The Citizen, 2008-07-17, Page 19THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JULY 17, 2008. PAGE 19. Morris-Turnberry council stillwants some answers to the possibleconsequences for its municipal drainsfrom the construction of a new
Canadian Tire Store at the southern
edge of Wingham, but it also wants it
known it’s not opposed to the
development.
Councillors agreed to send a letter
to North Huron asking for assurance
that landowners on the Morris-
Turnberry municipal drain who will
receive storm water from the new
development do not have to pay for a
new assessment of the drain and that
a peer review of the storm water
management plan for the site is being
carried out.
Council had initially objected, at a
public meeting held into the North
Huron proposed zoning change to
allow the store to be built on highway
commercial property.
“It’s my opinion that we should notobject,” said councillor MarkBeaven.“I agree with Mark that we don’twant to carry it too far, to stopCanadian Tire from coming,” agreeddeputy-mayor Jim Nelemans.
Mayor Dorothy Kelly pointed out
the township’s objection had not been
against the building of the store, but
about the drainage issues.
Councillors have been bitter in the
past, however, that objections from
North Huron and Wingham
businesses had prevented land across
the boundary in Morris-Turnberry
from being designated for similar
large development.
Kelly wondered if it would be wise
for the municipality to hire an
independent planner to look into its
options to fight the restrictions on the
development of highway commercial
lands within Morris-Turnberry.
But Beaven pointed out that the
main restriction is that there must be
a study done to establish the need fora large retail outlet before thehighway commercial lands can berezoned to allow large retailoperations. Any developer who wasinterested in having the land rezonedwould already have carried out such a
study as part of its building plan in
the first place, Beaven said.
Nelemans said he’s had a call from
a ratepayer who said it wasn’t the
time for Morris-Turnberry to be petty
in fighting the establishment of a
large new store.
Nancy Michie, administrator clerk-
treasurer, noted there is still some
time before the municipality’s
official plan goes before county
council in September and she could
look into the possibility of getting an
opinion from an independent planner.
“I think it would be peace of mind
for council to see which way to go,”
she said.
Michie will report back to council
on who could give such an opinion.
Monte Wright believes that we
wear masks, real and imaginary, to
hide our true thoughts and feelings.
To illustrate his point the Kitchener-
based mixed media artists and
muralist has created a body of work
and will be mounting a three-week
art exhibition.
The Blyth Festival Art Gallery is
presenting Behind the Mask from
July 25 - Aug. 13. This is one of their
series of seasonal exhibitors held
each year by the Gallery.
Wright uses three different
techniques to create his images
depicting human issues past and
present. Larger-than-life size, boldly
coloured, oil paintings examine our
role in the workplace using sharply
defined industrial images with strong
outlines to focus attention on the
subject.
A second technique uses
traditional collage and painting to
present a romantic view of the past.
These assembled images from the
18th century magically transport us
to a changed existence with
mysterious masks.
His third technique is to use a
computer to create multi-layered
digital images to create depictions of
actual theatrical masks from around
the world. Each composite draws
from the unique, cultural
backgrounds of individual cities. The
masks hide the faces of various
actors to create a feeling of the
unknown. The exciting world of
acting is staged in front of a real city
landscape.
Behind the Mask is curated by
Greg Sherwood and sponsored by
Bruce Stainton and Anne Procter
Stainton. The public is invited to
meet the artist at the opening
reception at 6 p.m., Friday, July 25.
The exhibition continues until Aug.
13 in the Bainton Gallery of the
Blyth Memorial Hall. The gallery is
open during Festival box office
hours, Tuesday to Saturday, 10 a.m.
to 9 p.m.
Coming up in the Blyth Festival
Art Gallery season – A Glass
Menagerie, whimsical sculptures in
blown hot glass by international
award-winning artist Paulus Tjiang
(Aug. 15 - Sept. 1).
Behind the Mask
Kitchener-based artist Monte Wright’s exhibit opens at the
Blyth Festival Art Gallery July 25. Wright uses three
techniques to create his images. (Courtesy photo)
M-T seeks answers, but peace
Morris-Turnberry councillors
were shaking their heads, at their
July 8 meeting, about the hoops they
have to go to to help a Morris Ward
landowner create two building lots
on the edge of Blyth.
Gerald Kerr and Carl Nesbit
attended council to discuss Kerr’s
desire to sever two building lots
from his farm on Walton Road at the
end of Blyth’s Dinsley St.
Sandra Weber, Morris-Turnberry’s
designated planner with the Huron
County planning department, noted
that under the Ministry of Municipal
Affairs provincial policy statement,
farmland can only be taken out of
production for urban purposes by a
municipality if a study is undertaken
to prove that there is not enough land
already available for development.
Morris Ward has building lots
available in Walton, therefore it
would be hard to argue there aren’t
enough building lots.
Weber said she has spoken with
officials of the ministry and,
although they would not make a
commitment, they indicated they
might be willing to consider
allowing the Blyth-area
development to go ahead if an equal
area of land elsewhere that’s
currently designated as urban, were
declared agricultural. There’s an
unopened street allowance in Walton
that might fit the bill.
“Wouldn’t that stop that major
subdivision that’s going up in
Walton now?” jested deputy-mayor
Jim Nelemans.
Weber admitted the move didn’t
make sense and sympathized with
councillors that the province’s rules
don’t make much sense in small
rural communities.
Nancy Michie, administrator
clerk-treasurer, pointed out that the
municipality had already given up
two building lots for the water
system in Belgrave and eight lots in
lower town Wingham.
Weber said in Kerr’s favour is the
fact that the two lots already have
municipal services from Blyth
available at the lot line. She said
Kerr might want to go ahead with
the application to create the lots and
argue this fact.
But mayor Dorothy Kelly
sympathized with Kerr, saying
nobody wants to risk the expense of
making a severance application and
zoning change and be turned down.
Celebrating
30 Years
Dan & Marjorie
McBurney
July 28, 1978
Happy 80th
Birthday,
George
Love, from your family
Forthcoming Marriage
Len and Deb Jamieson and
John Blok and Hillie
vanAmersfoort
are pleased to announce
the forthcoming marriage
of their children
Kimberley Dawn
to
Gregory Manuel
The wedding will take place
Saturday, July 19, 2008
at
the Jamieson Family Farm
New exhibit opens
at Festival Gallery
By Keith RoulstonThe Citizen
M-T seeks help to create lots
By Keith Roulston
The Citizen