Geography will no longer play a part in naming new streets after veterans from Centre Wellington who died defending Canada.
Council made that decision in committee of the whole on Jan. 21, while, at the same time, approving names of veterans for streets in two Elora subdivisions, and another new street in Fergus.
In the Elora Meadows subdivision, the streets will be named Bricker Avenue, Clegg Road, and Marr Drive.
In the Elora Ridge subdivision, the street names will be Finnie Lane, Healey Street, McGowan Street, Reynolds Road, Spencer Drive, and Stafford Street.
Planner Brett Salmon told council that prior to amalgamation, Elora and Fergus had a policy of naming streets after those who had fought and died. Some townships also used that policy, if only on an informal basis.
But, Salmon said, the two subdivisions council had approved, Elora Meadows and Elora Ridge, are, technically, in old Nichol township, although those lands are now formally located inside what is the Elora urban centre. He said in that case, the township used “a combination of both” municipalities’ veterans for naming streets.
He added that the naming policy was an informal one, and there is nothing written down to guide those choosing the street names.
Centre Wellington Township has continued with the policy, and names new streets in Fergus for war dead from that community, and does the same for Elora.
Now, township officials want to combine all the remaining names so that they can be used anywhere in the township.
Salmon said there are some good reasons for doing that.
“We want all the names together for a master list,” he said, and added, “I suggest after these two [subdivisions], we blend all the names.”
Among the reasons for the change are:
– most of the new subdivisions coming up are in old Nichol township, and there are not enough war dead names from there for the number of new streets to be named;
– if the township does not approve a consolidated list, there are many names from Elora, Fergus, and West Garafraxa that might never be used;
– Pilkington’s war dead are integrated with the village’s at the Elora cenotaph; and there is duplication between the Fergus and West Garafraxa war dead lists, so there is already blending of the street names between the former municipalities;
– not all names of war dead can be used for new streets, because street names cannot be duplicates of street names already in use in the township, or across all of Wellington County; and
– the use of a consolidated list will contribute to creating an awareness of a shared history as a township.
Salmon said the consolidated list includes more than 60 names, so the township will be using the names of soldiers killed in action to name new streets for the foreseeable future.”
He added that at various times, the township receives requests to name streets after other individuals, but he said he sees no need for now to change the current policy. “We do allow private streets to be named for others,” he said.
Salmon added in his report, “We should give credit to the Wellington Advertiser, who annually publish a list of our war dead in their Remembrance Day edition.
“We use this list to ensure ours is up to date because the Advertiser also incorporates war dead from global conflicts since World War II, such as the Korean War.”
Gregson honoured
Council also approved a proposed bylaw to establish and lay out lands for a highway to be named Gregson Court.
Salmon’s report noted that the bylaw would also widen the Gartshore Street road allowance. His report stated that in the 2006 budget, council approved a project to construct a new road in the Fergus Industrial Park to provide more industrial lands for sale by the township and to provide access to a site for a new municipal snow dumping facility.
That road was approved last year, and the township is now ready to establish and lay out the new road according to the Municipal Act. That bylaw will also wide a portion of Gartshore by three metres.
Salmon wrote, “It is proposed that the new road be named Gregson Court. In accordance with the township policy, Gregson Court is named for David Gregson, a resident of West Garafraxa, who was killed in action in World War I. The signage identifying the street will include a poppy symbol to denote that the street is named for one of our war dead.”
Councillor Fred Morris asked if the cost of the road building will be recovered from the sale of the land.
Economic Development Officer Dave Rushton replied, “Yes.”
Council unanimously approved the recommendations.
