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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2011-12-22, Page 1$1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, December 22, 2011 Tough year ahead says chair Planning fees to rise over next five years Elvis or Elfis? Elvis, played by Spencer Logan, second from the left, showed up to help Santa, Mrs. Claus and the elves become a little less traditional and a little more rock and roll during Santa Claus Rock as portrayed by the Grade 2/3 class at East Wawanosh Public School during their Dec. 19 Christmas concert. Shown are, from left, Paige Willie, Maya Robinson, Spencer Logan and Liz Campbell. East Wawanosh, Brussels and Blyth Public Schools all held what is scheduled to be their last Christmas concert last week, as the three schools are slated for closure by the Avon Maitland District School Board. (Denny Scott photo) With the holidays upon us, the staff at The Citizen will be taking some time off to spend some quality time with our families. Both of The Citizen’s offices are now closed as of Dec. 22 and will reopen in the new year in preparation for the Jan. 5 issue of The Citizen. There will be no newspaper published on Thursday, Dec. 29. The Citizen’s Blyth office will reopen on Monday, Jan. 2 at 9 a.m. while the Brussels office will open at 10 a.m. that same day. The Citizen wishes you and your family a joyous, peaceful holiday. New Avon Maitland District School Board (AMDSB) chair Jenny Versteeg sees a challenging year ahead for the board. The North Perth trustee, elected chair at the board’s Dec. 13 inaugural meeting, said that several issues loom on the horizon, including crafting the board’s long- term strategic plan. “As well, the year will be marked with some tough decisions about accommodation issues and labour negotiations both in the context of very significant board budget constraints,” she said. There are currently two accommodation reviews being conducted in the board. One in the Central Huron area will decide the fate of Colborne Central and Holmesville public schools, where preserving a “rural option” for students has become a dominant issue. The second accommodation review is in Stratford, where a heated debate has emerged over how to deal with the overcrowded Bedford Public School, home of the board’s Grade 1 to 6 French Immersion students as well as several English language students. The AMDSB enters labour negotiations with teachers and support staff from the board’s elementary and secondary schools in 2012 as well. In an interview after the meeting, Versteeg said the several transitions set to take place in September 2012 will be another issue. The transitions affect schools in and around Exeter, Blyth and Wingham, including the planned opening of the new Maitland River Elementary School. Versteeg, who owns a cash crop farm in Howick Township with her husband, first came to the board as a trustee in 2003. She has served as vice-chair and chair previously; her last term as chair was in 2010. Versteeg told trustees in a short election speech that she had the experience to lead the board again, adding that with her local history of Morris-Turnberry almost complete, she would also have the time to serve. Versteeg also published a local history of Elma Township, Elmanac, in 2000. Versteeg defeated South Huron trustee and outgoing chair Randy Wagler for the position, but Wagler was subsequently acclaimed to the position of vice-chair after trustees Al Sygrove and Julie Moore declined to let their names stand for election. The board heard later that several AMDSB principals and vice- principals will also be taking new positions in the new year. Once schools resume in January 2012, John Carr, principal of Brussels Public School, will move to Downie Central Public School to replace the retiring Suzanne Kelly. Frank Stretton, former principal at Wingham Public School, will take over as principal of Brussels Public School at that time. When the new school year begins in September 2012, Suzanne Irwin, current principal at Turnberry Central Public School, will become the Grade 7-8 administrator at F.E. Madill Secondary School. Principal Wendy Armstrong-Gibson will leave East Wawanosh Public School to become principal of the newly-named North Woods Elementary School. Kerry Carlyle will leave her post as vice- principal at Huron Centennial Public School to become Grade 7-8 administrator at South Huron District High School. Huron County will be increasing its planning application fees by an average of 14 per cent, but the increase will be implemented incrementally over the next five years. Planning fees were last reviewed in 2005 when Huron County Council decided to try and make the fees more of a user-pay system, rather than have shortcomings subsidized by taxpayer dollars. At the Dec. 14 Committee of the Whole meeting in Goderich Director of Planning and Development Scott Tousaw said raising the fees still wouldn’t make the system completely user-pay, but it would be working in the right direction to make it happen in the near future. Huron County councillors, however, felt the increase was too much for ratepayers all at once, so councillors voted to have the rates increased 20 per cent (of the proposed increase) each year for the next five years, when the rates will be reviewed again. A zoning bylaw amendment application, for example, would cost $1,500 today, but at the end of the next five-year cycle, the same application would cost $1,800, with 20 per cent of the increase being applied every year for the next five, starting in 2012. A consent application will go from $1,600 to $2,000 under the new increases over the same five-year period. Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh Reeve Ben Van Diepenbeek was the first to bring up the concept of an incremental increase, saying that a two or three per cent increase every year would be easier for residents to plan for than a 14 per cent increase every five years. “It’s hard to justify to the public,” Van Diepenbeek said. “I think it needs to be something more gradual.” Councillor Art Versteeg said that perhaps the difficulty of the application could be taken into account. Versteeg used the example of the Central Huron Vodden consent and how much of the Planning Department’s time it occupied and perhaps an application like that would cost more than a straight-forward consent application. Tousaw said the rates are based on a typical application. Newly-installed Warden Bernie MacLellan backed up Van Diepenbeek’s suggestion, saying that a scheduled increase every year gives the people of Goderich “a stay” in the wake of the Aug. 21 tornado and it would also allow Huron County to publish the next year’s rates in advance of implementation. Goderich Town Council was asking for no increase to the rates for one more year because of the extensive damage and rebuilding being done as a result of the August tornado. Huron County planner Sandra Weber said that Huron County’s application rates are a bit higher than those of their neighbours, but that’s only because Huron County Council wanted to move to a user- pay system. Other counties have lower fees, but because it costs so much to run the planning department, the shortfall is being paid out of the general tax levy. “If you truly want to get to a user- pay system,” Tousaw said, “the fees would be very, very high.” Tousaw then used an example of a rural development in the Niagara region where an application that would cost $37,000 there would cost under $1,000 in Huron County. Because the fees are charged jointly by the county, as well as the municipality, the new fees were circulated to all nine of Huron County’s municipalities ahead of the Dec. 14 meeting. Morris-Turnberry, Howick, Central Huron and Goderich were all not in favour of the increases, while the rest of the municipalities were either in favour of the increases or they provided no comments in response. By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen Holiday for ‘Citizen’ By Rita Marshall Special to The Citizen CitizenTh e PM 40050141