The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Wednesday Jan BS Council takes tough stand on rural land severances Where is the line between a government policy that defend the best interests of its and one that handcuffs them That was a question regional council had to wrestle with at Its last 1983 meeting December when it faced the touchy issue of protecting farmland versus the desire of two fanners to put real dentlal plots on rural land they Co incident ally only a week before the planning committee received a bulky staff report on the adverse effects of increasing urbanization of rural lands in Hilton on the cultural community It concluded that such development was harmful to the farming community and should be strictly limited to hamlets rural clusters and rural subdivi A survey of Halton formers in dlcated they were dissatisfied the region s attempts to stem the tide of urbanization and by a 3 to 1 margin said that further nonfarm lot sevcrences would hurt the farm But that genera overview came under tough scrutiny when council was faced with two members of the farming community each asking for a sever once on land they properly owned William and John are both Nassagaweya farmers who had their applications for approved the Land Division Committee Both approvals were under appeal by the region on the grounds they did not conform to land use policies is a part me farmer who purchased a 100 aero plot 10 years ago and now wants to sever acres on which to retire ATtcr buying the land Peterson and his wife cleared it and tried to grow crops Due to insufficient top soil this failed and they have been limited to cullivating hay and managing a flock of sheep The land as stands now I think will support further cultural development told council and he explained the venture was loo small to make a ing Regional policy allows farmers to sever land for retirement lots but despite his 10 year farming efforts regional policy does not consider him a farmer because his primary occupation is as an em of Ford In Oakville lives on a acre plot that was part acre parcel farmed by his family beginning his greatgrandfather from 1903 to 1902 The remaining acres was sold to a neighboring farmer and McNiven now wants to split the remaining acres in half to allow his sister-in- law to build a home The region In this case objected to the severance because it increased the building and population density on rural acres which Director of Planning and Development Rash Mohammed reported Is contrary to good rural area planning ciples However some members of council saw it as on Injustice that men who had both worked their land could now be denied the right to build a home on it A week before the council meeting the planning and public works committee saw the situation In that light when after listening to Pater son state bis case it decided to re commend thai council end its appeal of the approvals Shortly after taking that stand the committee was presented the lengthy report that said such run contrary to the best inter of the agricultural community in It findings were that lot by lot residential non farm development hurt farming because it created on incentive to sell off farmland by creating higher land values for nonfarm uses increased taxes removed valuable farmland from service and created inefficient form sizes and shapes on Ihc re maining land diluted the political voice of the farm community and increased con flict between farmers and rural homeowners who don farm That report was enough to create a strong split on council when it was asked to decide on the severance appeals Where is Norval Where the heck is any way Oakville Mayor Harry Barrett must have asked himself at the regional council meeting of December it is a heck of a long way from as he discovered during the debate over land for two farmers in that area of Milton Barrett was objecting to Regional Chairman Pete speaking in favour of ending the regions appeal of a granted to William Paterson by the Land Divi Committee Considering where you come from I think it is highly improper admonished Barrett Responded sternly I come from Norval which is an urban area Pomeroy could well have pointed out that Norval is over miles as the crow flies from the nearest Milton farm under discussion The policies that ore there now restricting development are supported by the farm community said Burlington Councillor Joan Little who added that these policies are being stripped of force because exceptions are made Somewhere we have to establish some consistent on these things she said Burlington Italy Bird concurred saving that to support a hatting of the region appeal would be to a clear message that such severances wilt always be approved by council I think we to establish a re cord on council that we support the regional official plan he said Milton Councillor Bill Johnson came out strongly on he side of the formers saying they had put a great deal of time and money Into arming their land and were entitled to bene fit from their especially since surrounding farmers had not voiced objections to the severances He pointed out that he farm was shown to be viable for farming and would not clash with land use in the vicinity where there already existed a number of homes and businesses the land it still designated rural Burlington Councillor Hob Forbes agreed saving hat guidelines are always meant to allow legitimate exceptions lie said Ihc provincial Ministry of Agriculture and Food had looked at the case and concluded the severance would have no effect on local farming In the end council split 10 the case with Regional Chair man Pete breaking the tie by costing a vote in favor of halting the appeal McNiven was not so lucky Council appeared to be swayed by merits that intensifying the resident use would be a mistake in a viable farming area and they voted to continue the appeal Hnts Weekdays Saturdays DENTURE THERAPY CLINIC J K0HARI DT PHONE 8778974 122GUELPH ST ON HWY GEORGETOWN If NX I NAM- GEORGETOWN NIGHT SCHOOL CLASSES REGISTRATION TONIGHT WED JAN AT GEORGETOWN DISTRICT HIGH SCHOOL FOR DETAILS CALL OR EVERYTHING A I THISISTHELARG- weight watchers PUTS THE QUICK INTO SAFE WEIGHT LOSS WITH OUR NEW QUICK START PROGRAM EVER H TORONTO Piece Bedroom Suite Bedroom Suite LOU IT IP 58 9 Piece Dining Room Suite tip the scales In your favor Weight Watchers for over years the lender in safe sensible weight loss now helps you lose than ever While you eat well balanced meals a day even snacks You see a difference In the very first weeks Call Weight Watchers now A thinner you could be right under your nose PROGRAM FROM WEIGHT PRICE SPECIAL January 2 to January 20 Join Watchers for SO instead the regular on your tint meeting and registration ft 00 weekly thereafter Senior Citlianiand for of the ragular Member Registration TImas Morning r20am Evening FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CALL 18002683915