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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1976-02-19, Page 1Arena shutdown may mean new complex By FRED YOUNGS Mayor Bruce Shaw returned from a Florida vacation Monday into the eye of a northern hurricane as he now has to contend with the complex problem of solving the arena dilemna. The arena was closed in- definitely February 12, after two weeks of speculation over the possibility when an engineering report was. submitted to the Ministry of Labour by the Recreation, Arena and Parks committee. The report, prepared by Haas- Ruebsam of London in 1972 in- dicated that the roof of the building, particularly the southeast corner, was in danger of collapse because of undue stress on the main trusses and rafters. The Ministry of Labour requested safety reports from all municipalities and Exeter complied, It did not wait, however, until the Ministry replied with its decision and went ahead and closed the arena. Council now has to tie up loose ends created by the closing and begin and face the enormous problem of deciding whether to renovate the arena to bring it up to National Building Code standards or build a new facility. Reeve Derry Boyle, acting- mayor in Shaw's absence, set the tone of the meeting Monday night when he said "this meeting tonight won't be getting down to brass tacks." Boyle was referring to the first report that council will face on the arena, three recom- mendations coming from RAP headed by director Jim McKinlay, The RAP report made these three recommendations. It suggested that the entire roof structure be removed in order to allow summer activities to continue and that no re- novations be made on the existing plant. That an engineering design project being carried out by Cambrian Facilities Consultants and the South Huron Recreation Center Committee be completed and that council authorize the SHRCC to begin a fund raising project immediately. in order that they may carry out the completion of the design report. The thrust of the RAP is the construction of part or all of a new athletic complex. At the moment no concrete plans have been laid by either council or RAP but McKinlay feels that there is not the financial backing to construct the entire center. To combat "needless backtracking" as he calls it, he suggests that all necessary primary facilities, such as water, sewers and hydro power be included in any new construction phase, This would allow additional services to be added to any new arena that is designed. In talking about a possible new building McKinlay said "We have to look at a design that embodies all potential elements. We can cut costs in the future by having a plan ready for the right time such as a/hen the cost of labour is low." Although .McKinlay indicated that the situation was urgent, council was not to be pushed into any decision, preferring to wait for full attendance and more information, bossy Fuller, council member and one of the council representatives to RAP felt that the delay was unwarranted. She pointed out that the report was merely a recommendation and that there was "a lot of thought put into it. To wait two weeks may be too long." She did con- cede however, that she could see the report's validity because of her background from the Sunday meeting of RAP where the report was drawn up, Boyle was one of the first to mention the problem of financing a new arena reading a form letter sent from the Ontario Municipal Board to councils stating the unavailability of funds if a "project is not essential." The letter specifically mentioned arenas as an unessential item. "A good arena will cost at least half a million dollars, and I'm pulling no punches", he said. Council was divided on the issue of financing at this preliminary stage with Fuller and Harold Patterson feeling that the money could be raised, while Barb Bell wondered "where the money will come from." Boyle intimated early in the discussion that Exeter's "finances are grave in regards to borrowing," Mayor Shaw countered that point in an interview Tuesday night when he said "I would question the validity of that statement." "We are not in bad shape," he continued, "We have as good a record and have spent respon- sibly." lie did say that the closing of the arena "would throw everything out" in the five year plan. He was referring to the $250,000 debenture that is in the plan for the construction of an athletic complex. The closing of the arena ren- ders the plan obsolete. Shaw had no ideas on how this would affect actual plans except that it would speed up the SHRCC process. Shaw has started the wheels in motion with a special public council meeting to be held February 23 in the council chambers. If there is an overflow crowd, as many anticipate, there is a contingency plan to move the meeting to South Huron District High School. In other business concerning the arena, it was decided to reduce the value of the building in the fire insurance policy from $260,000 to $25,000. Dave Reid, from Frank Cowan Real Estate in Princeton, said that the premium should be lowered because his company would cover only the cash value of the building. Since the building is now considered to be obsolete and is vacant, the company would assume its value to be only $25,000, The $260,000 reflects 80 percent of the dollar value according to Cowan