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stouffville suntribune b thursday march 17 2005 3 stouffville says by hannelore volpe what event are you looking forward to most in whitchurchstouffville asked at sobeys audrey christie i am looking forward to special programs at the library i did a computer program last year and i am interested in the book discussion group denise hume i am looking forward to having my baby in june and to the strawberry festival we go strawber ry picking and i take pictures forscrapbooking rod gibson i am looking forward to more snow because i have a snow plowing business paul jeffrey i like the strawberry festival and seeing familiar faces along main street its around the time of my birthday so its a happy time i look forward to the fireworks staff photobill roberts prime time in the woods fred sheehy offers visitors information on modern day maple syrup production inside the sugar shack during the enbridge sugarbush bruces mill maple syrup festival hours of operation are 9 am to 5 pm all this week and next week bruces mill is on stouffville road between kennedy road and warden avenue horse farmers like tax changes by roy green and joan ransberry staff writers horse farm owners who were facing huge tax hikes are breathing sighs of relief this week following the provinces reversal of its tax assessment formula after a month of talks between the municipal property assessment corpor ation and equestrian repre sentatives mpac backed off its plans to change the classifi cation of hundreds of horse farms from farm or residen tial to commercial as many as 1400 york region farms with horserelat ed activities were facing reassessments that could multi ply their taxes as much as 13 times seven establishments had already been hit with hikes ranging from 800 to more than 10000 according to ed hankins the regions director of policy risk and treasury many owners of properties where boarding riding lessons or trail rides are offered said the increases would force them out of business and one shirley hetheringon of mount albert said applying a com mercial rate to her 75acre farm in mount albert would boost her tax bill from 15000 to 100000 but the new formula is designed to treat equestrian facilities fairly according to finance minister greg sorbara who ordered mpac to meet with industry officials following a wave of complaints from own ers and equestrian associations the new criteria represents an appropriate balance between fair treatment for horse farm owners and consis tency with other types of prop erty mr sorbara said york region is home to 1365 horse farms and more than 17000 horses the news will have signifi cant impact on the horse indus try in the province it is particu larly important to york region which is known as the horse capital of canada marcia barrett executive director of the ontario equestrian federation said the revisions are fair to all farm owners and recognize the equestrian industry involves different land uses she said under the new formula only activities commercial in nature will be treated as com mercial property tack shops premises used to sell equestrian supplies or cloth ing restaurants commercial racetracks and slots grand stands and banquet halls breeding boarding training selling and raising horses will be assessed as farm or residential while a new classification rural recreational will be applied to land used exclusively for riding lessons trail rides or riding camps mpac already uses a similar category at the same rate as residential taxes for golf cours es and ski hills according to leslie brooks the kitchener horse farmer who led the battle against mpacs commercial assessments basically we will be back to what we were ms brooks said all horse maintenance will be farm or residential depending upon their situation for some it will even be better than before the revised assessment cri teria will be retroactive to jan 1 2004 and ms brooks said she is continuing to work with mpac to address reassessments going back to 200203 the changes are a huge relief to thousands of horse farm owners ontario equestrian federation president allan ehrlick said we are delighted to see that equestrian facilities will now be assessed in a fair and equitable manner briefly man entered apartment york regional police are looking for a man who entered a groundlevel apartment in stouffville uninvited through an unlocked patio door last week at approximately 230 am march 6 a winlane drive resident awoke to find a man at the end of her bed she screamed waking up her adult daughter who told the man to get out the man complied immedi ately and neither woman was touched or threatened the woman believes the man may have been visiting someone else in her building as she has seen him before police would like to talk to the man who is described as a white male fivefeet twoinches tall 140 pounds in his mid30s with a thin build and dirty blonde hair anyone with information is asked to contact police at 18668765423 ext 7541 crime stoppers at 1-800- 222tips or leave an anonymous tip online at wwwcrimestoppersyrca eggciting day for children good timing means whitchurch- stouffville children can take part in easter egg hunts in ballantrae and stouffville the ballantrae easter egg hunt hosted by the ballantrae sparks brownies and girl guides runs from 10 to 11am march 26 the downtown stouffville event begins at 1 pm at the stouffville train station and continues until 3 pm thousands of foilcovered choco late eggs will be hidden throughout felcher park in ballantrae during the hunt guides will have cookies on sale at 4 per box admission is free but donations to the whitchurch- stouffville food bank are welcome on stouffvilles main street the business improvement areas easter egg hunt begins at the stouffville train station children accompanied by adults can receive easter treats from partici pating main street merchants quoteworthy i dont even have a basketball net patrick clause threetime free throw champion see story on page 20 contacting us have a news tip please phone us at 9056402612 email us at jmasonyrng com visit us at 34 civic ave stouffville