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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1976-04-22, Page 1eleferZtnesabuocale Building permit to be issued Foundation hopes delay over would be no reason to submit plans to the building inspector. Coun. Ted Wright took ex- ception, stating that the original intentions of the Foundation had included cutting a door. After the meeting, Triebner and Coun. Harold Patterson indicated that they considered the raising of the ceiling in the second storey of the building a structural change. Couneil's decision to instruct the building inspector to issue the permit set a precedent of sorts. It would mean that those persons seeking an application for renovations to a public or com- mercial building with little or no structural changes involved can appeal to Council for a permit if refused by the building inspector, RODEO ROUNDUP Corf Cann, a member of the Rodeo executive, carts the bucking bronco and 10- gallon hat for their annual spring fixup in preparation for the Labor Day event. Exeter Council authorized building inspector, Doug Triebner, to issue a building permit to the Exeter and District Heritage Foundation Tuesday night for renovations to the Town Hall, perhaps drawing to a close the ongoing episode of confusion and frustration associated with the historic building. Represented by Chairman Doug Gould, the Foundation had addressed Council with a com- plaint that the building inspector was holding up renovations and preventing the group from making efficient use of its $11,500 LIP grant. "In our opinion, Triebner has delayed the work by continually denying us a permit for one reason or another", Gould told Council. Exeter Council had received a letter from Fire Chief, Gary Middleton the same day stating that he had no objection to the Foundation proceeding with renovations as long as fireproofing of the furnace room is carried out by the next heating season. In addition to fire regulations, Triebner bad said that no permit could be issued until a full set of plans had been received, "How can you submit a set of plans for the plastering of a ceiling?" Gould asked. Reeve Derry Boyle agreed with Gould that if no structural changes were planned then there One Hundred and Third Year Price Per Copy 25 Cents EXETER, ONTARIO, APRIL 22, 1976 Council backtracks on new arena financing both an arena and pool. Coun. Ted Wright was con- cerned that even if funds were available to build a swimming pool that Exeter would have difficulty meeting the cost of operation and maintenance of it in future years, Coun. Lossie Fuller remarked that it had cost the town of Wallaceburg $83,000 to operate its pool last year. Similarly it was mentioned that pools in Tillsonburg and Vanastra were Stevens' comment that Council was "making decisions based on noise in the street" was in reference to some of the coun- cillors' comments that they had talked to a few citizens who were opposed to a new facility but would support a renovation of the old arena, condemned both by the Ministry of Labour and the Exeter Area Fire Department. Council had embroiled itself in an hour-long discussion which rehashed the problems of GOLFING ENTHUSIASTS took advantage of the unusually warm weather on the weekend to dust off their irons and hit the fairways. Ron Root of Lucan was testing his skill at the Exeter Golf Course on Saturday. T-A photo by Sharon Specht Hospital finance picture is good The Board of the South Huron Hospital held their annual meeting April 19, and learned, amongst other things, that the fiscal year of 1974 produced one of the lowest deficits in the hospitals history. Last year they incurred only a $1,200 deficit in their spending. In total they spent $954,000, over the budgeted income of $952,800, The income is up from $802,700 in 1974. In their report to the board, the women's Auxiliary showed assets of nearly $20,000 after ex- penditures on such equipment as a Medmobile, Alternating Pressure Pad and Gestetner during the past year. During the year they spent $3,900 while taking in $9,500. 73 percent of the people who stayed in South Huron were in for Medical-Surgical treatment said administrator Elmer Taylor, and 91 more residents of the global village found their way in at South Huron Hospital, an in- crease of 12 births over 1974. 154,000 work • hours were required this year, an increase of 5,000 over 1974, and part of that must have been to take care of the over 70 tons of dirty laundry accumulated. Exeter's OPP has happy Easter weekend Town gets Usborne water but must replenish Ausable Mayor Shaw had opened the discussion by informing Council that the Reeves of the affected municipalities had been polled by the press and that only Usborne was definite on supporting an arena, He said that Walter McBride, Reeve of Usborne had told him that he believed a recreation centre would stand a better chance of wide financial support if it included a pool as well. "It would seem from my discussions and the stories carried in the press, that there is no reason to meet with or ap- proach these municipalities unless we are prepared to con- sider a swimming pool", the Mayor said, "If someone else had a better idea, go ahead, but I'm not going back to the municipalities unless I have something to offer them." Following up on the Mayor's comments, John Stevens suggested that Council could pass a tentative motion which would include