Insurance, when the premiums conic due in January. The reduction in the premium Means a return of $2,700 June 1 to council, or half the amount paid for yearly coverage. Council and the corporation of Exeter are still covered by liability insurance as long as the building is kept closed. This covers employees of RAP and the town and even tresspassers on the site. He did say that if council chose to ignore the Ministry of Labour ruling once it had received the letter closing the arena, then its members and the corporation could be held "criminally negligent in our legal opinion." Reid has been involved in eight cases like Exeter's in the past. Full-time employees of RAP will he maintained. but part-time people will be laid off in- definitely. Should .council decide to continue the operation of the arena as an open air facility, then there will be ample work to keep the entire RAP staff on. In the event that council doesn't follow this, then there will be enough work for the full-time staff in preparing parks and overhauling equipment. If that is the case, then it may be necessary to request some of the employees to take their holiday time within the next two months. The only athletic group to be drastically effected by the closing is the Figure Skating Club who had to cancel their program slated for February 21, There was not enough time for them to move to a larger ice surface elsewhere. Minor hockey will continue, although the games will be out of town. Zurich, Huron Park and Hensall have all managed to accommodate the teams for their playoff schedules. KIMBERLY SWEENEY -- (asleep) and her mom, Marion Sweeney, Kippen, relax Monday morning after spending two hours with a dozen other members of the Pineridge Snowmobile Club cleaning up the Pineridge Chalet after a weekend of partying for crippled children. photo by Bagley One Hundred and Third Year Committee ignores stop work order, council to issue letter EXETER, ONTARIO, FEBRUARY 19, 1976 Price Per Copy 25 Cents ding the future of the old white brick building on the main street, Returns show 112 in favor of renovations and 31 opposed to repairing the building. Although no predictions are being made as to how residents of this community would vote if the same question appeared on a ballot, the substantial number of returns show many people really care about maintaining the old building for both historical and practical purposes. The overwhelming number of s. people who voted yes compared with those who were of the opinion that the old building should not be renovated may be due to the apparently strong support being gathered in Exeter by the Town Hall Committee. This group has put in con- siderable time and effort studying the town hall situation to determine for themselves if the building is really worth saving. It now appears that many people in town have decided something must be done to preserve this building that they believe to have historical value. The newspaper survey could also be looked at from another point of view from those who took the time and effort to make a yes or no decision on this question. Most people in Exeter did not vote at all so it could possibly be concluded that the majority of people are still undecided as to how they feel about this question. The following are some of the comments Times-Advocate readers sent in with their questionnaire regarding the future of the Old Town, Hall, — It's still a building that could serve a useful purpose. If we tear it down now chances are someone will be saying we need a brand new replacement building at a fantastic cost, — We can't afford to spend large sums of taxpayer's money at this time of "restraint," — After the renovation the upkeep of the building would be too high. — Demolish the building and pave the property. This could be a partial cure for the lack of parking spaces for shoppers, - If people. want to donate privately to fix the building, then let them. Don't take the money out of the taxpayers' pocket. —The necessary work could be done first, then as the committee, with other help, could raise more money, more inside work could be done, A lot of people would help with dances, bake sales and other projects, The Town Hall surely is the one historical land mark of Exeter. — The money required to repair the building would go a long way to help fix the arena. ----- The building should be demolished aml a parking lot with meters should be installed. The revenue could then go toward the police office, Exeter council again sup- ported the order to stop work on the renovation of the old town hall Monday night, when it felt that priorities provided to coun- cil by the ad hoc committee for restoration were not being followed. Garnet Flicks, chairman of the Property Committee had verbal- ly issued the order to committee chairman Doug Gould, February 11. Since that time work had con- tinued in the upper hall of the building. A stop work order issued verbally is not legally binding. The order has to come in the form of a letter, which council intends to do this week. Until that time, there is no legal ground to halt the work of the committee. A stop work order can also come from a building inspector, who can halt work on a site im- mediately. The committee had offered a — All work snould be channeled into building a new arena for the young people of the community. — Council