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weekender september 20 1986 p3 this race occurred southbound on hwy 404 at hwy race he won this race and 10 7 camaro blasts past his opponent in a drag rob donnelly mayor bell dead set against drag strip contd from page 1 o punching the clock at a rol licking 114 mph and mike is no slouch on the drag strip either he modestly points out that he has won the award for the fastest street machine at cayuga speedway in niagara falls for the last two years in a row 1hes got the fastest car on the lot right now comments one admirer standing in the sunoco lot adjacent to machos alex romanov the vice- president of the alpine electro nics head office on 14th ave is prepared to donate 60000 toward the construction of a drag strip in markham so that drivers such as mike can continue their successes closer to home after witnessing the street rac ing in front of his business and having some wheels stolen from a stereo demonstration car out on the lot he decided that a drag strip would be a positive solution tojhe problem jthey dont like dodging the police and the police dont like chasing them he says the 42yearold describes him self as a former motorhead from an earlier era who can still empathize with todays speed de mons theyre just fans of speed he reminisces i know the feeling i used to do it myself he was 18yearsold before he bought his first car a big black 1955 pontiac laurentian with a white top that he used to race in torontos cherry beach area in 1962 today he still nurtures that penchant for speed with an exotic 140000 handmade italian sport- scar a 1981 lambourgini coun- tach however there are barriers that have to be overcome he says before a drag strip can be realized in markham they include get ting someone to lease the land needed for the strip and enlisting the support of local politicians mayor carole bell laughs at the suggestion of a drag strip on mar kham turf calling the idea both ridiculous and a big joke how about getting it off the streets and not having it any place legal she says according to mayor bell there is no problem with dragracing through mar kham neighborhoods the petition she points out was unconvincing evidence of the motorsports popularity since many of the signatures appeared to her to be written by the same person and therefore forged she also dismisses the 560000 offered by mr romanov as a drop in the bucket mr catlin counters the critic ism of the petition by admitting that some signatures could have been written by the same person for the sake of expediency although he insists that the extent of the community interest in drag- racing is genuine mrs bell is confident that municipal council will unani mously reject any bid to build a drag strip in markham responding to the cool response to the idea mr romanov replied the fact is that every municipal ity is going to say we dont want them but the fact is that weve got them frankly i thought those grcaseball days were over he adds but all they want to do is challenge one car after another to see whose faster in the quarter- mile planning briefs expansion project proposed by dealer a public meeting has been cal led to discuss plans for a mar kham car dealerships proposed expansion planning committee tuesday approved drafting a bylaw amendment for the expansion subject to the outcome of the hearing conlin motors ltd on hwy 7 plans to construct a new sales building provide storage space for new models and provide another car display area the expansion will take place on a vacant parcel of land west of the existing dealership that is now being used for car storage an abandoned house was recently re moved from the site and relocated in stouffville regional councillor ron moran said at the meeting the vacant land is best suited for the prop osal the public meeting is scheduled for oct 21 at 730 pm at the municipal offices rezoning plans approved a request to rezone land for in dustrial use in markham was given initial approval by planning committee tuesday the rezoning if given final approval by council will allow in dustrial development on a 103- acre parcel of land on 14th ave between warden ave and the cnr railroad tracks that cross 14th ave the move will require an offi cial plan amendment and a rezon ing from agricultural to indust rialcommercial according to a planning staff report the land forms a natural extension of the industrial area to the south which is substantially developed browns corners proposal markham development firm v v demarco properties ltd may soon be allowed to build in browns corners if council passes a bylaw amendment lifting a hold on development there planning committee approved drafting the bylaw for the de velopment tuesday the hold provision was enacted to give council more con trol over the types of development slated for the area the controls imposed are used to ensure fine quality development said a planning report the issue must still come before council for final approval publie meeting called planning committee has called a public meeting to hear concerns or objections to a restaurant prop osal in a markham commercial development uri saks investments inc prop oses to build the eatery in phase two of a threephase alden rd commercialindustrial develop ment phase one is currently near completion the meeting is scheduled for oct 21 at 7 30 pm at the municip al offices exposure of affair threatened an illicit affair was the barter ing tool used against a markham woman who was blackmailed into signing over ownership of her car to a man according to police the suspect entered his victims apartment and removed some appliances the victim was then forced to sign over ownership of her vehicle to prevent him from revealing an illicit relationship she was in volved in a 42yearold musselman lake man has been charged with extor tion break enter and theft and possession over 1000 in connec tion with an incident last sunday sept 14 value of the stolen articles is 1500 doors taken from cars opendoor policy seems to be the message of thieves during some recent unrelated crimes two doors were removed from a vehicle at mcarthur ford in un- ionville according to york regional police the doors valued at 3500 were taken on sept 15 or 16 if brian mulroneys so smart why is he still in politics manhattan community resi dents wont be shopping for con venience items in their own area with planning committees denial of a proposed plaza the proposal was turned down in an 84 recorded vote after coun cillors fred cox and frank scar- pitti suggested the proposal be given a chance at the public meet ing stage first city development cor poration ltd brought the plan to committee for the second time af ter council referred the matter back to staff last month the decision was made on the heels of marion cres resident ed garnetts concerns about the de velopment he said future residents in the eastern portion of the developing manhattan area could use the raymerville shopping plaza less than a halfkilometre away from the mccowan rd and manhattan dr site i spoke the last time and no thing has really changed as far as our objections go said mr gar- nett adding that the development would affect his property value first city development spokes man ron richards told members that changes had been made to the proposal to quell residents concerns he noted that the site size was reduced and the landscaping depth increased the building was also moved to the rear of the site he initially requested that the issue be sent to the public meeting stage weve gone a long way to alleviate some of the concerns raised by the ratepayers and members of council said mr richards the issue now goes before coun cil for final consideration greg ferris