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The Goderich Signal-Star, 1972-11-23, Page 3I Two The nomination meeting of became a reality"August 3, 197'1 for perforrning the duties of 1970 known Ow to be the last when there was a"turning-on , mayor. Others on council were sych public nomination meeting ceremony". The cost of th in this town - Attracted the lighting -was $28,800 - each light . usual amount of interest'arnong worth $000. Goderich folk. With the new lights came 'con - By the end of the nominations siderable public " disapproval, hour, i was obvious that there mostly because the standards would be no election for the six were deemed too tall, the lights Goderich councillors' chairs. too bright, the park area too Filling them would be Deb, dark -and the total picture un- Shewfelt,» Frank Walkom, Ed. suitable for The Prettiest Town , Giesbrecht, Reg Jewell and In Canada. This newsPanet, newcomers Stan Profit and Ron however, approved the new Price. lights — and said so editorially. There was also to be no elec- The newsewerto encircle The tion for the office' of Deputy- Square was also installed Reeve. Councillor Dave Gower during the summer of 1972 - had moved Up into that slot another "promise" of the Mayor Without opposition. fulfilled. For reeve and mayor, The leak in thd swimming. however, the- race was , on.. pool is now. believed -to * .be Young Paul ,Carroll was op- corrected, although not before posing the experienced Walter two full sumniers had elapsed Sheardown for the Reeve's chair"' with the pool leaking as much and the former, reeve, Harry . as 2400 gallons of water daily Worsell, was going for the this past summer. Several at - Mayor's seat against Dr.. Frank tempts had been made to correct . Mills. —paid $20,per meeting plus $200 extra for all committee chair- men. (It should be noted that all members of council are the chairdian of at least one com- mittee of council • and therefore qualified for the $200.) ' In September, 1971, council changed to three open meetings and one closed meeting per month. ,In February of 1970, the council moved to a new work system — 2 open meetings and two committee meetings per month with the press present if desired,. Council members were put on salary. ' The system, the one presently in use, called for an ad- ministrative and. public 'works committee of council. Salaries were set at $2,100 per annum for the mayor and $1,200 per an- num for all others on council. It was clearly pointed out that this was not a raise in pay over the former pay scale. Note: Councillor Price left Goderich early in 1971, and was replaced by Mrs. Elsa Haydon, appointed in June, 1971. ' the situation, but it wasn't wild Carroll claimed the town this fall when a crew of the town needed a "stronger voice at the workers and the town's plum- ° county level". Worsell com- ber-mayor got together to rectify pared the need for water at the the problem.. Sifto Salt Mine to the "empty The new fire truck came Co • • Industrial Park" which was Goderich in the summer of 1972 "fully serviced". He promised at a cost of $67,000. It was water to Sifto: . displayed to the public in When the voters .went to the August by the proud vblunteer polls in December, Worsell was firemen of the town. elected mayor by a vote of 1301 And there is indeed some ac - to 1110 for Dr. Mills. tivity at the Industrial Park • -tarroltberarhe reeve-, beating- -with-the-riging- Of -a' new -Dear- - * out Sheardown by a vote of 1516 horn Steel Tubing plant there. to Carroll and '888 to Shear-. (Rumors are circulating at the down. present time that more 'activity is scheduled for ,the Industrial, INAUGURATION Park in the near future although none of these rumors have been At the inauguration, of coun- substantiated in open council • cil, Goderich's-:nevi mayor, sessions to date.) Harry "Red" Worsell told the Incidentally, it was learned citizens of Goderich what he during the liast two years that had planned for the next two Linton and Hurst, the company years. ' which was to have come t In addition to providing water Goderich some time ago, was to Sifto Salt Mine, Worsell said not yet ready to locate here It he hoped to have storm sewers was further established that the installed on Waterloo Street; _Ontario Development Cor - provide a new sewer to,encircle poration loan the firm had The Square; renovate the street received cannot be put to use lighting on The Square; repair, ,anywhere else in Ontario by the leek in the swimming pool Linton and Hurst. . at Judith Gooderham Park; up- The mayor was not 9bi tJZ,4ou1d be required to complete r.zhAte the lighting at the . ball deliver completion of the the irarisformatiol, and the park; alleviate the parking Waterloo Street sewer project. project was shelved. " problem at the racetrack and Nor has the lighting at the ball 4-( arena; .purchase new 'The park, beenupdated...The, parking BYLAWS ' . fighting equipment,, 'and initiate • problem at the .aferia and the some activity at the, Industrial grandstand area remains with Every council passes a con - Park. . the community as well. ' siderable amount of bylaws in any term of office, but for Goderich Council 1971-72 several first-time bylaws hit the statute