Month: March 2013

 

Almost a year and a half after the Dunbar Recreation Centre was lost to fire, the project to rebuild it received its final approvals.

The Dunbar Recreation Centre burned to the ground October 8, 2011, likely due to a wayward cigarette butt. 

March 5, 2013, South Dundas council accepted the $235,236 tender for the reconstruction of the Dunbar Recreation Centre. It was awarded to Wells & Son Construction Ltd.

The building was insured, so the net cost of the reconstruction to taxpayers is about $33,000.

The first round of tenders far exceeded the insurance payout, so staff worked with a committee of Dunbar Recreation Centre users to find cost savings in the project. 

With the new specifications which included changes to the heating system, roof and building’s aesthetics, the lowest bidders were asked to re-submit bids based on the proposed changes.

Of those bids, Wells was the lowest, by about $10,000.

“I support this reconstruction,” said South Dundas councillor Archie Mellan. “They deserve a hall, it was unfortunate that they lost theirs.”

“I do not agree,” said South Dundas councillor Evonne Delegarde. “One of council’s goals was to reduce the number of buildings. This was an opportunity we could have used to do that.”

Councillor Jim Graham did not agree with Delegarde. He pointed out that the value of the new building, which belongs to South Dundas, will far exceed the $33,000 cost to taxpayers.

Deputy Mayor Jim Locke congratulated staff on the tremendous work they had done on this project. “I’m well satisfied with the bottom line,” he said.

“I apologize to the committee for the length of time this has taken,” said South Dundas Mayor Steven Byvelds. 

“This will be a new asset for South Dundas. Dunbar is part of South Dundas.”

[…]

 

 Francis Henderson of Terrdale Farms in Brinston, did it again at the Dundas Seed, Forage and Agricultural Show, and this year his family also did some winning of their own.

The show held, Friday March 8, at Matilda Hall in Dixon’s Corners attracted a large crowd, who enjoyed agriculture industry related exhibits that filled the hall and the parking lot.

Henderson, who is the perennial winner of the show, was able to accumulate enough points to be named the show’s Premier Exhibitor for 2013. 

He was also Premier Seed Exhibitor and  Reserve Forage Exhibitor, only one point behind the Premier  Forage Exhibitor.

Ian and Tracy Porteous of Ayrporte Farm were named Premier Forage Exhibitor. 

Tracy is Henderson’s daughter. The Porteous’ were Reserve Premier Exhibitors, had the Champion Forage Exhibit and Champion Dry Hay Exhibit.  

Henderson also had the show’s Champion Haylage Exhibit and Champion Soybean Exhibit.

Doreen Henderson, Francis’ wife, won the Champion Baker award for her oatmeal cookies, which were judged the best of 12 entries by South Dundas mayor Steven Byvelds and North Dundas mayor Eric Duncan. 

The recipe, was a new one she tried and liked. The judges liked it too.

Bruce Porteous, son of Tracy and Ian and grandson of Francis and Doreen Henderson, won the Premier 4-H Exhibitor award.

Paul Ropars took home the Premier First Time Exhibitor award.

John and Jeannette Devries of Toyes Hill Farm took home multiple awards as well. They were Reserve Forage Exhibitor, had the Champion Corn Silage Exhibit, Champion Cereal Exhibit, won first place in the Wheat in Field Crop Classes and Champion Special Shelled Corn Bin Class.

Tibben Farms Inc. won for Champion Shelled Corn and Champion Ear Corn.

[…]

 

The average residential ratepayer in South Dundas can expect to pay an additional $15.47 on the municipal portion of their property taxes.

The average residential home in South Dundas is valued at almost $160,000.

By the end of South Dundas council’s second meeting to deliberate the 2013 budget, the group’s decisions mean that an additional $241,400 is needed for the municipality’s operations and priority capital projects.

In the second day of budget deliberations council made some further cuts to their donations budget and cut the purchase of two pickup trucks. 

However, they also decided to add in funds for a major project in the Morrisburg (Industrial) Business Park, that will extend Campbell Street  north and east, opening up commercial land for development.

In this budget, council is setting aside funds for repaying the debt that will be incurred through the Morrisburg Collegiate Institute redevelopment project and funds for impending landfill expansion and closure costs.

“I think this is a reasonable budget,” said South Dundas mayor Steven Byvelds at the conclusion of deliberations. “We did some long term planning.”

 

The Counties portion of the residential tax bill is also increasing. Last month counties budget deliberations resulted in a $16 increase to the average residential ratepayer.

