Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1993-02-24, Page 1aidebt wad $Wig''hi Cash and carry Alb COUNTRY f lOVMS Ebrater !•it)tICt rtillt inside Drama High School group at Blyth page 3 !hawks One regular game left Second front Lucan gets recycl og grant LUCAN - Monday, Middlesex MPP Irene Mathyssen announced that the Village of Lucan would be getting a grant to subsidize its blue box recycling program. Mathyssen announced that the village would receive $10,485 from the Ministry of Environment and Energy as part of its Municipal Re- cycling Support Program. Ontario's overall goal is to .achieve a 50 percent reduction in waste going to landfills by the year 2000. The Lucan grant has been ear- marked for the purchase of addi- tional blue boxes and for defraying the operating costs of the recycling program. Snowfalls, slippery streets, blamed -for '-. accidents R "EXETER - Heavy snows took their. toll on town Streets this past week. At least two traffic accidents in Exeter were attributed to slip- pery roadways. Town police report that. last Wednesday an accident between drivers Brent Robinson of Bruce - field and JoAnne Dinney of Exeter at the intersection of William and Sanders Streets was caused by the bad weather. Only minor damage and no injuries resulted from the collision. No charges were laid. Thursday, there was a collision between vehicles driven by Law- rence Russel of Exeter and James Brintnell of RR3 Exeter on Thames Road East. Damage was light and there were no injuries. Again no charges were laid as the major cause was blowing snow and slip- pery roads. On Friday, at the intersection of Main and Huron Streets, drivers Roy Lamport of Exeter and Mark O'Brien of Dashwood collided. O'Brien's vehicle was heavily dam- aged, say police, and charges arc pending. Ne‘k date set for police hearing EXETER - A new theta—beets set for the hearing into the activities of the town police chief and the po- lice services board. The Ontario Civilian Commis- sion on Police Services has re- scheduled its hearing to April 13 and 14, to be held in the town coun- cil chambers. The Commission will determine • whether or not the town's police services board acted correctly in re- moving police chief Jack Harkness from duty on September 7, reinstat- ing him November 16. The com- mission will also have to decide if any further action is to be taken in the mater. Testimony from the board, town staff members, police officers, the chief and several otters is expected to be heard during the two-day hearing. The previous hearing date of March 15 was rejected by the board because it conflicted with the March Break of several of those ex- pected to take the stand. !se -4'r. Nlittriteco. ` ; •• r� •� e , ric 1 fs'i. Huron Park homes up on the block? By Adrian Norte T -A Editor HURON PARK - The govern- ment housing in Huron Park, a'cor- nerstone of low-cost acc onuoi da - tion in the South Huron area for over 20 years, may bg going up for sale. The Ontario Development Corpo- ration (ODC), which manages both the housing and the industrial area at Huron Park, is reported to be considering various ways of selling off 361 -home development. The homes were built in the 1940s to accompany the RCAF Centralia Air Base. When the mili- tary decommissioned the base in 1967, the barracks and hangars were turned over to the province to become an industrial park and Cen- tralia College. The houses became a source of low-cost housing ex- pected to be an attraction for busi- nesses to locate in the park. In recent years, however, the housing has became less a function of the industrial park and is more a separate source of low-cost resi- dences, popular with single parent families, retirees, and those on so- cial assistance. There is frequently a waiting list of over 100 families seeking to rent one of the houses, which range from less than $300 to .about $500 a month. 'sThe houses have been well- maintained by ODC and the provin- cidgovernment. Two years ago, a $2 million capital project was an - nous aedytormake upgrades to the homes, such as better insulation and wiring. That project was com- pleted last April. Should ODC decide to sell its in- terest in the housing, it is not clear how that will be accomplished. Se11Ang the homes individually may prove difficult as there are no sep- arate lots in the park. "It's not subdivided now," con- firmed Stephen Township adminis- trator Larry Brown. "It's one large party... Brown said ODC officials met with Stephen Township council members to sound out the possibili- ty of selling the houses, although Brown said very !hale detail on what they have in mind was dis- cussed. One of the main concerns of the township is the condition of the ser- vices and how they might have to be brought up to standard before subdividing the land. "That's standard for any subdivi- sion," said Brown. Stephen Township�peeve Tom Tomes agreed that a14' sale of the hones would be trusted like the creation of a new subdivision. "We have grave concerns," said Tomes. "ODC has had good own- ership of the lands and maintained them quite well." "We would like to know how and who they are sold to and we would like some say in that," said Tomes, who added that selling off blocks of houses to landlords would not be viewed favourably by the township. He said he didn't want to see Hu- ron Park become something like London's notorious Cheyenne Apartments. "We wouldn't want something like that happening in our munici- pality," he said. Tomes said Huron Park has im- proved considerably over its 25 - year history. The first tenants were not as carefully selected as they are today, and the community's reputa- tion suffered. "I think Huron Park is a fine community," said Tomes of today's housing. The reeve said ODC's suggestion that the houses might go up for sale did not come as a surprise. Over the years, the crown agency has passed control of all services in the housing area over to the township, and Tomes said privatization of the property itself is just the last step. "We do supply alt the services there now," said Tomes, referring Will you soon ,be able .to houses near.:. Sante -block business break - ins over weekend EXETER - Town police are in- vestigating two break-ins to local businesses, both of which are only doors apart on the same block. Police say the side window of the Tasty Nu Bakery store at 443 Main St. Exeter was kicked in sometime on Friday night. Stolen was a small amount of cash and a block of cheese val- ued at about $ao. Sometime in the early hours of Monday morning, the glass front door of Triangle Discount, at 433 Main Si, was smashed. Thieves took only a ..small amount of cippatles.ain Abe break-in, report