The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

* * & Granite Club not getting special tax break, mayor says Continued from page 1 echoed by a Waterloo taxâ€" _ with the public interest and _ local citizens he referred to tially handing them the keys _ payers group called the Taxâ€" _ its ratepayers. the Toronto law firm after to the building for control of _ payers for Rink in the Park The letter concluded: "In _ their bid for the facility was the building. represented by a Toronto _ our clients‘ view the proâ€" _ rejected. "The licencing agreeâ€" _ law firm called WeirFaulds. _ posed licence agreement He said that the Granite ment is an attempt to cirâ€" _ While all of council didn‘t _ amounts to no more than _ Club is a "private" organizaâ€" cumvent the general rules of _ initially receive the letter, it _ an attempt by the City to _ tion and didn‘t deserve the tenancy just to allow the was delivered after the benefit the Association â€" property taxâ€"free status that Granite Club not to pay _ meeting started, the group â€" (Granite Club) at the â€" bids from groups with more property taxes." wondered if the licencing _ expense of the taxpayers of _ public usage like the Skills His concerns were â€" agreement was consistent â€" the City of Waterloo and is â€" Innovation Group would "The licencing agreeâ€" ment is an attempt to cirâ€" cumvent the general rules of tenancy just to allow the Granite Club not to pay property taxes." "COTnimunity Involvement He said that the Granite Club is a "private" organizaâ€" tion and didn‘t deserve the property taxâ€"free status that bids from groups with more public usage like the Skills Innovation Group would enjoy. "With the lounge they‘re basically running a business there, so to me there‘s a big distinction," said Fedy. "Their taxâ€"exempt status makes no sense as opposed to ours or anybody‘s proâ€" posal with a more public use. "If we had taken it over you would have had many different people coming in there for many different uses. Now you‘ve got a club using it for one purpose and running it as they see fit." But Woolstencroft conâ€" tested the characterization of the Granite Club as a priâ€" vate organization. Anyone in Waterloo can join the club as long as they pay the membership fees, like a number of other public recreational groups in town. "If you can pay the fee to belong to the Granite Club, they have no membership vetting," said Woolstencroft. "They don‘t blackball anyâ€" "They don‘t have qualifiâ€" cations for membership â€" if you pay your fee you can join." xible .5 Durs /