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town of markham suggest mass assessment appeal markham the matter of the increased residential assessment under the new county pro- strain was the subject of heated discussion at markham town council monday many residents have called council members and the municipal office about the matter council agreed that publicity for the public meeting called to outline the program was poor they said the meeting should have been scheduled after the time of mailing rather thanbefore mayor walker told council that it was her opinion that everyone in markham should file an appeal since manv figures in her opinion seemed out of line in the town of markham an increase of over five times the old assessment would mean a prob able hike in taxes anything below that figure would likely bring a reduction the new assess ments are based on the 1967 market value of property fall hat show stouffv1lle a standing room audience attended the show of fall hat fashions sponsored by unit 2 of the stouff- ville united church wo men models included mrs anita snow mrs irene slack mrs viola mccreight mrs maris anderson mrs sheila mcneil and mrs blanche rutledge door prize winners were mrs elva new- march main street east a new chapeau and mrs jackie petrie edward street a hair style by fiesta hair design other winners were mrs hazel waite mrs beulah king mrs san dra fraser mrs isabel evans mrs leona at kinson mrs dorothy waggmiss ida lehman stouffvilles new 300000 floodcontrol dam to be officially opened saturday jas thomas new conservation dam fifth on town stream stouffville the opening of stouffvilles new 300000 floodcontrol dam saturday is an his toric occasion in the life of the community but projects of this kind are not entirely new here history reveals that four similar structures were once located within the village dating back more than 80 years three were utilized for com mercial purposes and one created a farm pond in the late 1880s wheelers sawmill operat ed on the site of the pres ent postoffice water was supplied from a pond im mediately opposite the present stouffville ma chine and tool works south of the new dam was the stouffer farm pond and to the north in what was then a heavily wooded area the bartho lomew family also operat ed a sawmill another business of this kind operated on the jonas boyer farm east of the bruce harper property this pond served as a winter recreation spot for stouffville young people long after the mill closed saturdays program to begin at 11 am will in clude a 90voice choir from st marks orchard park and summitview schools under the direc tion of mr lome boad- way a brief address will be delivered by dr g ross lord chairman of the metropolitan toronto and region conservation authority with greetings from c r purceli ad visory board chairman and stouffville reeve ken laushway invocation will be pro nounced by rev j l car der stouffville united church the master of cere monies is r g hender son chairman of the flood control and water conservation advisory board visitors to the site will enter by way of edward street with parking faci lities at the high school the public particularly residents of stouffville are invited refreshments will be served in the school cafe teria horse dies on track markham an in quiry has been ordered in to the collision between two sulkies at markham fair saturday that sent one driver to hospital and caused the death of his horse wilf mawson 59 of rr 2 pefferlaw was thrown onto the track by the im pact that broke his horses leg when the animal fell it broke its neck landowners organizt mass appeal vandorf at an emergency meeting called by york county federation of agri culture monday landowners voted in favor of a mass appeal against new assessment rates residents mainly farmers filled the van- dorf hall past capacity with dozens of spec tators jammed into the lobby and basement frank brumwcll victoria square served as chairman the meeting voted by resolution to join the scarboro farmers protection group with each member paying a 10 fee to engage an attorney according to mcrlyn baker most farmers favor a system in which land is assessed in relation to its productivity rather than mar ket value assessment for residences has risen 4 to 5 times on the average while farm land has cone up more than ten times rural property not used for farming purposes has an increas ed assessment of from 20 to 30 times this property includes many 25 acre residential lots one man faces a huge increase on his land the greatest part of which he described as swamp developers bid for fair grounds markham the markham fair is located on the largest and most valuable lot in town a site that includes close to 40 acres this week it was learn ed that several wouldbe developers had approach ed directors concerning the possibility of its sale but there is no indication that the board is even re motely interested president charles reeve when contacted by the tribune admitted that overtures had been made but was quick to point out that nothing concrete was discussed it would mean the end of the fair he said i dont think the town would stand for it in commenting on the fair just concluded mr reeve agreed it was a tremendous success all way round the total at tendance has been esti mated at over 25000 with more than 10000 checking through the turnstiles sunday he noted that even with inclement wea ther on thursday the crowd exceeded previous years while suggesting it would be unfair to select one part of the show over another the president agreed that old mcdon alds farm had proved one of the biggest attrac tions he said next year it was planned to increase the numbers of animals in the building he