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Leishman Park fate in OMB hands What constitutes Acton parkland to one person little more than drainage ditch to another the Ontario Municipal Board learned last Wednesday Halton Hills authorities are satisfied the recreations needs of Mill St and sub- divislonaretakencareof the OMB heard The town wants to dispose of land at the comer of Mill St and Acton Blvd known as Leishman Park in order to gain what officials termed needed recreation land near Fairy Lake About families on 22 properties in the Leishman Park neighborhood want to hang onto that land and according to one witness develop It Into a passive park Much of the day long hearing in the council chambers focussedon the merits of another piece of land That land was Bovis Park by town planning and recreation department staff I don t think any other municipality except Halton Hills would dare call it a park Ross Knechtcl Rosemary told the 0M8 Mr Knechtel who is also a councillor represented opponents to the town efforts to change the zoning Ten residents and two children sat in the audience Mr resisted the use of the work park when referred to the property by town solicitor Ray Steel OMB meeting chairman Peter J Wilkes and member M Brooks also learned from town recreation director Glen Gray that people use school lands opposite Park for baseball and soccer There are a lot of playing grounds Mr said referring to the lands round Z Bennett and McKenzleSmith schools I don think it can be called a park Town officials on the other hand though they mention the school grounds and how they are used do not Include that acreage in a formula for calculating the needs of a neighborhood for parkland Figures used by the town were challenged by Mr Knechtel Brian Kropf Halton Hills Deputy Planning Director Indicated that not all of Bovis Park need be included in the formula If one just takes both halves of the larger portion tbeSJacreagolngeut off Wallace Ave that Is enough to meet the based on a population estimate of 1300 give or take or SO people The standard is to be not less people Mr Knechtel on the other hand places the population at rather than He also quarrels with the inclusion of the north hah of the land in the formula Why There is no reasonable access to it from Wallace and from the east end there is no access unless you walk down the drainage ditch in rubber boots The southern half of the land which Is traversed by an intermittent stream could be called park said Mr Knechtel However nothing has been done with it for six years In all said the planner Park consists of acres part of which has grass slopes and part of which Is concrete Town Parka and Recreation Director Glen Gray described the Bovis land as being a linear park It therefore encourages some kinds of activity such as jogging and cross country skiing While there is a drainage ditch there is enough bank and side to encourage that kind of recreation I look at a number of recreational opportunities Mr Gray said Both Mr Gray and Mr Kropf said they did not think Park is necessary Both also said the halfacre propert could be best used for residential Also represented at the was Rugby Con Co of which has negotiated with Hills for the acquisition of Park In exchange for land the company owns but cannotbuildon north of School Creek west of Main St up to Elizabeth Drive The land is part of the Credit River flood plain and the Credit Valley Conservation Authority will not permit construction Leishman Park 443 feet by feet has enough land for about seven lota the learned On March council passed a resolution recommending an exchange with Rugby Con Mr Gray the recreation director also Indicated that acquisition of the Rugby property near Fairy Lake would help boost park facilities on Elizabeth Twice before the OMB has ruled in favor of residents who want to keep Leishman Park In 1965 the board ruled the land could not be Two years later the board exempted the half acre lot from being under a comprehensive bylaw Those actions took place prior to regional govern ment Mr Knechtel told the OMB that residents in the vicinity of Park have consistently asked the town to keep it as a park He also told the board residents have Indicated a willingness to develop the park at their own expense The citizens lawyer Bruce Payne of Guclph introduced a copy of 1953 deed which conveyed the land which was to be known as John R Linear park is how Recreation contend that Park la not required to meet Director Glen Gray described Bovis Park part of the recreation needs of the neighborhood The town which shown by Ross Knechtel Mr Knechtel and Indicated It would like to reione Irishman Park for other area residents opposed the of homes In order to exchange that land or some Leishman Park to residential use during last Wed acreage near Lake which is owned by a con Ontario Municipal Board hearing The company recreation department and planning departments Park In argument the lawyer said it was the in dedicated carry that name The has of both the giver and receiver to have the the rigSt to sell it as long as the money is used for land as park park purposes And that the purpose here Town lawyer Ray Steel- countered by saying that It may well have been intended for park pur all the document states Is that the land to be poses but it Is not needed One Hi da id J Year ACTON ONTARIO WEDNESDAY AUGUST The flower beds In front of Acton Library sometimes serve as bench for town mothers who wait for their children Bailey of Elmore Dr left and her Mead Linda Pilgrim Mam St chat while waiting for the library a time to return the children Hoe backs out Disston looks for new buyer Canada is looking for another purchaser for the