[…]

 

Throughout the 1970s and 80s, some farmers from Oak Valley, a small settlement north of Brinston, were embroiled in an epic battle to continue farming there.

Anna Smail and Norm Tinkler led the charge on behalf of their families homesteads to get the government and its agencies to recognize their plight and do something about the annual flooding which was more than just a nuisance to area farmers. 

The extent of the flooding made day to day operations of the farm a struggle and summer floods had devastating effects on crops.

What the farmers needed was to get all levels of government involved to dredge and realign the Nation River and South Branch in Dundas County.

In the end, their efforts paid off, and the project was completed. It took well over 10 years of involvement to get it done.

“You didn’t think about the time you were putting into it, you just did it,” said Smail. 

“It was a battle,” said Tinkler. “The biggest reward for our efforts is to see what has happened in our area.” 

Through the efforts of these farmers, the Oak Valley, Brinston areas now have thousands of acres of wonderfully productive farmland.

Remembering back to floods, Smail said, “It was bad.” 

She remembers having to get in a boat to go to a tractor to get a ride out to dry land so the school bus could pick them up. 

Her family had to sandbag the milk house to keep the water out. The cows had to be put on a raised floor and still, they were often  standing in water. 

During the floods, the milk had to be taken from their farm’s bulk tank, in cans, to another farm on dry land. It would the have to then be emptied into that tank, so the milk truck could take the milk.

March 8, Smail and Tinkler received Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal, in recognition of their efforts. The presentation was made at the Dundas Soil and Crop Improvement Association’s annual Seed, Forage and Agriculture Show.

[…]

 

A commercial lot, on the north side of County Road 2, in Iroquois has been approved for residential use.

Council approved a zoning change that will allow two semi-detached structures, containing four residential units, to be built on the property.

The commercial zoning has been retained but a special exception will allow for the residential development. Normally, residential uses are not allowed in commercial zones.

“I have no problem with it, as long as the option is left open for commercial use,” said South Dundas councillor Archie Mellan.

Councillor Evonne Delegarde also supported the amendment. “There is demand for more residential use in Iroquois, and there’s not a lot of demand for commercial.”

“I will support it,” said South Dundas deputy mayor Jim Locke. “It’s not ideal, but I can understand them (Swank) wanting to use the property.”

 

Although the majority of council approved the amendment, South Dundas mayor Steven Byvelds did express his objections.

“Putting residential in a commercial district is a recipe for disaster,” he said. “This is in our commercial district. You say you want to grow Iroquois, but you just took a piece of commercial property away.”

Regardless of the mayor’s opinion, the amendment was approved.

[…]

 

The Iroquois Waterfront Committee presented South Dundas council with the plan for the Iroquois Waterfront at the March 5 meeting.

The focus of the plan is the conservation, protection and enhancement of the waterfront according to committee chair Howard Kirkby. He mentioned accessibility and improvements to the waterfront pathway system, the depiction of historically significant events and enhancements of the Iroquois Beach as key recommendations within the plan.

The next step in the process is to present the plan to the public, which they plan to do through a public meeting.

It is likely that a new committee will be struck to oversee the implementation of the plan, similar to the process with the Morrisburg waterfront plan.

That committee may have some of the same people as the initial committee, but Kirby suggested that they are, “In need of some fresh faces too.” 

He suggested that the beach enhancement is likely the priority.

[…]

 

Ensuring that families using the Dundas County Food Bank can meet the needs of their babies, is made a little easier with the support of the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Canada.

Each year, officials from the Dundas County Food Bank and the South Dundas Evangelical Lutheran Parish work together to apply for the grant which is the main source of funding the food bank’s newborn necessities.

This year, the local food bank received a cheque for $2,000.

“This grant means an awful lot to us,” said Donna Quesnel, administrator for the Dundas County Food Bank. Because of this grant, the food bank is able to ensure the baby needs shelf is always stocked with diapers, formula, baby food and cereal.

The food bank has been a successful recipient of this pivotal grant for more than five years.

[…]

 

One could say that Morrisburg Public School teacher Jim Lamoureux went the extra mile to bring the world to his grade 3-4 class.

In fact, Lamoureux delivered Japan to his class via an Art Miles Mural Project which linked his students to elementary students in Takasago, Japan.

The project began with an exchange of information on each of the students in the two classes.

“Throughout the project, we shared a lot of things about our schools and about our countries,” says Lamoureux. “We started with an exchange of pictures and information about ourselves and communities.”

The Art Miles Mural Project, is an international movement promoting global peace and harmony through mural art.

It was started to bring people closer together, to create an environment that fosters communication and understanding between cultures, promote literacy and to ultimately, through their own experiences, learn respect for one another.

