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CBC claims development of Brooklin will be a dynamie force in region In these economic times, most experts have said that the only way for a com- munity to survive is to grow. And in Whitby, one land developer has proposed a plan that has virtually divided not only the elected officials but the residents of the town as well. Consolidated Building Corporation has proposed to, over the course of 10 years, develop the hamlet of Brooklin from its present population of 1,600 to a town of 10,000 people. In order to do this, CBC will need to construct more than 2,000 homes. The company's vice- president, Sumer Runm, was recently quoted as saying that the development of the hamlet will be a "dynamic force" in the Region of Durham. As the chief spokesman for the plan, Rumm has said that during the last few years he has never been given "one factual reason" why the project should not proceed. At time of writing, the plan is awaiting the decision of Durham Regional Council which is expected to give its blessing to the project, however reluctantly. The development of Brooklin has been criticized by many regional coun- cillors for taking away from development in other parts of Durham. They point out that Durham already has over 14,000 acres of land serviced and ready for construction. They are also convinced that the development will end up costing the region money because the homes wouldn't be sold and new industry won't be attracted. The proposal's detractors point to the general state of economy, especially high in- terest and mortgage rates as good reasons to shelve or even permanently reject the project. However, those who sup- port the scheme say that it has several benefits to the Town of Whitby and the Region of Durham. Among these are: - CBC lias promised to pay the total cost of extending water and sanitary sewers to the hamlet, a job that of- ficials have estimated would cost the region $20 million if they had to pay for it them- selves; - The developer bas also promised to bring 350,000 square feet of industrial space on stream in addition to bringing new people to pay property taxes and water and sewer user fees; - Rumm and his firm recently announced that they are negotiating to bring in a firm that would employ 700 people; - CBC plans to attract middle-management people to Brookiin believing that these people are the ones who decide where industry locates and that they like to choose a site close to home; - Should the developer succeed in selling 300 homes a year or more for the next nine years in Brooklin, CBC has promised to encourage other development firms to come to Durham; - Water bills went up by 20.5 per cent in 1981 and to prevent further such in- creases the system needs more users. Whitby has an idle water supply plant and the introduction of new homes and industries will bring new water and sewer users; At an estimated cost of $2 million, CBC lias agreed to hook-up existing homes and businesses to the regional water and sewer system at no charge to them, and many local elected representatives have said that the region would soon have to do this job anyway. Those politicians who sup- port the plan often refer to CBC's promises as "great." The present plans call for the homes to be built in Brooklin to have 70 by 110- foot lots and will cost about $20,000 more than in other parts of Whitby. The company also plans to market the project heavily as a community with a special lifes*tyle, nice homes in a small town setting at- tracting those people who may not necessarily corne to Durham otherwise. Because of this special marketing strategy, the company believes it has an- swered one of the major ob- jections to the development - that it would detract from other parts of Whitby and Durham. CBC also has no plans to renegotiate the agreement reached with Whitby Town Council last summer and is confident that if the project is allowed to proceed it will be of great benefit to the people of the town and of the region. Safeway store hidden part of international organization The Canada Safeway store at the corner of Brock and Gilbert streets in downtown Whitby is part of an inter- national company with over $2.3 billion in sales in 1979. The company has a total of 303 stores, 277 in Canada and 26 in West Germany. According to Safeway's 1979 annual report, the com- pany is planning to adopt to the changing needs of the 1980's and beyond. The company expects the concept of "one-stop shop- ping' to take an even stronger hold because of the need to consolidate automobile trips because of the escalating price of gasoline and because of the changes in the labor market. Safeway predicts that by 1990, there will be sone 5.1 million working women in Canada and the services provided by the retail sector will have to change with the t imes The company also believes that customers are better educated and infor- med about the marketplace than ever before and are being more demanding in their expectations of quality products and store serv ices "Consumer purchasing decisions in the eiglti es will probably be influenced more by quality and value than by brand names, so shoppers are likely to be substituting more private labels for nationally advertised bran- ds," the annual report says. "Beyond their interest in quality and value, con- sumers are entering the new decade more health- conscious than ever. As the general public becomes bet- ter informed of nutrition's role in physical well being, we look for a steadily in- creasing demand for products of high nutritive value - meats, fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grain breads, high fibre cereals and low fat dairy products." Throughout this decade, Canada Safeway expects to open 135 stores across the country and hire 54,000 new or replacement employees. "During this period, we also expect to purchase -nearly $50 billion worth of goods from Canadian producers and suppliers, and move some 19 million tons of merchandise through uI distribution centres,' 1 lie report concludes. ,afeway's lone Whitby% outlet is actually ail that the ,orclnary consumer sees of a ar g e international operation. PROGRESS Ni AY b. 17