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8 Georgetown Acton Wednesday Nov 2 Stevens land purchase complex issue Page a presentation and rally public sup port to the brand new movement lie urged councillors not to take the issue lightly and called the land purchasecorn issue the most divisive and crucial issue In Halloo history to date Fresh from the hustings in Kuiken could supply council with valuable input on this issue and the mood of the tax papers Elliott suggested repeatedly his presentation and later when questioned by councillors Councillors Ribs Miller and Rick Bonnette echoed his comments ding the need or a delay until is sworn in No public forum He said citizens t feel there had been a bona fide public forum on this issue an assertion Mayor Peter Pomeroy and many councillors strongly disagreed with Elliott explained they were coming at the 11th hour because they felt it was essential that they make their feelings known before the barn door closes the Stevens land Is bought He said he and many people he knew bad often told themselves they should write a letter about the land pur chasecomplex issue or go to council as a delegation but for a variety of reasons they dtdn He said there has been great apathy in Hills but it was starting to melt away now Now people are coming together as a united front Council pa produce apathy At last year meeting in Acton Elliott had asked Mayor Peter about the status of the municipal complex issue Monday night he recalled the mayor had shared no substantial informs with public in his answer Money was being set aside but nothing was lie Yet at the next council meeting after the election and the last meeting of the outgoing council it was announced that the Town as putting down a deposit on Stevens property and that sou tests an ap praisal and a servicing study for pro perty had been carried out already In like that bete produce apathy he said He continued that people havent come forward before because they hadnt seen a pressing need until Just lately arid besides there was a widespread feeling of amongst the taxpayers because they have been feeling their complaints are fall ing on deaf ears People have now decid ed not to accept the situation further they they have an obligation to speak out Council wants restraint Elliott said people are questioning why in a tune of restraint council has dollars to spend on land speculation Council be in the real estate business many believe though be admitted municipalities do get Involved In land banking Further he recalled when he came to council at budget time as a member of the Hills Library Board asking for money fa- badly needed improvements to both the Georgetown and Acton libraries council t budge from its restraint limit on spending Council had money to spend buying land and was looking down the road towards building a municipal com plex costing million to million yet didn have dollars for tbe libraries People in have trouble understanding how council can have money for land and be looking at building an expensive complex when there not enough funds or fixing up rural roads unpopular Miller asked if Elliott agreed with his assessment that the land purchase decision was unpopular with voters Town wide and he said yes said there had been plenty of opportunity for people to speak out Ever since the issue was first made public the Armstrong Carney Poustrup mum Councillors not political animals Serjeantson the councillors were Just political animals then they be supporting purchasing Ihe Stevens estate as a future home of a municipal complex and planning for the Town future Councillor Marilyn said Monday night Fellow Georgetown councillors Harry Levy Mike Armstrong Finn Poulstrun Phil Carney joined in again supporting Ihe land purchase while John McDonald continued his opposition Planning for future Serjeantson said council was planning for the Tout a future but she had no Intention of supporting the building of a complex on the property until there was growth and so more lot levy funds She also supported council searching out other means of raising the funds tor the buildlna but wouldn go along with existing taxpayers helping foot the bill She praised the selection of the Stevens estate because it will benefit Georgetown Hospital by giving it an access to Maple Ave People complain about the lack of growth but Serjeantson felt buying the Stevens land would open up Georgetown for more development Comfortable voting yes The issue has been well publicized and the public has had ample opportunity for Input so she felt comfortable proceeding with the land acquisition She allowed that politically council was probably making a poor move but she felt it was their best option Only picking site Councillor Harry Levy pointed out council was only picking a site at this point not deciding to build a complex He said there will be much more investigation of the Town space needs before the building is approved and he couldnt support it until financing is arranged He opposed the first municipal complex plan back in the mid 70s but circum stances have changed as have the limes He said council had to plan for future growth and part of the necessary planning was providing for future growth and part of that necessary planning was providing for future municipal facilities If council didnt start taking steps now Halton Hills would have big problems 10 to 15 years down the road Levy predicted He said he heard one valid resaon why the property purchase should be re jected McDonald still says no McDonald said he still coudnt support the project for the same reasons he had said previously It pointed out there is still a interest no commitment from Hydro to be involved Hydro not being formally committed to the project which was the Idea when the whole issue came up bothered McDonald Carne Poulstrup and Armstrong offered no comments during the debate Stevens wanted more than Town offered Preschooler had fun at a Halloween party Friday at the Library Awaiting si were left