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The Hills HERALD J ST GEORGETOWN 8776901 DISTRIBUTION- 2a PAGES FRIDAY FEBRUARY 1 Home Newspaper of HaHon Hills Established 1 866 IN STORES 25 The Royal couple The Royal of George Kennedy Public Schools Winter Car- naval pose with the carnivals mascot Bonhotnme The king is Grade student Kevin Moore and the is Hayley a Grade 1 stu dent Herald photo by Lisa BoonstoppelPot Development charges facing change ByBENDUMMETT The Herald It appears development charges wont increase as much as was originally proposed early last month Halloa Regional Treasurer Joe Rinaldo told Regional Council Wednesday he is recommending lower increases than those initial ly proposed as a result of receiv ing well over 100 written submis sions opposing the increases The submissions followed a public hearing Jan 8 in connec tion with the nonresidential and residential development charges Those attending the public meeting most of whom were developers heard a proposal calling for development charges for commerical and industrial buildings to increase from the current per square metre to per square metre Many developers argued the in crease would drive development to other Regions or south of the border where equivalent charges would be less According to the staff report the proposed development charges should be reduced from just over to represen ting a per cent drop Staff is also calling for the in crease charges to be phased in over a fouryear period meaning the new charge for 1991 would vir tually remain the same as the current level The proposed development charges will go before Regional Administration and Finance Committee this Wednesday for consideration Some of the other staff recom mendations on the development charge issue to be considered in clude floor area that covers more than 100 per cent of the land its on would be exempt from the non residential development charge the first 5000 square feet of the expansion or redevelopment of a commercial or industrial building would be exempted from the charge introduce a police regarding development on agricultural land remove conservation authori ty projects from the development charge calculation exempt hospital developments and from the charge Abitibi plant faces closure ByBENDUMMETT The Herald Provincial Papers the Georgetown division of pulp and paper manufacturers Price will shut Its doors for good at the end of March the Herald learned Wednesday The plant is too old and small to complete in the highly com petitive and global paper market said Sharon Paul Abitibi Price VicePresident for Corporate end Public Affairs in a telephone in terview Wednesday The closure will put employees out of work The plant manufactures high gloss paper and sheeted paper The glossy paper is used for such items as pressure sensitive labels and event tickets while sheeted paper is used for printing ac cording to an Abitibi issued press release A representative for the employees could not be reached for comment at press time Workers learned of the shut down Wednesday morning and that day relocation councillors met with employees to discuss other job opportunities said Ms Paul Also a committee will be set up comprised of represen tatives from government labor and management to consider alternative relocation ap proaches she added Asked if the closure had any connection with a new collective agreement between management and the employees signed last fall Ms Paul said no She went on to say each employee has severance coverage through the collective agreement Not since last summer has the plant been working at capacity said Ms Paul At that time people were employed but in the fall 28 people were laid off shutting down the plants high gloss paper operation she said Ms Paul explained Abitibi Price reported a million loss for so the company couldnt justify putting more money into an unprofitable operation which had no chance of recovery She didnt rule out the possibili ty of Abitibi closing other plants saying some of them are facing serious problems As for the Georgetown plant once vacated Ms Paul said the company will try to sell It Ferro Steel shuts down Georgetowns Ferro Structural Steel Ltd is the second local manufacturing company forced to shut its doors for a twoweek period because of the recession Company VicePresident Bob Collett confirmed during a telephone interview Tuesday the plant will be closed for two weeks starting later this month The shutdown will mean layoffs for approximately 20 employees dur ing that period Mr Collett said the w plan to use this time as their vacation This past Monday another Georgetown based company Standard Products Ltd closed its doors resulting in layoffs Standard Product employees are expected to return to the job March Mr Collett explained that January February and March are normally slow months for constructionrelated companies Most building takes place during the summer months be said But so far business has been ab normally slow be said An unexpected delay in a million contract with the Wat- chtower Bible and Tract Society is another reason for the delay Education board environmentally aware said Mr Collett The company was scheduled to build a septic tank system at a society property in Norval said Mr Collett The provinces Ministry of Environ ment however has problems with the project and until they are resolved it will continue to prevent the from ob taining building permits The permits will probably be issued in the summer said Mr By that time we wont really need the work he predicted Ferro Steel was awarded the contract in September and to win it the submitted bid was below costs said Mr Collett The com panys primary focus was to pro vide a months work for the shop and not making money out of the job be explained By LISA BOONSTOPPELPOT The Herald Halton Board of Education has passed a report issued by its en vironmental task force asking the board to take environmental ly friendly actions ranging from things as easy as repairing leaky faucets to changing building codes to promote the use of water conserving plumbing fixtures As employers of relatively large numbers of staff we believe programs and policies in our organization that are especially attentive to en vironmental issues would create a model for organizations and their employees to follow said the five members of the task force in a report to the board The environmental committee is comprised of staff from the Regional Municipality of the four area municipalities and the two Boards of Education Theyve been working on this policy for approximately one year They say the primary goal of the task force has been to act as a think tank stimulating as many ideas regarding local govern ment and the environment as possible The list of ideas filling up seven pieces of paper were divid ed into four sections corporate actions including suggestions regarding using local govern ment as a role model in manag ing its internal operations employeestudent education which briefly discusses methods to increase employeestudent committment to environmentally sound actions public education and external policy which deals with how local government can administer its mandate with greater sympathy for the en vironment Some other items the task force studied involved research and promoting hous ing and planning types that were environmentally kind earmark tax revenues for en vironment programs that are generated from a related pro gram energy efficent housing should be included in zoning bylaws and official plans increase bicycle routes investigate liberalizing taxes for farmers that use agricultural farming methods investigate alternatives to salt on roads Passing off the recommenda tions means the board will assign one of their project consultants to take over implementing the policy The committee explained their role as that of an advocate The committee also indicated that the resources available to address these concerns will be strained in 1991 as we all address very difficult budget decisions Marilyn Serjeanston Serjeanston appointment Halton Hills Regional Coun cillor Marilyn Serjeanston was appointed as the Halton representative to Joint MunicipalRegional Waste Management Committee by Regional Council Wednesday The committee has been form ed to investigate various alter natives to handle waste according to a Regional report An Inside Look P Futures P3 P11 P5 P12 Steamer P14 mill Kami ton fMghM pa Tiwn P9 fixftkntf P1S P1S P10 Pet P20 Fran February is Heart and Stroke Month Please give odds against Canadas