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Reader's Forum 3 This is the third page of the Readers Forum and covers April 2003 to the present. To go to the previous page covering May, 2002 to the April 2003 click here. To go to the first page covering Jan. 2001 to May 2002 click here. On The previous page Nicholas Ermeta had suggested that Puslinch should annex much of the former Town of Flamborough. I wrote back saying that I didn't think Puslinch had the legal authority to do that. Here is his response. Posted 20 April 2003 You are right. Puslinch doesn't have the power to annex the former township. However, if Puslinch and Wellington County agree to it and convince Hamilton to agree, then the province will go ahead with it. Convincing Hamilton I believe would be the hard part. We would have to really build a lot of support with the residents of Flamborough and then they along with Puslinch and the county will push the province into making the decision. I think Flamborough residents would support this. "Anything but Hamilton" is their attitute towards this. And joining Puslinch is good in a sense it ensures farmland protection since Puslinch is aparently really strict on development. They would have to pay the Flamborough portion of Hamilton's debt, but this can be worked out. I'm sure residents won't mind this as they would be getting what they want out of it. And Hamilton doesn't really invest in Flamborough anyway. This would be very good for Puslinch. It is good for Flamborough too. A win-win situation for everyone. Regards, Nicholas Ermeta The careful reader of these pages will take note of two things. One--Nicholas does not live in Puslinch or Flamborough, but in Cambridge. Two--A year ago Nicholas proposed that Puslinch should amalgamate with Cambridge! Puslinch Township Refuses to Link to This SiteToday is October 26 '03 and I have not had a submission to this Forum in over six months. Summer is usually a slow time for e-mail comments, but this is ridiculous. So, I thought I would comment on something myself.Several people have asked what I think about the new Township web site. Well, I think its great, if you need to know what day it is in Puslinch. Other than the date and an address there is no information on the first page and only very little more on the rest of the site. I guess I should feel flattered that the Township uses the same font for the "The Township of Puslinch" title in the photo as I have used for my page titles. Have a look, only the flourishes on the capital letters differ slightly. It is an uncommon font and that seems to be more than a coincidence. A careful reader of this Forum will have realized that one of my goals of this web site is to promote Puslinch tradesmen and businesses, to other Puslinchers with the hope we would call them first. The Township used a Guelph Company to create our Township web site. There was no call for tenders, yet I know of several web site designers living within the Township. Have you ever seen a call for a tender in the Township. It makes me wonder. Why would Puslinch go to Guelph to hire a web site designer? For a very few concerned citizens, the Council Meeting Minutes may have some interest. The Community Contact info is great--I have been doing a similar, if more extensive page, but is a real nuissance trying to keep everything up to date. The same for the Upcoming Events page--more touble than it is worth--so I will be sending visitors there. However, I felt that puslinch.net should have been listed as a Community Contact. The Mayor is aware of this site and has thanked me for for my service to the community. The Township office knows this site is here, as it approached me to put some Township information on the site. I offered a ridiculously low price so that I could have some actual Township business on the site, but they declined. To not find a link on that site was like a slap on the face! They know I'm here and that you are here writing in with your comments. Are we to be ignored? On Oct 13 I put a link from this site to the Township site and sent an e-mail asking for a reciprocal link. Two weeks later there has been no response. We are being ignored! On Nov. 23 I sent another e-mail requesting a link. Here is the response: Thank you for your emails and your interest in our site, however we are not interested in adding a link to puslinch.net at this time. Talk about a slap in the face--ouch! I have asked for, and received links from our neighbors, the County of Wellington, the city of Guelph, and even the city of Hamilton--yet my home township which I have been attempting to serve through this web site--will not put in a link. I have to wonder why. Perhaps, in allowing Puslinchers to freely express their opinions on this site, it is somehow considered as subversive. On Nov. 25, I wrote back asking why not and whose decision it was: This decision has been discussed with both the mayor and the clerk, and it was decided that a link could be perceived as our support for opinions you have expressed on your site. There has been confusion in the past as to the Township's association with your website, and we choose not to be associated to avoid this confusion. So there you have it. The Township does not wish to be associated with the opinions expressed by its residents! But, please tell me again, who is confused? If you object this form of censorship by the Township, I encourage you to send them an e-mail expressing your opinion. Posted 17 December 2003 Hey there Paul, First of all let me say that I am very pleased about the 4 way flasher we have on Victoria and 34... However I feel that someone should bring up the issue of putting up an actual street light. The flasher is way better than before but is it seriously enough??? The amount of accidents have gone down at the intersection but it is still a very unpleasant intersection, now with the winter months coming its only going to