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Whitby Free Press, Wednesday, March 17,1993, Page 3 Whiltby mn dies in car crash -iw rebfr lm igit the burn.ng1ven-cZe- 41r- .'" Items from Whitby Council agenda(s) Monday, March 15,1993 Planning and Development Committee That an application to amend both Whitby's and Durham Region's official plans to permit a ready-mix concrete plant on Thickson Rd. N., south of Conlin Rd. be approved. Miller Paving Ltd. is proposing to build on a 1.68-acre site contained within ts 24.2-acre property. The company already has an asphait plant adjacent to the proposed site. The concrete plant will be subject to Ontario Ministry of Environ- ment regulations and its hours of operation restricted to 7 a.m. to7 p.m. Recomnnended to council That upon the owners' concurrence, council take steps to designate f ive buildings in downtown Whitby as historical structures under the Ontario Heritage Act. The five buildings are the Andrew M. Ross House, 401 Colborne St. W., built in 1879; the George A. Ross House, 404 Dunlop St. W., built in 1889; the Roderick Ross House, 407 Colborne St. W., built in the early 1850s; the William Carpenter House, 413 Byron St. S., built in 1854 and the George Gilchrist House, 306 Gilbert St. W., built in 1877. Recomnnended to council That a site plan application from Ronto Development Corp. for a 56-unit townhouse development on the northeast corner of Dryden Blvd. and Waller St. be approved. Recomnnended to council Operations Committee A report f rom public works director Wayme Hancock says the Ontario Government is requiring municipalities to submit a plan on how they -will make their transit system fully accessible to the handicapped and people with "mobility problems." If the plan isn't submitted by Jan. 1. 1994, the province will cut off transit subsidies until it's completed. Under the plan, Whitby will have to "identify areas that require improve- ment or change to make transit fully accessible to aill residents." Hancock notes the province doesn't expect the system can be made fully accessible immediately, but wants the town to submit a timetable on when it can be made so, what specific improvements are needed and when they can be made, or a "reasonable explanation" of why they can't be made. North ward councillor Don Mitchell noted the province is committed to making transit systems accessible, but hasn't offered to help pay the costs, which are expected to be substantial. Received for information A Whitby man was killed in a fiery crash on the 401 Thursday night, the day before he vould have celebrated his 44th birth- day. Gordon Stewart of Catherine Dr. was pronounced dead at Ajax-Pickering Hospital shortly after the accident that occurred around 10:30 p.m. on the 401 at Church St. in Pickering Village. Whitby OPP say Stewart was travelling eastbound when his car apparently veered te the right, frcing another car on to the shoulder and then colliding with it. His 1989 Chev Citation tben crossed three lanes of trafflic, hit a highway sign and knocked Iown a tre before slamm git a second tree and bursting into flames in a field underneath the Church St. overpass. Durham Regional Police Const. Nick Nowak arrived on the soene monents later, smashed a win- dow in Stewart's 1989 Chev Citation and, with the hel of bystanders, dragged him ?rom the brnîn vehclesufferinq cuts and burns te bis hand and smoke inhalation in the process. He is survived by his wife Susanne and daughter Nicole, and sisters Patricia Peterson and Katharine Clernens. A funeral service was te, be held today (Wednesday) at St. Mark's United Church, Whitby. Despite warnings, warehouse plan approved FROM PAGE 1 almost a foregone conclusion, committee spent more than two hours Monday listening to argu- ments against Invar's proposal. (Last week Town council sup- ported a separate application from Invar which seeks an amendment to Durham Region's official plan.) Lawyers. representing the major grocery store chains, as well as local business people, were unsuccessful in changing the committee's thinking. Although the site has an in- dustrial designation, a consul- tants' study prepared for the Town states that 200-300 more jobs would be created under the Invar proposal rather than tradi- tional industrial uses. However, Rosaldo Russo, who operates a building supplies centre on Taunton Road, said he knows who will fill the jobs. "Those 200 to 300 jobs will take away from people like me," said Russo. While he "won't go broke» if Aikenhead's is approved, Russo said there is not enough business for everyone. "I used to have 44 employees, now I have 22. Iused tohave 12 trucks on the road, now I have. two," said Russe. "What will happen to Durham Region if wegrant this applica- tion?" he asked. Councillor Ross Batten, com- mittee chair, assured Russo that council would not allow local business to be hurt. "All the information and stu- dies we have before us tells it won't detrimentally affect exist- ing business," said Batten. But lawyer Richard Arblaster, representing