should immediately authorize restoration to proceed to prevent further deterioration of the building. — It might be interesting to know the cost of the new post office in order to have an idea of the cost of housing the town police cells and possibly court facilities in a new structure. Thius should include the price of a new site if there is any doubt as to what the land would be used for. Also what cost would be incurred tearing down the Old Town Hall? These figures may make the suggested $150,000 for renovations look small or reasonable. --- The building should be saved for practical purposes only and it should continue to be used to house the police department. — Other long comments may be found elsewhere in this issue. Call meeting for Monday A special, public meeting of council has been called for Monday night by Mayor Bruce Shaw in order to inform councj and the public on the situation with the arena. The meeting is planned for the town chambers, but if an over- flow crowd arrives then it will he moved from there to SHDHS. Ingo Ruebsam, of Haas • Ruebsam engineering firm who did the 1972 study on the building that the closure is based on will be at the meeting to explain the engineering reasons behind the closing. The South Huron Recreation Center Committee will also have a report drawn that will deal with the possible future actions open to council, and Cambrian Facilities Consultant, the firm from Mississauga who are doing the engineering design for a new recreation complex, have the anticipated costs . of the project. They have broken costs down into three areas, an arena, an arena with the necessary facilities to accept service additions such as a pool or hall and the total complex picture, set of priorities to council at a meeting on February 2, where they were tabled, The list designated the ex- terior of the building, particular- ly the sand blasting of bricks, as the fop priority. Since that list has been sub- mitted, sand blasting has been tried and stopped because it was damaging the brick work. In place of the sand blasting, it has been decided to use a clean- ing solvent or acid on the bricks. as recommended by members of Canada Heritage. Rodeo meeting picks officers The Exeter Rodeo Committee held a meeting Wednesday night in the library of Exeter Public School to' elect new officers. Information on the results of the meeting was not available at press time. According to Jack Malone, secretary of the interim executive, a list of candidates was prepared and members were to vote for officers for 1976. In addition to the list of candidates, the committee hoped that nominations would be made from the floor to insure a broad base of representation on the com- mittees. Following the election, it was planned that officers would be appointed to the various com- mittees made up from volunteers and various community groups who have indicated support for the 1976 Exeter Rodeo, now scheduled for the Labor Day weekend, September 4 and 5. The committee was hoping for as great a turnout as possible to insure success of the event through overall support. The committee's proposed slate of officers were: Dr. Don Ecker, past president; Glenn Northcott, president; Dalton Finkbeiner, 1st vice president; Hugh Kennedy, 2nd vice president; Jack Malone, secretary; Currey Cann, treasurer; Jim Scott, Ben Hoogenboom and Wilmer Preszcator, one year directors, and Barry Mousseau, Brian Smillie and Bill Dinney, directors for two years, There is a certain amount of uncertainty about the method in which the solvent will be applied and therefore, no other exterior activity will he done until the building is cleaned. The committee has moved their employees indoors and up- stairs where they are cleaning woodwork in the fire hall. Cmincil felt that work should be halted until there are "proper plans" as Councillor Harold Patterson said. It was also suggested that no further work he done until the Property Committee approves it. Ben Hoogenboom, a member of the committee. said that ''lie had heard that Garnet. Hicks" had suspended work, hot that the committee was ignoring the verbal order. Work will continue he said, un- til the committee receives a letter from the building inspec- tor. "We can't stop work when we're not doing exactly the things council wants us to do." Hicks said that the list of priorities were to he a schedule and that the committee was working the "other way" on that list. Work in the fire hall was designated at the bottom of the list, Flicks said that he had not been advised of the difficulties that were encountered with the sand blasting. He will be sending a letter to Gould this week to advise him to stop the work. When contacted, Gould's only reply was that "I would rather not make any com- ment on this at all." Should the work be stopped, it could place the LIP grant the committee received in jeopardy. The LIP grant's basis is that it will provide steady work for un- employed people. Of the $11,400 that the committee was allotted, only $1,900 can be spent on materials. All the rest must go into man hours. A stoppage in work might affect the status of the grant. ,lenny Huntley, another member of the committee who looks after the grant money, said that the people at LIP "might overlook" a work halt because they know the problems that the committee is having. ,Leiuilis trom a survey