron County and
Huron-Perth and that helps them
create more opportunities.
Part of the planned changes at the
raceway started last year when,
through funding made available via
the Celebrate Ontario program, the
Lees started to change the
layout of the track to address traffic
flow.
“We had just outgrown the racing
and spectator areas so we switched
things around,” Brett said.
While they didn’t receive funding
again this year, Brett and Mark both
said that they were excited to apply
for it again next year.
“It allows us to really broaden the
scope of our demographic,” Mark
said, with Chris adding that it helps
broaden the tourists that can be
attracted to the area.
The changes at the track have been
part of a long-term plan, according
to Chris, and having the track and
company sold to Brett and Mark is
part of that.
“This certainly wasn’t a spur of
the moment thing,” Chris said. “It’s
been two to three years in the
making. Three years ago Mark and I
were standing out in the field where
the raceway is now talking about my
vision for the place.”
Chris continued to say that selling
off is something he wanted to do
sooner rather than later and he was
very happy to keep the business in
the family.
“I’ve been doing the TransCan for
20 years and been in Walton for 40
years,” he said. “I wanted to
transition before I begin to get worn
out. You don’t want to ride a horse
until you’re beat.”
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