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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1988-08-03, Page 1Serving South Huron, North Middlesex One Hundred and Seventeenth Year vocate & North Lambton Since 1873 EXETER, ONTARIO, August 3, 1988 Price Per Copy 60 Cents GREET LARGE CROWD - Prime Minister close to 1,000 at a family picnic -in Brian Mulroney, wife Mita and one of their children greet a crowd o- Goderich, Thursday. MP Murray Cardiff is in the background. PM opens port facilities GODERICH -Prime Minister Brian Mulroney was •in Godcrich Thursday to officially open new harbour - facilities, but most of the questions sent his way were of a different nature. High on the priority of a number -of -visitors to Goderich was -the question," Why aren't you -in Ot- - tawa during the vote on the abortion situation?" Mulroney's reply was , "Because I'm here" and fol- lowed with a question of his own on why the leaders • of the two other fedcraL partics_had not been asked the -- same same thing.. At the opening of the new Port of Godcrich facili- ties, Mulroney said, the redevelopment which cost more than S17 million will bring jobs and prosperity to Huron county. The redevelopment included dredg- ing, a new wharf and a new breakwater. al funds of S1.2 million have gone to the museum. Next time he will likely hit us up for a new landing - strip ai the airport." - Despite his opening comments at an airport lun- cheon- of "I know that it's a picnic and no time for partisan speeches and I won't make one" he did talk briefly about government accomplishments and- took a few swipes at the opposition: On thc subject of the next election he said, "It will _come at an appropriate time:" - - Mulroney said his governcmnt is working towards fairness and equality in all regions of Canada:We e pointed to the Hibernia development in Ncwfoundlapd saying, "Unemployment in those regions is now down from 23.7 to' 17 percent. Our national average is 7.6 percent and I'm happy to point out hcre in southwestern Ontario the figure -is under four per- cent." Mulroney was accompanied on the quick visit to Huron county by his wife Milli and three children. Their hosts were Murray and Betty Cardiff. In etcmng to Huron -Bruce MP Murray Cardiff, the Prime Minister said, " He isa great and valued friend and has made great contributions to the government. In addition to the money spent here at the port, fcdcr- Court case cuts off water HAY TOWNSHIP - An Ontario Supreme Court decision in favour of a Plympron township appellant has temporarily turned off the tap to many of the subdivisions in Hay township who were planning on building distribution systems to bring in water from the new pipe- -- —line along Highway 21. Aftcr consultation -with_ their lawyers and engineers, members of Hay township council had decided • that the fairest way to assess the costs of building distribution sys- tems in the subdivisions along Lake Huron was . according to frontage, plus an installation ser- vice charge, plus a flat water rate. However, a Lambton county man in a similar situation objected to this concept, took his case to the Supreme Court, and won. The Court ruled there is no legislation allowing municipalities to pass by- laws authorizing assess,nent of properties on a "lump sum" basis]. This decision affects all comparable projects in the province. The costs of the Hay township distribution systems had bccn cal- culated on an equalized assessment basis. If the charges were based on assessed value, hypothetically a family of six in a S50,000 house could cnd up paying half as much as a retired couple in a SI 00,000 residence. The houses in some subdivisidns may be as much as 12 times the value of a vacant lot. Reeve Lionel Wilder is quite up- set, but said his hands are tied at the moment. "We acted in good faith. We don't want to assess anyone more than his neighbour. It's not fair, and would create a lot of unrest", Wilder observed. He also fears that subdivisions wanting water will -not get it now until next year.. Installation of five subdivision systems approved before the Su- preme Court handed down its rul- ing in mid-June will go ahead, but no action can be taken on five ap- plications currently before the OMB until the matter is resolved. Projects officer Barbara Rau is holding applications from a fur- thcr 15 subdivisions. - - flay councillors, engiheer Bruce Potter and township lawyer Kim McLean...are to meet with Nigel Bcllchambcrs from the ministry of intergovernmental affirs an Au- gust 4 if all can be preshnt to sec if an alternative workab a solution can be found. One. wav around the impasse would be to wait until the Ontario legislature -reconvenes, then have a private bill introduced and passed al- lowing the municipality of Hay to proceed as originally planned. The bill would apply only to Hay town- ship, and any other municipality facing the same problem would have to go the same route. Wilder has written to riding repre- sentative Jack Riddell to ask his as- sistance in making the necessary • changes to the Municipal Act. Because of a technicality,. Riddell as a cabinet minister can not intro- duce a private member's bill, but can. have it introduced by another MPP. The agriculture minister has contacted John Eakins, minister of municipal affairs, to see what can be done as quickly as -pos ble to expedite changes to the Municipal act, as other municipalities arc now finding themselves in the same situ- ation as Flay township. Special care needed for younger trees EXETER - As everyone knows, 1988 has been a bad year for trees. The drought has affected all trees, regardless of their age. Seedlings planted this year have a very poor chance of -surviving the dry weather. John- Schwindt of the Ausablc Bayfield Conservation Au- thority reports that similar.dry con- ditions in 1987 led to less than 50 percent of the seedlings planted through the ARCA surviving. Recently transplanted' trees are also susceptible to drought stress. Even the vigour of healthy, esta- blished sta-blished trees has been reduced. The drought stress has made trees more Susceptible to insect and disease at- tack and will slow their growth rate until conditions improve. But all hope is not lost. Many trees which arc now dropping leaves A WARY EYE Grand Bend merchants follow court case