a swimming pool in the <4 centre project so that there would the something to discuss with the other municipalities. "All of the other areas have said that they would support a pool, but Exeter Council will not make a motion to include one. I can't understand the logic in this. This is supposed to be a South Huron project, not just Exeter, but you insist on ignoring the wishes of the other areas which are supposedly in- volved in this thing." Exeter Council is "making decisions based on noise from the street." That was John Stevens' (chairman of the South Huron Recreation Centre Committee) evaluation of the goings on in the municipal chambers Tuesday night as Council chose not to meet with area municipalities as they had originally planned, to' determine how much support there would be for an arena, hall, and perhaps a swimming pool. "It seems to me that you are making important decisions without the proper information", Stevens challenged. "If our committee had made re- commendations based on.thetype of research that you have done, we would have been shot right down." Stevens made his remarks following a Council discussion on what to do about the proposed recreation centre. Two weeks after deciding to meet with other municipalities to determine their feelings and poeeible support fd some sort of recreation centre, Council had still not set up the meeting. Instead it decided Tuesday night to ignore published reports, in the press that most municipalities were not interested in an arena unless it included a pool, and will write a letter to each one asking for some indication as to whether they would be willing to support an arena in Exeter without a pool. Exeter property owners could have long wait accident took place in the Ball- Macaulay lumber yards in Hensall. Randy Dayman found out that driving on Hensall streets can be a risky proposition. Dayman's vehicle sustained $1,000 damage when it hit a protruding manhole cover in a construction area in Hensall April 17. The OPP also remind parents of children who have mini-bikes that they are responsible for damages and injuries caused by children riding the bikes in a negligent manner. They also handed out stiff warnings that trespassing violators and dangerous drivers on the mini- bikes will be charged. Several mini-bike complaints have been received. It is also the time of the year when cattle are back on the land and motorists should take extra care, as there have been several incidents involving cattle on the roadways. It was a pleasant Easter weekend for the Exeter OPP, and not because of the weather, either. They had no accidents to investigate over the four day did . haye..a busy week holiday. They laying a total of 72 charges, 20 of them for traffic violations, Three accidents also occurred this past week in which the OPP were called out to investigate, April 14 a two car collision on Highway 4 in front of Larry Snider Motors in Exeter damaged the vehicles of Mervin Fields, RR 2 Hensall, and Larry Seymour, RR 4 Seaforth, to the extent of $2,200, The OPP were also involved in another auto-train crash this week. John Patterson opened his truck door into the path of an oncoming CNR train. The train deftly removed the door from the truck, causing $400 damages. The '.iSFAM46170.W.BEINVISMAC,IV.ROM..WartAlteattreMN People and events RAP begins new program EXETER'S PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT will soon be us- ing mobile radios. Council approved a cost-sharing program with the Exeter PUC to purchase a base station which will be set up in the PUC building, and one mobile unit at a cost to the town of $2,300. Public Works Chairman, Ted Wright said that the cost to outfit all public works vehicles would be about $5,000•The Town will look into expansion of the system at a later date, COST OF TREE TRIMMING to date as a result of the in- famous ice storm last winter, is $21,000 to the town of Exeter, according to Glen Kells, superintendent of public works. THE TOWN OF EXETER willsoon be looking for a clerk-typist to augment the staff at the clerk's office, Due to new auditing procedures required by the Ministry of the Treasury and Economies, the workload has increased for the clerk and his assistant. ELAINE TOWNSHEND,president of a new organization in Huron County designed to aid the physically disabled, has written Exeter Council, asking that new sidewalk construction in town include curb cuts to allow persons confined to wheelchairs the ability to move freely on town streets, She also asked Council to give consideration to making new public buildings structurally accessible to handicapped peo- ple. THE DEMAND WAS HEAVY AT TIMES, but it was first come first served and only five people will be allowed seasonal docking space in Grand Bend this summer. Despite the fact that all the seasonal docks ore full, requests are still coming in for seasonal space. IF YOU ARE PROUD OF YOUR QUILTING, get it over to the Victoria Playhouse in Petrolici. The Women's Auxiliary is look- ing for quilts to display May 41, 5 and 6 in Petrolia at their dis- play and demonstrations, They will accept quilts from anywhere and are insuring them against damages. THE BUFFALOBURGER FESTIVAL, scheduled for June 18 and 19 in Grand Bend is enjoying an ever widening circle of fame, The Sarnia Lambton Tourist's Council will hold a mor- ning meeting in Grand Bend on the 19th so they can take in the festivities