May 21, 2013
Ontario

Bluewater files for intervener status for Goshen Wind leave to Construct

By Melissa Murray, QMI Agency Tuesday, May 21, 2013 | www.lakeshoreadvance.com

The municipality will seek intervener status for Next Era’s leave to construct for the Goshen Wind Energy Centre.

Since the municipality only had 10 days left to file for intervener status, Bluewater’s Chief Administrative Officer Steve McAuley, asked council how they wished to proceed with the leave to construct.

“We need to deal with this notice because they come fast and fierce. It’s the nature of the beast,” said McAuley at the meeting.

McAuley suggested to council that they seek intervener status, so they can be informed of the comings and goings happening with the Ontario Energy Board and also ask for an oral hearing and to have their costs to be covered. The exact same thing council requested for Next Era’s previous leave to construct for the Bluewater Wind Energy Centre.

McAuley said that since the municipality had requested intervener status and an oral hearing with Next Era’s Bluewater Wind Energy Centre, council can expect similar results, including not being appointed costs and not receiving the oral hearing.

“I can pretty much guarantee we aren’t going to get costs, especially because we are going through the exact same thing with Bluewater right now,” he said.

Councillors expressed concern over asking for the status and having to incur costs, but McAuley added council would not have to submit evidence unless they wanted to and the intervener status would be beneficial for informational purposes and would only cost the municipality the time to draft the letter.

Council unanimously passed McAuley’s recommendations.

“We’ll move forward with this and will do so cautiously so we can weigh our options,” said McAuley.

Dashwood Rec Committee

Bluewater council voted at their May 6 meeting to appoint five people to the Dashwood Recreation Committee. Bluewater’s Chief Administrative Officer, Steve McAuley explained the group would meet to discuss the uses and management of the Dashwood Hall and ball diamond, which is half owned by the municipality of South Huron. The committee’s scope is limited to those facilities, he added. Councillor John Becker will represent the municipality of Bluewater and Tom Jones will represent South Huron. The other members of the committee include Irene Datars, Ted Hoffman, Rob Hoffman, Don Weigand and Kathy Hayter.

Lakeshore Roads

The Lakeshore roads study report is almost ready to be unveiled.

McAuley suggested to council that the report be explained through several meetings. The first would be an informal meeting to discuss the road assessment and method of scoring, costs and options for assumption. The second would be a draft policy meeting and the third would be a public meeting designed for residents to comment on the draft policies.

Councillor George Irvin asked that council receive the report before the meetings so council would be familiar with some of its contents.

While Bluewater’s CAO, said it was possible, he cautioned without explanation the report may be confusing. The report will be made available to council at the May 21 meeting and the first meeting of the three to go over the report will be May 27 at 7 p.m.

New lease agreement

Bluewater gave three readings to the Bayfield Historical Society’s lease agreement for the old library space at their May 6 meeting. The lease agreement is based on the current agreement with the Bayfield Town Hall. The lease is a 10-year agreement and the group would have the opportunity to extend based on the conditions of the last year of the agreement, which has the municipality providing zero dollars to the group. Over the 10 years the municipality will be provide $30,000 to help with costs.

Central Huron Appeal

Bluewater decided to note and file a request by Central Huron to help fund their appeal of the Huron County official plan.

While councillors tried to remember what their position on the appeal was when it was first filed, Bluewater’s Mayor, Bill Dowson said, “It’s their problem. They started it and it’s for a judge to decide.”

Councillor-at-large Tyler Hessel agreed and added the appeal is “slowing down the process on some good changes.”

While Councillor John Gillespie tried to explain what he understood from a Central Huron meeting he attended, Dowson reiterated, “Most of us don’t understand why they are doing this. It’s going to cost us a lot of money and they want us to pay for that too.”

SWEA conference

Bluewater will donate $1,200 from the economic development and advertising budget to support a dinner at the Southwest Economic Alliance annual conference coming to Huron County on June 13th and 14th. At the event, three Bluewater businesses will be featured, including Ice Culture, the Hensall District Co-op and the Virtual High School.

[rest of article available at source]

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/05/21/bluewater-files-for-intervener-status-for-goshen-wind-leave-to-construct/