The project began last September with the information exchange. After the decision was made between the two schools to have a cultural and nature symbols theme, collaboration was carried out on the mural layout.

It was decided the mural would include four large central circles, with smaller circles around the outside edges.

To these circles the students in the two countries would showpiece their cultural/nature artwork.

The mural was started last fall by the students in Japan who filled in every other outer circle with their artwork which includes their country flag, their animals, birds, fish and famous buildings. 

In the two central circles the two countries join hands in friendship…the MPS students selecting the late Terry Fox as their ambassador.

After the Japanese students completed their half of the artwork, the mural was shipped to Morrisburg Public School where Lamoureux’ students set to work to finish it.

The MPS artwork features native Canadian animals…the polar bear, the beaver, the moose, our native birds and fish…the parliament buildings in Ottawa, Niagara Falls, the Canadian Flag.

Along the way, the students in the two countries kept in touch. The highlight was a video conference on January 23.

The Morrisburg students returned to their classroom at 6 p.m., on January 23, which was 8 a.m. in Japan.

“The students introduced themselves during the video conference, songs were sung and information was exchanged.”

The MPS artwork continued on the mural until two weeks ago, when it was declared complete and showcased at a school assembly on Thursday, February 28.

Following the presentation, the mural was packed for return shipment to Japan. It is destined to become part of a children’s exhibit that will be travelling and displayed around the world.

“They did a wonderful job, and they are really proud of it,” says Lamoureux, who recorded the students as they worked  and posted it to a private YouTube channel. It’s an incredible video.

Many of the students were eager to speak about their contributions to the mural as it was being prepared for shipment.

“I worked on the Niagara Falls part,” explained Lilly Lewis. “We were supposed to make cars, so I drew the limo to make it really cool.”

Kayla Gillard, who provided her artistic talent to help paint the Mountie, said, “the best part of the project was the web conference. That was really neat.” And Airreanna Brown, who contributed to the fish painting, said “everybody getting to get to work together was the best part.” Leah Barkley agreed, adding that it was also neat to hear and then spell some of the Japanese words.

Breanna Kirkwood, whose artwork created the polar bear, thought it was great to have pictures and to learn about the Japanese children.

[…]

 

In the interest of clarity and legibility, the proposed new design for South Dundas municipal signs will have a more streamlined appearance.

Gone from the signs area the pictorial displays, the township logo, and any other extra information that at speeds of 100 km/h are little more than just a blur to the 1,000 motorists an hour who pass by the signs on the 401.

Even left off the sign was the municipal website information.

“It’s 2013,” said Tom Graham of TD Graham and Associates, the consultant hired to complete the sign design. 

He explained that while it was once trendy for municipalities to boast about their websites, everywhere, including on their signs, now people understand that all you need to find a website is a name. 

“What we need is for people to remember the name South Dundas,” he said.

With that, the focus of the process was also to implement the Upper Canada Region name, which is being shared by South Dundas and South Stormont.

“That’s where all of our marketing is being shifted,” said South Dundas economic development officer Nicole Sullivan.

The new sign design is a key piece of promoting South Dundas and the Upper Canada Region.

 

South Dundas council was presented the new design at the March 5 council meeting. 

The names Iroquois and Morrisburg will be replaced on the 401 signs with the name South Dundas. 

South Dundas councillor Evonne Delegarde questioned that change. 

Graham indicated that the Iroquois and Morrisburg names are already clearly marked along the 401 on the MTO signs and that those will always say Iroquois and Morrisburg. “Those signs will never say South Dundas.”

Informal discussions at the meeting even brought up the possibility of moving the location of the Morrisburg South Dundas sign to the Upper Canada Road exit. 

“We are promoting the whole area,” said Sullivan.

Of the picture of the boat on the existing signs Delegarde said, “I think that boat said a lot.”

Graham suggested that it might mean something to those who live here, and already have a knowledge of the area, but it means very little to those driving by at speed.

“This work represents a shift in thinking for the sake of promoting the township,” said Graham.

“This is a big change from the decorative signs we have now, with the boats and the apples,” said South Dundas councillor Jim Graham.

Tom Graham mentioned that roadside signs are the wrong place to tell a long story. “At speed, simpler is better. What you need to do with your signs is claim your identity.”

This simple sign design is meant to be uniform across the region and across the township, including town and hamlet signs, park signs and facility signs. 

Those signs will carry the name of the location along with the South Dundas name and the Upper Canada Region name. 

The pictorial of the McIntosh apple will no longer be included on those signs.

[…]