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The Huron Expositor, 1977-03-31, Page 14ne loot in the surrour bYefia tatters are arldrecAted b,y Bob Trotter, Eldair Rd . Elmira. OM N3B 2C7 Marc . t. Is Red Crass Month .•. Canvassers will be-calling -- r on you. Please give them Yotir support. It's working for you Here Now cut O'Shea's GREB KAUFMAN ,SAFETY Work BOOTS STEEL SHANKS & ' TOES, PROTECT YOUR FEET! Keep Dry. with „RUBBER BOOTS by CEBO IN HIGH & LOW CUT STYLES Avoid Pain and- ' Injury this Season • :BILL OSHtA • Men's Wocit.:..: ORDER NOW LI, UM % NITROGEN A high performance nitrogen source for winter wheat, spring grains, corn and white beans NOW WITH TWO MACHINES TO SERVE YOU BETTER 4$$:" Ott•Ar 2_;/'! 7:47 i•Vr4 7 • r.,A4301 OP' e Mrf fe+. Now Henson Coop• has a second sprayer tlnit in operation which assures you of custom application when you need it. See us about a weed and feed program that will fit your needs. A Contact LL C • MeGREGOR Top Quality BEEF GOVERNMENT INSPECTED Whble Beef .90 Half Beef .91 Price subject to change INCLUDES: CUTTING WRAPPING and QUICK FREEZING Free. Delivery - Within 10 Mile GRANT MCGREGOR Ph. 262-5839 1 HURON CARPET THE CARPET SPECIALISTS GIS'HERE I Have your 66, Van'or Trailer ready for summer We will do your at ourshop EXPERT 1N$TALLATION ti HIGHWAY ,E4'VVEST - EXETER BEHIND ACME NEON SIGNS' Phatiela5445i C STOM 'CARPET INSTALLATION...- 16.9••••• • •-•1777^67. Al 14-,FTHE HURON EXPOSITOR, MARCH 31, 1977 at comm. ears NFU brief This Corner has been quick to condemn the provincial government for not implementing a comprehensive land- use policy in Ontario. For too many years, good agricultural.land has been al- lbwed to go under the developer's hammer or be buried under miles of asphalt and shopping plazas to say nothing of expropriation for power corridors and gas lines.. But a copy of the recently released green paper on, land use for the province has been sent. to me by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food. I have waded through the entire document and I am optimistic. Not ecstatic. mind you. ',Just optimistic. I am convinced that Bill Newman is trying. He has ob- viously persuaded his cabinet counterparts that some policy — any policy — would be better than the haphazard patchwork that haS passed for land use legislation in the • last 10 or 20 years. Many critics have been quick to condemn this set of guidelines suggesting that the green paper just does not have enough teeth, that legislation is needed to preserve the good land. But if the Tories at Queen's Park really mean what they say, perhaps the guidelines may be enough. As I see it .and I may be brimming over with pig manure — the most important paragraph says: "While many factOts mttst be taken-into account, the allpeation of land among the Various land use designations, 'must re- flect a priority for agriculture. If good agricultural Ian& are converted to other land uses, this loss of food land must be justified, The success of these guidelines will depend on heal municipalities. It will be up to local councillors to adapt to them. If the guidelines are not applied, presumably the province will Step into the picture and overrule local councils that do not stick to the spirit and the letter of the Plan farmstead & home improvement meeting the Farmstead and ' Home Improvement conairiittee. in With Spring well on the way sure to attend the next general meeting in the Agricultural Board Rooms in Clinton on Wednesday, conjunctiertwith the 1978 Plowing April 6 at -8:30 p.m. Match have chosen five areas of At this time competitien whiCh they hope will they will give the publicity give everyone in Huron County a prepared for their area, as well as chance to participate. • registration forms. For further information please' contact the The officers and directors listed. in an earlier story are asked to be director from your area. "-+ • 'year in which the—operations' - -Association is, planned for 8:00 workers lost ,no,time due to pm. April 19 at the same' accidents. The presentation was location. made at the Association's Annual Meeting in London, last month. guidelines., It is to be hoped the province will have the guts to do just that when necessary. • The wording throughourthe rest ortfie paper is tough. It seems to me. that the province might be on the right track. .Farmers .can . use the paper to back them up when they are confronted by planners. developers, councillors and power Corridor people. • They must become more vocal in their support of the spirit of the guidelines, an idea that is close to my heart.. In fact, for more years than I 'care to remember. I luxe been suggesting. cajoling and even shaming farmers into..... _putting their case before the powers-that-be in, a more forceful !mintier. F Here's another important paragraph from the guidelines: "In all instances, the underlying principle is that better, foodlands are retained. • While consideration must be given to the logical extension of existing urban' areas, in those cases where the better agricultural lands are not retained for agricultural use, the n.ded- of this land for other pur- poses must be justified. This includes a documented and demonstrated need for the land use in that municipality or. particular urban centre, with reasoning as to why the use cannot be located on poor'ot non-agricultural lands or with- in existing non-agricultural desigeations.- Those are high-sounding words. It is going to take a lots. of backbone by local planners and local councillors to up- hold these principles. It is going to mean some hardheaded consultation with 'provincial officials . and, again.' I think the crux of the guidelines rests right at the top: with pro- vincial officials who will have to make the final decisions. If the tough wording in the guidelines. is any• indication. of how the province will react iland when prime farmland is involved, then .maybe — just maybe we are on the verge of an excellent landuse policy iriOntario. . For once. it'may not be a'.case. of too little, too late, as it usually is inagritultural 'matters. SEAFORTH JEWELLERS for . DIAMONDS WATCHES JEWELLERY. FINE CHINA GIFTS FOR EVERY OCCASION All Types of Repairs Phone 527-0270 GLENN R. CHESNEY received the Aggregate Producers' Association Safety Award Certificate presented to Frank Kling Ltd. The' certificate .'was presented to reeognize-1976 'a has judging assoc . ". that there be an upper limit no greater than 500 acres that any The Huron Poultry, Pigeon and Pet Stock Association staged a table show when they met for their March