published in the Times-Advoate last week reflect a great deal of interest in renovating the Old Town Hall. One hundred and thirty-one questionnaires were returned to the newspaper with the vast majority in favor of repairing the old structure to a condition where it would be an asset to the community. The survey was published by theTimes-Advocate to determine what interest there was regar- MIME eiteferZmesilkoucicate People and events TWO EXETER WOMEN are each $200 richer this week after splitting the jackpot at the Kinsmen bingo held Monday night at the Legion Hall. The winners are Mrs. Harold Harness and Mrs. Bill Dougherty. THE ANNUAL MEETING of the South Huron and District Association for the Mentally Retarded will be held Thursday, February 26 at the Dashwood Community Centre. Guest speaker will be Adrienne Van Raay who will tell of her ex• periences in India. SEVERAL AREA FARMERS are expected to attend Expo '76 at the Pineridge Chalet on Tuesday. The program is spon- sored by Pioneer Hi-Bred Ltd. and Hyde Bros Ltd. of Hensall. MRS. VALERIE GOULDis membership committee chairman of the newly formed Exeter and District Heritage Foundation. Persons wishing membership may phone Mrs. Gould at 235- 0685. COMPLAINTS FROM BUSINESSES NORTH OF THE AUSABLE RIVER are coming to council over what the businesses term "discriminatory" zoning laws. Businesses north of the river are not allowed to construct buildings that will cover more then 40 percent of their land as opposed to 75 percent coverage to the south, said Frank Kints, of Mothers Motors, Mr. Kints has already protested in a letter to council in which he says he will appeal such a zoning to the Ontario Municipal Board if necessary. The letter came from Raymond and McLean, attorneys,which causes some difficul- ty for council because they too are represented by Raymond and McLean, Council will seek legal advice elsewhere. RATHER THEN TAKING THEIR PORTION OF TAX MONEY once a year, from now on the county will be collecting twice a year, In this way, Exeter will be able to collect interest on the money they would have paid out as part of a lump sum. THE LIONS CLUB OF EXETER received a $6,300 grant from the Ministry of Culture and Recreation to put towards the ten- nis courts that they built last year, ROSS KNIGHT, of the London Humane Society told Grand Bend council birth control pills, mixed with canned food, will be available for dogs and cats within three years, JAMES McMEEKIN, of the Exeter Police Department, graduated from Recruit Courses A and B of the Aylmer Police College, February 13, 1976. • :•i''''"I'V'':4-lIi7.PIPIgTaZi(MIKEFRITEMIMENV,I•iMin.:,. T-Asurvey shows support for Town Hall VALENTINE SWEETHEART Mrs. Marie Fisher was the Valentine Sweetheart at the Legion Valentine dance held Saturday night. Mrs. Fisher received flowers from Country Flowers and a gift certificate from Boyle's Ladies Wear. Beside Mrs. Fisher is Mr. Harvey Hillman from Horan Vcir107' photo courtesy of Reg McDonald Watershed seems safe from storm Exeter's flood line, the c. timated height of river waters, should the watershed be affected by a severe, hurricane-type storm, does not "look too bad" according to the Ausable- Hayfield Conservation Authority's outgoing resources manager, Roger' Martin, The manager made his com- ments upon available informa- tion from current flood-plain mapping being conducted in Ex- eter by the Authority. Using statistical information on the rate of river flow, the Authority can predict the amount of sudden flooding created by a simulated hurricane 'storm centering over the entire Ausable-Bayfield watershed and come up with figures showing how high the water would rise and over how much land area the flood waters would extend. A hurricane storm is used to generate flooding predictions in the worst of possible weather conditions. Based on their research, Mar- tin said that the town of Exeter could expect waters to rise above the level of the bridge located, on Highway 4 at the north end of town for several hours. but flooding, would most likely be restricted to land immediately adjacent to the river, itself. He stated that the town's new storm drains, when completed would probably be adequate to handle excess water created by a storm the size of a "Hurricane Hazel", and although some flooding could result, it would not seriously affect the town. Commenting on the mapping, itself, Martin said, "I don't think Exeter Council will find it dif- ficult to include the mapping in its new official plan and zoning by-law." The Authority has been mapping all flood-plane property in Exeter and their surveys will be included as a part of the of- ficial plan map of the town. Mr. Martin has been transferred to a new position with the Ministry of Natural Resources, in the Owen Sound area. "As everyone knows, this isn't going to be the easiest year on record for the Authority", com- mented Roy Westcott, who was elected chairman of the Ausable- Hayfield Conservation Authority at the annual meeting Friday, held at its headquarters in Ex- eter. "None the less, we are going Please turn to page 3 7 CONTESTANTS in the Snow Queen Contest of the Kirktor, W i nter From left to tight, Kelly Armstrong, Kathy Hall, Lorie Webb, Betty Ross Carnivol held loci weekend, surround this year's winner, Betty Va lerie Denham, Gwen Hodgins, Karen Insley and Susan Wegg.