The Rural Voice, 1988-06, Page 70NEWS
"WAT-CHA UP TO?"
CFW DISCUSSES
THE WAT-CHA PLAN
Sarah Borowski reports from a
Concerned Farm Women meeting last
month at which Charles Watson, Sr., the
developer behind the proposal for an
industrial park in Grey County, was
scheduled to appear. Ile didn't, but the
CFW expressed various concerns about
the plan:
Developer Charles Watson, Sr.
wanted to talk about his proposed indus-
trial park to be built on 300 acres of
agricultural land in Grey County. He
approached the Concerned Farm Wo-
men last month suggesting a discussion
of his plan for the land owned by the
Watsons (Wat-Cha Farms) in Norman -
by Township. He said he wasn't asking
for any particular commitment or sup-
port from the CFA, but wished to try to
answer any questions or concerns.
On May 18, the day of Watson's
scheduled meeting with the CFW, the
controversial project won a major vic-
tory with the announcement that Bruce
County Council had followed Grey
County Council and local municipali-
ties in voting to support the park. Expect
announcements regarding interested
industries within "the next three to four
days," Watson said.
Maybe it was because of those inter-
ested industries that Watson phoned in a
cancellation of the CFW appearance
and dashed off to Orangeville. Still, the
CFW had pencilled in a discussion of the
Wat-Cha proposal and the debate went
ahead without its most avid promoter.
In Watson's place, the discussion
was led by a member of the Grey County
Federation of Agriculture, an organiza-
tion that has expressed reservations
about the plan (the Ontario Ministry of
Agriculture and Food is in more cate-
gorical opposition). Some still unan-
swered questions about the park were
rehashed.
The very real fear, and one that will
undoubtedly be addressed at the Ontario
Minicipal Board hearings starting this
month, is the effect the park will have on
the environment and, more specifically,
on the high water table it proposes to
share with surrounding farm land. Al -
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JUNE 1988 69