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economist suntribune the environment saturday june 8 2002 protect more farmland say preservationists bymikeadler staff writer governments can still protect most of a vast agricultural area in east markham and north pickering from urban development people on bus tours this week were told by a new preservationist group no city in the world probably has that opportunity jim robb added as he stood atop the former beare road landfill in scarborough this week wednesday was hazy but a visitor on the heights just south of markham could normally see all of the 43500 acres of pickering markham scarborough and ux- bridge expropriated by provincial and federal governments in the 1970s not much has since changed on these lands which were reserved for an airport and a new city but environmental ists such as mr robb and some longtime area residents fear development is coming soon in markham expan sions of the new cornell community and the old hamlet of box grove are expected into former provincial hold ings beyond these planned subdivisions and the rouge rivers little rouge trib utary about 2500 provincial acres are for sale the rougeduffins greenspace coalition desperately wants to keep this bridge of greenspace between the little rouge and west duffins creek from turning urban coalition members were encour aged last month when federal transport minister david couenette confirmed 5562 acres south and east of stouffville as an oak ridges moraine park and a further 2000 acres in markham as a connecting corridor to the little rouge they plan to press mr couenette to set aside most of the remaining 11000 federal acres as surplus to any airport needs jim robb wants province to match federal governments land protection announcements mr robb said the group will also ask local tory mpps dave tsubouchi and janet ecker to match federal generosity with pledges to preserve remaining provincial land in markham and in much of seaton in pickering these are areas where developers are acquiring land in exchange for land on the moraine the coalition believes this can be done by attaching legal easements to properties before the land is sold in pickering lome almack said that will work fine for his own 85 acres on brock road no damn allter rain vehicles are allowed on the proper ty and you cant cut down any of the trees he told one of the tours in his livingroom mr almack a founder of green door alliance coalition noted mr collenettes department had reject ed a plan to sell the moraine park and cor ridor with easements attached its a little disap pointing they dont understand that in ottawa bureaucrats want to perpetuate their jobs there to hear mr almack markham deputy mayor frank scarpitti was skeptical about easements which are in place and intended to protect agri cultural use on 5000 acres in north pickering easements at least the kind done on the pickering side arent necessarily going to keep the land in the hands of farmers mr scarpitti argued he said adding land to rouge park would be a more solid step on a community centre porch in the pickering hamlet of whitevale resi dents who fought the airport and other threats to the areas rural character vowed they would fight again there hasnt been a plane landed here yet tommy thompson said bjbmffiff lf 7 srf wi sife issi ii 1 ufc if club markham located in the 3kdpettpfor pools indoor swimming pool with adjacent garden patio aquafit classes whirlpool steam rooms dry saunas fitness personal trainers stateoftheart exercise gym new free weight room large aerobics studio with cushioned floor fitness evaluation program smnier squash 5 international squash courts squash professional pro shop services chiropractic rehab services from markham pain clinic free towel service and grooming aids free parking children supervised child care open 7 days 0 week see club for hours hilton suites torontomarkham conference centre spa 8500 warden avenue at hwy7 9054702400 we offer reciprocal membership privileges at the 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