get worse! I see at least 3 vehicles a day either do a rolling stop or go straight through those stop signs. The flasher helps but there is always going to be the majority of bad drivers who just don't care... I also realize about the gravel industry and how they have to do so many runs out of the pit on Victoria then turn onto 34, however the situation will only get worse everyday, we've still had a few serious accidents at that intersection even since the flasher was installed. I feel it would be a good thing to bring up about putting an actual traffic light at the intersection because those of you who drive past Victoria rd. while on 34 have to keep a constant eye out for those people running the two stop signs, its only a matter of time before someone gets in a fatal crash there and quite frankly I don't want it to be myself...How about you? -Michael Dailous In the 10 years we have been here, there has been a significant increase of traffic on Victoria Rd. I cross it every day on Maltby Rd. and have frequently observed rolling stops, and have been cut-off several times. There is much more traffic on Victoria Rd. and althought they have the stop signs, seem to feel they have the right-of-way. Posted 23 January 2004 This week the Puslinch Library asked the Township to provide a link to the library web site. Here is the response that was received: Your site is a puslinch.net website. We won't be including links to puslinch.net sites as people are confusing it for our official site. We have posted the library's phone number and we would be happy to post a link to an independent site were you to acquire one in the future. Thank you. How low is that! The Wellington County Library System has provided a link to the Puslinch Library site, but our own Township site refuses to do so, and further, suggests that the library should find another host for it's site! At this point I must point out that the Library site is hosted here at no charge. This is a service I offer to all Puslinch not-for-profit organizations as a community service. While I find it highly unlikely that anyone would confuse my site with the "official" Puslinch site, I have added a clear notification that mine is not the "official" Puslinch web site and have provided a link to it. It is in the upper right corner of the home page and should be difficult to miss. I sent an e-mail to the Township to allert them of this change. That should now clear up all this rampant confusion, allowing the Township to put in links to my sight, but my guess is that it will not be as simple as that. Posted Feb 5: Two weeks later and still no response. Ignored again! Posted March 12: Still no response from the township. I did receive a response from a resident who also feels ignored by the Township. Hi Paul. You're doing a great job with the website! I would love to be in email contact for events. I have complained to the township about the township website and asked them to keep it up to date with minutes and agenda, but they have ignored me so far. (You'll note the less than complimentary article about my husband Michael and I on the front page of the Feb. 13 Advertiser). I do check your site for updates and news, but sometimes I may miss something. Thanks for all the hard work you do. Linda Posted March 20, 2005 This week I received an inquiry from a Newmarket couple who are hoping to retire to our fair Township about a dog food compay building a factory here. I had heard nothing about it. I went to the Township site to review the latest minutes of the Township meetings, however, the minutes are only available to users of Microsoft Word and not in PDF format which would make them availble to everyone. But I digress. I was planning to send an e-mail to a Council member today to ask her about it, but she had already sent me the information presented below. Thank you! You may have heard many negative comments circulating around the township regarding a company called Royal Canin. Royal Canin is an international pet food manufacturer who is interested in buying a piece of property in our industrial park off of Nicholas Beaver Road. Since I have had many calls about this, I would like to set the record straight and try to quell some very erroneous rumors. 1) Royal Canin is NOT a rendering plant. All food that would be brought in is in a dry form. 2) Council has made NO DECISION regarding this facility. Council has hired an independent Guelph company who specializes in odors to prepare a report. Stan Denhoed, the township's water consultant is also preparing a report. 3) Xavier Unkovic, the president of Royal Canin, has arranged a bus trip on April 1st for residents within close proximity to the plant and council members to tour a plant which produces foods using fish byproducts in Tavistock. This is not a RC plant, but apparently fish byproducts have the most noxious odors. This company is using a cold press filtrating system--the same technology which Royal Canin will use at their plant. Mr. Unkovic claims that there is no odor from this plant and wants to prove it to residents here. 4) Council will not make a decision until all reports are studied and input has been given from residents and the county planner. I would just ask that everyone stay calm about this and not jump to any conclusions until all the information is in. Please remember, that council represents all interests of the residents. We all live in Puslinch and do not want any offensive odors either. However, we feel we must at least investigate this company. Their intent is to build a $40 million plant which will help us in minimizing property tax increases and they also plan on hiring in excess of 100 employees. Mr. Unkovic has assured us that Puslinch residents will get first crack at the jobs. 5) There are a few scenarios that could play out i) If council is convinced this will not have a negative impact in Puslinch, we could approve the application. At