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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1989-05-24, Page 3Zurich gets PRIDE grant ZURICH - A special meeting of council was called on May 4 to for- mally accept a $170,000 PRIDE grant from the province of Ontario. This was approximately. 70 per- cent of the original request. for $204,000., "It was gratefully appreciated",. Reeve Bob Fisher said later, point- ing out that credit for the work and effort that go into applying for such a grant belongs to the previ- ous council. The request was turned down the first time, but Zu- rich persisted, and reapplied last fall. The persistence paid off. A first priority will be to reduce ratepayers' assessment for repair and reconstruction of the Zurich drain by half. • Another large portion will be used to. repair village. sidewalks. More will be spent on the commu- nity centre. This would have paid a substantial portion enough to en- large the auditorium and repair or replace the roof, the floor and the heating system, and add air condi- tioning.. Both projects may be cut • back slightly. A committee of adjustment meet- ing on April 13 'with Father Peter Hayes from St. Boniface Church agreed to grant a minor variance to change the parking requirements for the church from 86 to 15 spaces. The decision was based on the availability of parking along Mary • and Frederick Streets, and on the ad jacent property Awned by the Hu- ron -Perth Separate School Board. Bylaws restricting water use were passed at the regular council meet- ing on May .17. Residents may only water lawns, or flower and vegetable gardens between 7:00 and 9:00 p.m. Special permission may be obtained for newly seeded or sod- ded lawns or .newly planted shrubs and trees. • Those south. of Highway 84 may water on even -numbered days, and those north on odd -numbered days: The restrictions will be in effect from June 1 to September 1 -on a yearly basis. . • Another bylaw reduces the -sewage service rate from 85 percent of the water bill to 70 percent. This was made possible because some of the PRIDE grant will be applied. to the cost of the Zurich drain. . Clerk Maureen Simmons was asked to prepare a bylaw for the June meeting establishing impost fees on new subdivisions. Fisher explained that more new homes will result in increased demand on servic- es, and sometime in the future the lagoon will have to be rebuilt. * *. * * Councillor Margaret Deichert ad- vised councillors that the 125th an- niversary of the Zurich Fair win be celebrated with a,dinner, entertain- ment and door prizes at the Com- munity Centre on July 8. * *, * * Works superintendent Dennis Re- gier has informed council that the village truck is about ready to blow up, and need about $1,000 in re- • pairs. Fisher asked for prices on leasing or buying to enable council to make a decision on which route would be best. * * *.* A letter from ABCA gives Joe Duran¢ permission . to construct a residential subdivision at . part of Park Lots 2,3 and 4, .Plan 322.. Times -Advocate, May 24, 1989 Page 3 Kid. Meets Kid - Thirteen -month-old Owen Payne, grandson of Art and Gwyn Whilsmith, RR 2 Zurich, gets acquainted with a Nubiangoat during a visit to Tuckersmith township. Four accidents in Bend area EXETER - Officers of the Exeter OPP _detachment investigated six other accidents during this past weekend. Four were in the Grand Bend arca. Damage was moderate when ve- hicles driven by Joseph Arnold, Dashwood and Gerald Cunning- ham, RR 3, Exeter collided Friday , on the Exeter Honda parking lot. A vehicle driven by Michael Vin- cent, RR 2; Dashwood was severe- ly damaged when it caught fire in the wiring under the dash while travelling on sideroad 20-21, 1.3 kilometres west of Concession 10-. 11 in Stephen township; Saturday. The same day, vehicles operated by Kathleen Butoiske of Missis- sauga and Konrad Spccht, Kitchen- er were in collision on Highway 81, south of Huron road 4. The Bu- toiske vehicle was severely dam - a ed as it swokt a fence after the Key pick-up • Doness Laurin at the Exeter Post Office explains to Harold Be'at'er how to find his mail with his new super mail box key. The boxes will be put into service on dune 2, meaning that while most residents won't have to visit the main office to collect their mail, they will have to take a trip around the corner or block to find the super mail box. collision. Also Saturday,on Highway ;1, north of Grand Bend vehicles driven by Paul .Sipkens, Wyoming and Guy Tremblay, Sarnia collided. Damage was minor. Sunday, a five vehicle accident occurred on Highway 21, east Cif the Grand Bend village limits when vehicles slowed down for traffic ran into the rear of each other. The drivers involved were Richard Brown and Craig Rath, both of London London and Michael Co- stello, Gregory Feeney and Paul Bomans,all of Kitchener. Damage was light. Vehicles operated by Rox-Anne Howlett, Oil Springs and Gregory Fortin of Kincardine collided Sun- day on Highway 21, south of Ridgeway road. Damage was listed as light to moderate.- w • • • . • I Osborne council Continued from front page . Cathy and Gary Skinner attended the meeting to voice concerns about washroom facilities at the Thames Road ball park. Councillors ap- proved their request that parent vol- unteers be allowed to make im- provements to the facilities, and build a play area for young children. The township will assist by pro- viding materials an uppli:.. Jack IT,- ' 1 to replace 'he � It I� t� ~'own on ft) .r.