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The Goderich Signal-Star, 1978-09-28, Page 111170 Students at Robertson Public School took a keen interest on the opening day of International Plowing Match and every classroom featured a farm oriented display. There was a major plow display in the entrance and grade two pupils Becky Rupat, Tina Hamilton, Michael Romph and Michael Alcock were intrigued with an antique farm implement. (photo by Dave Sykes) Complex delayed Construction of the senior citizens complex in Goderich maybe delayed as the possibility of an Ontario Municipal Board hearing looms large. Council was forced to pass motions Monday extending the offer of purchase on the land at the corner of Waterloo and West Streets from Proto Investments an additional 61 days and subsequently the sale of land- to the Ministry of Housing has also been extended by 61 days. The move was necessary after four ob- jections to the construction were received. Two of the objections have -been withdrawhti" hd council is confident that a third objector will be appeased. Council .instructed clerk Larry McCabe to send an affidavit with the municipality's assessment of the situation and the objections to the OMB. Through a screening process the OMB will examine the validity of the objections and determine if a hearing is required. Council has also made additional provisions for parking at the senior citizens complex by purchasing an easterly .property on Lighthouse Street that will be used for parking. Word from OMB on the validity of the ob- jections and the need for a hearing, is expected within a' few weeks. Three run for warden At least three county councillors will be seeking the post of Warden for Huron County for 1979 provided voters in their own municipality see fit to return them to county council chambers in November. John Tinney, reeve of Hay township, Harold Robinson, Howick township reeve, and Ervin Sillery, reeve of Tuckersmith township, an- nounced at Friday's county council session that they intend to seek the warden's chair for 1979. Tinney and Robinson were definite in their decision to seek the post but Sillery told council thaehe couldn't be absolutely certain this early that he would be running for the post but would say now that'll there was going to be a race he may be in it". Tinney is taking his second run at the war- den's job in as many years. The Hay reeve opposed Goderich township reeve Gerry Ginn and West Wawanosh township reeve Robert Lyons for the warden's chair in 1978' and was edged by Ginn in the second round of voting. Tinney told council he felt he could fill the warden's chair anrf was going to stand for the job after an "almost successful campaign" last year. He said in his 16 years of public office he had only been acclaimed twice and was noted for elections. Harold Robinson saidue realized council may think he was in "a hurry" to be warden since his present term of reeve had only been since 1977. But Robinson pointed out that he first served the county in 1965 as deputy reeve and returned the following year as reeve of his township, a' post he held until 1972 when he was • defeated "over a little problem in the town- ship". He Said he served on the county land division committee during his absence from county council and returned .to the office or reeve of his township in 1972: Sillery -said he wasn't prepared to make a decision on running for warden but since he was asked by warden Gerry Ginn he wouldsay that he would stand for the job with sortie "ifs". • Warden Ginn said he "hoped he was not giving council the impression that if councillors didn't announce their intentions Friday they were out". Ginn said that since the elections were moved earlier in the year no4v he felt that he would try to create a little "interest" and get some"election fever going". ommission tired of red tape BY JEFF SEDDON The Goderich -Economic Development Commission is frustrated with delays to in- dustrial expansion in Goderich caused by planning procedures and red taper that must be waded through to properly zone industrial lands in Goderich. The commission learned Wednesday that an industry which put $10,000 on the line to show intentions to expand in Goderich faced at least a 21 -day to month-long delay, before it could begin that expansion. Shiloh Development Corporation, owned by Milt Place, met with the commission at its last meeting to negotiate the purchase of land in Industrial Park to allow for expansion of Goderich Glass. Place said he wanted to con- struct a 6,400 square foot building divided into three sections, one to house Goderich Glass and the other two to be rented out. He said he was very anxious to begin construction to ac- commodate his glass operation and gave the commission a $10,000 cheque to prove as a sign of just how eager he was. Place said his business manufactured and installed, glass windows and doors and had outgrown its Lighthouse Street location. He said he lacked storager.and, manufacturing space and badly needed more. lie said he had to use the outdoors of his residential property on Lighthouse Street for storage and was con- cerned he was "not a very good neighbor". He added that he had received an offer on his present location and would like to be able to sell it and move his business. The commission said it preferred not to have a retail business in Industrial Park' and suggested that Place take a piece of land. ad-, jacent to the new Graham Electric location on the Suncoast Drive extension near Huron Road. Place pointed out that it had taken him three months to finda suitable piece of property in Goderich he could -open his business on and he didn't feel that situation would change drastically and more land would. be made available.. -431-YEAR--39 Works commissioner Ken Hunter told the commission that if it could reach an agreement with Place to sell the land adjacent to Graham Electric the town could provide services for the new building. Hunter said there was money available to service the land and to construct a road into the property from Huron Road. He said if everything went smooth there could be a building permit available for Place early in November. The month long delay irked some members of the commission who could see no reason the project couldn't get underway now. Mayor Deb Shewfelt said he understood the land was to be made available for the commission to sell as serviced lots available for industrial use. "We have to dance for three months every time we want to do a little business," remarked Shewfelt. Hunter said the delay was caused by red tape to be cleared for proper zoning changes on the land. He said the application for rezoning would have to be made by Place, circulated to lan- downers around the property in question and a 21 -da Y.