Loblaws, challenged Batten's comment as it related to the Price Club. "Your own consultants have concluded that the market study is deficient and they can't make an appropriate decision about Price Club," said Arblaster. (As part of the recommenda- tion, the area devoted to food sales shall not exceed 45 per cent of the 116,000 sq. ft. Price Club building. (Further, the area devoted to food sales will be placed in a holding category until the impact on existing Whitby food stores is determined.) Arblaster argued that allowing "approval in principal" of Price Club was "putting the cart before the horse." He said the food component is a "critical" part of a Price Club outlet. "It can't be a department store at one end and empty on the other...a Price Club is a Price Club, you can't chop it up.» Arblaster said the number of jobs to be created is misleading and that the Town's report should have examined how many existing ones will be lost. He said Price Club's projected sales are comparable to that of "two or three" grocery stores. With about 100 employees per store, the 300 jobs which could be lost are not offset by the 400-450 full and part-time jobs expected by Price Club, Arblaster rTARYýCMA$ SPrizotNanéeSfOrlar 62 0567 1696 2507 0135 - 1159 1729 2243 said. "The employment gain is 150. Don't look at the surface, dig a little deeper,» he urged. AI Hodg'nson, owner of a Canadian re store in Oshawa, referred to a letter written by Jack Ellis, president of Canadian Tire's Whitby outlet. In his letter, Ellis noted that both Price Club and Aikenhead's "make a practice" of locating in industrial areas where taxes are lower than in commercial areas. "They call themselves ware- house clubs, even though 70-80 per cent of their business comes from the retail consumer," Ellis states. "They make a strong effort to convince municipal authorities that because they. call them- selves warehouse clubs, they should be allowed to locate on industrial land,"he adds. Hodgkinson said he does about "one-tenth" of Aikenhead's pro- posedsales but pays "double the taxes." "I believe in free enterprise but I think they should pay the same taxes as everyone else," he said. (The two warehouses are expected to pay about $2.2 mil- lion in taxes over a 20-year periad.) Tom Burns, manager of the White Rose store on Dundas Street East, accused Aikerihead's of "predatory" marketing. "'heir only concern is to dominate the market and put you out of business, regardless of the cost," said Burns. He said Aikenhead's con- stantly monitors competitors' prices and undercuts them as quickly as possible, which it can easily afford to do because of low overhead costs. "If that's the wave of the future, you should look at it closely," said Burns. This was a reference to Invar spokesman Susan Rogers' earlier comment that Price Club and Aikenhead's are the "wave of the future"in merchandising. Councillor Marcel Brunelle felt the issue was one of government interference in the marketplace. "This is a market-driven economy. How far does govern- ment stick its nose into the market and decide what business goes ahead and what doesn't?"he asked. Brunelle recalled that the "same arguments" were made when the Knob Hill Food Ter- minal in Oshawa was proposed, but local food stores survived. He said shoppers may flock to the new outlets initially but many will eventually retrn to their favourite stores. Although there will be in- creased competition, Brunelle predicted local merchants will benefit from people outside Whitby being drawn to the town. Councillor John Dolstra agreed. Although the Invar application came forward a year ago, Dolstra said he has yet to receive a financial impact study from any of the opponents. "I would like to see some sort of documentation on how much you are losing, whether Loblaws or anyone else," said Dolstra. While he admitted there is "always a danger" of jobs being lost Batten reiterated that coun- cil Las nothing to support that contention. "There are dollars from this municipality going elsewhere that are lost to the community,» said Batten. "We feel this will bring some of it back and that this will be good for the community in the long run." Following the meeting, Rogers said the additional information about the impact of Price Club on local food stores should be available in a few months. "It's data that shows the per- centage of the market that will come from other stores," she said. ELT h-.;JeàI OPEN HOUSE MARCH 27th & MARCH 28th FREE CLASSES ALL WEEKEND CELEBRATE ONE YEAR WITH US REFRESHMENTS SERVED 223 Brock St. N. (at Mary), Whitby e e e _ ___ a 0.00 3' m M a 1-0 --- --- - - - --..-..--..-..-- Save0 WINCA SUN ROOF (INSTALLED) Retail value $300. i Up To Bring in this ad and enter draw. Draw wili be held April 2, 93. 5 Name ON YOURiNSURANCE Address DEDUCTIBLE WITH THIS AD* I Phone number L---------------- --------------- .pe.........*.a For blanket coverage of ALL the homes and/or businesses in WhitbyDB to selected areas only, call the Whitby Free Press - 668-6111. 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