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6 economist sun stouffiode tribune thursday july 15 1999 stoufmle tribune a metroland community newspaper 37 sandiford dr suite 306 stouffville ont l4a 7x5 publisher- ian proudfoot general manager- alvin brouwer editorinchief advertising director business manager debra welter margaret fleming brenda larson regional editor brian kjrlik classified manager stephen mathieu office manager vivian cfneil editor dracytsbble distribution director barry goodyear editorial freezing growth in region a losing battle york regions growth continues to outstrip that of every other region in the greater toronto area but some politicians want to put on the brakes last year 26000 new residents moved to york region or were born here a 4percent increase the secondhighest growth rate in the gtais 24 per cent in peel region but that growth comes with a high price tag an v estimated 25 billion over the next 25 years municipal politicians complain that- because the province stopped them from collecting development charges for facilities such as hospitals dumps and recreational facilities those costs are landing on resi dential tax bills which is why aurora council has passed a resolu tion freezing residential development until services can be provided without excessive cost to taxpayers the resolution is being circulated to every munici pality in ontario york region politicians have been threatening to stop growth since 1996 when developers first demand ed a reduction in the thousands of dollars in fees they were paying on each new horhe to provide services for the residents they were bringing in to town growth must pay for growth has been a rallying cry ever since freezing growth in york region is a losing battle its likely the aurora development freeze is a way to grab the attention of the housing industry to convince developers to negotiate a way to provide services with out soakirig taxpayers if it succeeds it will be well worthwhile york regions school boards are also grappling with the development charge issue the two boards experi ence with provincial lot levy legislation has been a rollercoaster ride in the early 90s they were the first boards to take advantage of new legislation allowing them to charge developers a fee on each home to help build new schools but they were targeted by a series of court challenges which they eventually won in 1996 the victory was shortlived in early 1998 the province took over full funding of education and stopped boards from collecting development charges for school construction it did however allow them to collect levies to buy land for schools and with that came the right to target housing under the previous development charge legislation hew industrial arid commercial projects were charged education levies at the same rate as new housing even though councillors were begging school trustees to give business a break because business is much harder to attract than housing and because business provides more taxes while using fewer municipal services regional politi cians wanted the housing sector to pay higher levies than industry the province has changed the legislation to allow this this year york regions boards arent planning to collect any development fees from business- that means new homebuyers would pay the full shot a cost of 2916 per house thats considerably less than the 3849 homebuyers were being charged in 1996 but ifs also considerably more than the 1763 new homebuyers were paying last year when the rates were lower and commercialindustrial development was paying 25 percent of the cost ifs unlikely that a 1153 price hike will scare away buyers and bring the home building boom to a halt although combined with the regional and town levies its a lot of money for someone entering the housing market but it is a step toward making sure current res idents arent paying the tab for new development v v f 4 jv w pi m m opinion letters to the editor if main street dies so does stouflville i attended an information meeting in may in the town council offices regard ing the proposedpoollibrary complex irs taken me this long to write about the issue because ive been busy at work residents were presented with poorly thoughtout research which appeared to be structured to support decisions already made by council instead of allowing questions from the floor in a public setting council had allocated pri vate working group meetings after the presentation this would effectively dilute any con certed opposition by preventing the transfer of ideas between members of the community who were present there are a number of questions that arose and which still have not been addressed why build a complex like this on existing parkland which requires the additional expense of an access road is the access road intended to service in the future the proposed new subdivi sion to the south why not build the pool as an addition to the existing recreation centre on ninthline most of the services are already in place and the parking would probably be more than adequate traffic lights could service the access to ninth line why is the new improved library smaller than the existing one on main street the attitude of our elected represen tatives seems to be contrary to the wish es of its citizens and the good of the town main street is the hub of stouffville businesses depend on pedestrian traffic to survive and in the era of mall shopping this is already difficult recently the town moved its office to new rented space on sandiford drive from its old premises on main street which it owned the given reasons were lack of space and fire regulations fire regulations are usually predicat ed upon occupancy versus the number of exits there is an empty office building immediately behind the old main street offices why was this not rented or bought and some of the staff moved there the reduced occupancy would probably have solved the exit problem the offices on sandiford drive are inconvenient to anyone without trans portation council was able however to spend lots of money on fancy furniture and because of the move there is now a vacant building on main street the existing library is central and convenient if it is too small add another storey if additional parking is required explore the use of the land behind it the proposed library will be smaller than the existing and less accessible especially to older people there are plans afoot to move the fire- hall presumably it will be a bigger and better facility this will leave yet another empty space on main street what would replace it an empty lot if main street dies so does stouffville as we know it if enough people make a fuss we will overcome if councillors do not listen remem ber they can all be voted out at the next election this is called democracy roger dainton stouffville brenda larson your opinion could make 2000 brighter in the course of talking about the corning millennium the changes it will bring for all of us the excite ment about new beginnings some how they seem even greater with 2000 attached to them we agreed that our newspapers should undertake some special projects to mark the event well be producing special sections well be highlighting people from the past 100 years who helped shape our communities and well be identifying some young people who will make a dif ference in the future but we wanted to do something more and beginning in august our millennium surveys project begins each month until the end of 1999 well be asking you for your opinion on important issues that affect your lives our first reader survey for example deals with the issue of amalgamation and where you think the boundary lines of a new york region for the year 2000 should be should york be divided into three large cities four cities should all the municipalities just stay the same and should the region be disbanded in favour of the greater toronto services board do you care who collects your taxes once we have collected your responses well report your views in our newspapers and well turn over the results of our survey along with your comments and suggestions to the offi cials who are charged with making the changes that will make our communi ties better places to live armed with your feelings and beliefs elected officials will be able to develop plans and establish priorities for the future in addition to amalgamation well be asking for your views on healthcare ser vices the education system socialser- vices and policing if you have strong views on how the system can be changed for the better these surveys will be your opportunity to participate in planning for the future were giving you a months notice of the first survey start thinking about how yotijfeel about your town your region and the way it is governed well be entering all survey respon dents into a random draw for prizes including family movie passes watch for the first millennium survey on amalgamation in the saturday aug 14 edition of your news paper we hope youll participate in shaping your regions future -r- thafs how we can all make the millennium brighter stouffville tribune sewing the community sincel888 the stoufmle tribune published every tuesday thursday and saturday is one of the metroland printing publishing and distributing ltd group of newspapers which includes the ajavpfckerbig news advertiser alliston heraldcourier barrie advance barrys bay this week bolton enterprise brampton guardian burlington shopping news burlington post city parent collingwoodwasaga connection east york mirror erin advocatecountry routes etobicoke guardian flamborough post georgetown independentacton rea press kingston this week lindsay this week markham economist sun midlandpenetanguishene mirror milton canadian champion milton shopping news mteslssauga news newmaitetaurora georgjna erabanner northumberland news north york mirror oakville beaver oakvide shopping news oribia today oshawawhitbyclaringtonport perry this week 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