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

m staff photomike adler the newcommuriity of gorriell located north of hwy 7 east of ninth line in markham willliave a big impact on southeast york region c massive growth has meant big change by jennifer brown and usa queen staff writers hen julie and victor kranitz- andrade moved from the suburbs of montreal to ontario four years ago they explored communities across the gta before deciding to make newmarket their home we wanted a smalltown feel said julie whodidnt want to be at the mercy of the 401 every day when heading to work i value my time and dont want to spend it on the roads the couple set up a financial planning business and last spring their first child charlie was born 7 one of the 15000 new residents who helped boost the population ofyorkregion to 665000 by june of this year 1 they still feel the community has every thing they were looking for but the reality is that smalltown feeling may be slipping s r k york region is expected to grow to a pop- ulation of li2 million by 2026 an increase of half a million people and recent trends indk cate the regions population is becoming- more urban in character which will mean an increasingly varied mix of housing increases 1 in the number of singleparent families and greater ethhicdiversity all expected to cori- tinue into the future i and while julie and victor are undecided about whether they would support amalga- mation of municipal govern ments in the years to come they believe combining services such as fire protection is a must initially the towns were very small selfsufficient entities and now theyre not said julie who feels as the boundaries between towns are already blurred it would be beneficial if everyone could benefit from one service provider i dont care if im living in newmarket or aurora and the house js burning down please come we should maximize ser vice for minimum cost said julie victor agrees adding he does nt mink towns would lose their individual appeal if services were combined 7 joining services doesnt mean losing the feelingone has that a town is your own sharing departments doesnt make it anydiffererit itsabout economiesof scale aurora is notgoingto go away he said however concentrating power at one level can also pose concerns julie questions i 11 1 in the final instal- trient of under construction- we talk to julie and victor kranitzandrade and rita and bill byres about their view of the future and how they feel about living in york region do they think our com- munities should be amalgamated are they worried about services for their children and their parents and irithe r final analysis are they happy living in their community biggest priority for rita and bill byres of richmond hill growth has crept suparoundthem approaching the treelined street on which they live where century homes are jprotected by the local historical society they havent necessarily- liked the look of sprawling subdivisions with cookiecutter monster homes sprouting up where bill used to snowmobile as a kid but they welcome the additional ser vices and the newschool growth has delivered their primary concern for the future is if the school system that educates theirdaughters marlena and rochellewill be able to keep up with the influx of new people r info their community richmond hiil experienced the largest populatiohsgrowthih the region last year withvmore than 5000 new residents vaughan added 4020 while markhfam added 3440 to date the three communities corn- some decisions made by regional govern- bined represent 84 per cent of the building ment for example the median work being permits issued in me region thisyear done on ydnge street in newmarket in front housingsales in the region remain strong r of the regional headquarters v i and the continuing boom mpan vnric- tthink they should ask what is the means york- region has an unemployment rate of 59 per cent lower than the gta rate of 69 per cent and torontos 76 per cent that will only serve to attract more people to the area but while young families like the byres and kranitzandrades represent the domi nant group in the regions population now seniorsare projected to be one of thefastest growing groups with the number of resi dents over age 75 increasing to 65000 by 2011 from 18000 in 1996 1 that means demands for more afford able housing for the elderly for better public transit and working toward reducing the dependence on cars or improving accessi bility to shopping and recreation facilities healthcare needs for seniors are being addressed in richmond hill today as york central hospital launches me construction of a new 240bed jongterm care facility which will actually be largermhan needed when itfirst opens two years from how but adequate to handlethe regions needs for years tocqme r v l that comes as a relief to the byres who are pleased to know that serviceswill be available should theirelderly parentsneed- them in the futurey v- j and knowing they live in one of the most prosperous parts ofjthe country thetwo families agree they wouldnt wantf to raise their children anywhereelse v peopleshquldbe proud of jiving in this area said julie j rlj drop your jaw turn your head j jdrenyour eyes amd protect your neck 1999 buy k the saab 93 introduces the safeseat designed specifically to minimize neck injuries l includes invearendcollisibnstakedne for a test siftdday at your local saab of thornhiu tai sj mr r f m si moyofige sj xir s s v if caroyfoss company- i- iz i4 p p urchaje p o i k saab 93 1 sa package destination charge and predelivery fnpcuon included 34 monlh lerm with 400 00 down or trade equivalent cmac 20000 kmperannum low kilometre uae program at 7x9iif itkjtirtv j- b i i tik vjvhrstmonllkwieregulratioaandappteam jcst v r i f v m 4 v y v 1