HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2010-01-28, Page 6PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JANUARY 28, 2010.
New employee welcomed
Jared Cayley is congratulated by Morris-Turnberry mayor
Dorothy Kelly after being sworn in at the Jan. 19 council
meeting as the municipality’s community fire safety officer.
(Keith Roulston photo)
Morris-Turnberry council hasasked Scott Tousaw, Huron County’splanning director to assign adifferent planner than the one used
by neighbouring North Huron.
Mayor Dorothy Kelly told
Tousaw, at the council’s Jan. 19
meeting, that it seemed like a
conflict of interest when the same
planner dealt for both municipalities
on issues where they might disagree.
Last year North Huron had
appealed to the Ontario Municipal
Board (OMB), Morris-Turnberry’s
plan to designate the Willis property
on the north side of County Road 86,
just east of Wingham as highway
commercial and allow future
construction of a food or grocery
store on the property. The county
department had supported the appeal
of North Huron and Loblaw
Properties Limited, but the OMB
decision sided with Morris-
Turnberry.
Mayor Kelly said both Morris-
Turnberry’s lawyer at the hearing
and the planner they hired to give
them independent advice had
suggested the municipality should
ask for a different planner than its
neighbour.
Kelly and other members of
council agreed they like, and would
like to keep, Sandra Weber, the
planner who has been working with
Morris-Turnberry, but “we felt she
was wearing two hats.”
Tousaw said that even if there had
been two different planners
representing the neighbouring
municipalities on this issue, the
county’s recommendation would
probably have been the same. “We
work on issues together.”
Tousaw said he was very much
involved in taking the standdesigned to protect the downtowncore of Wingham. The planningprocess is a cautious one, he said.The cautious approach on the Willisproperty was to leave it to a futuredeveloper to come forward with a
request for a rezoning to allow for a
grocery store, supporting the request
with a market study to prove the
need for the store.
Councillor Paul Gowing noted
that the whole process was very
expensive with Morris-Turnberry,
North Huron, the Planning
Department and the OMB, not to
mention Loblaws, all having lawyers
involved. “It was our own money
working against our own money,” he
said of the taxpayer involvement.
(Morris-Turnberry’s legal costs were
$155,062 in legal, planning and
market research costs.)
“I felt the planning department
was really against us and to my way
of thinking is should have been on
our side,” said councillor Bill
Thompson. “We fund you guys. We
shouldn’t have to spend money to
fight you,”
“We have to give arecommendation (to county council)and if it is appealed we are obligatedto give evidence (at the OMBhearing). Tousaw explained.While he congratulated Morris-Turnberry on its victory, Tousaw
said he was still surprised by the
board’s decision which he felt
overturned results of a previous
OMB hearing.
Turning to the issue of separating
the two municipalities planning
advisors, Tousaw promised to see
what could be done. Nearby Huron
East and Central Huron were large
enough that they have their own
planner and so wouldn’t be available
for sharing. There are only two
planners who have responsibilities
to more than one municipality.
Even when a planner represents
neighbouring municipalities there
are confidentiality guidelines in
place where information given
privately to a planner, such as in a
closed council meeting, is not even
shared with other planning staff let
alone the neighbouring municipality,
Tousaw said.
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MEETING NOTICE
MUNICIPALITY OF
MORRIS-TURNBERRY
The upcoming Council and Committee meetings for the
Municipality of Morris-Turnberry will be held:
Wednesday January 27 at 7:00 p.m. History Book Meeting
Tuesday February 2 at 7:30 p.m. Regular Council Meeting
Monday February 8 at 5:00 p.m. Budget Meeting
Tuesday February 16 at 7:30 p.m. Regular Council Meeting
M-T asks for separate plannerBy Keith RoulstonThe Citizen
At their Jan. 19 meeting Morris-
Turnberry councillors voted to
proceed with an environmental
assessment for the Bluevale storm
drain, but promised the drain won’t
go forward without a public
meeting.
The motion to have B. M. Ross
and Associates undertake the study
is the next step to have the project
“shovel ready” in case more
infrastructure money is available. If
such a grant application was
successful, the municipality would
pick up only one-third of the cost
with the federal and provincial
governments each picking up a
third.
Nancy Michie, administrator
clerk-treasurer explained that Bruce
Potter of B.M. Ross has
recommended the study so council
would be ready if a grant application
deadline came up on short notice.
“We would like to get a grant but
M-T to proceed with
EA on Bluevale drain
Continued on page 7