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stouffville suntribune thursday nov 252004 9 frank clayton president of clayton research speaks at a forum oh the provinces greenbelt legislation in richmond hill yesterday staff photosteve somerville developers laugh at minister from page 1 academics clashed over the implications of sweeping envi ronmental protection the crowd of more than 400 consisting mostly of developers erupted in laughter when minister of municipal affairs and housing john gerretsen declared his government would stand by its election promise to establish a greenbelt and curb urban sprawl i reject the notion there isnt enough land to take care of pop ulation expansion over the next couple of years mr gerretsen said with the population across the golden horseshoe expected to balloon by more than four million people over the next 25 years a greenbelt is essential to protecting ontarians quality of life he said sprawl needs to be reined in its bad for people and its bad for the economy the minister added house prices would rise by more than 30 per cent around the gta by 2014 its bad news for homebuyers and people moving to the area he added however researcher frank clayton reaffirmed the home- builders belief a greenbelt would lead to a land shortage and eventually price many future hofnebuyers out of the market throughout the greater torontoarea armed with statistics from past ontario housing market trends and examples of similar government efforts to curb sprawl in england mr clayton said mr gerretsen was misin formed you cant control peoples behavioural patterns planners try but you cant mr clayton said the question is not if home prices will skyrocket following the establishment of a provincial greenbelt but by how much he said house prices would rise by more than 30 per cent around the gta by 2014 its bad news for homebuyers and people moving to the area he added the most vulnerable people in the market will pay more for housing york region rapid transit plan markham north south link corridor public transit improvements environmental assessment ea public consultation opportunity as one of the fastest growing municipalities in canada york region is facing a number of transportation challenges in response the region has initiated the york rapid transit plan yrtp to develop a rapid transit network in four corridors in york region environmental assessments are proceeding in all corridors arid the region is nearing completion of the south yonge street and highway 7 eas work is also progressing in the markham northsouth link corridor see map of study area under an ea terms of reference approved by the minister of environment on july 13 2004 since july the study team has been evaluating a number of potential solutions to address transportation issues in the study area including significantly improved public transit services this may include bus rapid transit brt on one or more northsouth corridors this public consultation will be in the form of an open house display and will present a description of existing transportation issues and the preferred solution for addressing these issues conclusions on transit technologies preliminary methods of improving public transit including potential routing options a methodology and evaluation criteria for evaluating alternative locations for the undertaking the scope and success of this study participation we invite you to attend one review the interim findings of the ea study tuesday decertiber 7th 2004 town of markham anthony roman centre great hall 400 900 pm 101 town centre boulevard markham ontario depends on public input and of the upcoming open houses to the details are as follows thursday december 9th 2004 first markham place shopping centre 400- 800 pm 32153275 highway 7 east markham on to obtain further information on this study visit our rapid transjt website at wwwyorkinmotioncom or the york region web site at wwwregionyorkoncayrtp if you wish to have your nameplaced on our mailing list or to direct questions and comments please contact brian hollingworth p eng project manager 416 5961930 ext 414 416 5960644 fax bhollingworthibigroupcom 230 richmond st west 5th floor toronto on m5v 1v6 steve mota p eng program coordinator 18774649675 ext 5056 905 8364590 fax stevemotaregionyorkonca 17250 yonge street newmarket on l3y 6z1 why spend all weekend shopping for the right piece of furniture come here to choose your style colour and size and enjoy your time off wlti cffi -yf- y v- il 1 1 ni 1 0 i j jmjjjjjaajxj jcjl v j i lit l mm i 3 aii wwbk no interestno payments up to 6 months mjmm 1 yflf p i j