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economist suntribune business saturday june 8 2002 13 proposed law deregulation official from page 12 government to remove this sec tion from the bill mr spatafora said he thinks an inspector paid by a builder is unlikely to contradict his employer theres going to be a situa tion where theyre going to side with the client and allow for cer tain building standards to slip we could end up with some very serious problems he said in other countries the use of independent inspectors has led to some major failures such as the collapse of a heritage build ing in new york richmond hills chief build ing official john devries called the proposed law a form of deregulation whats at heart here is who should be in control of it tom parry stouffvilles chief building official and director of development services also fears the quality of inspection for building plans will suffer the concern is whether the code consultant would be as qualified as our building inspec tors they might miss things that result in claims he said mr parry said the town will have to hire more staff to meet the extra workload were just on the edge of some major development hap pening in stouffville communi ty he said but well have to allow as well for the new legisla tion in deciding how much staff is needed john wright markhams director of building standards and chairperson of large municipalities chief building officials said the regulatory role should not be transferred to the private sector it strikes most observers as a rather obvious arrogation of a public interest he said the concern is whether the code consultant would he as qualified as our building inspectors they might miss things that result in claims leo greuetteraur6rws direc- tor of building administration said it was difficult to judge the impact of the selfdirected agents he said although councils may refuse to appoint code inspectors builders may contin ue pressing councils to allow them using the promise of quick building permit and develop ment fees as leverage they may come and say they have all these permits which need to be processed and offer tons of money for development charges he said so where do you go with that other aspects of bill 124 that concern area municipalities include new terms of liability while the government has capped lia bility of all parties to 15 years builders are liable for only seven years leaving municipalities solely liable in the remaining eight years the introduction of fixed time limits in which building permits are issued for various kinds of dwellings proposing a 10day limit for residential per mits and 20day limit on non residential buildings in richmond hill the current time taken for residential permits is about 10 weeks the establishment and enforcement of a code of ethics which covers all officials involveayinibuilding except the builders themselves the proposed law also exempts builders from being trained in the building code a requirement for building offi cials designers and code agents their association said it would be too great an imposition on builders to become compe tent in the code thats not right mr wright said richmond hill supported the recommendations of the amo report advising the provincial government to reject registered code agents tsm buy 1 ex 2 mmm choose any two of the following 4 promotions when you invest in a lennox air conditioner from esp 1 up to 50000 rebate i 2 free honeywell setback thermostat 3 free winter cover 4 5 year parts labour warranty expires june 15th 2002 mechanical we put our energy into conserving yours free in home consultation 9054710208 4167560820 this offer cannot be combined with any other promotions some conditions may apply visit our showroom at 66 bullock drive unit 3 warehouse book sale everyone welcome imfa filming is disruptive from page 12 everything from mansions in the coun try to the real suburbia look york region can be anything from a suburb in philadelphia to someplace out in colorado the region has another important element in its favour she said proximi ty to toronto costs in the film industry are huge and cutting travel and setup time is considered by location man agers theyre always looking for offsite locations ms blechman said and every inch is a dollar of course there are downsides location filming is disruptive and intru sive and is an inconvenience for people and merchants affected helene johnson president and ceo of the wliitchurchstouffville chamber of commerce remembers how a crew working on the nowdefunct tv series nikita took over the downtown core in stouffville years ago things were closed off the streets were closed off she said i think some downtown merchants thought this really wasnt in their best interests there was precious little in terms of money being spread around by the cast and crew ms johnson said the workers showed up in the morn ing ate catered lunches and snacks arid retired to toronto at the end of the day she said what spinoffs they come in they do what theyre supposed to do and theyre gone not everyone takes such a dim view of the industry eric button a stouffville lawyer and president of the towns business improvement area said shoots are more spectacle than eco nomic opportunity which is not neces sarily a bad thing stouffville has hosted a number of feature film shoots in addi tion to the nikita location its hard to tell he said when asked about increased spending in town by film crews some of the merchants and restau rants gained business i think overall it was a pretty neat experience mr button said all things consid ered he regards hosting film crews as a positive experience for the communitys merchants and residents you may get some publicity out of it which is good and the merchants are going to benefit somewhat from the crews being in town- he said york region should brace itself for more attention from the film industry according to the ontario media development corp a branch of the provincial culture ministry the corporation reported 9816 mil lion in industry activity in ontario for 200 1 a slightly offyear that was affected by threatened writers strikes and of course the sept 11 terrorist attacks but domestic and foreign projects are being promoted by the office which helps facilitate projects in the province and york region given its proximity to toronto will continue to be scouted for location shoots that means money according to ms blechman who lists a number of york region properties among her inventory of location potentials everyone the industry touches it benefits them moneywise she said jlywajdd mothers against drunk driving 1800665madd this message brought to you as a community service of the economist suntribune 1 s- m m vv vi r w v 4 1 safe wii jjjbhu stouffville rd q e o c to o mai or mackenzie c co hwy7 o u 2 x panorama hundreds of quality childrens books 100 up tiiur jinn 13 9am5pm fri iun14 9am5pm sat jtin15 9aiii1pm 80 sandifoxdl dr ttrtits 27 98 stotxf fvdlle oist york 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