noted that the pony party fri day had 45 entries in commenting on the lack of parking space mr reeve said this had posed a problem for years when additional land was available the board lacked the money and now that we have a little in the bank the price is exhorbitant he said he noted that wherever large crowds gather park ing is at a premium even the cne the executive and di rectors will meet later this month to assess the suc cess of markham fair 1969 and discuss plans for 1970 ol 81 no 19 stouffvillemarkhamuxbridge ont thursday oct 9 1969 15 cents residents voice alarm at assessment increase slouflville properly owners and business proprietors by this time you have received your notice of assessment for 1970 the basis of assess ing for 1970 is fair market value from looking at the assessment roll it would appear that the average assessment in creased approximately 5 times this in theory should mean that the mill rate if 100 this year would be 20 in 1970 and with no in crease in the mill rate for the year 1970 the taxes payable should be the same in 1970 as in 1969 there may be instan ces where in the opin ion of the assessor the lands andor the build ings may have been under assessed in which case your assess ment on either land or buildings may be in creased by 6 7 or 10 times there could be an error in your assess ment and if not ap pealed within the time stated nothing can be done to rectify same if this is the case you should sign your notice of assessment at the bottom and return same to the assessment commissioner 64 bay- view avenue newmar ket on or before oc tober 14 1969 w g parsons deputy reeve wrecking yard sold for 60000 municipal office flooded with calls stouffville if individual assessments have not increased by more than five times the figure of 1968 owners have not cause for concern clerk ralph corner explained this week he admitted that his office had been flooded with calls from residents and business people who viewed their assessment notices with alarm he pointed out that an average home previously assessed for 4000 would now be up to about 20- 000 mr corner said that increases less than 5 times could mean a reduction in taxes if it is over 5 times taxes will likely be up under the new system 1 mill in stouffville will raise 30000 under the old system 1 mill totalled 5400 stouffvilles tax rate in 1969 residential was 1 13 mills with no rate increase in 1970 it would be 235 mr corner said that under the county re assessment program there were bound to be some discrepancies he estimated however that 80 would be correct appeals must be filed with the county assess ment commissioner on or before oct 14 principal mr terry gray is prin cipal of the new high lands public school in whitchurch township the building was opened for regular instruction monday with an enroll ment of 470 students accident free record stouffville the site of stouffville auto wreckers stouffer street has been sold the reported price for the property is 60000 the operator is albert pollack toronto mr pollack is now mov ing the contents of the yard to another area the new owner is arjel developments limited finch avenue the site that could ac commodate nine residen tial lots may be utilized as the location for a mediumrise apartment racing pigeons stolen stouffville ten racing pigeons the prop erty of doug oneill fair- view avenue stouffville have been stolen from a pen on property north of town forty other birds were left the pigeons are spe cially trained and will re turn home if released mr oneill is appealing to persons responsible to let them go stouffville the stouffville plant of con solidated sand and gra vel limited has establish ed an accidentfree record that now extends over a period of one year there arc 35 employ ees the operation is located on the bloomington road between concessions 5 and 6 whitchurch township no individual is more proud of the feat than company foreman don peart he explains it this way everyone is con scious of safety and what precautions are required to maintain it its a con centrated effort at all levels from management right down n highlands school open class plan the heavy horse class at markham fair continues to be a top attraction this clydesdale beauty is shown by gordon lewis of casbl markham township jas thomas whitchurch twp whitchurch highlands school has opened its doors to 470 students the building unmatch- ed in the area is located at the intersection of cone 5 and the bloomington road the staff includes 18 teachers the principal is mr terry gray the school operates on an open ungraded system children arc not assigned to specific classes or grades but rather are al lowed to progress at their own speed they arc ac commodated in six large work areas called pods three teachers arc in each pod there arc no formal classrooms with the exception of the gymnasium the entire interior is completely car peted the school contains a large resource centre from which students may select books magazines newspapers and other audiovisual materials a closed circuit televi sion unit and portable filming equipment will al low teachers to produce their own tv programs pupils arc assigned to progress levels in each subject through compre hensive testing in this way no one fails but ra ther progresses at his own rate a child may take mathematics at the old grade 1 level and at the same time be reading at level of old grade 3 through this method it is hoped that students will not become bored with subjects in which they ex- ccll or discouraged in those in which they do poorly according to tests this unstructured system has a much lower dropout level than the previously accepted struc tured program an official opening is planned for nov 27