Wi'B1iF JDZUNEl26ý 1UX PAGM # Items from Whitby Coulncil agenda(s) Monday, June. 24, 1991 Recommendations from the Planning and Development Cominittee That an appli cation for a zonlng by-iaw change tram Anthony Citruilo and Michael Baratz to allow a il1,750 sq. ft. 2-storey f mancialIinstitution on the N. side of Dundas between Kent and EuclId be approved. This proposai replaced a controversiai <3-starey building whlch was approved a year ago but <which the developer was unable ta, proceed wlth due to <economlc conditions, The site has been empty since fast April when an 1850'â bouse was moved. 1Carried That a revlsed plan of subdivision tram the Herity Coip. (formerly submltted as Whitby Gardens Inc.) for a mlxed residentiai subdivision on 74 acres at the southwest corner of Taunton Rd. and Broc k St. N. be appraved, subjeot ta conditions lmposed by the planning dpeartment. Herity had sought permission for 570 housing units, but 507 units. Parkland and open space wiil accounit for aimast <15 acres. A public elementary school will be bult on anather six acres. The area is now prlmariiy vabant f armland. It Is designated residentiai and hazard lands ln bath Whitby's and Durham Regian's officiai plans.. i That a revised site plan application t ram Atlantic Packaging Products Ltd. for a warehouse at its Thlckson Rd. S. factory be approved. The f baor space ln the building Is being reduced t ram 46,000 sq. ft. ta 34,000 sq.ft. and more equipment is belng added. Carried That a proposaI t ram the Whtby Ratary Club ta develop a six-acre natural park at the s outhwest corner of Rossiand Rd. and Anderson St. be approved. The project will cost $21 7.325 but na municipal funds wiii be used It ay fo hejrk.. B yMike Kowalski In I19 a gassrootsprotçst movement Iilfed the Pickerihg Vaubefarmland would ýe destroyed even though no valýd reasons had been shown to jups. tilfr another international airpoqt ta serve Toronto critics claimed. Fifteen years later, people are expressmîg similar sentiments in an effort ta stop the Ontario government's proposed Hwy. While work is not expected ta begin for several years,opsi tion is growing ta a 10.U~ superhighiway through the. heart of Durham Region. Environmental groupe, far- mers, rural residents and even a governinent MPP have expressed concern about the 61-kmi. high- way planned ta run from Mark- hain ta the Town of Newcastle. During a publie information meeting in the Newcastle hamiet of lyrone last week transpor- tation miinistry'offliis were told by more than one peson the highwa.ty is not wanted (fjtyresidents had their opporunit ast night when the mumstra preferred route was unveiled at the Luther Viponid MemorialArena in Brooklin. (In Whitby, the 407 will not str!y too far fromHwy. 7.) 1 Niva Rowan of Newcastlo represents a coalition. of ten dii'- ferent organizations who are demandling further study of the highiway's impact on f-armland and the environninent. STORM (Save the Oak Ridges Moraine) bas written Transpor- tation Miniter Ed Philip and MPPs along the highway's path .fhirojections. STORM's concerns are essen- tially two-fold. Members are worried about the loss of farmland and the impact of construction and sub- sequýent development, on the envirnmentally sensitive Oak Ridges moraine. Stretching froin the Niagara escarpinent ta Trenton the moraine is a huge sanâ and gravel deposit left gy the last ice age. Environmentalists say the moraine acta as a natural filt- ration systemn for water flowing inta Lake Ontario. As now proposed the high- way's pathtrough burha lies south of the moraine until it reaches Newcastle.- While she personally does not want a highway of any kind, Rowan said-STORM lias not yet taken that strong a stand. "We feel no developinent should be doue on. the 407 until we know its impact on the moraine, » said Rowan. «There should be more studY» she added. Rowan said there is no «logical reason» for the hi hway, other than ta serve oôronto-bound comTnuters. This will only reinforoe Dur- haxn's raie as a bedroom coin- munity, Rowan said. "A lot ofpeople don't want ta see Durham Region with one million people," said Rowan. Durhamn East MPP Gord Milîs, moraine, Mille said this is not possible. Canadian National, which owns the tracks, will not give its *permission, saidMliîs.. ... (Thie lime, which i'uns froin Peterboroughi ta Toranto was1 abandoned when the f?ederal governinent chopped VIA Rail1 commuter routes early lest year.)1 While he feels another majori transportation route is needed4 in1 Durham,..Mills said it may flot necessarily be a highway.1 Mills stressed that a rapid1 transit right-of-way is alsa, part of the 407 proposai. As now planned, the 407 will be ten lanes froin Hwy. 48 in Markham ta the vicinity of Dur-i hem Rd. 34 (Courtice Rd.) in Newcastle. The remaining section ta Hwy. 35/115 will be an eight-lane freeway. A transit riht-of-way is also part of the Igwy. 48 ta Courtice Rd. section. The right-of-waLy will allow for saine type of rapid transit but no decision about wvhat form it will take lias yet been made. «What the MOT is trying ta secure is a right-of-way, when it's built it may very well be rapid.transit rather than a higli- av» said Mills. Iit's utilized we may neyer need a highway.» But whiether it's a highway or rapid . transit line «obviously we've got ta have it,e said Mills. «We h ave ta reverse the flow of people ging inta Taronto. We need industry here ta stop people froîn driving downtawn.» Mille rejects the argument thet the 407,.will only adId ta trafic probleme in Tarante and that new industry will not locate in Durhiam. «To say we can have industry here without some formn of transit is not realistic,» said Mille.<1 .«Growth. muet come east of Toronto ... you would be sticking your head in the sand ta say itfe nat needed.» Milis' support for the 407 or a transit line is not shared by hie New Democratic Party colleague from Durham West. In tract, MPP Jin Wiseman questions whether the 407 woiild be a dis-incentive to industry locating in Durham. 1Wiseman believes the empha- sis ehould be on developing au «industrial strategy» for the Region. SEE PAGE 13 . ~ WIUTBY FEE PREIS5 < > WLL 13E CLO5ED< on Monday, uidy 1 Deadlnhs f1« ai dvwtlsig end ComhiEvntswmll be Fldoy et 4pm 11ev.e h<vpy, sfe Iwldey wkesa m ýl eý ; 1