books. Most of these new -type bylaws were introduced by the Reeve, Paul Carroll, who - seemed to concern himself during his recent term of office 4 with long-term planning of TRUCK ROUTE On One of Goderich's 0 perennial and most aggravating problems - that of heavily loaded trucks hauling their toadSfrom-the haTbor area -right -- through the heart of town and one of the, oldest . and finest residential districts of Goderich to boot) was fossed around in • early February, 1971. • The topic was introduced by - Councillor Frank VValkom Who asked council to look into the possibility of making part of the railroad track behind the Goderich elevator available as a_ roadway .and shuttle the truck traffic through that road and on up Salt Mine Road. This, Walkom felt, would save Elgin Avenue, from further problems. A survey was carried out and later in 1971 it was revealled to council that cogtS would be too high. An estimated $500,000 In retrospect, Worsell's record is 6 to 3 ...-that's six "promises' WAGES INCREASED fulfilled, three unfulfilled. Early in March 1971, water During the term of office of was provided to Sifto. It was a the'pWeritceouncil, however, the -share cost deal — one-third paid wage -g&16 -was adjusted - up- ' by Domtar, one-third by the ward. local PUC and one-third by the It was Councillor Ron Price Town of Goderich. who. first proposed the pay in - Also , in March, the- street crease. Price was bargaining for lighting on The Square was a full $25 per meeting for all , discussed for the first time when members of council from the for - Dave Rolston of the PUC told mer $15 per meeting for reeve, council of a "package deal" deputy -reeve and councillors being offered by Canadian and $20 for the mayor. General' Electric. According to Although the matter didn't Rolston, $12,000 worth of •reach a vote when it was lighting on Huron Road would initially presented, it • was • be replaced free if the town strenuously opposed by Dave Would give CGE the contract to Gower and Ed Giesbrecht. light The Square. However, in April,,council did "It's a good deal for the vote itself an increase in pay. town," the PUC manager said. The mayor received $2 per The new .lighting. finally meeting plus an additional $500 tremendous value to the, town in the years which lie aTiead. The first of these bylaws was 'introduced by Carroll early in 1971. It was an anti -litter bylaw which made -it an offence in Goderich to drop garbage or refuse' anywhere in town, especially over the lakebank unless specific permission was received. It was also Carroll who in- troduced the anti -noise bylaw passed April 20, 1972. Although this bylaw originally was inters- cled by Carroll _to put some restrictions on snowmobiles in the municipality, opposition by snowrnobilers and discussion among the townspeople in gelieral saw the suggestion evolve into an anti -noise bylaw -which provided legislation against all types of noise in town. The bylaw permitting the establishment of the Municipal, Day Nursery was another bylaw in which Carroll figured along with Dave Gowerand Elsa Haydon. This bylaw passedSep- tember 28, 1972, saw Tinker-_ town and Queen Elizabeth Nur- sery School work out a seemingly satisfactory and workable agreement for the o benefit of all. It opens the nur- sery school facilities to all children of the community and sets the stage Tor a possible Day Care Centre in Goderich should this service become ne(cessary and desirable here at some future date. Carroll was the driving force on council behind ,the decision in 1972' to join the Maitland Valley Conservation Authority. Although Dave Gower and Reg Jewell were opposed to the move, the remainder of council held that . the possible expen- diture of $8500 per annum was a viable expense. Perhaps- 'the reason that. puslied_so.ba_rdioirM4.1._ membership in MVCA was to bring his dream for the municipality, one step nearer. During the term of council, Reeve Carroll brought forth one of the most comprehensive and totally imaginative report's for future harbor and waterfront development this community viability" Iliese high-rise buildings in certain areas of town. in February 1971, approval was- given for an eight -unit apartment house to be built by Peter Brander between Britan- nia Road and Picton Street. In early February, however, a let- ter was received by council from Ken McGee who lived next door to therising apartment house. He complained that the apart- ment building which was to have been built on the east side of the lot was going up on the west side. He stressed that his home would be more greatly af- fected by the apartment budding under thee conditions. Councillor Giesbrecht advised council that the .apartment house was legal in that par- ticular zone and that it was as legal on the west side of the lot as on the east side. He said that. if • necessary, to please McGee, all Brander' would have to do would be purchase another building permit for the west side Of the lot. The matter was dropped at this point although Dave Gower asked to have the matter referred to the to'wn's solicitor., About one year later, Ben Graham received the permission of council to build a 17 -unit apartment building at the cor- ner of Nelson and