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12 saturday june 8 2002 c changes to building code cause alarm proposed law contains significant reforms by linda johnson staff writer a proposed provincial law that changes ontarios building code may lead to unsafe and defective build ings york region municipalities warn bill 124 which is in second read ing includes the most significant building regulation reforms since 1975 based on recommendations from the building regulatory reform advisory group the law would allow builders to secure building permits 10 times quicker cutting waiting periods from about 10 weeks to 10 days theres going to be a situation where theyre going to side with the client and allow for certain building standards to slip the proposed bill has sparked alarm among municipal building offi cials who say a provision to allow independent inspectors is a clear con flict of interest which could lead to major safety problems for consumers called registered code agents the new inspectors must be appointed by a local council and can be hired by a municipality in such a case the town would maintain control over the inspection of plans and by buildings but the law also allows a builder or developer to hire their own code agents once theyre approved by a council they will be taking on the munic ipalitys responsibilities but their alle giance will be with the developer said councillor vito spatafora a member of the association of municipalities of ontario there is a potential conflict of interest in a report to the provincial gov ernment the association urges the see proposed page 13 economist sun stouffville tribune business york rising star in film industry by jeff mitchell staff writer its a sight thats become common to all of us rows of huge trucks gigantic lights scores of scurrying workers its the film busi ness and its a billiondollar industry in ontario increasingly york region is the beneficiary of its proximity to toronto the epicentre of the movie boom while its difficult to quantify the impact in dol lars and cents there is a general consensus movie shoots bring money when they venture north of steeles avenue there are spinoff ben efits they do spend money said ruth burkholder president of the markham board of trade markham is a frequent ly scouted and used loca tion for films commercials and other video projects figures from the clerks department indicate in 2001 there were 44 projects shot in town those proj ects resulted in revenue for the municipality which charges 500 per project and also demands a refundable 2500 deposit to cover any damage to town streets as well as individual homeowners and merchants who cut deals with production companies an oftused setting is unionvilles historic main street a film crew setting up there has to cover munici pal fees and make deals with businesses inconve nienced during the shoot in addition to hiring paid- duty cops and firefighters to provide safety and secu rity an intangible benefit of the film business is the exposure a community is given most often towns here are disguised as american towns but even dressed up your towns appearance in a feature film could trigger some recognition ms burkholder said she said that combined with the money spent by crews talent and other movie people should be the impetus for promotion of york region and its municipalities as willing hosts for the film industry it is economic develop ment she said it may not be as large as other indus tries but every little bit helps york region is no secret to people in the film busi ness according to shelley blechman her company film locations helps con nect film people with prop erty owners willing to host shoots the region offers a lot of space a lot of variety you can get everything from mansions in the country to the real suburbia look ms blechman deals pri marily with prestige prop erties and open spaces such as horse farms tomorrow an abc tv movie begins filming at a property she helped secure in the elgin mills and leslie street area ms blechman said as the film business in toronto continues to grow and it will given the favourable exchange rate and a deep pool of techni cal talent york region will continue to be scouted for location shoots the region offers a lot of space a lot of variety she said you can get see filming page 13 the disney tv movie the soul patrol was filmed on main street in unionville last month involving production designer jasna stefanovich and director stuart gillard at top makeup artist roger smith above and staffer jeff silver left among others rw3fflfhjfflkhabjv v- r r rmvvtvv v w vp fine childrens wear visit our location to view our new summer couectioti 4981 highway 7 e markham across from markville 9059469738 tn o hwy7 m markville rkhtzzhzucy c 0 i o o o