industrial woodworking products division of its plant destined to go out of production at the end of September It was announced last Friday that Hoe and Company v not be ng over the woodwork div as pre viously announced Negotiations have been terminated meanwhile still moving its plant to Montreal George councillor actively engaged in job finding for workers soon to be out of work con firmed he had talked with sen of the Group owners or recently Mr Sorcn sen stated the company is making further nego tiations with other companies Meetings will take place this week and is hopeful of an agreement in principle with another firm Maltby said He was also assured by Sorensen that the woodworking division of up Owner says for sale will keep in production until a sale is effected Twenty five Jobs hinge on these successful negotiations Manager of Disston of Canada Acton told this newspaper the sale to Hoe and Company was but confirmed further ncgotiat were in the works with other purchasers He said the company as trying to arrange a sun lar deal as that It- Hoc and hoped to make an announcement soon He declined to comment on any change in closing date or possible ex tension of working schedule for the woodworking division Representatives of the United Steel Workers of America Local were unavailable for comment remarked he had had a num of calls from local companies with offers of employment for reduntnnt Disston workers For this stage response from local companies has been good he said New head for middle school Board of Education named John Simpson to be the new principal of McKen Middle School Mr Simpson was transferred from the of elementary school south of Georgetown to Acton He has been working in the school and the boards action Thursday at Burlington confirmed the appointment Hotel to be rebuilt The Dominion Hotel will be rebuilt according to owner Cosmo although he t know how long it take The Dominion is not completely lost he said describing the dated stone that will be replaced in the new hotel Some of the old timbers may be reusable Mercuri hopes The name will remain the same He plans to rebuilt the same as before perhaps moving the building back a little Plans for a dining room extension were on the drawing board before the Right now the business of cleanup is uppermost Mercuri mind after receiving permission Monday the firemarshals office to tear down the remainder of the building It cost a fortune stated Mercuri referring to cost of hiring a contractor to remove the rubble Finding a place to dump it another problem as the Halton dump usually refuses to accept building rubble Mercuri says his insurance wouldn cover the cost of rebuilding and cleanup He depressed he soya because he has nothing to do now but make telephone calls trying to set in motion the rebuilding process In the twoandahalf years since Mercuri look over the Dominion he said he doubled business Then the hotel sold 27 thousand gallons of beer a year We used to have a lot of fun morosely Marie Murray represent in the CNE Dairy Princess com pell lion See Page 3 Back to school for Acton students It back to school on Wednesday or about Acton and area students who I be wearing solemn expressions while mothers try to restrain their glee In most area schools enrolment is slightly down from last year with the exception of Josephs Separate School Acton whose enrolment Is up from in June McKenzieSmith Middle School has a stable enrolment of just over They have several new staff members including principal John Simpson who will be stiff ping Into the place vacated by recent untimely death A new secretary Shirley SomervUle will be at as as half time Grade a core teacher Pat Gudgeon from Georgetown who was at McXentieSmith two years ago Viceprincipal Carl said staff were trying to keep up the same tlons initiated by Gary and operate the school in similar fashion Principal Ron said Robert Little School will have an enrolment of down GO from last year Only new addition to the staff will be Ann Mclntyre part time morning kindergarten teacher Speyside School also under the cipalshlp of Ron Citation has an enrolment of and one teacher less M Bennett School enrolment is about the same at according to principal Doug Magwood A new remedial teacher Wendy Schau will be at the school as will part time teacher Linda Acton High School also expects the same enrolment at with two new teachers Marian Hughes history Jane department head High School principal Wally commented the school was proceeding steadfastly and trying to offer a first class program with a Enrolment down except for St Josephs school sense of family and an occasional burst of oral French in grades and plus a excellence grade homeroom and Catherine Saint only Barrett will teach part lime in the reading school with blazer enrolment has IK resource centre students this year and four new teachers Donna Robertson will be teaching grade Principal Sean Bnggs commented on Sharon Bradley grades growth of Saint Joseph and the ad dition of another portable classroom this year saying he was looking forward to a new school building in the future School will have 160 students this fall according to vice- principal down from 175 last season New teachers replacing leaving staff include Bob who will take a 34 class and two part time teachers Erica Andrew In grade and Marian Cleave kindergarten Mrs Fisher principal of School states enrolment Is down by exactly four pupils his year at New teachers at will be Leanne Case and Peter in grade and Vi Bain a new librarian In all cases enrolment figures are tentative and subject to alteration as new students filter into schools during the first weeks of he lifeline numbers M2S7 KJIU3 Mil too- Mir Willon raw Mm-