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Criticism raised over report on conservation authorities By BRIAN MacLEOD Herald Staff A provincial report which re defines the organization of conser vation authorities is being cnticiz ed by members of the Credit Valley Conservation Authority and the Town of Halton Hills Among the more controversial recommendations of the Burgar report named after Bob Burgar the chairman of the committee that released the report last June is a proposal to amalgamate some authorities in order to reduce their number from 33 to 18 Halton Hills administrator clerk Dan Costea Town Councillor Marilyn Serjeantson and CVCA General Manager Barron have all objected to parts of the report recently It is obvious from the recom mendations in the report that the intent is to add financial burden to local member municipalities under the guise of producing addi opportunity for conservation authority programming and development Mr said Mr Costea was referring to a recommendation to change the level of funding to conservation authority projects from the cur rent 55 per cent to levels of or 70 per cent That move would add almost million to provincial cof fers to be distributed among the authorities Since municipalities pay the other per cent of conservation authority projects any reduction in funding from the province will cost the municipalities money OPEN 10 10 DAILY Fendlcy Florists HOP TO IT AND SAVE Easters Coming March 26 Order Your Flowers CENTRE 211 Guelph St Georgetown FREE DISTRIBUTION said Mr Costea Another recommendation which would have locally significant parks taken over by the town would also cost the municipalities more money he said Coun Serjeantson who sits on the CVCA says you cant even predict the implications of the report because they havent given the conservation authorities any mandate The report recommends that membership of all the conser vation authorities be reduced That means about four of the CVCAs members may be dropped said Coun Serjeantson And the implication of shifting the tax burden onto the municipalities wasnt well receiv ed at the CVCA she said To Ms Barron the lack of a specific mandate is one of the biggest concerns All 38 authorities have banded together to prepare a joint report outlining their objections said Ms Barron Right now there are overlapping jurisdictions and confused man dates and that wont change under the proposed realignment she said The CVCA wants to be in charge of all the natural resource manage ment she said Currently the Ministry of Natural Resources the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture and Food each have partial control of management of the natural resources in the water shed For example if the water flow in the Credit River is too low it falls under the jurisdiction of the MOB If the flow is too high the CVCA takes over If water management is the single most important benefit in a wetland area the CVCA has con trol If flora and fauna are the ma- lor factor the takes over There has to be somebody in charge Ms Barron said Somebody should be responsible for the river system The wants an independent commission appointed by the pro vince to decide which Items should be the subject of negotiations and to enact a dispute settlement mechanism But what happens next Is unclear said Ms Barron I dont know what to expect SATURDAY MARCH 24 PAGES Students kept themselves busy during the March break at the Georgetown Public Library Here Josh II of Ecole Sacre Coeur and Snow of Holy mule it the library They were among over 100 students who showed Wednes day to create the crustaceans Heraldphoto Council wont object to severance In a bid to gain a land severance a Halton Hills family has asked the town to tell Haltons land division committee it has no objections to the proposal Rolf and Erne want to sever threequarters of an acre off a 5acre lot located on the east half of the Sixth Concession in Halton Hills They want to give the land to their son Councillors agreed last week to tell the land division committee they have no objections to the severance but the town has no jurisdiction over the committee Brand Realty broker Dave Whiting spoke on behalf of the Ernes last week although he said no real estate commission is in volved The land division committee recently deferred the application pending the towns input The com mittee has come under criticism recently about allowing too many severances in the rural areas of North This is not a farm property Mr Whiting argued In essence it is a rural cluster candidate Region is attempting to protect fanning properties by limiting severances But Mr Whiting argued the land is not us ed for fanning and is too small to have any viable future farming use The sticking point is that the Halton Hills Official Plan stipulates that adjacent residences must be a maximum of metres apart for such a severance to be considered infilling The next house is 123 metres away from the Ernes Mr Whiting urged the town to tell the land division committee that this is a special situation that there are special cir cumstances and that the 123 metres doesnt really enter into it Hills Mayor Russ Miller said he wouldnt support the ap plication If the parcel was being severed off a viable farm But he added there is a need for more housing in Hills and ap plications such as this one should be considered CORNEROFQUELPHSTHWY7 MOUNTAINVIEW RD S GEORGETOWN 8772418 BANQUET HALL AVAILABLE BANQUET FACILITIES AVAILABLE FOR ANY OCCASION 2 FORI DINNER SPECIAL THIS WEEK NEW YORK STEAK Sated SPECIAL EVERY PRIME RIB Salad Bar Mi Page PHCA in danger of folding The Physically Handicapped Citizens Affiliation will fold unless an appeal to Halton Region for more money is successful past president Pat says The appeal scheduled to be heard on Wednesday could make or break the affiliation according to Mrs Citizens from all over the Region use the association which provides information acts as a resource to other groups and provides support and advocacy services The affiliation now has between and 50 members but it handles more than 200 clients a year said Mrs Last September the affiliation which is a registered chanty began a oneyear program to establish a computenzed data base Funds came in the form of a start up grant from the pro vince and from Halton Region In order to finish the program which is now only half completed the affiliation has asked for from Halton Region this year but only has been approved Mrs is asking people who support the affiliation to contact their local councillors to voice their concerns before Wednesdays hearing Developer wants land back Developer Al Pilutti wants to buy back land near Hall Road he sold to the town of Hills seven years ago in order to build a sub division Mr said he sold the town a parcel of land located between Drive and Drive for He now wants to buy it for 250000 and develop the lot for single family dwellings The lot will become landlocked and relatively useless to the town once two apartment units planned for the area are complete one is under construction now said Mr He said the town originally plan ned to place a on the land but found the terrain was too rough If the town sells the land back Mr Pilutti vowed to build a oneacre parkette at one end of the subdivision The main reason the town pur chased the land seven years ago was due to public pressure from neighboring residents who didnt want to see the land developed said Mr Originally Mr Pilutti planned to 24 houses on the land But he speculated the two apartment units would cut the number of units back to between 10 and 16 A motion to instruct the towns recreation department to prepare a report on the land met with stiff resistance from Coun Marilyn Serjeantson in whose ward the land sits Her request for a record- vote produced a result Coun Bowman was the other negative vote in favor of prepar ing the report I totally disagree with it I feel were wasting our staffs time she said I feel that communities need to have open space as well as packed together bouses But other councillors argued that the town is seeking more af fordable housing and the motion calls only for a report on the feasibility of a subdivision in the area If theres anything this town needs its plans for affordable housing said Coun Joe Hewitt All were asking for is a report Realty of Distinction Inc Realtor MEMBER BROKER Main St S Georgetown Corner Church Main 8731881