The Citizen, 2009-10-01, Page 24PAGE 24. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2009.A hearing of appeal was heard bythe property standards committee atthe Huron East council meeting on Sept. 22 concerning the
former Seaforth Public School
property.
An agreement was reached
between the committee, and
municipality and developer Brian
Barnim.Barnim, however, said that muchof the material currently on theproperty is reusable and he treated itas a construction site, where it didn’tneed to be cleaned up every night.
There did, however, appear to be a
rift in communication when Barnim
stated that he would have complied
with certain aspects of the
municipality’s property standards,
but had no intention of movingvaluable, reusable material off thesite to be destroyed, making ituseless to him.This compromise, proposed byBarnim to Huron East’s bylawenforcement officer, he said, was not
relayed back to council, something
that several councillors said would
have changed the state of the
disagreement.
A bylaw was drafted that any
unusable debris be removed from thesite and all reusable materials bestacked in an orderly fashion, whichBarnim said would not be a problem.Barnim, who has had issues withthe municipality, the Ministry ofLabour and the Ministry of the
Environment throughout this project
said he was frustrated with the onus
always being on him in these
matters.
“Why should I be doing
everything when no one else is doinganything?” he said. “I offered tomove the material, but not off theproperty, but that was not agreeableto the municipality.”Barnim said that the area is fencedoff as a construction site and that he
didn’t think he would have to clean
the property every day.
The date set for the removal of
materials that cannot be reused is
Oct. 15.
Hoping to take advantage of
funding geared towards limiting the
number of students in Primary-level
classrooms, the Huron-Perth
Catholic District School Board is
requesting approximately $1.15
million for a two-room addition
at Jeanne Sauve French
Immersion elementary school in
Stratford.
At a regular meeting Monday,
Sept. 28, business superintendent
Gerry Thuss informed trustees
about the submission of an
application for funding under the
Primary Class Size initiative.
When details of the program were
announced, the Huron-Perth
board was allocated $1.48 million;
if approved, this project would
then take up the bulk of that
funding.
According to Thuss’s report, the
school is “very overcrowded”
compared to its capacity rating,
resulting in the placement of two
portable classrooms on site.
However, the playground space is
limited, and the two portables
exacerbate that problem.
He told trustees that, under current
grade configurations, the
school would need a three-room
addition to bring it up to 15
classrooms.
However, administrators are
confident the staffing can be
reconfigured next year to reduce
classroom requirements to 14.
With the help of the board’s
architect, three options for a two-
room addition were explored.
The addition of two classrooms
on the east end of the school
is an obvious option, but it would
also cut significantly into
playground space.
The other two options would
involve eliminating a courtroom area
between the gymnasium and
playground, as well as a mezzanine
adjacent to the gym, which is
currently used for
storage.
The final application for
Education Ministry funding
proposed one of the
courtyard/mezzanine options.
According to Thuss, the turn-
around time for this type of
application has typically been fast.
He hopes to hear back from the
Ministry “within a week or
two.”
At its Sept. 22 meeting, Huron
East council decided to authorize the
investigation into a potential sound
system for council chambers in
Seaforth.
At a recent Ontario Municipal
Board hearing, councillor Joe
Steffler was sitting in the back of the
room and said he could only hear
between 30 and 40 per cent of the
testimony, which he felt was a
problem.
***
Council received a complete
contract price for restoration of the
bell tower exterior of council
chambers in Seaforth. The total cost
as presented by Ken Koebel was
over $60,000.
The matter has been deferred to
council’s Oct. 6 meeting.
***
Chief building official Paul
Josling issued eight building permits
in August, bringing the
municipality’s annual total to 103,
which is over 30 fewer permits than
were issued at the same time last
year. The value of the permits is also
down nearly $8 million.
***
Council approved $2,820,289.22
in accounts payable.
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By Shawn LoughlinThe CitizenProperty standards called into question in HE
Board seeks funds for French immersion school
HE to look into sound system
Huron East council briefs
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Special to The Citizen