Fun at BangoRama A6 Rams mauled Bl Get the Lowdown SPORT j- Checkout our ftwlifetkn III Service Guarantee the HERALD Home Newspaper of Halton Hills Established 1866 HILLS ONTARIO MAVIS 1988 PAGES Want reassessment Taxpayers stage revolt By BRIAN Mac LEO Herald Staff Hills residents on Regional Road Nine are so convinced that the huge number of aggregate trucks us ing the road in local quarries are reducing their property values they are appealing their assessment to the Ontario Municipal Board The residents will be making the appeal with an eye towards the suc cess their Milton counterparts across the road who have recently had their taxes reduced by 10 per cent In a precedent setting decision by the Ontario Assessment Appeal Board The RR3 ratepayers association went before the board to ask for the reduction in property tax because of the inconvenience associated with living next to three quarries in the area Milton residents won a 10 per cent reduction of their taxes May 11 but an appeal by Michael Dowhan on behalf of about 30 residents at RR9 along the First Line a day later fail The board said area had been reassessed in and the ex trucking and blasting had been taken Into account at the time said Mr Milton homes on the south side of Regional Road the bet ween the two towns had their properties reassessed In 15 years said Mr But residents in Halton Hills say their taxes never went down as a result of reassessment and they plan to appeal the Assessment Appeal Boards decision to the Ontario Municipal Board Mr Dowhan is waiting for the decision to arrive in writing before appealing to make sure the Is the next step Milton resident Grace Anderson the secretary for the ratepayers association said trucks are coming from the Halton Crushed Stone Quarry In Milton and from the Duf quarry First Lin In HaltonHllls Between the two quarries almost a ODD trucks make trips in and out of the quarries along RR9 to Highway and down to Highway day said Mrs Anderson By far the majority of the trucks about 1600 each way on a busy day come down the First Line to from the quarry she said Blasting Is fell From hose quar lies and from the Milton Limestone on Steeles Avenue and she said Blasting at the Dufferin quarry can be felt as far away as the Third Line to the east lo Milton In the west as far as IS and as far south as Campbllville said Mrs Anderson Blasting at Halton Crushed Stone is not felt in such a large radius but windows still rattle and tremors still shake houses she sold Told by the assessment appeal board that Hills houses had been reassessed and properties were adjusted for the trucks and blasting two years ago Mr Dowhan said We don believe it and we re going to take it to an appeal The successful appeal by Millon residents is the first time in Ontario property taxes were reduced because of quarry activities said Mrs Anderson quarry Is the biggest in the region and supplies aggregate the entire Toronto region said Mr Dowhan Trucking has tailed off in Ihe past few days due to the construction strike in Toronto said Mr But he expects that to increase drastically once the strike is over The appeal does not give residents a lot of money only about on the average house but It does raise Ihe Issue in the eyes of politicians said Mr Dowhan The huge numbers of trucks travelling along the road brings dust noise and fumes with them he said There a limit to what you can take The parts of near the First Line and Highway where trucks accelerate and decelerate are Just crumbling away he said Parts of the road have even moved sideways he added The ratepayers association push ed for an alternate route to Highway through Hnlton Hills but the town objected said Mr Dowhan The residents wanted to build a road through undeveloped land hit ting Highway south of Chudleigh Farm he said Another proposal to reroute we trucks on the top of the Niagara Escarpment to connect with the Highway south of was blocked by residents a few years ago he said Acton residents prepare to welcome Mel elaborate preparations for York Mayor Mel who will nuke the drive to Acton the nursing of Mayas Local rMfdentt have been cur- tying to cancel vacation and ta Mayor will arrive at man Saturday He will be escorted Maui Street to Mill Stmt J tan halted Major then proceed along Street to Willow Street tor an welcoming at the townhaU Then a gala boa tour will carry the mayor down Mill Street to Main Street for a stop at the IGA parking lot to sample Acton a finest hot dogs The bus then bead to the park via Knox Street returning along Mill Street to the Hide House to prove once and for all worth the to Acton Resident meet and talk to Mr at any one of the stops There will be a press conference for all International and local press for the visit Mr will be leaving the tourist town at approximately l 30 Talks resume Over employees at Smith and Stone In Georgetown will be cross ing their fingers tomorrow Thurs day when the Canadian Auto Worker Union will get back to the bargaining table with manage ment Provincial mediator Henry Skin called for a resumption In the negotiations this week said CAW Chief Negotiator Bruce Davidson The wo sides will get together at the Inn on Dixie Road In We go Into this meeting with open mind said Mr Davidson But there is not enough Ion to judge whether or not to be optimistic going Into the meeting he said Workers walked off the Job March 7 demanding better pen increased cost of living allowance higher wages and bet vacation