Cambria. This development was com- pkted without opposition as far as open council meetings Were concerned. In April 1972, approya/ Wag given to James Hayman of Lon- don to build an apartment building at the corner of Waterloo and Britannia Road. This building also went up with little opposition from the surrounding neighbors. - August 1972, tentative ap- proval Was given by council to James Hayman for a .16 -unit - multi -family dwelling at the corner of Bennett .and Warren, The residents of that area of town rose in body to oppose the construction of the building. In -late August, Hayman with- drew his bid and changed the plans of the • structure to con- form.with what he thought were the concerns of the neighbors. In mid-September, Hayrrian another appeal to tlwn jnncil for a permit to construct KS multi -family dwelling. The council chambers were packed - with ratepayers from the south- west corner of the -municipality, - also armed .with a petition protesting the construction. At that same meeting, another London developer, J.A. Dixon, applied for a building permit for a high-rise apartment building on Lakeside Drive property owned by Mrs. Dorothy Blake. When council stalled, Dixon threatened to issue a "writ of mandamus" against the town. Later in September, Hayman and Dixon Were refused their building permits. The problem seerped_ta centre around the in- terpretation of the town's In September 1971, 'council had been advised by its solicitor .that the town's Official Plan was not binding. He said that no zoning bylaw had been passed implementing the •Official Plan; and that although the necessary zoning bylaw was in the works, no public meetings had been held on the Official Plan to per- mit the entire matter to be finalized, passed and legally binding. The solicitor, Dan Murphy, advised that the 1958 bylaw was still legal and effective. In August 1972, about one year after Murphy's statement and about the time that the per- mits , for ..the. aga tment dwellings were being so the south-west end of town, 13. Robinson, a former member of council, charged that council was not upholding the bylaws of the municipality. He demanded that council clarify its position in this matter. The next month, September 1972, eider the guidance of Reeve Paul Carroll moved to restrict new construction in the "D" zones of the municipality. Council admitted that some steps had to be taken to protect the municipality until the time the new bylaw became effective. It was decided, the intent of the 'Official Plan must be upheld wherever possible and that by putting tetnporav restrictions on_ development in the "D" s zone, it would ensure that no construction would take place until it could be shown that ser- vices were available for the lot or lots in question ahd that plans conformed, where possible, with the intent of the Official Plan. In the meantime, two public meetings' en the Offitial Plan has ever seen. • , The report,. published in full in this newspaper, showed detailed plans for growth and deveropment along the Maitland River, at Indian Island, at the river mouth, the harbor and along the Lake Huron shoreline where it touches this municipality. Although hardly the kind of a plan which can be adopted and made effective' in one., term of of- fice — or several terms, perhaps — it set down thoughts a idea-fOr ,the fret recreation will be -"siting" leisure -filled society. Further study into the 'workability of. the harbor and waterfront development brief showed real advantage to mem- bership in MVCA through which' additional financial assistance could be realized for the possible implementation bf all or part of the Carroll pn. The flashing traffic 1 ht in the late evening at the corne Hamilton, Nelson and Victoria Streets, was also introduced by Carroll. This inovation has proved highly • popular with motorists at this corner. However, a similar experiment at. the five points intersection was not so successful and was soon abandoned. • Two large recreation facilities in the Town of Goderich ap- proached council :during the past two years for financial con- sideration. The first, in February 1971, was the Goderich R.aceway which asked for an interest free loan to complete capital expen- ditures at the raceway.. The raceway was shown as one of Goderich's "small industries." The deal was approved. Total costs were approximately $13,0 0 0 with the Raceway . Association requested to pay back $6,000 -to the municipality. (To date, $3,009 of the loan has beeri 'repaidwith the -remainder expeeted in due course.) About the 'same time, council made a move to purchase the Maitland Golf and Country Club, shown too be in some financial distress. The price mentioned was $101,000. By April however, the Club was not for shle to the-tOwn, for a new board of directors had been elected to bring the Club through the crisis. * Later in April, a request was put forward by the Directors of the Maitland Golf and Country Club, for a $5,000 municipal grant as well as free taxes. Again in 1972, the Club asked TOr a--$20-1rarit ot"offset-ex..