HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2009-11-26, Page 1The holiday season is fast
approaching and the Ontario
Provincial Police would like
to remind motorists of the
danger of mixing alcohol with
driving.
This year’s annual OPP Festive
RIDE (Reduce Impaired Driving
Everywhere) campaign will be in
effect from Friday, Nov. 27 through
to Saturday, Jan. 2.
As of Nov. 22, 271 people have
died on OPP patrolled roadways - 42
of which were alcohol-related
collisions.
The most effective tool in the
reduction of these kinds of senseless
deaths on the roads is prevention.
While the OPP continues to conduct
RIDE spot checks throughout the
year, the Festive RIDE initiative has
proven to be an effective deterrent
and an important tool in educating
the driving public about the dangers
of driving while impaired.
During the 2008 five-week OPP
RIDE initiative, OPP officers
stopped 884,729 vehicles at roadside
checkpoints. As a result, 319 people
were arrested and charged with
criminal code alcohol-related
offences.
Officers also issued a total of 784
12-hour suspensions and issued 353
90-day Administrative Drivers
Licence Suspensions.
Since May under the Safe Roads
for a Safer Ontario Act, the former
12-hour administrative suspension
for drivers whose blood
alcohol concentration exceeds .05
milligrams has been replaced with a
graded licence suspension period
that includes a three-day suspension
for a first offence, a seven-day
suspension for a second offence
and 30 days for subsequent
suspensions.
“Drinking and driving is a serious
threat to public safety and remains
the leading cause of criminal
death in Canada. The tragic loss of
life and the burden on the health care
system that results touches every
one of us at some point in our lives,”
said OPP Commissioner Julian
Fantino.
“Ontario roads are among the
safest in North America;” Chief
Superintendent Bill Grodzinski,
Commander of the OPP’s Highway
Safety Division said.
Visit the OPP website at
www.opp.ca for regular updates of
the results on the 2009 Festive RIDE
program.
Morris-Turnberry councillors
agreed at their Nov. 17 meeting to ask
North Huron for a justification of the
increased cost of fire protection for
2010.
Councillors did learn that the
original $211,676 quote from North
Huron had been reduced to $205,037
because Morris-Turnberry will be
providing its own fire education
work. That agreement came after a
Nov. 16 meeting between North
Huron fire chief John Black, Kriss
Snell, North Huron CMO and Nancy
Michie, administrator, clerk-treasurer
for Morris-Turnberry.
Also coming out of that meeting,
councillors agreed to adopt the map
for coverage recommended by Black
that will increase the coverage from
the Brussels fire station of the Huron
East Fire Department in order to
shorten response times. Brussels,
which once provided only limited
coverage in Morris, now covers half
the ward.
In an e-mail to Michie, circulated
to the councillors, Snell had pointed
out that the Morris-Turnberry share
of the North Huron fire budget would
be 31.5 per cent, down from 34 per
cent of the combined levies to the
former Blyth District Fire Area Board
and the Wingham Area Fire Board in
2008 and 33 per cent in 2007.
Snell also pointed out that the new
price does not include any allotment
for buildings, with an estimated $2.6
million required to be spent on
buildings for the department over the
next 20 years. The quoted figure
does, however, include a capital
replacement charge for future
equipment purchases.
Despite this explanation,
councillors were unsatisfied with the
reasoning.
“I’m having a hard time with the
area (being covered by North Huron)
being smaller but the money is
increased,” said councillor Paul
Gowing. “How do you justify that
increase with a smaller area?”
A request for that explanation will
be made to North Huron. Meanwhile
councillors approved the coverage
map so that work could go ahead with
setting up the 911 system to comply
with the change in the coverage
area.
RIDE begins, Fri.
Eager eater
Taylor Wharton, 19 months, seemed pretty excited to see pickles were on the menu at the
Blyth United Church beef supper. (Vicky Bremner photo)
In a decision issued Nov. 16, the
Ontario Municipal Board has upheld
the right of Morris-Turnberry to
designate land on the edge of
Wingham as highway commercial.
The designation, which would
allow for possible future
construction of a food or grocery
store on the Willis property on the
north side of County Road 86 at the
eastern edge of Wingham, had been
appealed by Loblaw Properties
Limited and the Township of North
Huron.
The appeal had argued that the
Wingham area did not need another
grocery store and that one on the
outskirts of town could damage the
town’s business core. The OMB said
it was sympathetic to the idea of
supporting a strong commercial core
in small towns in an effort to keep
them vital but, given that there was
no market study to prove the case,
the board did not hear compelling
evidence against a zoning change
that allowed other uses for the land,
not just a grocery store.
“The evidence of the planners
was that there has not been any
known proposal for a supermarket
or any other commercial
development on the Willis property
over the past 10 years,” the decision
read.
“Therefore, the board concludes
that the Wingham centre is not under
attack and it will continue to be the
strong core of the community as far
as food markets are concerned.”
The OMB decision noted that the
highway commercial designation on
the Willis property requires a zoning
application and a market need study
before any large space user can
actually develop the land. Since
there was no specific development
proposal, the board said: “Fearing a
hypothetical event or raising
innuendos of market or competition
concerns of unfounded land-use
planning impacts, particularly in the
absence of real facts, is not a good
planning reason to exclude a
reasonable range of uses in an
abutting municipality’s Official
Plan. What is ‘fringe’ development
to Loblaw is vital economic
development to Morris-Turnberry.
In essence, private commercial
interest does not determine public
policy.”
The decision said Loblaw’s fear of
losing market share should not restrict
the uses of the Willis property. “The
Board finds that there is no
compelling reason to exclude a
commercial use such as a grocery
store or a department store from the
highway commercial designation.”
The board said its decision was
made simpler by the fact that Morris-
Turnberry decided, during the hearing,
to withdraw a proposal to give a
highway commercial designation to
the Sjaarda property, further east along
County Road 86.
M-T asks for justification
CitizenTh
e
$1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, Nov. 26, 2009
Volume 25 No. 46MILESTONE- Pg. 6Brussels man celebratesa century of life SPECIAL - Pg. 13 Christmas Gift GuidebeginsSPORTS- Pg. 3Local athlete receivesawardsPublications Mail Agreement No. 40050141 PAP Registration No. 09244 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0INSIDE THIS WEEK:
OMB upholds
M-T zoning
By Keith Roulston
The Citizen