benefits Chamber directors The Georgetown Chamber of Commerce elected a new board of directors at its annual meeting May 17 President Murray and Vice Presidents Jack and David Page retained heir position on the executive and Chamber Secretary Doug Penrice also re tained his position Mr Penrice is also he General Manager of Chamber The new Board of Directors for 198889 is John Duncan Alex McKee Alf Spence Dave Whiting Don Ken Bellamy Bill Cook Walt Dixon Barry Jim Magle Judy Pomeroy Dave Tom Laurie Tom Hewer Bruce Rogers Mary Trudy Thomas Eileen Foley and Ted Fry Moon Walk A large group of people Is ex to do their part this Sunday ay to piece together a rip to the moon The annual Moon Walk to assist In the fight against cystic fibrosis gets under way Sunday at Sam at the parking lot on Street Moon Walk so named because If all the distances covered by the walkers were added up they would be equal to the distance to the moon has been held for several years and has raised a considerable amount of money for the fight against cystic fibrosis through pledges obtained by the walkers Pledge sheets arc available at the store service desk and everyone Is Invited to Join in to assist this worthy effort The Is being by the local Kinsmen Club DISTRIBUTION OPEN 10 7 DAYS A WEEK Its the Dm to Acton The BIG Bang Theory The really big story or at I tail be a feature attraction The high- it of them at weekends Op- pocket ltd gent drew more than one limltt was Daddy glance particularly from Long Legs otherwise known Mike Linda Conway left and Tanya He attended Wolverton who prefer Rama festivities a promote another shorter men For more on Dang-o- event In Georgetown he lee page AS Herald photo Business In Georgetown BIG by celebration June where he will Women take on men in United Way walk It the men against the women In one challenge in Hills Walks the United Way event sored by he Klwanls Club June 12 The five women councillors have agreed to challenge the eight male councillors in a dollar for dollar fund raising effort during the walk The challenge was Issued by the United Way Frances block Mon day The walk starts at at Co op on Street The four kilometre route goes along Guelph Street left on Moun talnvlew Rood on to Boulevard and back onto Street The eight kilometre route keeps going on Street to Edward Street then onto Boulevard and back to Street The first prize for adults is a weekend for two at the Travelodge In Niagara Falls for the person woo collects the most money in pledges Ms expects an equal bat tie despite the fact that the women are outnumbered on council because the women are a little more fit Pledge forms are available from some doughnut shops In town and at the United Way office in Cedorvale Park POWER members told Tough fight ahead in quarry battle Town to make amends The town Is going attempt to make amends for the Irreparable damage done to Susan Blue Spruce tree A public works employee sliced a huge chunk out of the Boulevard resident tree with a chain saw last fall after she had been told to her tree back so branches wouldnt Infringe on the sidewalk The town had received complaints from a resident about the tree Town Operations Engineer Ted Drewlo said tree branches were overhanging on the sidewalk by about centimetres After Mrs trimmed the Iree town staff were sent to complete the trimming said Mr The damage done to the tree because of the manner in which the was trimmed la basically reparable said Mr So the town is going to spend bet ween MOO lo trim Mrs down from a height of 20 feet to between four and five feel Because the tree is so big the trunk has a of more than six inches It would probably not survive a move from the front yard the back yard as Mrs Lonto had requested said Mr Drewlo All the trimming will be done In the presence of Mrs We agree that the trimming operation could have been com in a more delicate fashion with proper pruning practice said Mr Drewlo In retrospect supervisory staff should have reviewed the list first and determined which branches re quired trimming how much was needed and determine the methodology of Ihe trimming Residents fighting a landfill pro posal for the Acton quarry will have a long tough and expensive fight ahead of them for any possibility of success a member of a Pickering citizens group has warned David Strain of PACT Pickering AJax Cltitens Together told about 30 people at Ihe POWER Protect Our Water and Environmental Resources meeting May 19 that only way to fight a dump proposal Is with massive community support You re going to have to get the Idea across to the community that It something you re going to win as a whole said Mr Strain PACT has successfully deferred on application by Metro Toronto to expand the Brock West landfill site in Pickering but the group Is not sure if it will be able lo defeat the cxpan si on proposal in the long run Mr Strain accompanied his ror stories about what life Is like next to a landfill site with advice on bow to fight the dump proposal by United Aggregates Even Is proof thai a land tilling operation is breaking the law it people that make the light viable said Mr Strain You can prove that you re technically right up to the limit but you can still lose it If you don t have enough political pressure he said One of most important things to do is get people out PACT represents about households and meetings regularly in between and people said It frustrating You re going to get kind of worn down You re going to