police. The investigations into both of these crimes is continuing, say police. TRIANGL COU The glees in Triangle Discount's front door was being le - placed Monday morning after thieves broke through it Sunday night to steal what police say was a small amount of cigarettes. The store was robbed in a similar manner last November. in Huron Park if the government decides to sell off its user pay to Stephen taking over the fire de- partment, the roads, sewers, gar- bage collection, street lights, and water lines - all of which used to be under ODC administration. Tomes said he has some concerns with how the properties might be sold. "We sure would hope they wouldn't put 360 houses on the market at once," he said. "We don't want to see anyone dumped out [of their house) either." The reeve said he could see why ODC might be interested in divest- ing itself of the housing project: the only one it operates in the prov- ince. He said the province's budget deficits have no doubt spurred its agencies to seek ways of selling off assets. "They though the province, being in the financial shape it's in in, the houses could be turned over and they could be make some money," said Tomes, but added that any hopes for quick millions were like- ly mistaken. "I think this would take a few years to get through," said Tomes, noting that a subdivision plan for a property as complicated _ as Heron Park takes a lot of time. "We don't see it as a quick fix for the province's problems," he said. Fausto Saponara, vice-president of finance and administration for ODC, from his Toronto office Monday said that all stories of the Huron Park houses being up for sale were "purely speculation - no such decision has been made". But Saponara said that doesn't preclude the possibility that the houses could be privatized, since the province is examining all its as- sets that could be sold off for fiscal Orad Bawd hikes fees, iris duces new ones GRAND BEND - Your next trip to the village office may cost you more than you thought, even if you aren't buying tags for your garbage bags. Grand Bend's Monday evening session saw the increase of several fees charged by the village, and the addition of a couple more. Building permits are now more expensive in Grand Bend, but mainly due to an increase in the ,s,fees charged by the county for pro- }.,viding building inspectors. Clerk Paul Turnbull recommend- ed council increase the village's building permit schedule to accom- modate the 10 percent increase charged by Lambton. "If we don't we're going to get further and further behind," said Turnbull. "If we have a user pay system we should pass that cost on to the user." Councillor Bill Uniac said0e_. agreed with increasing the ratekac- cordingly, but wondered if some of the costs were missed. "I'm alluding to the overinspec- uons that are involved," said Uniac. Turnbull replied by saying a year of heavy building- activity would mean that the inspection depart- ment would more than meet its cost, but in a slow building year like 1991 the costs are not recov- ered, even though inspections have to be conducted for outstanding permits. Uniac asked if fees could be charged for inspections. "You start charging people for in- spections, they won't call for in- spections, they'll cover things up," predicted Turnbull, to which Uniac agreed. Consequently council passed the new fee schedule, which sees most' building permits cost $55 plus $4.50 per $1,00q of value. The old rates were $50 plus S4 pet ,51,000 assessed value. Council also agreed to introduce new charges for applications for minor variances and mimapies. Again, this cameal,t1[n dation of the clock. "We liulc stand at the coffer and handhiolrt through that wo- os' cow," aaid Turnbull, but ,amid the village had to send out notices and hold meetings for such items at no cost to the applicant. Council agreed and passed the new tariff bylaw which included fees for those services. The town's traffic bylaw also got an update from council Monday. There is no longer a $2,000 limit to major offenses in the village. "It was felt that we were limiting the judge," said Turnbull, and noted most municipalities were following the new provincial guidelines. The new "traffic bylaw also in- cludes several new areas of the vil- lage where cars can no longer park or stop at the side of the road. At the conclusion -of the meeting, with all its new fees, a man in the gallery made the observation that many services that used to be fund- ed by taxes were now user -pay pro- grams. "Every time . we turn around there's something else user fee, user fee," he said. "Our taxes don't go down, they keep going up, and so do the extra ,charges," he concluded, noting it wasn't just a Grand Bend phenome- non, but was probably nation-wide. Committee members sought Lucan toestah citizenship awls LUCAN - Village council will be initiating a Citizenship award for. tbe year 1993 to honour local citizens who have shown outstanding efforts in volunteer activities in the community. Reeve Tom McLaughlin and councillor Rob Brady were members of.a _CiMitnittee charged with iambi/Alias. ciuzeliship.recu,gdi ion ptogramgin other communities and making recoaunendations to council. The original suggestion for an award of this kind was made by Rev. Bruce Pocock. Council is_ now asking for ttaee volunteers from village residents to serve on a committee to set up an agenda and select recipients for the award. The deadline for showing a desire in become a member of this committeee is Friday, March 5. The council report presented by Brady calls for two awards to be pre- sented annually, one to a finale and one to a female recipient. At last Tues- day's meeting of council deputy reeve Harry Wraith suggested that only one award be made each year. A suggestion was also made that an award for an outstanding youth be added in the future. The committee when chosen will serve until December 31, 1994 and af- ter that it will be a three year term to coincide with municipal elections and appointments. A start-up budget of 5500 has been su1gested for this first year of the program, but reeve McLaughlin thought the actual cost would be consider- ably less. whlarge plaque will be tained at the village office in a public ,area ich would record the winners and the plaque will accommodate photo- graphs of the current year's recipients to be taken at village expense within the program budget. The committee when appointed will .select recipients each year from names nominated by the public in response to advertising on the local cable channel and local newspapers. Members of the r:oatmitteeaad.elested officials of the vrprp - • gible for rec nition during years when they hold office.