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Vol. 11, No. 24 Wednesday, June 17, 1981 20 Pages Thoinms asks.... Where are the disabled? By STEPHEN GREENAWAY Free Press Staff With the International Year of the Disabled Per- son at its midway point Ken Thoms, chairman for the accessiýility and parking committee of the Whitby Mayor's Task Force for the Disabled, is worried that handicapped citizens of Whitby may not be able to reap the full benefits of the force. Thoms said that, at this point, he is only aware of two disabled people in the town, one of them being himself. While his committee has prepared approximately 20 recommendations to make, he admits to feeling frustrated by the lack of a response from other disabled people in the community. "All I really want to know is the number of disabled people that will be taking advantage of these recommendations should they be put to use," said Thoms. Along with the numbers, he wants to get input from others in the society, explaining their problems and what they would like to see the task force doing. "Right now I am really just going on my own ex- periences when it comes time to think of problem situations. Without the input of other people you are doing it blind." Thoms said that he has been able to track down the fact that there are about ten disabled students attending schools in Whitby, although no one will tell him what schools they attend. Three of the main problems the committee is working on at this point are curb cuts for wheelchairs and doors and washrooms, many of which are not large enough to accommodate people in wheelchairs. According to him these problems stem from the fact that during construction, builders don't always realize that people in wheelchairs will be using the facilities as well. "One of the biggest obstacles is to educate the general public," said Thoins. "They have to be educated." People tend to think of a disabled person as being unable to function properly in any respect, he said, and that waiting on the disabled only make them feel uncomfortable. "I want to be able to do it myself if at all possible," he said. Thoms said that the next generation will have progressed towards a better understanding of the disabled than this one and the past generation. "It wasn't so very long ago that a family with a harndicapped member would keep them behind closed doors and not advertise the fact that one of the family did have a disability." "Every disabled person I know only wants to be a part of the community." At present the accessibility and parking commit- tee are focusing the efforts on town-owned buildings and property. The problem stili remains that people and organizations are not ready to co-operate, he said. "If they don't want to, people don't have to give me their namnes. We just want to know their problemns," he said. "Myself and the commnittee are looking for input from other people in the commnunity, whether they are disabled or not." "We really want to find things we can do to help make some of the problems botter." While the task force doe' not meet at ail during the month of June, Thoms invites any serious people with suggestions for the force to attend the next meeting of the accessibility and parking committee, at 7:30 p.m. tonight which is being held at the municipal building, 575 Rossland Road East. a risk that the Iregion may have to return the letter of credit if the developer takes the region to court after it gets its land use designation...." "The law is clear that the municipality has no authority to impose any conditions in con- sideration of rezoning," the solicitor said in another report. During a brief in-camera session during last Wednesday's meeting, council received a second legal opinion from the Toronto law firm of Osier, Hoskin and Harcourt that con- firmed Jain's comments. Jain's opinion was echoed by Regional Councillor Ed Kolodzie (Oshawa), who said that the -"solicitor states clearly.. the municipality has no authority to impose con- ditions on officiai plan amendments." coni'd on pg. 19 Legality still being questioned.... Region endorses Brooklin proposa By MICHAEL KNELL Free Press Staff The development of Brooklin is now a reality. Well, almost. At its meeting last week, Durham Regional Council gave its blessing to a proposal by Fir- st City Developments Corporation Ltd. to turn Brooklin from a hamlet of 1,600 people to a town with a population of 10,500. Council gave its blessing in the form of an official plan amendment-that will designate 1,200 acres in the development envelope surrounding the village for residential development. However, regional council's approval of the project did not come cheaply. In order to proceed with the controversial project council decided that First City shall: - "pay the total cost of trunk water supply and sewer facilities to Brooklin for a population of 10,500; - "pay the total cost for oversizing of said trunks to a population of 25,000; - "pay to the Region of Durham full lot levies for water, sewer, roads and general purpose(s); - "pay for local sewers and related restoration to the lot line for existing building in the hamlet of Brooklin; " - give the region an irrevokable $2.15 million letter of credit so that if the developer fails to sign subdivision agreements within four years of final approval being given for the project, the region may use the money to "improve" sewer works and water supply in Brooklin; - if the region deerns it necessary, the developer shall undertake a transportation impact study to determine the effect the project will have on regional roads; and, - pay for all costs relating to hearing under the Environment Assessment Act or before the Ontario Municipal Board. While the recommendations, which came from the finance, planning and public works committees, were adopted on a 19 to 9 recor- Sded vote many councillors voiced their con- Scerns about the legality of entering into such an agreement. Both councillors and the regional solicitor Ipointed out that while council has the right to grant officiai plan amendments, the law does not give the right to attach conditions for the granting of such an amendmnent. In a now public memorandum, regional Ssolicitor Shan Jain told council that "Under statute the region does not have any specific Sright to enter into this type of developmnent agreemnent whereby the developer agrees to iput up security for the construction of water 'and sewer services in consideration of the Imunicipality designating the developer's ian- ds as residential in the officiai plan." Jain went on to say that "there is certainly