planned for that day. It is one of the few times council hos decided to meet outside of Sarnia, and is a real "feather in the cap" for Grand Bend. THE EXETER TENNIS CLUB will be holding its first general meeting of the year April 26 in the library at Exeter Public School. Anyone interested in attending is welcome to come out and help the dub get off the ground again this year. HENSALL KINSMEN are busy preparing for the annual On- tario Picldlers' Contest to be held June 18 and 19, Damas and Smith, the engineering firm hired to prepare the new plan, had indicated that there would be no problem in amending the commercial zone back to residential. He suggested that if Council were to permit the amendment now, that it would save a lot of "red tape" later one. The matter was not resolved by Council. Instead, a letter has been sent to Mr. Gregus, ex- plaining that the request would not be considered by Council until the plan has been finalized, Council did not rule on the present status of its new official plan. According to the Municipal Act of Ontario, once a Council has given first reading to a new plan, it becomes the operating plan, but the Act is somewhat am- lbiguous as to whether this would prohibit last-minute changes to the plan before it received final approval from Council, If changes are no longer allowed until the plan is finalized, it means that residents, such as Mr. Gregus, who desire new zoning designations for their property, must wait until the plan has been officially approved by Exeter Council and the OMB and then make a formal appeal to the Exeter Planning board, Exeter Council, and the OMB before an amendment could be considered. It is conceivable that Gregus contributed to the confusion in his own particular case, because he had first advised the planning board that he wanted the lots in question zoned commercial and now wants them zoned back to residential. On the other hand, allowing the changes to go ahead before the plan is finalizedwould save a lot of "red tape" as Coun, Hicks told Council. In the present situation, any Exeter resident will be in for a long wait before any new zoning designation can be, approved and it would seem that the Town's new official plan is in fact existing in "limbo" at the present time, neither a finalized by-law, nor a proposed one, flexible to change, RAP will hold the first part of a leadership training program this month, Chairwoman, Ruth Durand told Exeter Council Tuesday night, Purpose of the program is to establish priorities in the town's recreation program and in the operating procedures of the RAP committee. The program will explore the roles and duties that members of the RAP eotnmittee are expected to fill and is designed so that the members can get to know one another better, according to rec. director, Jim 1VIcKinlay. The finance committee of 'RAP met Wednesday night to consider and perhaps finalize this year's recreation budget. Several items, including the summer playground program have been singled out for possible budget cuts this year. RAP will make its formal budget presentation to txeter Council at the May 17 meeting. by LEIGH ROBINSON Residents of Exeter could be in for a long wait if they are plan- ning any changes in zoning designation to their property, Some members of Council are of the opinion that areas in town cannot be re-zoned at this time because the official plan is now the governing by-law, but since it has not been given final approval, either by Council or the Ontario Municipal Board, it remains in kind of "limbo" state where it cannot be changed from its present structure. A letter from lawyers for Gregus Construction to Council stated that Mr. Gregus would like to have some lots now zoned commercial on the new plan, re- zoned as residential. It was pointed out in the letter that the lots, located on William St. are already serviced and are 0' proper size for residential use -Reeve Derry Boyle and Coun, Ted Wright argued that although the new plan is now in use, no amendments can be made to it until it has been given final reading by Council and approval by the Ontario Municipal Board. Coun. Garnet Hicks disagreed. lie said that because the new plan has not been officially approved by Council yet, that it should not be considered as law, at least not in the strict sense. He stated that but other findings made the Ministry conclude that taking significant quantities of water from the well could very well affect the stream flow affect of the Ausable River, itself. Concerned that the Ausable would tend to dry up more often and longer than it should, the Ministry resolved that the Town of Exeter would have to replenish the river in order to protect farmers who use the river downstream to water cattle, and also to protect the natural aquatic life in the stream. Usborne Township Reeve, Walter McBride and Deputy Reeve, William Morley, relied heavily on the Ministry's advice in giving tentative approval to the Exeter pipeline. Exeter Council and the Exeter PUC, on the other hand, were skeptical of the Ministry's January report, until certain items were clarified by technical representatives from the Ministry at the Thursday meeting. Originally, it had appeared from the report, that Exeter would be responsible for main- taining a 100 g,p.m.stream flow in the Ausable all year long, whether it was actually taking water out of the Cudmore well or not. A question from PUC