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Province blame for delay, i -develop ment, By Malo Boucher The -provincial 'government may b. causing the dilay of 'a 'housngdeelopmeûn- mBrook- lina Whitby couinciloôr saiüd Monday night. The hosifg is proposed on a roty bounded by Columbus Rdto thenorth, Winchester Rd. to the south, Queen St. to the west and Thickson Rd. to 1the east. The application b Brooklin MoiadowsLt£d. is for 1,247 resi- dential* units on thet 260-acre ràeywith,,923 loý1w-deit, Bnle-detached homes, 191 mediumdensity townhouse imits and -133 high-density 'aprent unit.. The devlopment would accom- modate .4,01B peple and also cIls for ýthree .elementary schools, a fmrhail, church, hydrWo substation, some areas for com- m ercial. devlopment and twoý parke-and some open space.,- The lndis- cmrent 4F9o11e Y 'agmcutual ýandthýe ap hcantif asking for a residenial designa- tion. The oâfficiai plan designation for.-bath the.Town and Durham Region calîs for residential with hazard lands. Brooklin Meadows Ltd. also has another application for a smail shopping plaza, possibly including a variet store and a videa store on a eare parcel at the no;theast cor ner of Thick- son Rd. and Winchester Rd. Councillor Rosaý Batthn sad,.at Mondaies -planigcommitte. meeting that council ,.would remind' the.provincial 'govern- ment of their commitment to this project, and won't allow the pro- vnée to blame a lack of funding and the. recession for the delay o theproject. Batten said residents shouldn't worry about water and' sewer system. problemq aising from the- project stoppmin i the mid- dle of construction because 'either it (the project),goes or it doesn't. ý «We want this thing resolved,» said councillor Joe Drumm. Batten said the project bas "a good mix of housing" and remains a «top priority item" for Durham Regian. About 60 people attertded the meeting and some, residents expressed concerne with poten- tial water and sewer system pro- bleme resulting from the hous3ing development. Lyn Burkart said s3he hopes reaidents won't los. their septic systema and then not get the new sewer system because the project hbas -ben started and then stopped for whatever rea- son. ERIC'PENTZ shows how air pressure makes it impossible to blow up a balloon inside a bottie, one of a series, of 1balloon experiments conducted recently by studeénts at E.A. Fairman public sQhool.« Photo by Mark Reosor, Whltby Fr0. Press Si te.plan àapproved. for psy ch> liospit.al lan d red evelopment SBy Monio Boucher Whitby Psychiatric Hospital administration is stili awaiting word from the provincial govern- ment about the. proposed redeve- b pment of the hosptai. Trown *planning-'committee passed a recommendation Mon- day nigît for the. site plIan appli- cation on the- redev.bopment of the. hospital. .The application èalls for a new two-storey psychiatrie hospital on approximately 482 992 square feet. The. building wil -have 325 beds and'spaoe for offices, labora- tor and'c'are facilities. Araad would link Gordon St. snd the northwest area. of the. ýhospital property where residen- tial development is expected eventually. Hospital administrator Ron Ballantyne said the p lanasfor t psyhiatric hospital h ave been in te mig' for * many years and the project- is* expeted to coat about $160 million. ýCurrentlY, the psychiatriceho- ,piLtal employ 05people, serving 325, in-patients and more thani 100out-patients; The new ho.- pita would mean the. addition of a few more employé«s, he said. The new hospital would b. south of the. existing psychiatrie hospital,- and construction could begin as- early as.: next March wiith completion late in the. sum- merý of 1996 if the. application is aprvd as schedulee said. We are v aiting for their (pro- vincial government) conside- ration,'»he said, Last week, Durham, Centre MPP Drumnond White said «at the moment, there i. noindica- tion that there la a problem with the redevelopment. «There may b. a del,-ay but it i. not problematical,"he said. Town planning director Bob Short said there should b. a report on whether Gordon St. should remain a private road or become a public raad. . The provincial goverrnment currently, owns the. street and wants the Town ta take over ii.nteniance of Gordon St., b.e said. -The Town will ask fIor a res- ponse from the Ministry of GaveÎrnmÏent ,Services regarding the. gessile upgrading of Gordon St. esaid. l'h Central' Lake Ontario Conservation Authority (CLOCA), has express.d some concerna about'the'close proximity of the proj.ct, ote -isensitive .Lynde Shores marsh ares, ad the Pý- sible effecta on %the. wiîdlife and the. «pality cf the marsh. An environmentaî group also had raised-concerna. Seniors: Don'ý t chang prliorities *ByMîrk Reesor WVhitby seniors, are. enragedý over commenta made by north ward councillor Don Mitchell on the need for a new arena. Mitchell, ýchair of ,the Town R ar i and'rec, department, tald e Free Press* two weeks'ago he'd 1k. 'tese.à anew arena made the Town's -«number'one ~Thâa'has seniors worrined the constructioný of new space for the seniors centre,, ýcurrently third on a spending priority. liat establ- ished by the previous council (after the new operations centre and lire departinent headquar- tors) will b. delayed. 1The current 5,000 sq., ft. seniors -centre, origfinally ýa- lawn bowling celubhouse, serves 1800 memibers and is. badly ovezcrow-; ded., «W. were ,WillinÉg to wait our turn..; ..but, j&henï, yau have, a councillor pu qblicly -stating that he wants the. priorities changed then we are no longer willing to just sit back and be pusheon the back burner,» writes a com- mitte. of some 30 members fror the centre. "Maybe another. arena is, r uired, but shouldn't the needs of 1800 seniors come fnrst?", T1fie committee says thecentre' accommodates more than 60 dif- ferent* programs, with 200 seniors using the, centre daily «not once or twice a week, bt «TeIl us of another senior faci- lityin Ontario that has filing' cabinets in its ,washrooms? In the article, Mitchell, calla the arena situation «abslutely, deplorale,» and spealca of seeing Iong limes of peéople at Iroquois Park waiting to register for hockey taams at 6 a.m. The committee suggests Mit- chell'came te their centre on registration day, «when 'seniors lin. up outside the building in al kinds of weather'hoping they will get their naines down for the> many prograins-and activities - many are turned away after a two- or three-Iiour wait - they'do this not once a year, but many, times. «Same of these seniors are wel over 70 and havep aid taxes al their lives in Whitby; mn a great many cases, the centre i. their only con tact with their peers." They. also complain that seniors with'special needs have te sit in a lounge, if theë are lucky enough to. get a seat, with their coat, hat and gloves -on "because e'verýy time the. door i. opened, 1he. rain, .win Md, snow'. and/or sleet blows im.» The commidtte. says, centre members have raised $160,000 te furnish and e * a new centre and speBnt '$el, Olof ï-mb;jè moeyta upgra de 'the, current, ce trtià summer instead of asking.the Town for help. «Ho-w come seniors can go, out and rise -.money.by givngUP their time'but'young« people cani- not do the saine?... "We a"e there is a recession on, but. if Oshawa and Ajax can upgrade their facîlities,, what is. the. matter with Whitby trying ta, get one that, ah seniors can entre member Pearl Ault SF2 PAGE 4- , lim --------- ------ 1. 22, N 39 1992