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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Citizens News, 1977-12-08, Page 1NO.49/, FIRST WITH LOCAL NEWS THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1977 Price Per Copy 20 Cents Hensall growth major concern Before a crowd of 30 people, the summary meeting of the Hay township secondary plan workshops was held Thursday evening in Zurich. The meeting which lasted over three hours, was given a sum- mary of the previous workshops by George Penfold of the Huron County Planning department. Penfold said that `the summary meeting was most challeniging for me due to the challenge of arriving at a general concensus.' Penfold emphasized that the county plan is the basic working document and that the im- plementation of a township plan is an attempt to adapt the county plan to a finer geographic area. The first meeting on agriculture expressed concern about the present trend towards large scale livestock operations and said that there should be a clarification on what constitutes an agricultural use. Rural residential use should be permitted but should not be allowed to be established on class one, two or three land. The agricultural meeting placed importance on the im- provement of wood lots. Acquisition of more public access for beaches came out of the recreation meeting with a general satisfaction about recreational facilities presently available in the township. The role of seasonal dwellings in the township was not resolved by the workshops. 'No consensus about the conversion of cottages to full time use emerged', Penfold said, 'and the plan will have to deal with that.' Trailer camps should be allowed to be deyeloped by private interests. In terms of urban development, servicing was viewed as the most important consideration, but something which a township plan could do little about. 'The plan can't force urban development to occur', Penfold stated. While urban strip development is not the most desirable, some mixture of urban -commercial development should be allowed to take place, Penfold told the audience. The concensus from the natural environment workshop was that the greenbelt in Hay swamp should be preserved and that no major extractive operations should be permitted without the permission of the Ausable- Bayfield Conservation Authority. The final plan for Hay will not be ready for implementation for another one and a half to two years, the Huron County planner said. Within the next three to four months a decision in terms of policy should be completed with a draft plan ready in six months, Penfold said. 'A draft plan won't satisfy everyone', Penfold warned. Once the official plan is passed, the zoning bylaws which enforce the plan should be read shortly afterwards. When the meeting was opened up to the public several questions with regard to services came up. Joe Miller wondered if a municipality was obligated to upgrade services in a rural area where urban growth had oc- curred if 15 years from now the residents demand it. Penfold replied that in serious situations, the Ministry of the Environment would intervene to provide adequate services. An elderly resident of Dash- wood stated that her basement is flooded every year and pointed to a local farmer who she felt was responsible for the problems. Both Reeve Jack Tinney chairman of the meeting, and Penfold replied that a township plan could do nothing to alleviate such a problem and that the township could only act under the Municipal Drains Act which requires that a petition must be received before the municipality could take action. Although couched in at times humorous terms, the audience expressed real concern over possible annexation moves by Hensall in order to acquire more land for residential expansion. In a statement that received a humorous reaction from the crowd, Hay council member Lionel Wilder said 'They can slip into to Tuckersmith just as easy as into Hay.' Miller said that annexation would bring few if any benefits to Hay. There should be a definite statement in the plan as to where industrial expansion should be allowed to develop stated Tom McCullough. `There should be some iron in the glove... industry goes here, agriculture stays here. Are we just going to keep repeating in the old industrial growth pattern and keep repeating our old mistakes?' McCullough asked. In reply Penfold said that some industry in Hensall is agriculturally oriented and that 'the size of scale is the important question. From Hensall's stand- point labor is supplied by outside sources and that if they don't have residential . land their downtown core will be affected.' On the question of the con- version of seasonal residences on the Lakeshore to permanent r'wellings and its ramifications to the township, McCullough once again lead the discussion in stating that the conversion process was already taking place and the question now was how to stop it. `Conversion is a difficult thing to stop and that the controls would have to be indirect. At this point Miller stated that as long as the housing is not designated permanent residential, services do not have to be provided. It was felt by Mrs. Joe Miller that the high cost of housing has forced people into not owning more than one residence which has resulted in the increased winterization of summer homes. `Its more of a waste of agricultural land for a six month residence than for a full-time residence.' McCullough said. In oneof the final questions of the evening Jim Love continued criticism of Hay swamp in asking 'is there anything that can be put in the plan to make the con- servation authority keep their land clean?' Penfold replied in the negative to the question. $1000 RICHER — Bob Clarke of Seaforth was the lucky winner of $1000 in a draw sponsored by the Zurich and district Chamber of Commerce. Presenting the cheque to Mr. Clarke are Chamber president Ron Heimrich and treasurer.Joe Risi. Staff photo Former bean board director accuses dealer favoritism A long time director on the Ontario Bean Producers Marketing Board, Phil Durand of Zurich, did not qualify for re- election at Friday's annual meeting at Hensall and criticized the present board for their ac- tions during the past year. DURAND RETIRES — Phil Durand of Zurich resigned Friday as a Huron directo.r on the Ontario Bean Producers' Marketing Board. Above, Durand chats with directors George Sitter, Lambton and Frank Vanneste, Middlesex. T -A photo Durand commented, "the board has done very ,little to improve marketing conditions. Many recommendations were not implemented." "All major policy decisions were made to satisfy dealers. We need strong directors to coun- teract the dealers," he continued. "There should be more precise information available from dealers to the board. We, don't know what dealers have in their elevators in volume and quality. Some dealers are buying on their own account." "Producers have a challenge. The government has given us power under the Marketing Board, but we must use it properly. Our policies and programs must not set up loopholes," concluded Durand. Durand was replaced as a director for Huron by Varna farmer Glenn Hayter. Returned were present directors Bob Allan, Murray Cardiff and Joe Miller. Bob Allan agreed there was dissention on the board but ad- ded, "every decision is com- plicated." Allan informed that before agency Ontario prices were $1 less than Michigan and now they are $1 more. On the subject of grading , director Joe Miller said, "beans should be properly identified when taken by dealers who are agents of the board." Miller continued, "Growers of No. 1 beans shouldn't have to wait for their money until tower grades are sold. The board has powers to implement grading tomorrow." The successful new director Glen Hayter said he supported grading. He added, "we sell hogs on index, a similar grading system should be used for beans." Hay township farmer Lloyd Willert suggested beans should be sold directly without dealers and brokers. Elected as committee mem- bers for Huron were Murray Dennis, Victor Hartman, Bev Hill, Ken McCowan Jr.. Glenn Miller, Don Moylan, John Oke, John Paul Rau, Glen Ribey, Nick Whyte, John Seagren and Robert Anderson. Defeated in the election of .directors were Glenn Miller, Richard Erb and John Bean. Gordon Hill, past president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture was chairman of the meeting which lasted more than seven hours. On several oc- casions Hill used the gavel to keep growers from straying from the subject under discussion. Also speaking were chief executive officer Lloyd Taylor and area directors Frank Van- neste, Middlesex and George 'Sitter, Lambton. Vanneste was returned as Middlesex director at a similar meeting in Ilderton, Thursday.