__w.ai ing_.pet od._ gLv .to. -permit any objections to the proposal to be made. He said if no objections are raised the rezoning will be sent to the Ontario Municipal Board for final approval which, he added, was a rubber stamp. Gord McManus, chairman of the com- mission, said he couldn't understand the delays pointing out that he thought the town had rezoned the land two years ago to permit the commission to sell it for industrial use without going through the planning process every time it wanted to sell a lot. He said the town should take the necessary steps to get all its industrial land properly zoned to-. per -mit -it to . be -sold without lengthy delays. The chairman explained to Place that the planning process was slow and asked him not to take his ,business. out of town because of those delays. "Don't go to Clinton," said McManus, "but I wouldn't blame you if you did." Dave Gower -said he was "tired of being dictated to by county planners" suggesting that if the town didn't "stand up and be counted,'we may as well all go home". Elsa Haydon said many of the delays in the planning process were caused by committees of council doing things in "an unbusinesslike fashion." She said many of the committee's attempts to avoid due process to expedite matters every time someone comes to them with an urgent request. She said just about every firm that comes to the economic , development commission -or planning board with requests for zoning changes to permit construction has little or no time to wait for the request to be processed. "That's a lot of crap," said Shewfelt. "Let's get an offer to purchase and get down to business. We got all our industry out there (Industrial Park) by going through the town." The mayor stuck his neck out telling the commission that if Place's project was in front of town council Monday night it would get the approval needed. "I'm sick and tired of all the crap. Let's get down to business. I'm tired of playing around," said Shewfelt. McManus -told- fisc coma uission that t'lace's -' .---- request to expedite matters was different than any other the commission had heard because it was backed up by cash. The chairman said he liked "this kind of presentation," adding that "not even the big ones come through with that kind of money." "He means business," added the chairman. Shewfelt said he was not opposed to the planning process but was constantly frustrated by the time it took. He said he couldn't un- derstand why the land could not be rezoned industrial . and designated according to presentations made .to the commission. .He understood that the land was zoned develop- mental and as such was available for use by the economic development commission. "We already lost one industry because of the delay," said the mayor. "Tri -County Brick wanted' to locate here and went to Clinton because they couldn't get a decision here. I don't want that to happen again." THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1978 30 CENTS PER COPY ecord 30,000 at IPM opening BY JEFF SEDDON International Plowing Match : organizers weren't sure which was the bigger attraction, Neil Armstrong or the Huron County edition of the plowing match, and they really didn't care. Whatever the drawing card was, it worked. Over 30,000 people were at the Wingham site of the match Tuesday afternoon to witness its official opening by Armstrong, the first man to step on the moon. - Ontario Plowman's Association long stan- ding member Will Berry, who has attended every plowing match since 1913, told the huge crowd at the. opening ceremonies that he had never seen as many spectators opening day as were at the Huron County match. Armstrong, whose moonwalk in 1969 made history, told theopening day crowd that he h`d seen enough of the match to know it was -a great show and that it was just getting into high gear. He said he could appreciate what the plowing match meant to farmers being a farmer himself. He said competitive plowing has been) of great interest to farmers ever since man "first sharpened a stick and had his wife pull it through soil". Armstrong told the crowd that he himself had a strong, farm background adding that "I now live on, operate and own, or rather the bank and I own, a farm". • " He told the spectators that no one was more surprised at the chain of events that led to him commanding a manned mission to the moon than he was. He said he had been interested in a manned flight in space for 25 years ever since he read of one man's theory on reaching. the moon. He said the theory then was that if all the countries of the world pooled their resources it may be possible to send a manned flight to the moon by the year 2,000. He thought at the time that there was little chance of accomplishing the feat. Armstrong said he was still. having „second thoughts about the mission when he was or- biting the earth. He said he wondered what an "Ohio farm boy was doing in space heading,for ' the moon" and said to himself "boy you've really done ft this time". The astronaut said what amazed him the most was that "everything in that big monster I was riding in was working". He said mission briefings estimated that there could be as Many as 1,000 different equipment failures in! the, multi million dollar space vehicle and quoted John Glenn, the first man to orbit the earth, saying it was "all built by the lowest bidder". Armstrong said one of the major ac- complishments of the space program was satellite farming. He said satellites had been used to monitor weather and to predict crop yields two months in advance of harvesting. Armstrong said that Agro Business (far- ming) was still the most important component of world surviVail. He said his spectacular view of the planet from his 'space craft reminded him of the `'fact that only 10 percent of the arable land on earth was being used for food production. 14e said the arable land is not enough to feed the world antis aiso diminishing •1 t 'A . as a result of "tremendous pressure to use -the land for urban and industrial expansion". He said farming is a risky business having to depend on markets, weather, insect problems and the world's economic climate all of which combine to make it as "oscilliatory as a bull's tail in fly season". "When yields are tip a little pirices are down a lot. When yields are down a little the situation is vice versa and you don't see much vice versa these days," he said. The former astronaut's comments did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of the crowds that surrounded him for autographs. Spectators crowded around the makeshift platform the opening ceremonies were con- ducted from and prevented organizers from whisking Armstrong away to plow a ceremonial furrow. The short 20 -foot walk from the platform to a waiting truck took about 20 minutes as well wishers pleaded with Arm- strong to sign his name on posters, pictures and advertising pamphlets that are in abundance at the match. A -record crowd of. over 30,000 turned out Tuesday at the 'Wingham site of 'the International Plowing Match to witness the'official opening Of the five day competition being hosted by Huron County. Spectators flocked around a makeshift platform to hear an opening speech by astronaut Neil Arin strong, the first roan to step on the moon, Armnstroag proved to be the main attraction at the match opening stealing the show from dignitaries such as •ul� federal minister of agriculture Eugene Whelan, provincial liberal party leader Stuart Smith and MPP Lorne Henderson. The turnout Tuesday is the(largest ever for opening day of the International Match. Here Whelan presents the astronaut with commemorative stamps honouring the oc- casion. (photo by Jeff Seddon)