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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2012-10-18, Page 1CitizenTh e $1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, October 18, 2012 Volume 28 No. 41 FALL HOME - Pg. 11The Citizen’s guide tofall home and garden COUNCIL - Pg. 31Transparency questionedin Central HuronSPORTS- Pg. 8Brussels athlete torepresent Canada Publications Mail Agreement No. 40050141 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0 INSIDE THIS WEEK: Planner shortage becoming an issue with county Charging stations installed throughout community Filling up The Sun Country Highway made its way through Huron County last week stopping at charging stations that have been installed at The Old Mill in Blyth and here at McGavin Farm Equipment in Walton. Christopher Misch, right, vice-president of sales and business development for the company, was more than willing to show, from left, Brian, Neil and Jeff McGavin, how the electric cars work and how to charge them up. (Denny Scott photo) A shortage of Huron County planners was brought to the forefront once again as several municipalities are complaining about a delay in services and development being held up. South Huron’s George Robertson, who has raised the issue before, said that the municipality is attempting to work on the five-year review of its official plan and because of the amount of regular planning issues, there has been no time for the planner assigned to the municipality by the county to work on the five- year plan. This also comes, he said at the Oct. 10 Committee of the Whole meeting, just months before the planner is set to go on maternity leave, which will cause further back- ups. Huron County Director of Planning Scott Tousaw agreed that South Huron’s issue “is a problem” but that it had been scheduled to be discussed during the 2013 budget talks. When the issue was first raised, Huron County Council agreed to add another planner, however, the decision wasn’t taking effect soon enough for South Huron, Robertson said, and development was suffering as a result. In addition to Robertson’s concerns, representatives from several other municipalities also said their planners were being pushed to the limit and they could use more help as well. Tousaw said there is a need for additional planning help both north and south of Hwy. 8. He said that while the municipalities south of Hwy. 8 all have their own planner, those staff members have a full workload as it is and to put it in perspective, every municipality north of Hwy. 8, he said, shares a planner with another municipality. “Last month we had 169 inquiries,” Robertson said of planning in South Huron. “You can’t work on something and have that many inquiries.” Warden Bernie MacLellan wondered if the short-staffed planning department would be holding up business developments in the county, and if so, it would be a bigger issue than councillors first thought it was. Tousaw said he didn’t believe that business development was being held up, but he also conceded that he and Robertson would disagree on the issue. Tousaw did agree, however, that the day-to-day demand is so high, especially in the south end of Huron County, that long-range planning is simply impossible to accomplish under many circumstances. Tousaw said the issue of staffing Two local businesses are becoming part of a nation-wide green highway that is set to launch later this year. McGavin Farm Equipment Ltd. in Walton and The Old Mill in Blyth both unveiled Sun Country Highway electric vehicle charging stations last week in hopes of bringing electric cars owners into the area as tourists and as a means of showing that the technology is available in rural Ontario. Christopher Misch, vice-president of sales and business development for Sun Country Highway, which is based in London and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, explained that the electric vehicle charging centre company is creating “win-win” situations for local businesses. “This is a great way to attract new, green support for local businesses,” he said. “Electric vehicle owners get the opportunity to charge their vehicle, which can take anywhere from half an hour to three hours, and local businesses have a captive audience for that time.” Misch said that one of Sun Country’s fleet vehicles, a Tesla Roadster, a two-seat sports car that wouldn’t look out of place on the German autobahns, could take as long as three hours to charge and cost a business owner $5, while most other vehicles wouldn’t need to charge that long or cost that much. “The average cost would be about $0.80 to $3,” he said. “The car could be there an hour or less and that brings tourism in and recreates car tourism.” The sports car, according to Misch, goes from zero to 100 kilometres an hour in 3.7 seconds, can manage 300 to 400 kilometres and has a maximum speed of approximately 200 kilometres per hour (125 miles per hour) according to the manufacturer’s website. The charging stations, which work with almost all models of electric cars (some quicker than others), are simple to use and are considered Level Two charging stations according to President and Founder of the company, and Brucefield native, Kent Rathwell. “Level One chargers will fully charge a car in 78 hours,” he said. “Level two chargers work much faster charging a carry fully in three hours, but most will top up in about half an hour if they haven’t been completely drained.” The company is attempting to build a network of the chargers from coast to coast, starting in Victoria and ending in Newfoundland by 2013 and is ahead of schedule. Estimates have the entire highway opening within the next two weeks. One of the highlights of both presentations was the vehicles being used. While electric and hybrid cars are becoming more commonplace, the company wanted to show what current electric vehicle designs were really capable of, using the Tesla Roadster and also a specially designed hybrid pickup truck, called a VTRUX, by Via Motors, an American company with which Sun Country is partnering. “We are the exclusive distributor and marketing arm of Via Motors in Canada,” Misch said. “We’ll be looking at manufacturing them in Canada.” The truck is designed with both an electric motor as well as a gas generator to charge the battery of the By Denny Scott The Citizen Continued on page 27 With four vehicles, formerly being used by Huron County employees, sitting in Wingham, councillors wanted to know what the next step should be. Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh’s Ben Van Diepenbeek raised the issue, asking about the vehicles and what would be done with them going forward. The vehicles, purchased by the county, were formerly being used by dismissed employees Larry Adams, David Carey and Darcy Michaud and by former Clerk Barb Wilson, who resigned earlier this year. “Something should be done. We need to deal with that issue,” Van Diepenbeek said. The vehicles are paid for, Warden Bernie MacLellan said, so there are a number of options council could explore. MacLellan said if they were used for county business, their use could perhaps save the county money, or they could be sold and the profits could be put into the general revenue portion of the budget. South Huron Mayor George Robertson, who announced his intention to run for warden later this year, suggested that perhaps one of the vehicles could be used by the warden. MacLellan, however, said he disagreed with the idea of providing the warden with a car before he was warden and he still disagrees with the idea. Councillor Paul Klopp suggested that a report be prepared by interim CAO Heather Adams, with recommendations, exploring all options, “from using them, to selling them and everything in between,” he said. The motion was carried and the report is forthcoming. By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen Unused vehicles are debated Continued on page 32