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Serving the Mapleton Community
Community News Volume 44 Issue 25
Drayton, Ontario
1 Year GIC - 2.01% 3 Year GIC - 2.80% 5 Year GIC - 3.10%
Friday, June 24, 2011
Township has special meeting to consider wind farm comments by David Meyer MAPLETON TWP. Councillors here held a special meeting on June 21 to consider what comments it should make about the NextEra Energy proposal for wind turbines southwest of Arthur. The township has agreed to comment to the Ministry of Environment about some issues it sees affecting the municipality if the turbines are approved by the province. Chief Administrative Officer Patty Sinnamon presented a report to council outlining some of those issues on June 14. She said that report “detailed what we look for.” She said she spoke with eight or nine municipal officials to find out what they required or learned from hosting an industrial wind farm. She said consultation was “mainly in the United States. She said those municipalities told her Mapleton should obtain an agreement that the wind company guarantees property values. She added that is “a concern here.” They also suggested Mapleton have a decommissioning plan signed by the wind company. She explained that in many places in the United States, the turbine agreements are coming to an end, and when that happens, the property owners are permitted to collect the money from the scrap metal. Another agreement would have to deal with “What happens to the concrete base that is poured in the farmers’ fields to support the turbines.” Sinnamon said she learned that many places force developers to remove at least eight feet of that concrete and fill in that whole, thus permitting the
land to return to agricultural uses. Sinnamon said the township and company will have to identify vacant land receptors and consider minimum setbacks. She said if a landowner “wants to build a residence smack in the middle of a farm, it’s not good land use.” Sinnamon told council once the township has its comments ready, it has until July 15 to sent them in. She added if councillors find more to say after that, “We can still comment right up to the time of approval.” She said the township can ask the wind farm proponent to do a road study to determine the condition of the roads before work commences, and if moving the turbines in causes damages, pay for that damage. The developer can also be forced to do another study after the construction, and any defects that work caused would have to be fixed. She added the township will need to require “letters of credit.” Those are cash the developer would have to deposit with the township to guarantee the work, and they would have to be in place before any building permits are issued. She added the developer will need transportation permits and will require escorts on local roads - all at the developer’s expense. The developer will also have to improve intersections if they are unable to accommodate the large turbine wings or cranes used in the construction. She said the American municipalities were adamant the turbine companies must provide a guarantee that land values will not decrease, or Continued on page 2
Wind Concerns Ontario hosting public event
DRAYTON - John Laforet, president of Wind Concerns Ontario (WCO), will lead a delegation coming to the PMD Arena in Drayton on June 29 at 8pm. The purpose of the event is to inform the public of the potential impacts of industrial wind turbines. WCO is a coalition of over 50 citizen groups promoting awareness of the potential impacts of industrial wind power facilities. Laforet will be discussing the concerns surrounding
industrial wind turbines at the meeting. Since the NextEra Energy project in Mapleton Township between Arthur and Drayton is in the commenting stage with the Ministry of Environment, the meeting will be somewhat specific to that application, with some ideas as to how and what to comment. The deadline to comment is July 9. Commenting is very easy and there will be details at the meeting on June 29 - or visit www.smwf.ca for more information.
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Students fared well in annual literacy test
All set - Austin Manion took his dad, John, to the Garden Tractor Pull in Moorefield for Father’s Day last weekend. Austin earned first place in his class at the event, which was organized by the Moorefield Optimist Club and held at the Moorefield Community Centre. Additional photo on page 8. photo by Wilma Mol
Pettapiece unveils PC platform, bashes McGuinty with help from MPP by Chris Daponte MOUNT FOREST - Randy Pettapiece vows that if elected, his party will give the planning authority back to municipalities when it comes to industrial wind farms. As the provincial PerthWellington candidate for the Progressive Conservative party, Pettapiece says he has seen firsthand how divisive the Green Energy Act - which delegates that authority to the province - has been in Wellington County, and particularly in Mapleton Township. “We have neighbours who aren’t talking right now ... and that isn’t right,” Pettapiece said on June 15 at a campaign press conference on Main Street in Mount Forest. He was joined by fellow PC Party member Simcoe-Grey MPP Jim Wilson at the event, which was part of a crossprovince PC media blitz pairing prospective candidates with current MPPs. Pettapiece was holding several such events with Wilson across the PerthWellington riding. The local candidate committed to changes to the Green
Energy Act that would restore some power to municipalities when it comes to wind farms, but he acknowledged it will be too late for projects approved before the Oct. 6 election. “We will honour the contracts already awarded,” Pettapiece said. That may include the NextEra Energy project - a 10-turbine proposal located southwest of Arthur, in Mapleton Township - which Pettapiece agreed officials are trying to rush through before the provincial election. “Anybody in [the wind farm] business is trying to get their projects through quickly because they’ve seen Changebook,” he said of his party’s 43-page platform package. One of the other major problems with the Green Energy Act, Pettapiece noted, is “it’s not affordable.” If in power, he said renewable energy will remain part of the PC platform, but the new government would negotiate “much lower” rates. When asked about other major election issues in his riding, Pettapiece said one of the
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biggest is energy. “Hydro rates have gone up ... all over Perth-Wellington,” he said. According to Changebook, a PC government would remove the harmonized sales tax (HST) from home heating and hydro bills and also get rid of the debt retirement charge on hydro bills. Pettapiece said his party would also increase spending for health care and education - two issues which are always important for locals. He explained the PC party formed Changebook with input from people all across Ontario and he added voters need more of that type of constructive interaction, especially locally. “Politicians should listen to people in their riding,” he said. Both Pettapiece and Wilson were available to answer questions on the PC platform, but a large majority of their time at the media event last week focused on trying to discredit Dalton McGuinty. “He taxes, he spends, and then he taxes some more,” Wilson said of the premier, Continued on page 3
by Chris Daponte WELLINGTON CTY. County high school students continued their high level of success this year in the annual EQAO literacy test. Students from both the Upper Grand District School Board (84%) and the Wellington Catholic District School Board (86%) had success rates higher than the provincial results (83%) in the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test issued this year by the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO). The test, which has been in place for about a decade, measures how well students are meeting basic reading and writing standards at the end of grade nine, as set out in the Ontario curriculum. Locally, two of the four public high schools in Wellington and three of the four Catholic schools in Guelph exceeded the provincial mark of 83% this year. Public high schools Of the 2,552 Upper Grand District School Board (UGDSB) students who participated fully in the test, 84% were successful. At Centre Wellington District High School in Fergus, 306 students fully participated in the test, of which 82% were successful (down 4% from 2010). At Erin District High School, 135 students fully participated and 87% were successful (up 2%). At Norwell District Secondary School in Palmerston, 155 students participated fully and 85% were successful (down 3%). At Wellington Heights Secondary School in Mount Forest, 134 students fully participated and 78% were successful (down 2%). Catholic high schools For the Wellington Catholic District School Board (WCDSB), 86% of the 638 students who participated fully were successful. Results for the Catholic board’s four secondary schools are as follows: - at Bishop MacDonell Catholic High School, 177 students participated fully, of which 87% were successful (down 1% from 2010); - Our Lady of Lourdes, 188 students, 88% successful (same as 2010); - St. James Catholic High School, 267 students, 86% successful (down 1%); and Continued on page 2