have to give each other social If you get down said Mr rain POWER which has about members and only about 12 active members has a tougher fight because there is no dump already In place to sight examples of odor and pollution said Mr Strain He said Metro Toronto which runs the Brock West site but doesn I own it dump is outside Metro boun daries lied to residents about landfill site Residents were told only 12 trucks an hour would be leaving Brock West but in 1986 least trucks an hour were entering and leaving the dump he said Seagulls were supposed be con trolled but there are hundreds of thousands of the disease carrying birdsatthedump he said Residents were told that odors would be detected yards away at the most but residents have smelt the dump up to three kilometres away said Mr Strain The PACT member said he has seen piles of garbage left uncovered on three different occasions after business hours PACT has called the police to witness a situation which was disallowing use of our property because of odor he said But neither the police nor the Ministry of ihe Environment would lay charges even after residents said they could supply proof that the landfill site operators were polluting the environment said Mr Strain The MOB is bending over backwards to help Metro keep a clean record on polluting he said I personally don t a whole lot of faith in the MOE and I doubt you will at the end of this Monitoring shows at least organic chemicals of which have been labelled Industrial hazardous waste are present at Ihe dump said Mr Strain Someone Is dumping hazardous waste Into the site It is supposed to be a sanitary landfill site he said And paper has been found three of a mile away from the ump Not Just scraps but whole fields that far away are covered with paperonawindyday he said When paper comes out of a gar bage truck you don t know what It been involved with said Mr Strain He urged citizens to lobby the Regional Councillors In order to get Halton Region behind Ihem Mr Strain also recommended recycling as an alternative Japanese companies recycle SO per cent of their waste while North American municipalities target lust per cent said Mr Strain The Japanese are willing to share their technology but North Americans must change their social at titudea he said Mr Strain also recommended POWER incorporate itself in order to avoid a law suit against any In dividual At one point the MOE threatened to sue citizens in a fight against a dump in Stouffville said Mr Strain 25 years working on behalf of town Sargent retires as town employee Georgetown residents saw Ihe end of on era May 18 with a big sendoff Tor Doug Sargent who Is retiring after more than years of work for the town Mr Sargent has seen the workings of a municipality from both sides as a politician and an employee he gained experience as a councillor then deputy reeve before becoming reeve of the Town of Georgetown In He held that position until 1961 when he became mayor for one year Thai same year Mr Sargent was the warden of County now Mr Sargent left municipal work in 1962 to work with a private engineer firm but he was drawn back public life once more when he took over the position of Chief Building Official for Ihe Town of Georgetown In 1970 It was he last career move Mr Sargent would make He held position until he retired this year After IB years of watching growth in town Mr Sargent has seen some major changes Perhaps the biggest impact on Georgetown was the annex of more than acres to form what would become Ihe Delrex subdivision in 19M said Mr Sargent That paved the way to Increase the population of less than to what would become over 18 In he subdivision was completion Then came the next biggest challenge Mr Sargent would have to tackle regional government When we first went regional and became Halton Hills it was quite a change said Mr Sargent Those were quite Interesting Not only did his job as a field in spec tor issuer of building per mils expand dramatically but sud denly there were more laws and regulations lo deal with Until notion Hills comes up with a comprehensive bylaw town workers must abide by the previous bylaws said Mr Sargent Hills took in Georgetown Acton and ports of That meant dealing with Tour sets of bylaws and our sets of regulations said Mr Sargent who saw four mayors come ana go in his tenure as Chief Building Inspector Mr Sargent coworkers talked fondly of him Town Engineer Bob Austin said Mr Sargent Is slow to anger and is also very happy go- lucky Nevertheless Mr Sargent took his work In stride He prone to meeting deadlines said Mr Austin who knew the building Inspector for 14 years Deadlines would come and go and Doug would continue on Hills Fire Chief Bill Ingham echoed Mr Austin sen Sorgcnl He a person that everybody Ilk said Chief Cunningham who worked with the building inspector occasionally Despite all the demands of the Job I never saw him angry To his successor R who came down from Yellowknife Mr Sargent could only say he should Eel used to dealing with four sets of ylaws He going to have a whole lot of fun gelling used to the rather unique situation here Doug Sargent was given a warm tendoff recently when be retired from his position as Chief Building Official for the town Mr Sargent has worked In politics as well over years giving him Insight on workings of the community from both of the fence Here Mr Sargent left Is seen with Mayor Rum Miller and the painting he received one of many gifts Herald photo