Mark Ridley Nicole Lee Christopher Lee and Pamela Paul Stevens had balked for a time recent ly at selling his property on Maple Ave in Georgetown to Halton Hills for On September 13 council authorized the mayor and clerk to make an offer for the roughly 30 acres of land across from North Golf and Country Club and continue negotiations Stevens sent back a counter proposal ask for the same price as council had offered for the property back in November After several extensions of councils op tion Stevens rejected the Towns request for a further extension in June Hills lost lis 000 deposit on the land but it re mained applicable to tbe purchase price if the Town still wound up buying the site as a future home for a municipal complex The Towns offer from September con an irrevocable acceptance of the deal deadline of October IS Stevens countersigned Ihe offer back at and set a deadline of October as a deadline for acceptance Clerkadministrator Ken Richardson said the Town then Informed Stevens the wouldnt accept his counteroffer Home Hardware Will It keep beating it depends on YOU Be a RED CROSS Blood Donor they wouldnt go higher than Later a vendor offer was sent to the Town at the price of but with an acceptance deadline of November 1 This new offer also tidies up some encroachment problems and clarifies some questions about lot lines at the rear of the property Stevens required the Town pass a bylaw as well as accept his offer and the Town solicitor also felt a new bylaw should be enacted even though Ihe mayor and clerk were empowered to close the deal under the bylaw passed on September The closing date remains March 31 1964 and the old Town deposit applies against the purchase price said he had been involved in the negotiations the past several weeks and pre dicted the deadline for accepting the ven dors offer wouldnt be extended to November He said after talking to Stevens his lawyers and accountant he was ed when vendor offer came in at The mayor said he suspected If council didnt approve the deal Monday night then the deal would fall through forever Stevens is quite wealthy he doesnt need the money and Pomeroy felt the vendor jusl wanted a final decision from council and no more delays Car rolls over An 3 Acton woman was taken to Georgetown Hospital with minor injuries early Thursday evening after the car she was driving rolled over in a ditch OPP say Debra Louth was westbound on the Erin Hills Town line about when she was con fronted by an unknown east bound vehicle which crossed over the centre line lengthy and indepth process council follow ed has been done In the open and people could have come to council meetings which are all held in public anytime in the last year The issue had been widely publicized and councillors were always available to answer questions though there never had been that many raised He said It never popular with taxpayers to spend money on municipal facilities and he bad heard comments about them build ing castles for themselves and their staff Not accurate no public onun However he felt council had followed an open and careful study exercise in the past year At the special council meeting held to ex amine the Stevens estate purchase issue in September there had only been a small crowd just two lions and only a few questions from the audience Elliott hadnt attended but was there and didnt ask any questions reported The mayor didn I feel it was accurate to say there t been a public forum on this Issue Sites were studied The mayor said it was safe to assume a building would cost the same on any site Building committee and council had investigated many sites in the greater Georgetown area and had done extensive studies The Trafalgar building and site were examined A structural engineers re port started the present municipal building would be best bulldozed It could be ed at any time Tor fire or health violations said There is no question the mayor declared that for an effective operation in the future the Town needs office space more space is even needed now Citizens mount Continued from Page 1 People are concerned about council mov ing ahead on such a mammoth and costly project which taxpayers fear will cost million or more before Its completed equipped and furnished and basing the need on future growth envisioned In the Official Plan How much growth win there actually be and when will ft come people are asking theres been little growth in Halton Hills since the first council talked about a big addition to the Trafalgar building back in Ihe mid 70s Concerns were also voiced lhat other sites especially the Trafalgar site werent examined closely enough or as thoroughly as the Stevens property partly because council was looking for a fair sized site for a major building Committee members are optimistic that theyll receive lots of support from their fellow taxpayers People have been un happy about the handling of this issue for some time however it s just recently that the movement for citizens action crystalized They believe that many many taxpayers have been just wailing for some one to get a protest going and theyll climb on the bandwagon Besides urging people to sign the peti tions write letters and speak personally with councillors committee members are also asking citizens who are concerned about this issue and want to get involved In the campaign to contact either of the two spokesmen by Mabel I forgot to plant asters this Spring but hardly noticed that 1 hadnt because the wild asters this Fall have been beautiful If you see a field of purple and gold you will probably realize the purple is the aster and the gold of course Is the Clumps of white asters of various sizes also grow along the driveway and cosy up to the cultivated gardens My book on says lhat there are 150 species of aster in North America I just happy that there Is a profusion of them In this area and I shall enjoy their beauty until the heavy frosts turn them Into crumpled stalks MY 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