HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1999-06-09, Page 20PAGE 20. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 1999.
County appeals decision
of its own committee
Huron County will appeal to the
Ontario Municipal Board a decision
by its own Planning and Develop
ment Committee that went against
the Howick Twp. secondary plan
limiting the minimum size of sever
ances.
At its May 17 meeting, the com
mittee turned down the recommen
dation of planning staff and agreed
to permit Josiah Martin to sever a
20 hectare (50 acre) portion of his
60 hectare (l 50 acre) farm and con
vey it to his son.
“We've had a policy of limiting
severances to 75 acres,” said How
ick Reeve Norm Fairies. “We sent
a letter through so that the commit
tee would know this does not con
form to the Howick secondary
plan.”
But committee member Ron
Murray, reeve of McKillop Twp.,
acre severances. “If you establish a
precedent you'll have 20 (sever
ance applications) within a month."
Doug Miller, reeve of West
Wawanosh said that’s why he had
made a motion to turn the sever
ance. If he considered the Martin
case on a strictly compassionate
basis it was easy to go along with
him. he said.
Mason Bailey, chair of the com
mittee, said the joining of the two
properties was a mistake. In most
cases the real estate agent or a
lawyer would have advised Martin
to keep the two properties in differ
ent names to prevent just this situa
tion. He said the Martins were
people with ingenuity and initia
tive.
“It is in the best interest of soci
ety if we stop discouraging initia
tive,” he said.
Jack Coleman, reeve of Stanley
Twp. complained that when the
committee went against the recom
mendation of the local municipali
ty, the cost of defending that
decision fell to the township. Har
vey Ratz agreed, saying a similar
move by the committee left his
township in a difficult spot.
“What good are our township
secondary plans if they’re (the
committee) going to overrule
them,” wondered Bob Szusz, reeve
of Hullett.
That prompted Robin Dunbar,
reeve of Grey Twp. to move that
the county itself appeal the deci
sion. That motion was supported by
council.
Caldwell explained the planning
department will now forward mate
rial, including its original recom
mendation against the severance, to
the OMB.
Accepting with thanks
OPP Officer Russell Nesbitt happily accepted a cheque
from Kirk Stewart on behalf of Blyth Public School student
which will benefit the Speical Olympics.
said he was swayed by the appear
ance of Mr. Martin who explained
he had bought the extra 50 acre
farm and didn't know that it had
been joined on paper by planning
officials. “It was 50 acres 20 years
ago and if this goes through it will
be 50 acres again,” Murray said.
Wayne Caldwell, senior planner
explained that the decision of the
committee on a severance is final,
barring an appeal to the OMB. The
township had one other option, he
said, because the severance
approval required the landowner to
get a minor variance on the lot size.
Fairies said he thought of a minor
variance as a lot line that was out a
foot or so, not a 25 acre difference.
This is more of a major variance,”
he said.
Fairies said that with the large
population of Old Order Mennon-
ites his township was always being
asked to relax its restriction on 75-
Reeve says
larger group
‘kind of where
we started’
Friday, June 11 & Saturday, June 12
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We would like to thank you all for your
Continued from page 6
don’t think a group of two is going
to be big enough.”
Reeve Ralph Watson noted that
the county had just put forth a
recommendation to get things
going, but agreed that discussions
could be expanded. “Five
municipalities is kind of where we
started,” he said, referring to earlier
discussions with North Huron
municipalities.
support this past year!
Bill, Gary & Kim
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