( , ,w and post... labour. Council agreed tc' Ross Tufts' re- quest for repairs to the line fence at the Kirkton-Woodham Community Centre. The necesstiry work will be done and charged to Willis farm ex- penses. A decision on approving a request from ICG Liquid Gas Ltd. to install a propane dispensing station in Woodham was deferred until further information about ministry of trans- portation requirements is obtained. • 'I park. 'pl,'y ,,ie wire conuihute his Blue box business -• Francis Veilleux (right) stands in front of the soon -to -be -converted building in the Grand Bend Industrial Park that is going to be the central depot for the Blue Water Recycling Asso- ciation. With him is Judy Bowman, whose husband owns the park. They hope the area will not only become a recycling centre, but also an attraction for companies that might produce or use recyclable materials. tl• -ec.cin ; it's a go GRAND BEND - When there were hovercraft being built here, the Bell Aerospace building just outside Grand Bend represented this region's glimpse of the fu- ture. Today, the building regains the limelight as part •of another futuristic -concept - recycling. • The Blucwater Recycling Association plans to start .converting.household trash into marketable materials this September, once the building has been renovated .to house the equipment and blue boxes have been deliv- ered to homeowners in the municipalities chosen as the first members of the pilot project. Francis Veilleux, recycling co-ordinator for the Asso- ciation initiated by Bosanquet Township and organized in Forest, explains that only the municipalities -coni- mitted to join by May 15 will start recycling in the fall. Others will have to wait until the program can af- ford to expand. Bosanquct Township, Ailsa Craig and Grand Bend arc among those municipalities making blue boxes a part of everyday life in September. Others, including Hen= salt and Exeter, can join only if truck space is availa- ble. . Operating and capital costs are shared among member municipalities according to the number of households serviced. "As of yet, recycling is not a profitable industry," said Veilleux, but pointed outthat even though the program will cost urban taxpayers about $12 a year, it will eventually reduce the costs of maintaining landfill operations and benefit the environment. He expects to rcduce the garbage volume at the sites by at least 15 percent. "All our numbers have been very conservative,said Veilleux, noting that a new addition to the program, re- cycling plastic bottles, has not yet been calculated into the figures. A plant to reuse the plastics in items like shampoo and pop bottles is not yet built, but a London company is already buying the plastic at $80 a tonne and storing. it.. Aluminum cans are worth $1,400 a tonne to recy- clers while steel goes for only $70 a tonne. Glass brings in $40 a tonne, and newspapers $55. Homeowners equipped with blue boxes will separate those recyclable materials from their household refuse and place them in the box. However, the box doesn't go out to the curb until it is full, Veilleux stresses. Because the collectors have to sort the recyclables curb- side, it would destroy the efficiency of the system to have the truck.stop for each half -full blue box. Once the special, compartmented truck arrives at the Grand Bend plant, the newspapers, clear glass and col- oured glass will be removed. The steel, aluminum and plastic, collected together in one container, are placed on a conveyor with a magnetic sorter to remove ferrous materials, then the aluminum and plastic are separated by hand. It is the plastic that has Veilleux excited. Recycling it is a new concept and he is anticipating significant re- ductions in landfill volume in the future. Once the pi- lot project proves itself, Veilleux will be setting his sights on other recyclable materials, industrial refuse; and possibly the composting of perishable waste. The program's coordinator claims an eventual reduc- tion of landfill garbage by 50 percent within a few years is possible. • "We may be looking in the future at cardboard and fine papers to increase our revenues," he said, pointing out that Dashwood Industries, for example, produces large amounts of cardboard that someday could be recy- cled at no cost to the industry. The best thing about the Blue Water Recycling Asso- ciation, according to Veilleux, is the tremendous en- couragement it receives from the public. Even though municipal governments may be reluctant to invest in this unprofitable scenario, the public is demanding par- ticipation for the sake of the environment, he says. Those environmental concerns are valid, explains Veilleux. Recycling newsprint saves forests, and re- using aluminum saves 90 percent of the energy costs in producing it new. The municipalities involved in the program are shar- ing the start-up costs of the project, which Veilleux es- timates as $40,000 to renovate the old Aerospace build- ing, and $90,000 for each collection truck. The ministry of the environment contributes 33 percent of the costs, and the Ontario Multi Materials Recycling Initiative matches it. Only two trucks arc planned to service the 13 initial