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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1973-05-03, Page 1nlanci sewage problems novv Benmiller Estates sewage treatment IIc Hearing Is to be called In the near future by the On- MInIstty of the Environment into the matter of sewage ent facilities installed by Benmiller Estates at Ben - Peter Ivey, one of tine principal owners of Benmiller - Estates, was infoimed In a recent letter by the Ministry that his present system does not meet requirements and will have to be expanded before permission Is granted for its use. (staff photo) ructure may become National Monument 14 votes separated the ouncillors in favor of wall_from the_ • ouncillors who would n it down .... but those have preserved the I old building located rthern entrance to the Goderich, possibly for al monument. Reeve Ed Oddleifson ounced the possibility .formebr Huron County '.corning a national .nt. In a lengthy and es heated debate., Od- pleaded with council to e a monument older nfederation". He said may he "very near.. •site will be, named a monument and in that Shovel teelshov• Hard. ndle%ith 11" dents of G.D.C.I.,with n interest in mind, ap- 'r, and successfully to receive, an Oppor- , r Youth Grant which to about $6,000. ant is being issued so group can work with Ily retArded students Elizabeth School for a f 10 weeks this sum - program is scheduled during the last week. of f the Queen Elizabeth range in age from 8-18 nd are from the and the surrounding main objective of the program is to maintain of learning that these 1" atu.dents acquire e regular school year it over the summer. group of G.D.C.I. will spend an orientat- before their grant effective 80 that both n Elizabeth students temporary instructors rile bet* acquainted. p*ill Work largely on n bitt• an advisory available if it ia oulVheaded by Dale ill comprised of Anne MlirY Anne Tevlin, .114114e11, Sieve Marlatt case, no one11 ne aoie to touch it. The recorded vote which followed counciPs_deliberations showed 34 votes in favor of retaining the wall and building the addition to the assessment building on the present paved parking lot just north of the existing offices of the Huron - Perth Regional Assessment Of- fice. There -were 20 votes in favor of removing the wall even though the Town of Goderich has indicated it is un- willing to issue a demolition permit for the project - and building the proposed addition to the east along Napier Street. Reeve Derry Boyle of Exeter and Reeve Allan Campbell of McKillop led the fight to demolish the wall. Both men drew attention to the fact that at a previous meeting council had agreed to take down the wall and build fo the east of the present building. Both men expressed fears that the'cost of preserving the jail would fall hack on the County of Huron sometime in the future. "We -hav'e to look a economics," said Reeve Boyle "History is fine. It was on my best subjects in school. Bu I'm afraid someone will be coming to the county to help maintain the jail." • "There's no way I'm going to he bulldozed into something like that," complained Boyle. "If the rest of county council feels that way, I'm sorry for them." Reeve Campbell asked,"Who is going to finance keeping this jail as a museum? Is this going to come back in for the county to maintain and staff? Campbell also reminded. council about the water problems which had been en- countered at the assessment of- fice basement excavation and could only be rectified with sump pumps. He also deplored tearing up, the asphalt in the assessment office parking lot, laid at considerable expense to the county. Architect Don Snider was present atihe meeting and said the water problems had already been anticipated and noted that plans had been made to overcome further complications by raising the basement floor from six to eight inches. Snider also said that the cost for the addition would run about the -same - (estimated $160,000) - and the overall apace would remain exactly the same, 3,-150 square feet on each of the two floors and, the basement. Reeve Harold Lobb, Clinton, chairman of the property com- mittee, told council that in -his opinion time had become a fac- tor for consideration. He said it was his feeling, and the feeling of the majority of members of the property committee, that if the county held out to build the addition to the east of the) assessment Office, The Save The Jail Society would tie things up in the courts for enough time that the assessment office ,would he moved.' out of Huron. "I'm convinced the assessment office will be moved if we do not go ahead and build the addition now," stated Continued on page 14 