this point, any citizen (even one who is not a Puslinch resident) has the right to appeal the decision the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB). This is a provincial government body which has the right to overrule local councils or uphold the decision. ii) Council could turn down this application. At this point, Royal Canin has the right to appeal to the OMB. The OMB may uphold or overrule the local council's decision and Royal Canin would be able to locate their plant in Puslinch if the OMB overruled council. iii) In a scenario where Royal Canin was turned down and they chose not to appeal, it would only be a matter of time until another company would locate there since this is a very valued piece of property. I have learned from very reliable sources that RC has a reputation of being very environmentally conscious--they will not take down any trees and in fact plant more trees and they are only using a small portion of the 90+ acres they plan on purchasing. The wetland area will be untouched under their proposal. This may not be the case if/when another company's application is brought forward. So please join council in keeping an open mind, waiting for the expert reports to come in, after which an informed, intelligent decision can be made on the facts. Feel free to send this to your neighbours in Puslinch. That all sounds good to me. Asta may have to change her brand of dog food. There is an article about the proposed factory in the Wellington Advertiser dated 18 March 2005. There is more information available about the company on the Royal Canin website. Posted August 30, 2005 Here is an intreresting request/offer. Hi Paul, My name is Graham. I came across Puslinch.net while doing a search for hunting land in the Puslinch area. I thought I would drop you an email to see if you knew of any farmers in the area suffering crop damage from deer. I live in Guelph and only bowhunt in this area. I'm a very responsible hunter and thought maybe I'd be able to help a farmer, while enjoying what I like to do. Thanks Paul. I appreciate any help or suggestions you could give. Best wishes, Graham. Graham's e-mail address is graham.price@sheridanc.on.ca. Posted July 1, 2007 While visiting a restaurant on Puslinch Lake in the south-west corner of your township I learned that Puslinch Lake is a kettle lake, the largest kettle lake in North America spanning 160 hectares (380 acres). We went golfing at Puslinch Lake Golf Club which is north of Highway #401 and east of Town Line Road. It took us a while to then find our way to the restaurant on Puslinch Lake itself. Curious to see what information is available on the net, Wikipedia provided for me an article about kettle lakes. It mentions Kettle Moraine in Wisconsin and Kettle Point, Ontario, but makes no mention of Puslinch Lake other than a separate list of Examples of kettle lakes in North America. I have attempted to add information about Puslinch Lake to that article. Also, I note that your website has a map that does not show Puslinch Lake at all except for Barber's Landing which might be on the shore. To me, this seems strange. My copy of the Chrysler Canada Vacation Guide shows on page 79 a map of Waterloo, Kitchener and Cambridge. At the eastern edge of the map, Puslinch Lake is clearly shown and identified south of Highway # 401 and east of Town Line Road. You might like to improve your website. Your 76-year-old map reader, Malcolm Curtis Thank you for your comment. My map has been criticized before. I have asked that if anyone can show me a better map available on the internet for free I will use it. So far no one has come forward. Also, you will notice that the first link on my home page is to maps and satellite photos available on Google. I am glad that you had a good visit in our fair Township and that you have taken an interest in our lake. I have not found Wikipedia to be a particularly reliable source of information. For example, it says, "The area is rich in natural gas resources. The main source of production is agricultural, bottling and mining. Mining has been dominant throughout the county." We have no mining or natural gas, but we do have many gravel pits, which is not mentioned. And speaking of gravel pits.... Posted July 15, 2007 To whom it may concern: Can you please advise whom I would contact concerning a petition or request to change the speed limit from Brock Road to Victoria Road on County Road 34 and west on 34 to County Road 32, down to 50 KPH Many folks living along this high traffic area have had damage done to their vehicles caused by gravel trucks, traveling at speeds often clocked at 90 km per hour or more. Stones from the truck's body, having just filled or emptied fly off these vehicles, often crashing though windshields or denting fronts of vehicles. With the speed that some of these drivers travel, they are often seen to swerve onto the shoulder, sending gravel flying in all directions. Pity the person walking along the side of the road when these rocks are flying. On several occasions, we have seen these heavy trucks, some with "pups" on the back, travel right through the intersection of Brock and 35 on a red light, apparently going too fast to stop. After complaints to the Ontario Provincial Police, radar has been sent and to quote one officer, " I get writer's cramp when I sit here" Is this not a legitimate complaint? I would ask that this letter be forwarded to the proper department for consideration or comment. Yours truly, Keith Drummond, I agree, gravel trucks are a menace. My car was damaged and my wife traumatized when gravel spilled from a truck onto the car windshield and hood. It occurred on the 34. My guess is that it is the county that sets the speed limits. But, it is my understanding that the pit operators are attempting to be better neighbours, so a complaint to the pit owner or our town council to pass on, may get some results. Back to the Top |