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0m printed delivered on stop service quantities com 2000 and up call the ex perts in markham and area the econorplst and sua 2942200 fourth section wednesday november 2 1983 f t 4 road and hwy 7 changes planned for markville corner by francis king staff reporter mccowan road and hwy 7 most of us drive through that in tersection at least once each day and usually without giving it much thought but the area around that intersec tion has exploded into a maze of com mercial and residential development making it one of the most important areas in the town of markham but exactly what is happening there and why according to town planning direc tor tom januszewski the impetus for development occured over 10 years ago we were always conscious that 70 cents out of every dollar of depart ment store spending was being done by markham residents outside the town he said in an interview last week mr januszewski who has been markhams planning director since 1975 said a concept that developed from that realization markville shopping centre first came about 11 years ago its a very suitable location for a shopping centre not only to serve the markhamunionville area but also the surrounding areas he explained the 500000square foot facility was approved by council in 1976 and opened in march 1982 it is the centre of a concept the town and the areas principal landowner jds invest ments have created the area in question is from conlin motors on the east to the rouge river bridge on the west and from milne park on the south to the cn rail line on the north the land is a mixture of zon- ings with residential from bullock drive to the rail line west of mccowan and commercial in the remaining the areas concept homes border ing on a major commercial site will bring change to the few residents liv ing along hwy 7 theyre basically large residential lots leftovers from a gracious past explained mr januszewski those lands are designated for in dustrial use and will eventually be de veloped they are nice lots well treed and yet they are on hwy 7 he said so anyone redeveloping has to try and maintain those trees at the moment the homes still on hwy 7 are near the southwest and northeast corner part of the south west has already been developed with a mcdonalds restaurant and a large dominion grocery store while the southeast corner has had a small strip plaza since 1967 ward 3 unionvillemilliken coun cillor fred cox said he believes the homeowners on the south side of hwy shown above is a rooftop view of de velopment at the northeast corner of mccowan rd and hwy 7 new under takings will include office buildings and fast food outlets below the southeast corner of the intersection with a strip plaza and some homes nearby is shown from the markville shopping centre parking lot 7 are agreeable to selling their lots and have been discussing the forma tion of a group to put something together that would be conducive to hwy 7 mr cox told the economist and sun he doesnt want patchwork develop ment of those lands we want to do the whole area at once he said thereby having better opportunity to develop the lands in a compatible way with the rest of the area the northeast corner of the mcco wan rdhwy 7 intersection is now undergoing construction that will re sult in no less than four new res taurants vying for the publics dollar the impending opening of harveys swiss chalet mothers restaurant and baskin robbins an ice cream par lour franchise is sure to give mcdo nalds competition but the prospect of competition is not unsettlying to mcdonalds owner manager dick cohen i went into this business knowing part of it is competition he told the economist and sun adding he consid ers it a bonus having two years without strong competitors if we keep our quality service and cleanliness high then we wont lose that much business in the long term he said competition keeps us all strong both harveys and swiss chalet are owned by foodcorp ltd and opera tions vice president mathew chodor- owicz said the expansion of the mcco wan roadhwy 7 area was one reason for the firms move up here were underrepresented for now and wed like to correct that he said in a telephone interview there are certainly a lot of markham people who have been customers of ours in scar borough the prospect of stiff competition not only- from mcdonalds but from mothers lrestaurantsdid not bother him weve encountered it before and we usually have our loyal customers mr chodorowicz explained adding both harveys and swiss chalet will be opening this coming spring we have a unique product to sell and were very strong in toronto he pointed out we dont have to shy away from mcdonalds locations too often markville manager mitchell scharf was not worried about the competition presented to the various eating estab lishments in his shopping centre noting the facility has had a 30 per cent sales increase over this time last year he said i think the area itself has grown to the point where it can accommodate everybody im very confident well still maintain our cus tomers meanwhile the areas developer jds is looking to change some of the original plans for developing the land around bullock drive the firm has already received per mission to move a planned block of apartments from a strip along bullock behind markville to a block of land at the northwest corner of bullock and hwy 7 that block originally slated for a hotel complex will now hold both projects jds argued the apartments we rent viable at the time and it felt the the