R.E. McKinley, M.P. for Huron, was at Huron County Council's April session last Thursday and held out strong hopes for restoration of passenger train service in the area. McKinley heartily end�rsed council's action in concurring with a resolution from Robert . Cherry, Palmerston, who is j}etitioning the Hon. Jean Mar - hand, Minister of Transport, to act "decisively and im- mediately" in this regard. "I see a trend coming back," The Town of Goderich was relatively quiet during the past week with only two accidents reported. On Thursday April 26 at 8:15 a.m., cars driven by Marlene Harrison .of R.R. 2 Goderich and Kathleen Alice Rody of R.R. 5 Goderich collided at the intersection of Elgin and South St. Kathleen Rody suffered minor bruises. About $400 worth of damage was done to the Harrison vehicle while $300 was done to the Rody car. Also on- April 26, a vehicle driven by Earl D. Harrison of 234 Bayfield Road collided with a car driven by Brigitte Charron of 131 Wilson St. $175 worth of damage was done to the Charron car and about $250 to the Harrison car. No injuries were reported. observed McKinley, "but I think we should get busy at it." In his submission, Cherry wrote, "I believe that the CNR is certainly morally, if not legally, obligated to provide - rail passenger service in. this area until no need for this ser- vice exists at all. I believe that rail passenger service throughout, our area would greatly assist in reducing high- way ,air pollution, along with reducing traffic accidents, in- creasing the safety factor and providing much needed em- ployment for men in, main- taining track, running trains etc." "In conclusion," wrote Cherry, "a great many citizens in our area need and desire rail passenger service, the Province of Ontario has affirmed that this service is necessary and in- deed opposed the elimination of the railiners. Why can't we have it?" McKinley said that a -"few more members are ticking up the cry" for the return of rail passenger service to the area. He said that while bus routes would have to be co-ordinated with train schedules and times would have to be much more convenient for travellers, the return of rail passenger service was coming and he was going to make an election issue of it if it was returned before then. "The best way for them to avoid that is to put the service here," warned McKinley. He said the train passenger service had been discontinued because it was believed bus ser- vice was adequate: "Not so," said McKinley who believes that if the rail com- panies had to be subsidized up to 80 percent the service should be restored to the district. The headaches Iluron County Health Officials have been experiencing (with_ sewage) took a turn inland recently when it came to light that Benmiller Estates at Ben- mdler had installed a sewage trearment unit. )fficials from the ()Mario Ministn. of the Environment County give budget OK 'Curity Clerk Treasurer ,John Berry presented 'the i 1973 budgetat last Thursday's of Huron County Coun- cil Members passed the do(unient quickly and easily causing Berry to' comment, "1 had better luck than John White." There is no increase in the demands on loca municipalities for -this year," Berry told' Council. "Any extra money have been taken from the -urplus. At the end of 1972 the surplus totalled $:317,87.5 and if this budget were followed exactly as presented, by the end of 1973 the surplus would have been reduced to $110,411. In other. words, we re using approximately .$:!!5,000 of surplus funds in or• der that the demands on the taxpayer will not increase." The total 'budget calls over five million dollars Of t hat amount, !9,402 543 comes trom county sources; the rest is funded by government. The Hon. John White was inentioned again during the session when the Planning Hoard report was read. Chair- . man Girvin Reed noted that .while the official plan had gone to the 111inistry-- of Treasury, Economics and Intergovern- mental Affairs it had not been signed and returned. "The Ministers hAd other things on his mind the last couple of weeks so 1 guess he didn't get -around•-to signing it,." observed Reeve Reed. The chairman also drew at- tention to the fact that John L. Cox has been retained by the .planning board for the summer months. Mr. Cox, a student, has been hired under a program called "Experience 73" in which the Province of Ontario pays 75 percent of the students salary for the summer. He will be paid $125 per week and will be gathering data for secondary plans. Council learned that wage in- creases have been. granted ,to the engineers at HuronView amounting to 60 cents over a year and a half. By July 1, 1974 members of