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www.insideHALTON.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Thursday, June 21, 2012 · 12 Helping neighbours resolve their conflicts By David Lea OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF As Halton continues to grow and people find themselves living closer and closer together, neighbourly conflicts are inevitable. When those conflicts happen, the Community Conflict Resolution Services of Halton (CCRS) wants residents to know the not-for-profit organization is there to help bring these disagreements to fair resolution. "Currently funded by the municipality of Oakville, the organization is looking to increase awareness and use of the free services that they provide. These services include mediation of interpersonal grievances, as well as general training in conflict resolution strategies," said Alixandra Nenniger of CCRS. "The mediation process is founded on the principle that conflict is natural and healthy, as long as it is managed effectively. Mediation represents a productive alternative to aggressive confrontation, as well as the helplessness many non-confrontational individuals may feel when faced with a conflict." Resolving the conflict this way, Nenniger said, means a decrease in repeated court and police interventions, which strain limited government resources. Nenniger said there is considerable need for this service pointing to a recent incident in Burlington where conflict erupted between a landowner and surrounding residents over an orchard tree that was being cut down. "The mediation process would have been a good thing for those people to be involved in before the tree was taken down to see if there was a way everyone could have gotten what they wanted," said Nenniger. "Maybe the tree could have been relocated or something like that." Situations where noise from a nearby bar is disturbing residents or a resident's band is upsetting his neighbours are other examples of disputes that can be settled with the help of the CCRS. With a team of trained volunteer mediators from diverse backgrounds, including legal, paralegal and social work, the CCRS mediates disputes between neighbours, friends, relatives, tenants and coworkers. "Mediators provide a neutral third party to organize, facilitate, and guide a meeting between the two people who disagree. The mediator's role is to encourage understanding between apparently opposed perspectives while having no vested interest themselves," said Nenniger. "The process typically takes only about two hours in total, but can save a huge amount of time and stress. Meetings are held at a neutral location, such as the Town of Oakville offices. Ideally, the process allows the parties to arrive at a win-win solution that they engineer themselves. In other instances, compromise is necessary." The CCRS was created when Oakville Dispute Mediators and Conflict Resolution Services Milton merged two years ago. For more information about CCRS, visit www. ccrshalton.com or call 905-844-5414. The organization deeply appreciates donations and all donors will be given a tax receipt. These contributions are invested in further community outreach as well as free training for residents of Halton, who wish to enhance their communication and problem solving skills. Breaking ground Officials broke ground on a new LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold office development, Tuesday, which will be located on Davis Road, next to the Oakville GO Station. The First Gulf Corporation is developing the six-storey, 150,000sq.-ft. building and has already secured the firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) as its lead tenant. "I hope that everyone will join us in welcoming PwC, a household name and financial services industry leader, to the Oakville business community," said Oakville Mayor Rob Burton. "Their presence here is an endorsement of Oakville's livability. Their choice of First Gulf as the builder of a LEED Gold office space speaks to their progressive values and environmental consciousness." PwC will occupy at least 75,000 square feet of the office building as a result of their west end office consolidation. "This location appealed to us because it's a growing business community, is close to public transit and major highways, and has leading green design features, all of which support PwC's environmental objectives," said Raj Kothari, GTA managing partner of PwC. "Our aim is to create a truly unique PwC work space that meets the diverse and long-term needs of the firm, both for our people and our business."