worker here grades a lot with a bulldozer near mccowan rd and hwy 7 a flurry of businesses are under con- hotel site was too large explained planning director januszewski jds also wants to change plans for the southwest corner of mccowan road and bullock drive near the centennial centre a concept of office buildings was ori ginally slated for the corner but jds has asked the town staff to find out what other projects the land can be used for immediately there apparently is no immediate demand for office space so theyve been asking the town for zoning amendments said mr januszewski but councillor cox said we have to look at this over the longrange jdss concern is theres no demand for office space and i disagree with that once you build the office space it will be leased theres a drastic need for good office space one area project that jds is going ahead with is the expansion of mark ville shopping centre in a proposal approved by council this past sum mer markville will have 350000 square feet added on the north end the expansion will connect with the food section and about 100000 feet of it will be a third department store the others are woolco and eatons mr januszewski said the town would like to complement the expanr sion with a streetscape concept for mccowan road the plan prepared by a consultant would mean inclusion of trees sidewalks and landscaping with special attention given to de veloping the streetcorners the planning director said the only stumbling block is that the road is con trolled by the region of york i would like to see the plan approved but the region has been sit ting on it for six months he said struction at the northeast corner of the intersection sjoerd witteveen with the entire area around bullock drive residentially developed some people may be wondering about the pond on the north side of hwy 7 at the rouge river bridge mr januszewski said the pond was dug to control the rouge river water flow especially during storms it was not built for recreational uses and councillor cox noted it certainly wasnt designed like union- villes toogood pond the plans are for a golf course to go around it and that pond is near one of the holes he explained however he did not rule out cross country skiing around it and mr januszewski added i cant imagine the pond without benches overall he stated his prime desire for the mccowan7 area is for it to be successful most of our concepts arc still valid but it takes time for them to material ize he pointed out we shouldnt rush into approving things for approv als sake one thing the town has is time the bottom line is the area is going to be very nice said councillor cox certainly weve made good use of vacant land mcdonalds owner dick cohen agreed saying im pleased to see the town is being careful about growth on mccowan road you have to be careful how concentrated busi ness and housing gets im looking for ward to when we have a mccowan road businessmans association local ja program is off to quick start by dennis smith news editor the markham areas fledgling junior achievement program is off to a quick start and has already become the largest one in southern ontario weve had a really outstanding turnout said randall edge co ordinator for the ja youth business centre at thornhill secondary school the centres five ja companies have 20 students each compared to 11 or 12 that are usually in such groups mr edge said the program is the largest in southern ontario mr edge who has participated in ja programs elsewhere said the interest level in the local centre is the highest he has seen the coordinator is confi dent tnat the centre comprised main ly of markham and thornhill high school students can win awards when it comes up for judging against other programs mr edge said a similar program in york region project business which is designed for younger students grades 5 6 7 and 8 has helped foster enthusiasm for the new ja program in this area the thornhill program is the first in york region but its hoped that others in richmond hill and newmarket- aurora can be established next year there were plans to have centres in thornhill and markham this year with three ja companies apiece but it was more viable to run one centre with five firms said mr edge the ja companies formed at the thornhill centre include ja accutime sponsored by hon eywell which will produce and sell wallmounted clocks innovations plus which will manu facture and sell a trianglepeg puzzle game this company is sponsored by ibm handy holder company which will produce and sell a novelty storage box with trick openings this group is sponsored by transcanada pipe lines time after time which will also manufacture and sell wallmounted clocks this group is sponsored by the canada corporate consultants creative novelties sponsored by cil which will produce and sell gum- ball dispensing machines the junior achievers will run these companies like regular businesses issuing shares and manufacturing marketing and selling their products with the hopes of turning a profit a few employees from each sponsor ing company will work with the junior achievers and provide them with advice also lending support is the mar kham board of trade which will spon- sor awards for the local undertaking were very enthusiastic about the program said doug norman the board of trades liaison person for the program products will be marketed for the christmas season and the thornhill ja centre will be open every tuesday from 7 to 930 pm for 26 weeks i i n i war veterans recall their battles page d2 it i v i- j