At the far west end of Carleton County, the Township of Fitzroy presented picture of general contentment with the status quo.
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COUNCIL
THE TOWNSHIP OF FITZROY
BRIEF
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This township of 2,310 people is rural, with Fitzroy Harbour, Galetta and Kinburn, a 20-house development for Ontario Hydro and some small unserviced summer cottage subdivisions representing the only built-up areas.
The township is considering a subdivision control by-law but would be forced to seek outside help for any degree of development. A County Planning Board would be favoured for this purpose.
The Township School Area Board is operating well. There is now general agreement that a better educational system will result from centralized administration and school consolidation; the latter already underway. The $16,900 school debt will be paid by 1969. Secondary students attend Arnprior High School with the township responsible for 19.5% of the capital and operating costs and a debt of $69,532.
The township is satisfied with participating in the Arnprior Hospital and the Carleton County Health Unit and suggest the appointment of a County Welfare Officer, a service the township could not afford.
If consolidation of government functions is considered advantageous, it should be at the County Level. Annexation by Arnprior, unsuccessfully attempted 10 years ago, is still opposed; it would not help the area annexed, and would reduce township assessment. The township is quite content with things as they are at present.
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HEARING
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Presenting the Brief were Mr. Hiram Wilson, Reeve, Mr. Walter Baker, Township Solicitor and Mr. D.W. Armstrong, Township Clerk.
They indicated an awareness of the Town of Arnprior's current intention to seek approval to annex a portion of the township for industrial expansion. Annexation would take the highest assessed areas which would adversely affect the tax base in the remaining township; it is definitely opposed. While the township is as much aligned to Arnprior as to Ottawa, this relationship to Arnprior is not like Cumberland's trong orientation to Ottawa.
It was stated that the township maintains the roads for the 150 summer cottages; there is no special assessment district for the cottage area.
Although part of the Ottawa Planning Area Board's jurisdiction, the township has no Board representation, does not contribute to its finances and has not sought its assistance. The township supports a County planning authority which would exclude Ottawa, provide a closer relationship between the authority and the municipality than is presently the case with the Ottawa Planning Authority Board, and to which the local planning agencies would be subservient.
It was hoped that the 8 township schools would eventually be consolidated into one school unit, preferably under a township administrative body. A County administrative unit was not seen as necessary for the 330 public school children; no change was anticipated in the township's relationship to Arnprior High School District for which the township's portion of capital and operating costs is based on an intra-county equalization of assessment as agreed by the two county assessors.
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It was felt that a County Welfare service should be established along with the County Health Service; the township's welfare programs are presently laid at the Clerk's door.
It was suggested that consolidation of two or more local municipalities in the County was not desirable from the municipality's point of view or desired by the people concerned.
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