- cessive taxes." - During the term of. council, the 1970 taxes for Maitland Golf and Country Club were "Written off" (about $2,000). It is understood the 1971-1972 taxes are still outstanding. aliaved bee' pass.hejdand two Ile' r or Hamilton an md Nelson Streets. Refilinghaus said the work was .to .get underway by LOANS, GRANTS .April and. the hotel was to be completed by September: In July, it , became .evide that the -bylaw res ictmg thTe height of buildings would have to be amended to permit the • five -storey hotel planned by Refflinghpus. With the purchase' of the new fire truck with ita aerial ladder, it seemed possible that the bylaw could be easily amHeonwdeed. ve rather than amend the height restrictions for the en- tire town, a spot 'zoning bylaw was deemed to be wisest to prevent tall buildings from being erected anywhere and everywhere regardless . of the . Just last Thursday, John Ref- flinghauS was again:at Goderich Town Council, asking for the necessary bylaw to be passed to permit him the building permit he seeks for his hotel. The bylaw, held up over the amount of off-street parking to be provided by the hotel owner, was .finally passed with provision for 50 parking spaces. Only Paid Carroll opposed the approval: He was acting on a directive from the planning board which had suggested that at least 90 spaces should be provided. SULLY PARK AIN LIE MARKET LIMITED HARystIE92F41,8/51.i1JEs .0,1004.Roastof 'Pork REPEAT SPECIAL SO usa ges , EXTRA LEAN ' Ground Chuck striouLben OR. BUTT A . • Leon Pork tChops VII 1.1 Save with our Who eta • Prices - We bu NEW EMPLOYEES It was Councillor Ed Giesbrecht who brought forth the idea which led to hiring a licenced mechanic for the town of Goderich. In May of 1972, the duties of the mechanic, Murray Campbell, were extended to in- clude servicing the Municipal .Police Force vehicles. Richard Eisler was hired as the animal control officer . in Goderick -Although, on occasion there have been skirmishes with the citizens over the "zealous" Eisler, in general, council has been well satisfied -with his ef- forts to curb the free -running .canines and other. animals in the municipality. A new garbage pact was signed with C and W Salvage at a cost of $42,500 per annum. This contract was negotiated under the chairmanship of Giesbrecht. In September 1972, a new building inspector was hired. He's Roy Breckenridge, a life- long resident of the town and proprietor of the Harborlite Also this fall a new rec direc- tor was hired for the town. Mike Dymond now heads up this all- important work. BUILDING DEVELOPMENT If ar*thing irrthe two-year term of the present council has caused concern for the members, it has been the rapid and con- tinual development of the residential areas of town — par- ticularly in the 6outivAveat end of the municipality. Apartment houses have been springing up around .the municipaibity like muShropiris and this fall, council began to look carefully into the ad- METERED :CABS Early in 1971, the cab com- panies of Goderich approached council for permission to put meters in taxis. After ' con- ,siderable debate, approval was refused. Those in favor ' were Paul Carroll, Stan Profit and Reg. Jewell'. Those opposed were Dave Gower, Deb Shewfelt, Fralik 'Walk= and Ed. .Giesbrecht. SMALL BUSINESSES Is YEARS' /400 .NOV1614,11; 23, 1902 In 'preparation for the OntariP 1,icium. Control Aot referendum a temperance meeting was held at Knox Church -moth guest speaker Rev. George MacKen., zie. Mr. MacKenzie chose as his --topic, "Shall We, prphibit A.J., Cooper announced that'. . among other improvement, .he .was making at the Hamilton Street elevators whiCh he had recently purchased, would be the instalation of a new gasoline, , motor (The Perfect) to power his machinery.b A special meeting of the Goderich Marine Band was held in an effort to rer.orgartize itself. The band was suffering from fr.., loss of musicians due to large number of young men w had been leaving town. ,The W.C.T.U, posted bills an- nouncing a special entertain, ment at the Victoria Street Opera House. The program was to feature both drama and music. A progressive euchre was to be held in support of ..the Hospital Fund. -A 'drive was on to help raise money for the fund and the building of a new . hospital' wing. .- A largely attended meeting of • the directors of the Fall Fair was held to discuss ways' 01, the poo.r.._financ.ial sitnafion" oL Certainly one of the conten- 1.the fair could be corrected and thus get the lair-,pn a better- " tious ISSues in Goderich during this term of council was the footing for future, exhibitions. rejection of an offer by the Sully Large turnouts Were reported at the Victoria Opera House for Foundation to build a memorial the'. Colonial Moving Picture park the "area bounded by -• Caourg, Lighthouse and Company's presentations on Wellesley Streets.various subjects.' The.park to be donated to the Town of Goderich free of 25 YEARS AGO It was in May bf 1971 that council first agreed to set up a committee to study the operation of small businesses in residential areas iri Goderich. Again, the June of 1971, the committee was reminded to table a report to be studied by council. In 1972, council directed the adminjstrator Hai -old Walls to send out letters to all the small businesses in Goderich whose operations were under study. The letters were not sent out pending