municipalities. A third would be needed for new mem bers. Blue boxes arc expected to be ready for delivery by August and a heavy advertising campaign will be aimed at motivating and informing households. Even the collection trucks will be decorated to look most un- like ordinary garbage trucks. "Basically, we're -going to. have rolling billboards,". said Veilleux. When asked where he thought the Blue Water Recy- cling Association would be in 10 years, Veilleux said it was "hard to say" on account of changing technologies and government involvement, but he did think it possi- ble the program could bccomc attractive enough to leave its municipally -owned public roots and become a profitable private company. • "Some private contractors in time will be interested in looking at our operation and buying it," he said. In the meantime, the province is going to be watching the Association carefully. It represents one of thefirst at- tempts at recycling for small municipalities that joins rural and urban collection routes. In any case, Veilleux is confident recycling is going to be an essential part of our lives once it proves itself. This program is just the start. "Recycling will definitely go much beyond the blue box in the household," he said. Zurich debate on Sunday shopping ZURICH - Sunday shopping, the Bluewater• Recycling Associations program, and changes in county government were the topics for dis- cussiorr at a sparsely attended public meeting called by Zurich council and held in the village's community centre on May 17. In his opening remarks to the au- dience of about two dozen citizens, • Reeve Bob Fisher apologized be- cause councillors had set the date a month ago without realizing they had picked the same night as Zurich Public School's spring concert. • Sunday shopping was the most contentious issue. Fisher said council had three options: take ni action, support completely c I', Sundays, or impose rep:. t -ns controlling the (t.oys and hours when stores ran R Mit' o,`cn. A ,hnof hands I ioduced 10 against .,unday shopping, and 6 for open hours. Rev. Steve Alles noted that a pe- tition opposing Sunday shopping circulated among the Mennonite, Lutheran and Catholic congrega- tions in the village had garnered 364 signatures. Councillor Herb Turkheim dis- missed the document as "not worth the paper it is written on; no gov- ernment ever listened to petitions". He maintained Sunday shopping should be a local option. He said store owners do not have to open their stores, and employees can not be forced to work on Sunday. Turkheim went on to say people can come to the arena and cat and drink all winter. In his opinion, opcn Sundays attract tourists, and •"browsing is far better than some of the things that go on in this build- ing" Others. in favour of Sunday shop- ping were Heather Redick, Percy Bedard•Jr. and Paul Masse. Don.ia O'lricn wanted to make sure that if Sunday. opening came. into effect, retailers would still have the option of opening or staying closed. Redick read a statement•she had prepared: She argued in favour of each retailer having the option to open or not, pointing out that Zu- rich is in the midst of a tourist arca, • the economic potential is phc- . ' She went on to say that the re • r pened in 1988 would 'x )Ily viable if she de- pcu..0 Iciy on local trade; most of her customers are from outside Zurich. Redick said she was sure most of those opposed had at some time taken advantage of Sunday shop- iping to buy ice cream or a loaf of 'bread. She repeated her support for freedom of choice. Bedard said the extra day would give Zurich the overflow from Grand Bend and Bayfield. He com- pared opposition to Sunday shop- ping to stopping a neighbour from taking in a crop on Sunday. When Alles said a sizeable group wants to retain Zurich's quiet, peaceful atmosphere, Bedard replied that edict may be great, but not when one's pockets are quiet. Alles expressed his concern that people being forced to work on Sunday violated human dignity, could weaken the faith of the entire community, and was against the Biblical mandate. Doug Masse said Tender Spot :employees who work on a Sunday at the Grand Bcnd store are given time off so they don't miscchurch. After listening to all the argu- ments, Fisher said no matter what is decided, someone will be offend- ed. ffended. Council is holding a special meeting at -the end of the month to decide on this and other issues, and prepare bylaws for the regular June meeting. • * �* *. .* • Jbhn Russell, spokesman for the Bluewater Recycling Association, presented the case for Zurich join- ing the recycling program sched- uled to begin in' areas of Lambton and Middlesex counties in Septem- ber. (A comprehensive report by Adrian Harte appears elsewhere in this issue.) Zurich, like Exeter, Hay, and other local municipalities, has al- ready joined the Association as an "information" member. As a par- ticipant, Zurich would become a • shareholder. if all 19 municipalities now signed on as information -members bccomc full partners, each Zurich householder's share of the operat- ing and capital budget, less expect- ed revenue, would come to a total of $14.45 for the.first year of oper- ation. Participation by everyone would be mandatory. The commitment would be for two years. The majority of those at the meeting voted for the program. 1