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Huron Expositor, 2006-09-20, Page 2Pogo 2 September 20, 2006 • The Huron Expositor News Fisher running as Seaforth councillor Susan Hundertmark During his 27 years running Pizza Train, Bob Fisher often thought he'd like to get involved with municipal politics but "didn't want to serve two masters." Since he sold the business a year and a half ago, Fisher says it's time to get involved. "For many years the community supported me, my family and my business and it's time to give back. The more people participate in their community, the better the communi- ty is," he says.. While Fisher lives in Egmondville, he's running as Seaforth councillor because he owns property in Seaforth and feels more comfortable getting around in Seaforth since he began losing his sight several years ago. "I'm more comfortable geographi- cally in Seaforth. It's easier for me to get around and I know the roads better," he says. Bob Fisher When. asked if his sight impair- ment will present any challenges as a councilor, Fisher laughs. "We have the technology," he says, adding he's just acquired a comput- er program that will read docu- THE PLANNING ACT NOTICE OF DECISION TO APPROVE (with deferral item) AN AMENDMENT TO THE MUNICIPALITY OF HURON EAST OFFICIAL PLAN BY THE CORPORATION OF THE COUNTY OF HURON TAKE NOTICE that the Council of the County of Huron made a decision to approve Official Plan Amendment No. 2 for the Municipality of Huron East on the 7th day of September, 2006 under Section 17 of the Planning Act. The approval authority for a proposed Amendment to the Municipality of Huron East Official Plan has been delegated by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs to Huron County Council. Map change #13 has been deferred by County Council for completion of an expanded comprehensive review in accordance with the Provincial Policy Statement. . WHEN AND HOW TO FILE AN APPEAL Any appeal to the Ontario Municipal Board must be filed with the Clerk of the County of Huron not later than 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, October 10, 2006. The appeal should be sent to the attention of the County Clerk, at the address shown below and it must: 1) set out the specific part of the proposed new Official Plan to which the appeal applies, 2) set out the reasons for the request for the appeal, and 3) be accompanied by the fee prescribed under the Ontario Municipal Board Act in the amount of $125.00 payable by certified cheque to the Minister of Finance, Province of Ontario. WHO CAN FILE AN APPEAL Only individuals, corporations or public bodies may appeal a decision of the approval authority to the Ontario Municipal Board. An appeal may not be filed by an unincorporated association or group. However, an appeal may be filed in the name of an individual who is a member of the association or group. WHEN THE DECISION IS FINAL The decision of Huron County Council is final if a notice of appeal is not received on or before the last date for appeal noted above. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Additional information about the application and the decision is available for public inspection between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. at the County of Huron Planning and Development Department at the address noted below, or from the Clerk's office, Municipality of Huron East. DATED AT THE TOWN OF GODERICH THIS 20th DAY OF SEPTEMBER, 2006. Barbara A. Leamen, County Clerk 1 Court House Square, Goderich ON N7A 1M2 (519) 524-8394 Purpose and Effect: The County of Huron modified and approved Official Plan Amendment No. 2 to the Municipality of Huron East Official Plan. The Official Plan Amendment changes the land use designation on twelve (12) properties in Huron East; it will also make nineteen (19) text changes to the Huron East Official Plan. Map change #13 has been deferred by County Council for completion of an expanded comprehensive review in accordance with the Provincial Policy Statement. A copy of the approved Official Plan Amendment is available at the Huron East Municipal Office (Seaforth) or the Huron County Planning and Development Department (Court House, Goderich). Map change #13 was deferred by County Council and is noted in the document. ments, including council agendas, to him. Even as. president of the Huron East Chamber of Commerce, chair of the recent Seaforth Communities in Bloom committee and a member of the economic development com- mittee, the Huron County accessi- bility committee, the Seaforth Lions Club, Egmondville United Church and several CNIB (Canadian National Institute for the Blind) committees, Fisher says he's still looking for more opportunities to get involved in the community. One of his goals if he earns a seat on council is to get more interaction going between the wards of Huron East. "I'd like to see it become more of a whole rather than parts. It's such a huge municipality and I'd like to see more mingling between people," he says. He adds he'd like to see the municipality be more proactive about growth by providing better services for both residential and industrial land. "It's got to be cheaper to operate here since some of the industries we have are international in scope," he says. Fisher says he'd like to see "some- thing done" with the lot downtown where the EMA grocery store used to be located before the roof col- lapsed. And, he'd love to see a farmer's market and more musical entertain- ment provided at the Victoria Park bandshell. "I'd like to see more social and more action," he says. Literacy, numeracy focus paying off, says Langan From Page 1 with reading at 77 per cent, writing at 72 per cent and math at 80 per cent, compared to the provincial averages of 64, 61 and 61, respec- tively. Meantime, results for the Avon - Maitland District School Board lagged behind the separate board and fell below the provincial aver- age in Grade 3 reading (58 per cent versus 62 per cent), writing (57 per. cent versus 64 per cent) and Grade 6 writing (57 per cent versus 61 per cent). Grade 3 math scores were 69 per cent, one percentage point above the average. Grade 6 reading matched the provincial average of 64 per cent and Grade 6 math at 63 per cent exceeded the provincial average of 61 per cent. The provincial standard is achiev- ing level 3 or 4 in the testing, which is a score of 70 per cent or higher on the tests. Langan said strategies the sepa- rate board adopted to improve liter- acy and numeracy are paying off. In particular, staff try to identify students who may have trouble in the academic subjects at a younger age and get them special help. The board also gave principals training to be instructional leaders to work with the teachers on devel- oping programming. "We believe that's made a differ- ence," he said. John Herbert, the public board's assessment and evaluation co-ordi- nator, said the latest results show the boards' Grade 3 and Grade 6 results are on an upward trend. Since the first year EQAO tested Grade 6 students in 1999, the public board's scores have improved 19 points in reading, 14 in writing and 21 in math. "It would have been far more sat- isfying to see better results in read- ing and writing, but we understand sometimes we can be surprised," he said. The board will "dig deeper" into the actual tests to see where it can make improvements, he laid. EQAO also released results of Grade 9 math testing. Both local boards did well. The Avon -Maitland board scored 79 per cent compared to the provin- cial average of 71 per cent in the academic level and 53 per cent com- pared to the provincial average of 35 per cent in the applied level. The Huron -Perth board scored 75 per . cent in the academic level and 58 per cent at the applied level. However, sticking out was the below average score for St. Michael Catholic Secondary School in the academic level — 68 per cent or eight points below the provincial average. The board is addressing the result by taking steps to help Grade 8 stu- dents pick the appropriate math course when they start high school. Dan Parr, superintendent of edu- cation, said an "inordinate number" of students in Grade 9 at St. Mike's pick academic level math iff the belief they're headed for university after high school. "That puts them into a course that isn't necessarily suitable for them," he said.