manager, Hugh Davis asking if this were true brought a clarification from the Ministry that the town would only be responsible for maintaining stream flow for three weeks after water was pumped from the well. Davis had been concerned about the capital operating costs of maintaining a constant stream flow and had expressed the view that the entire pipeline project would then become economically unfeasible. In a report prepared jointly between the PUC and the Town's engineering consultants, B.M. Ross and Associates, it was recommended that stream flow of the Ausable be maintained only for a week after pumping, It was felt that this time period would be adequate to guarantee minimal lowering of the river and . also prevent excessive capital outlays which could -come into play if a PUC man was required to monitor stream flow of the Ausable over an extended period of time, The response from the Ministry to this request was both technical and legal, Technically, they said, one week of augmenting stream flow would not be enough to guarantee the river against the possibility of it drying up during extended periods of summer drought, whereas three weeks would, In addition, the Ministry said that legally, they would not be in a position to back up the • Please turn to page 3 As a result of a joint meeting between Exeter and Usborne Councils, the Exeter PUC, and the Ontario Ministry of the Environment,, a tentative agreement has finally been reached with respect to the Town of Exeter taking water from the Cudmore Well, located in Usborne. Exeter PUC would be allowed to pump up to 350 gallons per minute from the well, provided that it replenish the Ausable River, the major water source for the well, at a nearby downstream, location. The town would be required to pump water from the well back into the Ausable, maintaining the stream flow of the river at a minimum of 100 g.p.m. for three weeks after the main pumping operation had been shut off. Problems arose last year, when the Exeter utility first announced that a new water supply was required for the Town and that the Cudmore well site had been chosen. Testing of that site had been conducted as far back as 10 years ago. Several Usborne farmers, afraid that an Exeter pipeline would affect their own wells, approahced the Ontario Ministry of the Environment and asked for an intervention on their behalf. The Ministry responded by doing some testing of its own. The results of their tests indicated that the Cudmore well was located in a different aquifier than the wells of area farmers, operating in the red, "Just remember that one council cannot bind a future one", commented Wright, referring to the fact that there was no guarantee that in future years other municipalities would continue to support the operating costs of the pool. Deputy-Reeve said that it would be beneficial if other municipalities were willing to pay a large share of the capital costs of building the centre as a sort of guarantee against future councils refusing to continue operation support for the centre. He accused other municipalities of stalling on support for the project. "Dont forget, Tom," in- terjected the Mayor, "the other Reeves are saying why should we help Exeter build an arena." don't think its fair to come down on them. We haven't offered them anything." MacMillan refused to consider Stevens' suggestion to include the pool as a part of Council's proposal to other municipalities, calling it a "low down trick to make a motion and then have to rescind it two weeks later." Referring to the discussion on the operating costs for a pool, Stevens said, "There are a lot of statements going on here that will scare poeple. Frankly it scares me half to death. There is no definite proof here that a pool in Exeter will cost the town some $80,0000 tb operate." Coun. Bob Simpson suggested that Council could investigate the actual operating costs and deficits of other areas which have pools, but Council did not support his motion. The only other motion with regard to the arena which was passed by Council would have the SIIRCC report back to Council by the second week in June to relate how fund-raising efforts were proceeding. Prior to this motion being passed, Stevens had informed Council that fund-raising had not yet begun until it was definitely determined what the funds would be used for. He said that it would not be fair to the public tocanvass for funds unless they knew one way or another whether a swimming pool would be in- cluded with the arena and hall. Council's decision to write letters to area municipalities to see if they would be interested in supporting just an arena and hall indicated that it had made up its mind not to include a swimming pool in any recreation centre Please turn to page 3 Maple Leaf Mills closes its doors Maple Leaf Mills of Exeter closed its doors Thursday, possibly for the last time, as they shift their seed division plant from John St. in Exeter to Baden, Ont. The closing may be only temporary. It has been shut down in a cost cutting program by the company and the closure may only last . this season, Maple Leaf Mills purchased the business from Jones, Mae- Naughton Seeds la years ago. A WIDE VARIETY of items were offered for sale at the garage sole and most of them were sold. Exeter and District Heritage Foundation official Doug Gould is shown taking a break following an extremely busy morning, 1-A photo by Sharon Specht