page 2 OTC going into a dormant stage but not dying. Rather than being cut down these trees should be left in the hopes that they will bud in the fall and leaf in the spring of 1989. if the rainfall in the next few years -is reasonable, the trees will recover. ' Schwindt advises that fertilizing and watering will help combat the stress of the drought. Occasional heavy watcrings are much better than frequent light waterings. The Ministry of Natural Resourc- es hopes to come up with additional trees and funding for 1989 to com- bat -this year's high mortality rate. Hopefully, older trees will recover and new trees willbe available to replace those trees killed by the drought. If you require any further information, contact the ARCA at 235-2610. Insist on planti n. stri g EXETER - Exeter council Tues- The bylaw as amended Tuesday day night passed an amended bylaw night calls for a planting strip on which authorizes changes to the the cast side of the entire property. zoning- bylaw affecting property Changes do not include - the car owned by Jerry McL.can and Son wash property, but only the three Automotive at 110 Main street lots on which the existing building north, south of Alexander street. is located. - - The existing Highway Commer- • MacLean's solicitor Randy Evans- cial Zone C5 which applies to the who attended Tuesday's council subject lands permits the existing meeting with Gary MacLean said automotive supply store. council's original stipulation of a chain=link fence with dense plant- ings along the line of severance docs not constitute a planting strip. Council finally decided that the planting Strip could be of MacL- The additoinal existing uses of re- tail sales of hardware, sporting goods and electronic equipment have been permitted by past approv- als of the committee of adjustment: The bylaw is intended to recog- nize the existing uses and enable MacLean's expansion by placing the subject lands into a special Commercial (C5-4) zone. Also, the north side and rcar yard requirements are reduced by the bylaw. To back brief on Sunday shopping EXETER - Exeter is expected to be represented at hearings to re- ceive public input into the pro- posed Sunday shopping legisla- tion. Council has already sent a brief to the all -party committee of the Legislature voicing opposition to the proposed law which would have municipalities and not the province decide whether or not Sunday shopping will be permit- ted. Hearings by the provincial com- mittee will be held at the London Holiday Inn on August 18 at 10 a.m. and 2 and ,7 p.m. • Mayor Bruce Shaw commented, Let's say we will be .there with our brief. Let's assume we are go- ing". Reeve Bill Mickle agreed say- ing," We are not the only ones ob= jecting. It_could-be the -start -of a ground swell and may be our op- portunity to carry the wishes of the residents. of Exeter". - Councillor Morley Hall added, " We should do everything we can to oppose the legislation". - A letter to council from Ontario Progressive. Conservtive leader Andy Brandt said, I, along with thousands of Canadians oppose this legislation, for I believe it Please tum to page 3 can's choosing. Councillor. Ben Hoogenboom who is also on the planning adviso- ry board was in favour of the zon- ing change without a planting strip. He added, " In past years, we have had a number of applications from MacLean's and never had a complaint from neighbours. Plant- ing strips arc meant to protect near- by residents. That's not necessary here". Evans said the proposed bylaw was only making legal the uses which were formerly allowed as non -conforming. - Question sidewalk .location EXETER --A delegation of residents from Pryde Boulevard attended council meeting Tuesday.night to object to the location of new side- walks which were staked out earlier the same day. One of the delegation, Arnold Wasnidge said, "We are not objecting to sidewalks, just the location. It appears as if they will be in the middle of our lots". Sharon Davis added, " It looks as if a fue hydrant will be right in the middle of the new walks." To this works superintendent Glenn Kells replied, " The fire hydrant is no problem, but there arc gas lines underneath that's why the side- walks will be one foot outside your property line." Kells went on to explain there were three stakes on each property and the one closest to each house is right next to the survey bar. -_ Gladys Richardson suggested the sidewalks should be put on the -other side of the road. A written petition to council said the proposed walks would reduce the privacy of homes as well as affect re -sale value in that the prew- sent locations would appear to cut front lawns in half. They asked council to.revicw alternative locations -closer to the light standards and continued, " If an acceptable compromise not be reached, we recommend the equivalent cost of sidewalks be spent instead on the park arca located between Motz and Pryde Boulevards".- Kells expalined the gas lines were three feet from the light stan- dards. The position of thc proposed sidewalks will be looked at by the public works committee. Mayor Bruce Shaw told the delegation, "-If they stay where they are planned, itwill beforgood reasons". To this Sharon Davis replied, "It will look dumb". - LongerJiours:for --- ambulance service LUCAN - Only two weeks after new facilities were opened for the Lucan and District Ambulance Ser- vice, Additional funding has been. received: Owner Bill Ilaskett received word from Middlesex MPP Doug Re- ycraft Wednesday that provincial monies had bccn approved to CX - tend the service from 40 hours to .70 hours per week. Haskett says the new grants will allow the hiring of one new full- time employee which means two. fully qualified attendants will be at. the Lucan facility 10 hours per day, seven days a week. They are on standby call the balance of the time. FRIEDSSURG'S BEST -- Friedsburg Days Saturday. wood and area. High temperatures didn't wilt the competitors when Jeni Hayter was named Miss Sponsored by Hayter Turkey Farms, Hayter beat out eight contestants from Dash - FOUR SEASONS Custom jewellery by hand page 5 FRIEDSBURG DAYS Dashwood festival another success paje 8 OAKWOOD GROWS Now a year round business at Grand Bend page 10 TO HEAD HAWKS Veteran coach Jack Nairn will handle the junior club in 1988-89 page 1A