The Havelock town meeting on June 6 included a group of concerned citizens questioning the news that the town had passed a bylaw to hire an outside agency to help with rezoning. After the recent brush with unwanted asphalt factories, anything to do with zoning would obviously be worrying. It turns out that the new mayor, Stephane Gingras, and his council were asking a municipal advisory company, Infrastructel, to help with some minor changes to existing zoning rules to make them clearer, and in some cases, to beef up inadequate penalties for non-compliance.
To this end, Mayor Gingras says that “All parties will benefit from an exchange that hopefully will also help citizens understand these regulations and how they work.” He added, “We’re already zoned almost 100 per cent green. There will never be housing developments and so on, unless the provincial level changes our status.”
There have been some questions about the new owners of the Ducharme Quarry, and the mayor established that in this case, there is cause for local pride. The new owner, Atwill Morin, is a stone mason company from Ottawa. It will be using rock from Havelock in the refurbishment of Canada’s Parliament buildings.
Mayor Gingras said he’s also looking for Havelock citizens’ participation in working on his vision plan for the village, which has three main points and will be detailed in the next bulletin. He says he wants to help maple syrup producers with current challenges. He also intends to make sure the Ducharme Quarry, the largest employer in the village, will keep current employees; he has written the president of Atwill Morin asking for an estimate of how long the existing quarry can continue to produce. Finally, Gingras wants to speak to the Havelock Fair committee about continuing to re-vitalize their fair, making it even larger, and featuring more of the township’s unique productions. “I’d love it to be the key place for our community to express themselves, show off their food and wine products and artistic skills.”
