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Town prepares to look at future of the Merton lands By David Lea OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF The Town of Oakville took steps to determine the future of the Merton lands in the Third Line/ Bronte Road/QEW area, recently by endorsing objectives for a planning study. The 234-hectare area includes Saw Whet and Deerfield golf courses; Fourteen Mile Creek and natural heritage features associated with Bronte Creek; the Mid-Halton Water Pollution Control Plant; and, the Halton Regional Centre. The objectives called for the preservation, enhancement and protection of environmental features, biological communities and natural heritage system. They also include provision of complete, sustainable communities with enhanced urban design, required community facilities and parkland, and integration and connection of development to surrounding communities, if possible. Town staff said the study may take up to a year before a recommendation goes to council and that the objectives will help determine what designations the area should have. "There is a clearly defined natural heritage system that is identified along the Fourteen Mile Creek," said Dana Anderson, Oakville's planning services director. "The intent within the study is that this area will be maintained, protected and enhanced through any future development of the area." Karen Brock of the Oakvillegreen Conservation Association said the study is a K a r a s t a n A r e a 5 · Thursday, January 10, 2013 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.insideHALTON.com R u g s chance to add to the natural heritage system. She called for forested land to be preserved and areas adjacent to Fourteen Mile Creek to be reforested. Previous construction near the creek, Brock said, reduced the creek's ability to sustain life and called for large buffers between the creek and any future development. Area resident Brian Burton cited a 2011 Infrastructure Ontario report, which, he said showed intentions to build a significant townhouse development in the Third Line/Brays Lane area. Burton voiced concern council is moving too quickly and by endorsing planning study objectives, council is furthering Infrastructure Ontario's plans for what Burton believes to be unsuitable development. Anderson said there are no predetermined development or land use policies in place for the lands at this time. Jane Clohecy, Oakville's commissioner of planning and development, said the study aims to map out the Town's intentions so proper land use policies can be put in place. This way the Town is not simply responding to development applications. "Infrastructure Ontario has identified the desire to redevelop the Third Line lands... they also have identified a desire to redevelop the Deerfield site and then there's the Saw Whet property, which has been bought by the Bronte Green Corporation," said Clohecy. "This point in time is the time to undertake the study. It gives the Town the opportunity to do · M i r a g e H a r d w o o d a comprehensive study on all the lands, develop that evidence base we need for the most appropriate uses we want to put on those sites before we are responding to development applications." Ward 4 councillors Allan Elgar and Roger Lapworth, Ward 3 Councillor Keith Bird and Ward 2 Councillor Pam Damoff voted to receive the staff report, but take no action on the study. Elgar called planning studies premature. The move lost and council endorsed the planning study objectives along with the additional objectives -- that care be taken to protect wildlife corridors and to connect the east-west green space corridors between Bronte Creek and Fourteen Mile Creek. 40th Anniversary Avalon Waterways Cruise Contest THE TURKISH JOB British tour operator Distinguished Traveller is offering an exhilarating 7-day self-drive from Istanbul to Antalya, Turkey in a Mini Cabriolet convertible. Explore the history, sun, sea and the spectacular scenery of the Aegean and Mediterranean Turkish coasts. And, what better way to see the beauty and history of Turkey than touring at the wheel of a Mini Cabriolet. 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