The Citizen, 2012-02-02, Page 10PAGE 10. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2012.
Lower number, greater value
in 2011 M-T building permits
Clinton BIA mayexpand to include
Central Huron
M-T reverses its
dog bylaw decision
Walking for a cause
The Alzheimer Society Huron County held its annual Walk for Memories on Saturday at
various sites throughout the county, including the new Central Huron Community Complex in
Clinton and at F.E. Madill Secondary School in Wingham. In Wingham, a group from the
Fordwich Nursing Home chipped in to walk the walk and the donations followed, talking the
talk. Nearly $12,000 was raised in Wingham, while nearly $9,500 was raised in Clinton. Both
sites were part of a county-wide initiative that raised $47,095 in just two hours. (Vicky Bremner
photo)
The number of building permits
issued in Morris-Turnberry dropped
in 2011 but the value of the
buildings constructed jumped more
that 20 per cent from 2010.
In making his annual report, Chief
Building Official Steve Fortier said
there were 88 permits issued in 2011
compared to 99 in 2010, but the
value of construction increased to $9
million from $7.4 million a year
earlier.
There were seven houses built,
down from nine in 2010 with the
value slipping from $1.75 million to
$1.65 million. There were eight
additions to dwellings with a value
of $302,755 compared to 13 the
previous year with a value of
$740,473.
There was a big jump in permits
for livestock barns or additions, with
10 permits compared to two the
previous year and the value soared to
$2.67 million from $60,000.
There were two permits for
industrial buildings in each year
with a value of $3.2 million in 2011
and $3.5 in 2010.
Morris-Turnberry collected
$79,233 in permit fees in 2011
compared to $80,252 in 2010.
Fortier told councillors he was
currently reviewing the rates for the
24 different categories of building
fees the municipality charges. He
said he will be presenting a report to
council that compares what Morris-
Turnberry charges with 10 nearby
municipalities in preparation for a
new three-year fee structure.
Councillor Jamie Heffer said he
had been approached by a ratepayer
who asked if council could hold a
public meeting to explain the
requirements of the latest changes to
the Ontario Building Code.
Fortier explained the new code
only affects houses and there are
only a handful of houses built in
Morris-Turnberry each year. As
well, he said, he spent two days in a
course to understand the changes
and he wasn’t sure if he could boil
all that down to information enough
to deliver it in a short meeting.
Councillor Neil Warwick said he
wasn’t sure a public meeting was the
best place to get the information out
to the people who would be affected.
“I think you’d be better to hand out a
package,” he suggested.
Council agreed that a public
meeting should not be held.
At their Jan. 24 meeting, Morris-
Turnberry councillors rejected a
solution they thought they’d come
up with at the Jan. 10 meeting for
dealing with a quarrel over dogs in
Lower Town, Wingham.
After hearing from Bob Trick, the
municipality’s animal control
officer, as well as Sherry
McLaughlin, speaking on behalf of
the dog owner, council had decided
at the earlier meeting to amend its
dog bylaw to allow up to two dogs
on a residential property even if
there was no residence but there was
a legal, non-conforming building.
The property owner wanted to keep
dogs on the property to prevent
thieves from taking items from a
shed, but a neighbour objected. Trick
had explained that under the current
bylaw the dogs weren’t permitted
and he could not issue dog tags. The
amendment would have allowed the
licences to be issued.
But Councillor Neil Warwick, who
had been absent for the Jan. 10
meeting, questioned the proposed
change when the bylaw to amend the
dog bylaw came back to council.
“I don’t feel it’s a good idea to
have dogs there with no residence,”
he said, wondering if council didn’t
owe it to nearby homeowners to
prevent noise and nuisance.
“The simple solution is not to have
the dogs, instead of changing the
bylaw to allow the dogs so we can
have the animal control officer deal
with the problems caused by the
dogs.”
That argument helped change the
mind of Councillor Jamie McCallum
who suggested council stick with the
existing bylaw.
Mayor Paul Gowing explained that
would mean the animal control
officer would have to ask that the
dogs be removed from the property.
Councillor Jamie Heffer said he
thought there had been a good
discussion at the previous meeting
which had resulted in a motion to
change the bylaw. “I’m willing to
stick with that decision,” he said.
