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$1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, March 17, 2011
Volume 27 No. 11
SEPTIC - Pg. 13ACW reconsiders countyseptic inspection program ARENA - Pg. 22Belgrave CommunityCentre has good ‘first year’SPORTS - Pg. 8Brussels Atoms split seriesagainst Sturgeon LakePublications Mail Agreement No. 4005014 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0INSIDE THIS WEEK:
Tempers flared at Huron East’s
March 8 meeting of council when
the topic of wind turbines was
raised.
Members of Huron East Against
Turbines (HEAT) requested time to
discuss the topic with council after
being shut down at an earlier
meeting because they hadn’t been
put on the agenda.
Members of HEAT were asking
for an update on where several
initiatives were sitting and they
wanted to know what work the
councillors were putting into the
issue.
Founding member of HEAT Rob
Tetu thanked council for appointing
him as the citizen representative for
Huron East on the Inter-Municipal
Turbine Working Group and said
that he would be appearing monthly
(after every meeting of the group) to
update council on the happenings of
the group. He said that while he
could provide the members of
council with a copy of the meeting’s
minutes, he felt that would not be
helpful, as the minutes were very
undetailed.
He informed councillors that his
monthly presentations would be
brief.
He also made an offer to any
councillors who wished to attend a
meeting of the group that he could
drive them to the meeting.
Jack McLachlan, Huron East
clerk-administrator was questioned
as to whether the municipality had
received a response from the
Municipal Property Assessment
Corporation (MPAC) to the letter
sent months ago regarding wind
turbines and their effect on
assessment.
McLachlan said that he hadn’t and
Brussels Councillor Joe Seili said
that the municipality has been
waiting on updated assessment data
for Huron East for years, so he
wasn’t expecting a speedy response
to the letter.
Co-founder of HEAT Gerry Ryan
was concerned with a printed
advertisement by CASA
Engineering and Construction
regarding the St. Columban Wind
Project. He said he found the ad to
be misleading and found the print to
be too small for many residents to
read.
Ryan cited some wording on the
advertisement saying that the
developer would not have to
acknowledge a receptor (a home) in
the setback area after the date the
map was printed, which was at the
beginning of March.
Ryan said this move would be
limiting to construction in the area,
as no more homes could be built
within a 550-metre radius of any of
the proposed wind turbines.
“This move means they can now
dictate where you can put your
home,” Ryan said.
Ryan said that since Huron East
had officially enacted its cost
recovery bylaw, the wording of the
bylaw states that it should have
taken effect as soon as CASA
published its plans in local
newspapers and on its website. One
of the conditions of the bylaw, Ryan
said, would be that the developer
would have to meet with council to
discuss the project and eventually
enter into an agreement with the
municipality.
Councillor Bill Siemon said that
Members of Ashfield-Colborne-
Wawanosh (ACW) council have
found themselves right back where
they started – debating the pros and
cons of having a portion of their
municipality covered by the North
Huron Fire Department
In a debate that was eerily
reminiscent of similar debates held
slightly less than a year ago, council
couldn’t decide as to whether they
needed to change their fire coverage
at all.
Reeve Ben Van Diepenbeek,
Deputy-Reeve Neil Rintoul and
Councillor Murray Curran all
believe that council should give the
municipality’s current fire
arrangement some time to prove
itself before going to the expense
and trouble of changing the systems.
Van Diepenbeek explained to
council that, alongside the $23,000
price tag that North Huron had
provided, it would cost an additional
$4,000 to $5,000 to change some
areas of ACW over to North Huron’s
fire care.
North Huron has offered to cover
an area in the southeastern corner of
ACW around Auburn for $23,000,
which is slightly increased from the
$21,000 price tag ACW was
previously offered due to the
Consumer Price Index (CPI). While
the area is larger than what the Blyth
Fire Department covered before the
amalgamation of North Huron’s two
fire departments, it is all designed so
that the closest department will
respond according to representatives
from the North Huron Fire
Department.
Van Diepenbeek stated that, if
council approves any change, it will
be opening the municipality to much
more work.
“If we change this, we’re going to
end up looking at [everyone in the
municipality],” he said. “We’re not
going to change the system every
time someone complains.”
Van Diepenbeek then said that
there are areas that are not covered
by the closest fire department, but
that they have fared well so far.
Van Diepenbeek also stated that
the complaints council have heard
has not come from ACW residents.
“We haven’t heard from a single
person the ACW part of Auburn,”
Van Diepenbeek stated, adding that
most of the voices heard have been
from Central or North Huron, and
some have been from as far away as
Londesborough.
Councillor Doug Miller argued,
saying that it didn’t matter where the
verbal complaints came from, it was
indicative of the fact that ratepayers
were unhappy.
“[Whoever was the front person
for the group is] irrelevant,” he said.
“The ratepayers of this township are
not pleased, and it’s not just the fire
issue. The fire issue has just been the
lightning rod.”
Several councillors stated that they
weren’t considering changing the
fire protection plan due to the
complaints, but because they had
received information that was less
than accurate over the past year.
“I don’t think we would have
made the decision we made at the
time if we knew a year ago what we
know now,” Miller said, referring to
the fact that council was
misinformed as to how long it would
take Central Huron to request aid
from Blyth’s fire hall and what kind
of aid could be rendered.
While council had originally been
informed that, within two minutes of
receiving a call, Clinton, Lucknow
and Blyth fire halls could be en route
to a structure fire in the Auburn
section of ACW, they were later
Wind turbine debate gets heated in Huron East
Debate continues
over fire coverage
A productive March Break
Casey Bernard, left, and Samantha Hubbard really took it to the playdough during the Spring
Break Fun Activities on March 14. Held at the Blyth United Church, the event was organized
and run by volunteers throughout March Break. The church held events throughout the week,
including an obstacle course, a scavenger hunt, a beach party, some hockey and a movie day
to round the week out. (Denny Scott photo)
Continued on page 21
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Continued on page 19