meeting at the Ministry of Agriculture offices in Clinton recently. Judging of the 'entries wa`s: carried out by Cliff_ Pepper; Harvey Daniels, Vic Daniels and Gord Steinacher. The competition involved a large entry of Standard and Bantam poultry. Seventeen members and three guests were, on hand'for the meeting and Emery Baechler won the attendance draw. The next meeting of the et stoc "The following points we hope will be adopted in the zoning . bylaws in .the county: one individual farm family can The National Farmers' Union was one of several Huron county • farm organizations and commodity groups' Eirhich presented viewpoints to the Huron County Development Committee on March 11. The NFU' brief, deali ng with land use„, hydro plant develop- , ment and heplth care, will be of county councp having Interest in the brief, likely the planning board, the board of health and the development committee. . "We wish to congratulate the County and'the Planning Board for the effort made to- get an official plan working. As the townships in Huron County adopt secondary plans, zoning by-laws will be incorporated into the plans and a plan is only as good as its zoning bylaws. "Huron County being 89 percent ClaSS 1 and 2 agriculture land, we expect agriculture will be the predominate industry in the county, taking precedence over .ether purposes using prime agriculture land. "We hope it is the Develop- ment Committee's intention to retain the present type rural community we have in the county, would then be to contract to make station is zoned agriculture, such a development would require a the n ecessary improvements to such land. Experience has zone change to industrial • of demonstrated that allowing whateler. ' Secondly, severances would probably be required._ . private developers to acquire and County own land leads to speculation jr,... should : VVe persistently it e saying nt rHuron efus t o yield 'land for the purpose of capital and to create a climate that will' gains, irrational land use and to a development that will only facilitate the destruction of rural allow the family farmer to remain Poorly planned communities. in control: of our agriqulture land Huron. Detect Reluctance base. . / "We detect a re luctance on Health CAre - "If this is our goal then simply the part of our municipal "The Huron County Plan s is zoning our prime land agriculture politicians to show any real really a form of regional is not good enough.Rules have to be written into the zon ing bylaws to accomplish this. 'control.. "s that a family farm be classified as one that the family operates by the fact that it 'is in financial, control, provides the decision making and supplies most of the labour. "• that-any.livestock or poultry unit must either own or have under long term lease enough land ,to handle the manure from the entire operation. "• that where land is zoned for livestock or. poultry, the farmer who follows an accepted code of practict,s ,,hlve the assurance the zone will not be changed. "• only classified family farms be eligible for tax rebates, special incentive loans,'improvements grant a,,tile loans, farm subsidies, etc. „, "• that only farm related commercial corporation 'be allowed to operate commercial enterprise in the agriculture zone 'and these be carefully screened stabilization plan• based on the specialized function, but that for need. ” • that 'reverences not be fair return for labour and services that will best serve the costs of production' including a, each should, specialize in certain * public efficiently. , granted ' to accemmodate investment. additional residences on, class 1 . • that active treatment beds not and 2 agriculture land; if it is Realistic stabilization must go be used for non-active treatment, desirable to build an .additional along with zoning, and the and that other 'facilities be found house, then it would becoine part township councils, the county to accommodate these • patients of the. farm property. council and the farmers awaiting treatment in other referred to the various committees' agriculture land must be rezoned • if in the future any themselveg - must inform both the provincial and the federal • that Huron County should for urban development, the stabilization gover nm ent s will ili thatzoning l y Huwtiotnh establish a District Health farmer receive full value of the County agriculture be acceptable. Council to coordinate the various land for farming purposes plus inconveniences that may .,be , Proposed generating Station adequate compensation for all'hospital boards in the county. imposed upon him. "We wish to reiterate •ou4r official plan, is in a position to .. Huron County, having an .: views expressed to this Cont- incorporate hospital management mittee previously. on a county-wide basis that'could "• we seriously question the "In the interest of Huret! result in efficient health care. advisability or n ecessity for land developers to own land for the County retaining a rural purposes of urban, industrial or predominance, we believe any recreational development. We future plans to build a hydrci, believe that such development generating station must be' should be publicly planned and blocked. that the public sh• ould acquire "In the first place, if 'rural land for future use for such municipalities do have the control purposes. as the provincial whernment The role of private developers claims, and if the area fix. such -a centre s leadership when it comes to having the above points incorpor- ated into our zoning bylaws, we feel that a toothless bylaw will, in: 'the future, relegate the family farmer, at best, tea manager of an agriculture unit, or at the worst, a hired man, and the• charmed circle of ownership will be lost to the future generations of the present owners. in our country. "If the farmer is to ' give up some of his speculative rights in oider to ykdep a reasonable food resource base, to grow the nation's food, then our senior levels of government must develop and legislate a realistic , • 262-30 12 or Custom Appikotion, government on a much snialler- 'scale than the PrOvincial Government would prefer to shove down our throats. For, purposes of . health care we strongly-recommend this is the ay it should remain, "Again, we wish to reiterate our views expressed to this Committee last year on coordination of hospital boards.' • that a District Health Council be made up of one member from each of the existing hospital' boards and one nurse from each' hospital. '• that each hospital should not• try to be proficient in every • A tough land use policy