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4 + WATERLOO CHRONICLE + Wednesday, July 18, 2 * Live Owls from W.E.E.P.!Mad Scientists! Potions! * Tour Ballycastle and meet your favorite Professors! New Hamburg Welcome to New Hogsmeade â€" 8:30pm to Midnight * Townâ€"wide Festival: Hogwarts Express! Sorting Hat! Shrieking Shack! + Countdown to the sale of the final book ~ on sale at 12:01am . Saturday, July 21st New Hamburg A Wizarding Wingding â€" noon to 5:00pm * the Highly Anticipated Quidditch Tournament * Costume Contest, Scavenger Hunt, Swordfighting Friday, July 20th Baden Hooray for Harry at Castle Kilbride www.harrypotterfestival.ca 6:30pm to 8:30pm 2007 ADVERTISERS appreciate it when you tell them .. I saw your ad in the Chronicle. Continued from page 1 "This is all within the power of this council." "I can‘t do anything about those who still think that‘s the case," said Coun. lan McLean, who was part of the last council, which gave the approval for the draft plan of subdivision. "This council has reviewed the previous decision, and understand the additional environmental measures that we‘ve gotten from the developer. "1 would say that this is the most environmenâ€" tally progressive development in the history of the Region of M ies se T wonder why we t would take a motion _ from _ Want to p}tt our council to reopen very dedicated deb p j +s « + :ihoeesfn'lal[(fo:nl(ijklel activists in thlS council is preâ€" commumty pared to do that. > Mark Whaley, the thrqugh this lone councillor _ exercise when at who voted against P the subdivision the end O_fthe day ap;:irO\'al last year, _ there will be no said no one on » council has ben’e-fit It would take a motion from council to reopen the debate, and it doesn‘t look like council is preâ€" pared to do that. Mark Whaley, the lone councillor who voted against the subdivision approval last year, said no one on council has approached him to reopen the debate. He also opposed council‘s latest motion to open the floor on July 23 with no real mechanism to make a decision. He‘s worried that the commuâ€" nity might only see this as a public relations exerâ€" cise. "I know that‘s not the mayor‘s intention," said Whaley. "But when you limit speakers to five minâ€" utes and say that you‘re not going to allow a vote ... 1 wonder why we want to put our very dedicatâ€" ed activists in this community through this exerâ€" cise when at the end of the day there will be no benefit. If anything, Fleming would like to see conâ€" cerns over traffic and the amount of impervious ground cover addressed before any final approval is given. He isn‘t convinced a new thirdâ€"pipe rain collection system is the answer for stormâ€"water collection. It would bypass the natural filtration that is already done by the area. "I respect the mayor and the work she‘s doing, but unfortunately 1 can‘t support the way we‘re going about it." s o But Fleming and others still think this should be a madeâ€"inâ€"Waterloo decision and the authoriâ€" ty shouldn‘t be ceded over to the planning comâ€" missioner. The new council has a mandate to vote on the development since a majority of them were swept into office on a green wave concerned about the environmental implications of the proâ€" posed new subdivisions. There are concerns that almost 30 per cent of the rainwater will be diverted by the construction of 1,600 new homes in the area, and will never teach the underground aquifer that helps feed the local groundwater system. Council not sure vote needed Waterloo councillor â€" Mark Whaley Those effects might not be seen for 40 years, and that would be too late to mitigate the impact. But the region in its final review said any change to groundwater infiltration will show up sooner, starting at about 10 years, and something could be done at that time to address any potential problems. But Fleming said those assurances aren‘t enough, and he‘s suggesting the city get the developers to add more topsoil to the project to allow for more filtration. There are other unresolved issues, including traffic. Fleming said council should wait for the final Class Environmental Assessment on the Wilmot Line and Erb Street before moving on with the process. The city has an obligation to look at alternaâ€" tives to potentially paving 900 metres of the Wilmot Line as a secondary exit to the subdiviâ€" sion, said Fleming. There are also other ways to ease the bottleneck that already exists at Erbsville Road and Columbia Drive. "They can look at things like the Waterloo Golf Academy as an alternate route to address the trafâ€" fic issues," said Fleming. "This is the last way to mitigate traffic concerns." Other environmentalists are taking their conâ€" cerns to the streets and are trying to paper the community with pamphlets in a successful stratâ€" egy that seemed to work during the last municiâ€" pal election race in November. David Wellhauser of the Waterlocians has joined with a provincial group called Earthroots to pass out more than 2,000 brochures that ask for the area in questjon to be considered as the new Edna Staebler greenbelt and is looking to get the province involved with the issue. At the very least, the environmental activists are trying to make the Waterloo moraine an issue in the upcoming provincial election like the Oak Ridges moraine became an issue in the last one. That high visibility for the Oak Ridges moraine got that development stopped, and precipitated Ontario‘s Green Belt legislation to manage growth around the Greater Toronto Area. Wellhauser and Earthroots officials feel that legislation didn‘t go far enough, and is leading to "leapfrog" sprawl in areas like Wagerloo region just outside of that provincial policy area. Wellhauser and members of Citizens for the Protection of the Waterloo Moraine have also held extensive meetings with city officials in the run up to the July 23 meeting and don‘t think that their concerns have been heard. "It‘s clear that we have a rookie council that doesn‘t understand the implications of this deciâ€" sion," said Wellhauser. "They aren‘t addressing the Jefferson salamander study, and challenging us on the interpretation of the hydrology studies and say it‘s all safe. "The risk assessment done is inherently flawed because over the process, the region has admitted that the hydrology is different than origâ€" inally thought. "They haven‘t done another risk assessment as a result, and you have to do another risk assessâ€" ment if the circumstances change." Wellhauser said they‘re trying to get as many supporters as they can out to Monday‘s council meeting. He‘s also expecting a big showing from the genâ€" eral public saying that 90 per cent of the people he‘s talked to on their doorsteps expressed some concern about the development. m@muum‘s FRESHLY PICKED & FLASH FROZEN GARDEN Open Sat to Wed Samâ€"6pm, Thurs & Fri Samâ€"8pm Hwy 7, 1 mile west of Acton 1â€"800â€"387â€"4039 Guaranteed Tender & Sweet i To Gueiph Hury #7 “Js- I