the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 772 will he receiving $4.10 per hour. and the Huron County Health (nit inspected the treatment set 01) and in a recent letter to Peter Ivey, one ot the principa owners of Henmillet Estates, K. A. Reithert, an engineer with the design 'approvals branch of the 1 iron Ment NIinistry, informed the owners that a public hearing would he called into the matter before approval was given. In that letter, copies of which were sent to the County Health Unit and Colborne Township Council, Mr. Reichert said that "(The to the limited.capability of the reeeiving stream iSharps Creek) to a:sirulhite the ef- fluent produced lra -mall • sewage plant, it I., ne(essary that the treatment facilities in- clude effluent polishing "This additional treatment should take the form of 11 filtration system, perhaps using a pressure sand filter This arrangement will assist in en- suring a high degree of treat- ment under the conditions that sewage works will be subjected to," the letter said. "The most significant operating condition that will affect the plant will be the variable flow to it as a result of fluctuations in the patronage of the hotel by the public," Mr. Reichert pointed out. The Environment Engineer also said that the sewage works sh(eild be arranged so that chemical treatment through the use of coagulants can be added at a future time to provide for nutrient removal. "This could' take the form of a small chemical feed system which would inject aluminum sulphate into the raw sewage before it is discharged co the plant. - A' sludge holding tank of about 500 gallons capacity would also be required for the retention of waste , activated sludge. In addition to the additional treatment facilities he outlined Mr. Reichert also asked that the sewage works be' enclosed in a small building to facilitate the maintenance and operation of the system. The Environment Ministry pointed out that the. discharge of the treated effluent to the mill pond could result in the growth of algae ,in the pond. "In fact," Mr. Reichert,said in the letter, "the water in the pond may have a sufficient mitrient level to support algae growth even if the sewage is, not distnarged to the pond." '1 am advised that a public hearing will be necessary," Reichert informed Ivey, "under section 4.3 of the Ontario Water Resources Act. I therefore Continued on page 14 Ministry of Environment insWections atang theiqj The Ontario Ministr\ of the Environment. a -se -,ted b. local Health [nits, inspected alt shoreline tt n Bit r I ingt Off n Lake ()warn; to Amberley at the north end of Huron Count\ ascertain the extertt-of the damage to private sewage disposal systems caused by the existing high lake 11'\el' The survey lasted three ‘veeks, utilized ;1 total of twelve man -weeks, and resulted in the exanunation of 630 miles -of shoreline involving the inspec- tion of 16,724 private sewage disposal s.‘stems. Of these, 9,723 were unaffec- ted by the high waters and 7,001 would not function properly. Of those which were inoperative, the following con- ditionS were form& - :32(7 of the systems had water levels less than two feet below grade; Sc; were surface flooded; and 2 had,erosion damage. No estimate has been made fmarlia-1 loss or the cost of replacing .damaged or flooded systems with new systemsat safer elevation. A detailed 'report is being prepared by the, Private Waste and WaterrAiiranch of the M inistry d \t he Environment, which 'will include an extension • of the survey ai far east as Oshawa. Blood :donor clinic plans for Mayl� The first of two blood donor clinics to be held in Goderich this year will be conducted at the Goderich and -Thstrict Collegiate Institute Wednesday May 16. Organizers say that last year about 200 people turned out to give the "gift of .life" but that with ever growing demands' for blood many more people will be needed, • The clinic will he held het - ween '2:00 and 5:00 p.M. and 6:30 and 8:30 p.m. in the school gym. This year the Kinsmen are lending their assistance to help raise 'the badly needed blood and have financed tHmailing of cards to all those of donor age!,in Goderich. Diane Crawford, daughter 'Of Mr. and Mrs. Horace Crawford was named "Queen of GDCI" at last Friday evening's annual At Home dance. The title was bestowed on her following the voting of the sttsdents,Thursday. The gala decorated gymnasium at the school was.hushed at midnight as Social Convener Randy Keller announced the winner's name. Six other con- testants were In the contest, the 'Argent number ofrintrant. yet. Students, staff and guests danced In an Enchanted Forest all' evening long. (staff photo)