The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

ihe inbune econo taxi 6405466 vol 105 no 22 ameiroland community newspaper wednesday june 2 1993 24 pages 50 cents yorks vision 2021 plan opened up to public lisa queen metroland staff how do stouffvillites envision their community and their region three decades from now should there be lots of green space less housing more com mercialization do residents want more schools more affordable hous ing or subsidized daycare local residents will get a kick at the planning cat on june 15 when york regions vision 2021 document will be present ed at latcham hall at 730 pm york officials will be on hand to hear whitchurchstouffvilles idea of what road the regions future should take sofar york politicians are afraid their strategic plan will foster false expectations for res idents hoping to create a regional paradise the strategic plan will be used as a planning guide for the next three decades it will look at quality of life issues as opposed to the official plan which deals with land use and hard services councillors got a peek at an early draft of the strategic plan at a special meeting last week it is based on comments received from residents during public meetings in april and may intersol consultants will now take the draft back to the pub lic for reaction before council deals with the document july 8 but the draft is full of lofty ambitions and some regional councillors are worried it could create pipe dreams we have to be careful we dont raise unrealistic expecta tions for the public said vaughan mayor lorna jackson for example residents have called on the region to widely expand the regions green spaces and trail systems but jackson pointed out municipalities are only legally allowed to demand developers put aside five per cent of any new subdivision for park land there may be some disap pointed people who come back and say but you promised she said meanwhile richmond hill mayor bill bell took shots at residents suggestions that gov ernments provide more non profit housing he insisted the private sector could build more diversified housing if governments would drop restrictions like rent con trols chairman eldred king admit ted the plan isnt necessarily something that will ever be implemented councillors are also worried the draft reflects the concerns of specialinterest groups rather than those of ordinary citizens it is based on respons es from 125 residents who attended a series of workshops in april and may two hundred people also filled out workbooks outlining their concerns some of the key recommenda tions in the draft report include amalgamating the educa tion system into one school board promoting safe communi ties where people can live work and play enhancing services for seniors youth and the dis abled providing j postsecondary institutions increasing i the mix and affordability off housing fostering opportunities for highclass and diverse businesses protecting agricultural and environmental resources restricting urban sprawl king sewage proposal duplication king the towns ongoing attempts to expand its sewage treat ment plant are a waste of time for everyone involved said the regions top politician yesterday york region chairman eldred king said whitchurch- stouffvilles incessant attempts to stretch its sewage capaci ty from 11000 to 21000 have already been adequately dealt with by the region this proposal is only a duplication of what already exists the chairman said king is reacting to a may 29 weekender article which reports of the towns further attempts to get its plant expanded and which calls for a meeting with york environ mental experts and the province but any such attempts would be a waste of time of work already performed by the region several years ago king said a resolution passed last week requests york staff meet with cms rotordisk a firm which promises an end to the towns sewage woes cms officials say the plant could be expanded by nearly double capacity with the installation of its hightech equip ment to help the overworked plant treat raw sewage but king said the cms proposal is a repeated salesman ship job by a firm which has nothing new to offer two years ago the region heard proposals from four differ ent firms promising expansion capabilities to smalltown communal sewage treatment plants like stouffvilles king please see page 3 town forced to reject provincial road subsidy tracy kibble staff reporter due to bad timing the town is set to lose a 15 million provincial road sub sidy for hwy 47 improvements due to begin this year local politicians are expected this week to turn their back on a ministry of transportation subsidy a 322000 local project over two years for the town after being set last month to begin a major highway transfer and overhaul of main st from the west connecting link at the 10th line all the way to the 9th line staff says the ministry wont subsi dize the project if the majority of the work isnt complete by the end of the year but staff road expert paul whitehouse said in a report that the first portion west of the 9th line couldnt begin to get underway until october because of the necessary utility relocations road widenings and environmental assess ment paperwork although other sections could begin without a clinch the ministry is only offering the subsidy for a specific por tion west of the 9th line town consultants con firm the project couldnt possibly begin in time to meet the provinces con struction timing criteria which could threaten the towns subsidy chances in 1994 to com- whitfhoii5f plete what would whitehouse ady be started there would not be sufficient time to have the project substantially completed this year which could put the town at risk of having to complete the project next year without subsidy whitehouse said the town had set aside 95000 this year for the first portion but it is being suggested politicians redirect the money to other projects putting off the project will not hurt the towns chances of reapplying for the subsidy in the future the report shows council is expected to debate the mat ter this week t i i i s i r i i r n f i s i i i i i i n i t i 1 1 1 1 t i tit t t i i u m t t t t 1 t x t 1 i i i i i t t 1 i t t i i r i i t i i i i i 1 i t i