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pcb spill could have effect here yyeekenper 21 1987 p3- by paul pivato staff reporter markham residents are drink ing metro toronto water that may have been contaminated by toxic pcb spills last year in fact since 1981 all of mar- khams water has been pumped directly from the metro toronto supply system and although the town still checks for bacterial pollutants it has no system in place for check ing chemical contaminants such as pcb that responsibility lies with metro toronto we regularly do a bacteriolo gical analysis but we dont have control over the chemical analy sis said jerry klaus the towns water superintendent mr klaus said he felt there was no need for markham to conduct its own chemical analysis there is no point he said we toronto and markham both have the same concern to provide quality water earlier this week toronto hyd ro was convicted on two counts of leaking oil containing polychlor- inated biphenyls pcbs into sew ers leading to lake ontario evidence at the toronto hydro trial showed the spills may have contaminated up to 2124 million litres of drinking water water that could end up in markham homes the recommended safe level for pcbs in drinking water is three parts per billion however jim dart an official with the provincial ministry of the environment said tests con ducted over the past two years have not revealed any detectable levels of pcbs in the water supply pcbs have long been suspected as a cancercausing agent that were once commonly used as a coolant in electrical transfor mers the use of pcblaced coolant was banned in 1970 said colin parmenter markham hydros director of engineering but he added that older trans formers including some of the ones used by markham hydro may have a pcbbased coolant he added that markham hydro is currently conducting a similar study checking the utilitys roughly 2000 transformers for traces of contamination mr parmenter said that unlike the two toronto transformers none of markham hydros trans formers are near storm drains group protests mount joy plans growing numbers of markham village residents opposed to the towns planned mount joy indust rial expansion will confront coun cil tuesday on its growth plan for the area the group which will present mayor bell with a 5000name petition protesting plans con tained in the official plan re view are against the heavy in dustrial designation given the mount joy area the drive for residential sup port in protesting the review stemmed from the towns third in formation night held earlier this month at the markham commun ity centre irate residents made aware of the mount joy industrial expan sion subsequently organized to oppose the plan i think anybody in the village of markham should be alarmed of it said elizabeth plashkes she is circulating the petition in her neighborhood west of hwy 48 south of the mount joy area larkin ave residents patricia and hans hegemcr are canvas sing homeowners on the east side and have spearheaded the cam paign we made the decision to buy here because its a beautiful town and we sure dont want to see it change said mrs plashkes 23 charged in gambling raid twentythree people have been charged with gambling offences after police raided a markham so cial club thursday night about 20 officers from the morality unit raided the satellite social and sporting centre of markham on 180 bullock dr at approximately 945 pm police said customers were charged an hourly fee of between two and six dollars to play card games such as scala and rummy pokers a quantity of liquor and 2000 in cash were seized in the raid nick ferrara 62 of scarbor ough and antonio maniaci 59 of toronto were charged with keep ing a gaming house and keeping a common betting house the two men were also charged with unlawfully selling liquor the owner of the building dominic reali of scarborough was charged with allowing his premises to be used as a gaming club at the time of the raid were charged as foundins gordon smyth an officer with the antigambling branch of the morality unity said the raid was the biggest one so far this year police conducted a similar raid at a woodbridgc cafe in january officer smyth said the arrests followed a threemonth investiga tion in which plainclothes officers visited the local social club regional councillor bud bon ner said that a recent request for a teen club next door to the social club was turned down by mar kham council because council lors knew of the police investiga tion we had a reason for turning it down but at the time we couldnt say he said explaining that the police investigation would have been jeopardized if the town had made public its suspicions mr bonner explained that the town objected to the teen club be- a group of disgruntled unionville home buyers say theyre fed up with the business practices of a local builder and may face the burden of finishing their homes individually from left are steve squelch gary mckenzie jack and steve valianes bill leaman and benny mendlowitz seen standing in front of mr valianes unfinished home sjoerd whteveen builder nears bankruptcy homeowners left in cold house cause oflocation not the concept another w pcopvlhstde- tlid itself j by bruce etheridge battle lines are being drawn up around 10 homes on aitken circle in unionville and all guns are pointing toward one home and one man ron strype mr strype is a former real estate agent who purchased 11 lots on aitken circle he told prospective buyers he planned to build 10 homes sell them at a 30000 profit and from the pro fits build the 11th home for him self mortgage free but the plan soured on mr strype and the nine couples one backed out who con tracted him to build their dream homes benny mendlowitz and his wife were told theyd be able to move into their new home in october 1986 four months and 119000 later the mendlo- witzes are still living with in laws having sold their own home in august their house on aitken circle stands without a roof in its present shape it has cost mr mendlowitz 192000 he esti mates hell have to spend another 80000 to complete construction the mendlowitzes are look ing at a total of about 272000 roughly 50000 more than the original purchasing price agreed upon in the contract five other couples who con tracted aitken circle estates ltd to build their homes claim they are in a similar position four other families have have moved into the finished homes but complain of serious construction flaws and of liens being slapped against them by building companies for work and materials they thought had been paid for in closing despite those complaints mr strype said his former clients are getting the homes at bargain prices he claims the resale value of the prop erties has escalated to 350000 the group entered into the agreement with mr strype in the spring of 1986 and claim they were told their homes would be ready in the fall but by november of last year mr strype approached mr mendlowitz and the other eight purchasers saying he was having trouble raising cash to hire workers and building materials jsecuieajyniortqgcs miv mendlowitz and the others made payments for bricks windows and lumber four homes were completed but after christmas mr strype sent a letter to the five remaining purchasers explain ing the company was going into receivership and said they were at risk of losing their de posits and money invested into the homes they had two options the five families could either buy the title to their properties out right and oversee the comple tion themselves or pay mr strype 200 each week to finish the job all decided to purchase the properties and hire their own contractors but those involved want to know where the money they paid to have homes built has gone mr strype explained that the corporate funds of aitken circle estates ltd were eaten up in the completion of the first four houses the funds of all purchasers werepooled together rather than invested into each home funds went to the completion of whichever house was under construction at the time mr strype said that as the money went into the construc tion of the houses it was sup posed to roll back put again and into the next house but he claims escalating costs for workers trades building materials and sup plies combined with last sum mers poor weather made it impossible to meet original estimates he also said these problems effected all small builders responding to complaints of poor workmanship mr strype said he had trouble getting qualified tradesmen but added that he rectified problems cre ated by poor workmanship at his own expense he also said hes prepared to wave his 200 fee to finish the homes if any of the homeow ners want him as their con tractor but all are reluctant to enter into agreements with mr strype again as buyer gary mckenzie says once bitten twice shy mr strype said hes tried to be up front with all the owners as to how much they owed so there would be no surprises but jack valianes another disgruntled client of aitken circle estates ltd said after he closed over 70000 worth of liens were placed against the completed homes mr mendlowitz a chartered accountant said hed like to see an investigation into mr strypes accounting records next thursday mr strype is to present his accounting re cords to hudac the ontario new home warranty prog ram it will clear my name mr strype said wc deliver we can deliver your dyers for as little as 35c each call advertising al 2942200 or distribution at 2948244 1987 flyers delivered economist suntribune 950900 melroland distributing 22065600 valerie meredith flyers with weekender saturday feb 21 canadian tire chimo hotel contour windows ap