investigation of the legal aspects where a Municipality has been accepting business taxes. from such businesses. As late as last Thur- sday evening when council met for the last time before the elec- tion, there was no answer to this question. REFFLINGHAUS HOTEL In January 1972, John Ref- flinghaus first made application to Goderich Town Council for.a building permit to allow con- struction of his hotel at the cor- A public service feature charge, was to cost between. • NOVEMBER 23, 1947 $75,000 and $100,000. From the • beginning, Bruce Sully made it Interest was world-wide in the clear the offer hing..td on one marriage of Princess Elizabeth, provision -- that a strip of and Philip Mountbatten, which Wellesley Street be deeded to took . place in Westminster Ab - him for a buffer zone adjacent by. The Goderich Signal -Star to his private home. noted that the whole world Although council iihiaiiy ap- "Rejoices on this happy oc- neared impressed with the plans casion." and the mayor was quoted to • Captain Ed. Robinson, who state the buffer zone was a had been a well known Great "reasonable request", a certain Lakes captain for many years, po , op., of the poblic went to , was to be bured at Ondefjfr af- Work to squelch the plan. ' ter 1.16 §tia`curithea to illness. Finally in early June, council Clarence Trott, president' of refused the Sully proposal. the South Huron Teachers In - Public pressure had consisted of stitute presided over the a petition with 780 names on it, program at the Huron Teachers' several concerned delegations to Convention held in Goderielt council and 11 letters. E. Weaver, many years the Councillor Giesbrecht said the Public Utilities Commission offer had included "too many manager at Petrolia, was ap- requirements to be purely a pointed by the Goderich PUC to the station of manager with the Those councillors voting in local commission. favor of the Sully Park proposal Rev. Richard Stewart con - were Carroll, Profit and eluded his five years' ministry in Goderich with a special servige_ held at Knox Presbyterian Church locally. After a search of.Lake Huron waters extending over six days, no trace was found of James Robert Misner, a Stratford businessman, who was lost when his boat was blown from shore as he attempted to retrieve a duck he had shot off Martin's Point. Bert MacDonald, Harold Corbett and Bruce MacDonald were noted for their courage in a six -hour search of the gale - whipped waters despite its failure to find the man. Pilot Keith Hopkins was also noted'to have "risked his life" when he took off in a Tiger Moth to search ,the waters. The God4ich Dramatic Club announced following its annual meeting, that it would begin production of a three -act play for fall presentation as soon as a suitable script was found. Shewfelt. " HARBOR • The deteriorating harbor wall remains a problem which has haunted this council as well as several councils before 4t. At the 'present time, the federal govern- ment is conducting "surge" tests in the harbor which it is under- stood will not be completed for one year. In August of this year, it was learned that the government wants Goderich Elevator to share in the cost of repairing Goderich Harbor. The reason? The government says Goderich Elevator has received special considerations in the past and should ndw share in the costs at the harbor. George Parsons of Goderich Elevator has said he is "actively pursuing this proposal." but no word has been forthcoming on the matter. THE ttJTURE This year's council is leaving a small legacy of unfinished business in its wake. First of all is the South Storm Sewer which is planned and already in the hands of the engineer with the first hearings to be held soon. , Secondly, some action is ex- pected on sewers for Warren Street, South Street, and the McDonald Street — Eldon St. area. Ratepayers in those areas have been patient, they say, for long enough . and the 1972-73 council pledged action. * The take-over of the Huron County jail, as iiroposed_by Deb Shewfelt, is also hanging fire presently. A .survey conducted by this newspaper glows that • people in Goderich are in favor —of this rdute- and a meeting with the county was held thitr week E.A. Tim Elliot of on the matter.,Menestung Park, Was appoin- Aecording to Sewfelt, there, ted as Administrator 6( the was no decision made but that Goderich Aleiiinara Marine co-operation with the county is . and General Hospital. The an - key thward preserving the jail, ,nounceritent was made by John It looks like more Work in the Schaefer chairman of the months ahead. • by' Shirley Keller CemmeNts Wilted FIVE YEARS AGO NOVEMBER 23, 1967 Discussion of a 16 -page report from the Ontario Police. Com- mission arising from a mid- September inquiry into police service in Goderich was post- poned at the regular meeting of Goderich Town Council. Major improvements were slated for the north pier at Goderich Harbour in the next few months according to the Federal Department of Public Works. Cost of the project was set at around $222,483. The Maitland Country Club announced that Waverley Nelson, a 31 -year-old native of Goderich, had taken up his duties is the new manager for the eountry dub. •- .I'wapital's board of Overt**,