HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2010-07-22, Page 1CitizenTh
e
$1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, July 22, 2010
Volume 26 No. 29CLINIC- Pg. 12Blood donor clinic on Friday in Blyth REVIEW - Pg. 18 ‘Peter Pan’and ‘TheWinter’s Tale’reviewedLETTER- Pg. 6Grey residents still unhappywith Huron East councillorsPublications Mail Agreement No. 4005014 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0INSIDE THIS WEEK:
North Huron councillor Brock
Vodden addressed his fellow
councillors regarding their practices
with objections to planning by-laws.
Vodden stated that, in North
Huron’s decision to approve a
zoning change to allow the Avon
Maitland District School Board to
build a school in Wingham, due
diligence wasn’t given to objections
from Blyth.
“Objections were locked away,
seen by staff, and sent on to the
Huron County Planning
Department,” Vodden said at North
Huron’s July 19 meeting. “The plan
was that we weren’t even going to
see them until the package came out
to us prior to the July 5 meeting.”
Vodden then stated that this was a
unique situation, and that there
really wasn’t blame to be assigned,
but a definite need for change.
“I’m not blaming [township
staff],” he said. “This is a first time
run-through for [them] and for most
of us.
“We really blew it on this case
though, and we owe a very deep
apology to those citizens who took
the time to write in,” he said.
Vodden added that some letters
had been received and weren’t seen
by councillors until three and a half
or four months later. He believed
that, given time to deliberate the
information, council could have
made the “right” choice regarding
the school board’s application.
According to township staff, the
practice with objections is to put
them in packages for councillors to
review immediately prior to the
decision they are pertaining to.
Gary Long, Chief Administrative
Officer of North Huron, stated that
all letters that were received
eventually made their way to
councillors’ hands.
“Any letters that we received were
provided to council as part of [the
package for the night of the
decision.]”
Staff then explained that this is the
current practice for all objections.
Other councillors didn’t share
Vodden’s view on the issue.
Councillor James Campbell of
East Wawanosh ward said that some
of those objections weren’t planning
objections and had been viewed by
the Accommodation Review
Committee (ARC).
Councillor Alma Conn stated that
it wasn’t fair for Vodden to state that
the information wasn’t considered
when council made their decision.
“We may not have discussed all
the complaints to the extent that we
discussed [Bob Pike’s],” she said.
“But it can’t be said that the
objections weren’t taken into
consideration.”
Conn also stated that it was unfair
to label the decision council made as
right or wrong, reminding Vodden
that she had voted the same way he
had, against the zoning by-law
change.
“We don’t know, at this point,
whether this decision was the right
one or the wrong one,” she said. “We
made the best decision we could for
this township... and only time will
tell if our decision was the right one
or the wrong one.”
Fellow Blyth Ward councillor
David Riach stated that some kind of
receipt needs to be issued stating that
North Huron’s township office has
received the letter. He also supported
Vodden’s motion that
correspondence be dealt with
differently.
Vodden stated that the township
was not meeting the expectations of
their residents with current practices,
and that providing a receipt wasn’t
going far enough.
“I’ve spoken to a number of
people who submitted objections,”
he said. “Their expectation was that
we had read them, back in March,
when they were received. In fact, we
didn’t receive those objectives until
the 29th of June, three and a half
It’s that time of the year again. The
sun is shining, people are off for
vacation and so are the people
involved with bringing you The
Citizen week after week.
There will be no issue of The
Citizen on August 5, so news and
advertising for that week should be
submitted for the July 29 issue of
The Citizen by July 26 at 2 p.m. in
Brussels and 4 p.m. in Blyth.
The Brussels office will close on
Monday, July 26 at 2 p.m., not to
open again until Monday, August 9
at 10 a.m. The Blyth office will close
on Wednesday, July 28 at 5 p.m. and
will reopen once again on Monday,
August 9 at 9 a.m.
Have a safe and happy Civic
Holiday weekend!
High-speed action filled the roads
and fields of Huron County early on
Friday morning as a motorist
led police on a chase through
Walton and its surrounding
countryside.
At 3 a.m., according to Constable
Joanna Van Mierlo, Public
Education and Media Relations
officer for the Huron County
OPP, a fleeing suspect drove a
stolen pick-up truck entering
the property of Dauphin’s General
Store and knocking over propane
tanks.
The suspect then drove the stolen
pick-up truck through a field
until the driver could proceed no
further, and departed the scene on
foot.
The suspect eluded the OPP
emergency response team and
canine unit and as of Monday
afternoon continued to elude
police.
Van Mierlo stated that several
residents were evacuated from their
homes until the propane tanks were
deemed safe.
Witnesses stated that the propane
tanks were knocked over at the
Dauphin Feed Mill and Store, and
that the suspect attempted to lose the
pursuing officers through the field
directly behind the store.
The chase began when a
concerned citizen called OPP
regarding a vehicle repeatedly
driving back and forth on Walton
Road near Blyth. Police attempted to
stop the vehicle, however, the driver
began to evade police.
According to police reports, the
vehicle was stolen as it was left
unlocked with the keys in the
ignition.
Officers could be spotted in and
around Walton throughout the day
on Friday, travelling roads east of the
village and searching through fields
in an attempt to find the suspect.
Council ‘blew it’ on objections to school
Walton
suspect
remains
at large
Vacation for ‘Citizen’
Slip n’ Slide
Joy Pizzati (left) and Emma Raynard, two participants in the Blyth Adventure Zone day camp in Blyth, had no qualms about
jumping onto the Slip n’ Slide on Thursday, July 15 as a means of beating the heat. The day camp, which is an annual event in
Blyth, was sponsored by the North Huron Recreation Department. The week culminated on Friday with a trip to Bingeman’s in
Kitchener. (Denny Scott photo)
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
Continued on page 18
By Denny Scott
The Citizen