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al2 economist suntribune development viursday dec 26 2002 c construction constant sight across bustling region from page al have been adopted by the regions plan ning department they call for the cre ation of healthy communities meas ures to assure economic vitality preser vation of the environment and the pro vision of muchneeded human services one of the most effective ways to control growth and meet these criteria is to establish a system of centres or nodes in which the majority of devel opment wilj occur mr tuckey said by far the highest level of growth will occur in the regions wellestablished southern municipalities vaughan richmond hill and markham it is also destined to continue along yonge street in aurora and newmarket the regions goal is to establish acceptable density guidelines to fill the gaps in these existing urban areas and then implement the traffic and transit measures necessary to make them work the bulk of the southern develop ment will occur along hwy 7 andyonge with major corridors in the west and east as well linking vaughan and markham with toronto the regions rapid transit plan a muldbilliondollar partnership with a consortium of private companies will focus on these corridors the system which is likely to evolve over years will provide transportation for the growing number of people living and working within the region as well as establishing links with the toronto transit commission and transit services in neighbouring peel and durham regions all of these elements along with planning for upgraded roads sewers water delivery systems and other infra structure loom large as york rumbles inexorably toward an increasingly urban future it is managing rapid growth rather than managing urban sprawl in the tra ditional sense mr tuckey said we have compact community building policies firm boundaries very strong greenlands and agricultural and rural policies that are very solid markham deputy mayor frank scarpitti chairperson of the regions planning committee agrees planning for the future requires a comprehensive approach in the past we used to build subdi visions he said now were building communities along with growth on a scale such as has been evident in york region over the past three decades the population was 169000 when the municipality was formed by the province in 1971 comes a sense of inevitability among residents and even politicians it can seem as if construction is a constant condition and that sprawl is unstoppable that according to peter sibbald brown of sutton is when growth must be put to the test of public scrutiny and opinion the inevitability factor thats just complacency mr brown said of course youre going to have inevitabili ty unless youre continually vigilant his comments are made in the din ing room of a home overlooking lake simcoe to the rear of the house in the gathering darkness of an early winter evening are 38 hectares of forested land that became a batdeground when sev eral years ago a developer announced frank scarpim we used to build subdivisions now were build ing communities plans to build 500 homes for seniors the moatfield proposal as it was locally known spurred several noisy and wellattended public meetings resulted in an ontario municipal board hearing that has yet to be completely resolved and sparked die formation of the north east sutton ratepayers association or nesra that group continues to advocate for environmentally sound development and the preservation of georginas dwindling forest cover the proposal has been whittled down to approximately 300 homes a number which has yet to pass the muster of environmental studies residents became bitter during the process but die way the issue galva nized the community was impressive said dr margaretha vandervelden president of nesra it was very reluctantly diat i accept ed to become president i mean i was pretty intimidated by this but i was truly driven by my indig nation she said she was compelled to take acdon by the fact that a group of specu lators whose only objective is to make as big a buck as possible could actually come up with something that destroyed the quality of life of so many families and dont kid yourself even though its now scaled down its still going to have a huge effect on the lives of all of us around here and im talking about 300 families or more the opponents of moatfield knew they stood little chance of defeating the plan outright but they hoped to miti gate the impact of a proposal that had huge ramifications they fought to maintain the most significant environmental feature of the site a forested wedand close to the lake opponents contend largescale development would have negative con sequences for a water table that serves several hundred homes on wells a publiclydriven campaign helped fight a plan that was inappropriate for the area dr vandervelden said public pressure is legitimate she said sure its emotionalism because people see their lifestyle threatened and that public pressure is becom ing more important now as growth bar rels ahead she said the process can be skewed in favour of the development community dr vandervelden said its a development process that developed in a progrowth climate dr vandervelden said she questions the objectivity of plans and environmental assessments diat are funded by developers and used by municipalities as guidelines mr brown credits the communitys refusal to accept the inevitability of moatfield for the strides that have been made in die fight against the proposal should yoirwish to remember auld acquaintance this is the place to do it mm 90s rr iirt ml mmmm for memorable acquaintances auld and new the comer house in stouffville should neer be forsot the sauce for fine dining in york region whatever the season 6403 main street stouffville for reservations please call 9056408494 check out our menus at wwwthecomerhouseca coast mountain shorts sta at oasvi sharp dec 26th 3x1 ng week entire store on sale 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