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

in MB Final arguments be- fore the chairman of the Ontario Municipal Board hesring the jovial, Investments Limited appeal have been put off in order tc allow the lawyers of the parties concerned to try to reach a compromise. The chairman, Cor- neil Ebers, recessed the hesring in whicb Jovial Investments Limited is seeking to overturn a unamimous Whitby Town Council decision to deny them permiss- ion to build a Canadian Tire retail outlet on Dundas Street East lmmediately behind Bowman Avenue. Earlier last year, >WhJtby Town Council had turned down the developer's application after ares residents voiced loud opposition to the project citing many problems. The worst of these, the residents maintained, were traf- fie related. At the beginning of the hesring, Ebers told Roger Beaman, the lawyer for Jovial, that it would be a difficuit decision to, overturn council. "Tha[t's your first hur- dle, and your biggest,"1 the chairman told the developer. "I wilI bave to decide whether this is a case in which I find myself justified in over- rullng council." The fist day of the besring was taken up with the, developer's case,, who' asked the board to impose ap- proval for the site plan gpplication to allow a Canadian Tire outlet to be'built on the property with its special purpose commercial zoning. John ,Bousfield, .a planning consultant and the appellant's first w it- >ness told Ebers that a Canadian Tire store would. fit in at the loca- tion. It was also bis opinion that Jovial's plans con- formed to both the Town of Whitby's and ,the Region of Durham's of- ficial plans. He ,added that the. -plan would,"consolidate- -an existing mode of B commercial develop- ,l ment." »Bousfield was also of the opinion that it would not be necessary to ex- tend Crawforth Street tbrough ,té Thickson Road.via the residential ares to serve the 21,000 *square foot Canadian Tire store. This opinion was later echoed by another wit- ness forý the developer, traffic consultant Grant Bacchus. However, their opinion differs from that of ares residents who maintain that Craw- forth Street would have to be completed thereby cresting a besvy traffie road through their'sub- division. Ron Jaskula, Cana- dian ire Corporations. real estate manager, told the board that the new store is needed to replace the current one on Brock Street North. He told the one-man panel that the new fadility wil increase the current service ares by approxiniately 50 .per cent and would add only one more service bay. Jaskula also claimed that transport trucks serving the store would gain acces directly from Dundas Street and would not travel on the side streets of neigh- bouring residents. Should the planbe ap- proved,, it will be necessary to build Glen illI Drive, a street that bas existed in niame only on town plans.. It is located between Bowman Avenue and Tbickson Road east of the hydro right-of-way running nortb from Dundas Street. The following day (last Tuesday), it was the resîdents' turn to p resent their case and tbey focused on the traf- fic issues. IAccording to one wit- ness, motorists attempt- ing. to make the left- band turn from Bow- man Avenue orl. Dundas Street (or vice versa) are literally' "taking their lives into, their bands," Bob' Bowman told Ebers that motorista have had to wait as long' as seven minutes before making the turn onto the highway. "Thursdays and Fi-, days are especially bad days, " hé said, adding, "'Traffie is backed up on Dundas from Thickson Road to Anderson Street." Residents oppose the development of the store, which is to lie on the nortbern portion of Jovial's land, because it will creste more traffie problems in an ares already overburdened with such problems. The soutbern part of the site bhas been allocated for a rest- aurant and another retail fadiity. Bowman said tbat the traffic situation bas become so bad that Many people bave given up trying to get onto Dundas Street from Bowman Avenue. T rying .for Co mpromiuse WHITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAy APRIL 28, 1982, PAGE 5 Jovial heoirigs "The residents use Johnson (Avenue). and Crawforth Street to An- desn Street, " the resident said adcling, "There bave been many rea r-end accidents at Bowman. It's on top 0f a bW and motorists don't, have clear vision." Area residents, Bow- man continued, also op- pose extending Craw- forth Street tbrough to Thickson Road saying: "If Crawforth was put through, it would be- corne the major street in the area. " <'It would create a considerable amount of traffic, especially with a major commercial de- velopment." Another argument the residents bave is that they do not want their streets to be used as a "ltesting ground for automotive shops." However, 1both Jaskula and, Beaman denied that area streets would be used to test drive vehicles. "We are flot a GM or Chrysier, testing ground, " Bowman said. In the immediate area there already, exists four service stations and three automotive dealersblps offerlng a complete range of sales and service. "We don't need another automotive shop," Bowman told Ebers. Other concerns the residents have are noise, air and light pollution that the development may bring. Ebers also, beard testimony from the prin- cipal >0f St. Theresa's Separate Sehool on Crawforth Street wbo said that the traffie on Bowman Avenue is already, hazardous to children attending his school., Ed Hickey said that the construction of the Canaclian Tire sto re is "unacceptable."t The principal claimed that Crawforth is blocked at least four times a day when school buses pick up or drop off cbildren. Hickey said that the majority of his 360 pupils take five buses to and from TH E DV DWEail SH O.PPE BESI'DRESSED WINDOWS He added that on ralny days as many as 25 cars may be at the school wlth parents picking up childr'en ratber than letting thiem walk. Usually, there are 12 cars to pick up pupils. He estlmated that 46 pupils walk to and from school each day. "It is a growing ares and we expeçt more than 400 children to be enrolled. in school by September," Hickey continued. Like the ares resi- dents, Hickey opposed the extending of Craw- forth. Street from ,An- derson Street to Thick- son Road, He testified that many 0f Anderson Collegiate's 1,000 students bave cars and drive them to school. "If Crawforthwa opened, we'd get addi- tional traffic of young- sters from here,"> Hickey said adding, "Crawforth . could become a drag strip from Anderson."1 Also like the resi- dents, Hickey ,m ai- tained that ;the Cana- dian Tire store would create more traffic. "The 'buses, parents' cars, children walklng home all creste enough traffic," he said. "I am opposed to any develo-. ment that would cause a further influx of' traf- However, Hickey told the board tbat he would have no objection, to the property being used for residential develop- ment. As of press time,' it was not known whether or not the lawyers for the developer, the To'*n of Whitby and the resi- dents had been able to negotiate a compromise that wil allow the development togo for- ward. It is also not known wbat the conditions of such a compromise will be.> It should be pointed out that should these negotiations' fail, then Ebers could re-convene the bearing, listen to the, final arguments and make a ruling. i j. .