WATER INSPIRATIONS
7 Pond Tours September 17
Pond Closing Seminar October 15
See website or call store for details.
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1661 New Jerusalem Rd. Elmira
519.664.0404
www.stjacobscountrygardens.com
HOURS: Monday-Friday 9am-6pm Saturday 9am-5pm | Sunday 11am-4pm
09 | 15 | 2016 VOLUME 21 | ISSUE 36
WELLESLEY TWP CROWNS THEIR AMBASSADOR LIVING HERE PAGE 24
COMMENT PAGE 6
MORE BAD POLICY FROM WYNNE IN LATEST HYDRO PLOY
Gravel pit opponents take first punch
GETTING UP CLOSE TO THE ANIMALS
Residents find a good offense is the best defence in fight against Jigs Hollow gravel pit
GRAVEL PIT | 4
Woolwich defers decision on apartment plan for old Elmira neighbourhood STEVE KANNON
STEVE KANNON FEARING EVEN WORSE CONSEQUENCES from a gravel pit in their neighbourhood, Winterbourne residents are going on the offensive. While Preston Sand and Gravel’s bid for below-the-water-table extraction at the Jigs Hollow pit is in the early stages, opponents have already started making the case for Woolwich to deny the application. On Tuesday night, it was resident Sonya Sommerville reminding councillors the operation would obliterate prime farmland, already in short supply. Mining gravel below the water table would permanently end any hope of rehabilitating the land once all the aggregate was gone. She noted that just 11 per cent of land in Canada is of agricultural use, with less than half a per cent of farmland in Canada deemed Class 1 prime farmland. Of that, Ontario has 52 per cent of the country’s supply, and “all of the Class 1 farmland with climatically favourable conditions.”
www.OBSERVERXTRA.com
Elmira’s Chartwell Retirement Residence celebrated Grandparent’s Day on Sept. 9 with a petting zoo from Tiger Paw Exotics and refreshments for the residents and their families. Top, Mary Stuart holds a young kangaroo, while her granddaughter Christin Hinbest and great granddaughter Reese pet it. Bottom left, Betty Cookman stops for a photo with some animals and her family, Kerry, CJ, Sydney, Brianna and Ethan Judge. [WHITNEY NEILSON / THE OBSERVER]
STILL CONCERNED ABOUT THE development’s potential impact on the neighbourhood, Woolwich councillors deferred a decision on a plan to convert an Elmira home into a six-unit apartment building. Owners Murray and Patricia Horst are seeking to have the property at 3 Riverside Dr. W. rezoned to allow for the creation of a multi-unit complex by renovating the existing house and constructing an addition to the rear of the dwelling. The rest of the lot would essentially be filled with seven parking spaces and a two-lane driveway. The Horsts’ bid would see the zoning on the property changed from ‘residential – mixed high density (R-5)’ to ‘residential multiple (R-7) with site specific regulations.’ When it was first proposed at a public meeting
last summer, the project drew criticism from neighbours worried it would not fit in among the nonstandard lots that create a patchwork of homes in an older area of town. While Woolwich planning staff are now willing to back the zone change, the concerns of the one neighbour who’ll suffer the most adverse effects gave councillors pause. Bev McKeown lives at 4-1/2 William St., an essentially landlocked property accessed by an easement that runs through the Horsts’ Riverside lot. He told councillors meeting Tuesday night the apartment building, with a fenced-off parking lot and garbage collection area abutting his property, would have a dramatically negative impact on his home. Already fenced in on DEFERRAL | 4