Heffer made a motion to approve
the bylaw but the motion was
defeated, meaning the existing
bylaw, which would prohibit the
dogs without a residence, is still in
force.
The Maitland Presbyterial of
WMS held its annual meeting Jan.
16 at St. Andrew’s Church in
Wingham. Rev. Skelding offered
greetings and blessings on the
activities of the day. The theme of
“Be Transformed” was developed
effectively in the worship service led
by the ladies from Brussels WMS.
The regular reports were
submitted and approved. Rev. Shelly
Butterfield-Kocis was one of the
guest speakers. She talked about the
role of liturgical dance as a method
of worshipping God. This may be
expressed as simply as putting
actions to a song and as formally as
choreographing a dance to enhance
any part of the worship service. The
ladies enjoyed participating in
several methods of worshipping
through dance.
Mary Simmons shared her
experiences at the “Look In Shout
Out” National Women’s Conference
held last spring. She shared the
many ways she was challenged to
look at the women around the world
who suffer from hunger, abuse, lack
of schooling and finding your
purpose in life. The four-day
conference allowed Mary
opportunities to process a variety of
information and she is still using this
to change the way she interacts in
the world.
Rev. Butterfield-Kocis led a
meaningful Communion service that
closed the day keeping the focus on
the Saviour.
The Clinton Business Improv-
ement Area (BIA) could be
expanding to include all of Central
Huron as soon as later this month.
Genny Smith, community impro-
vement co-ordinator for the Clinton
BIA said the vote will be made on
Feb. 7, the BIA’s next regular
meeting, which will be held at the
Clinton Raceway.
Smith said the concept came out of
an application the BIA is hoping to
submit later this year for funding
under the Rural Economic
Development (RED) fund. She said
a BIA that included the entire
municipality would have more
leverage with such a funding
application.
“There have been some bumps in
the road,” Smith said, “but this is
something they want to do.”
The funding application will
eventually be submitted by the BIA’s
Revitalization Committee, a branch
of the BIA, as a three-year funding
schedule that would end in 2014.
The funds, Smith said, would go
towards improving the area’s
streetscape, improvements to the
façade and branding for the
municipality.
Smith said the BIA’s last meeting
had nearly 40 people attend, a far cry
from the five or six people usually
attending. In addition, she said,
longtime business owners who have
never been involved with the BIA
before are beginning to come out to
meetings, which Smith says has
been very encouraging.
For the health and vitality of the
community, Smith says BIA
members are hoping to construct a
five-kilometre walking path through
the area that would culminate in a
trail around Clinton bringing
walkers by the local businesses
while promoting heart health and
wellness. She said that as Central
Huron has been called “the heart of
Huron” that should be a branding
initiative to be capitalized on.
Smith says the BIA has been
working with the Auburn-area’s
Daryl Ball from the Ontario Ministry
of Agriculture, Food and Rural
Affairs (OMAFRA) to help make the
vision a reality.
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
By Keith Roulston
The Citizen
Fire negotiations approaching
Presbyterial WMS meets
Central Huron Fire Chief Steve
Cooke said he wasn’t sure what to
make of the news that Morris-
Turnberry would be creating its own
fire department.
Cooke told council, at its Jan. 26
Committee of the Whole meeting,
that the decision by Morris-
Turnberry Council would “have an
impact on us sooner or later”.
“We could be looking at another
catfight here,” Cooke said. “I’m just
not sure if North Huron can survive
without Morris-Turnberry.”
Cooke said that while it may be
far-fetched, if North Huron can’t
survive with Morris-Turnberry
pulling out of the fire coverage
schedule in 2014, it will be Central
Huron and the Lucknow Fire
Department that will have to pick up
the slack.
Cooke said that Central Huron’s
current fire coverage plan with
North Huron expires this year and
the two sides will have to run
through the numbers once again.
Councillor Marg Anderson said
she would hope council wouldn’t
leave negotiations until the last
minute as they did last time and that
they should look into starting soon.
“I don’t want it dragging on like it
did last time,” she told councillors.
Cooke said that there won’t be an
immediate change because Morris-
Turnberry isn’t even planning to
have its fire department up and
running until 2014, so it’s hard to
gauge what the coverage area is
going to look like in two years.
“We might not have a good idea of
what the numbers are going to be on
that,” Cooke said. “There’s no
immediate change.”
By Keith Roulston
The Citizen
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen