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Stoufiizille Sun-E ribung THURSDAYJUNE 26,2008 I SERVINGTH COMMUNITYOFWHITCH RCHâ€"STOUFFVILLE I 28PAGES/S1 INCLUDING ' BY ALYSHIA HIGGINS Although Stouffville may have issues filling downtown buildings with retailers, current business owners certainly didn’t have any problem voicing their opinions at a public meeting last week. ““We do have vacancies in the downtown, and we are having problems filling them," said Eric Button, chairperson of the Busi- ness Improvement Area. Smaller big box stores slammed Brent Clarkson of MHBC Planning and Doug Armand of urbanMetrics made a presenta- tion to council backing a pro- posed amendment to change the restrictions on the Zoning by-law governing the Wal-Mart/Cana- dian Tire plaza being developed by SmarflCentres to allow for smaller stores. Council originally passed the zoning restrictions for the 43-acre retail area in May 2005 allowing only stores above 5,005 square feet to be constructed, as The big box development is at Hwy. 48 and Hoover_Park Drive. 7 Mr. Button said the proposed amendments to the zoning restrictions would have a “devas- tating effect" on downth busi- v “I think this is a disaster wait- ing to happen,” he said. “It would be a tragedy (to downtown busi- nesses) to do 1188888. Wal-Mart plaza plan ‘disastrous to downtown’ mam-n 138WDV..W5 MAW 'ouncillor RichaId Bartley Sec DEVELOPER, page 8‘ BY ALYSHIA HIGGINS . Strawberry Festival volunteers were feeling the love and the time crunch this week The 24th annual event oflicially opens tonight and volunteers from the community and Love Stouffville have been working feverishly to get ready. Thousands of residents are expected to browse the streets this weekend. The festival runs through Sunday and resumes Thesday with Canada Day fireworks and other events in Memorial Park. Volunteers make Strawberry Festival tick 24TH ANNUAL FEST KICKS OFF TONIGHT IN MEMORIAL PARK WITH LOTS OF HELP Chairperson Laura Roessler is all set for the oflicial opening of the 24th annual Strawberry Festival today. The festival continues through to the July 1 Canada Day festivities in Memorial Park. For information, see Jim Thomas’ column on page 5, Coming Up on page 12 and the festival’s website at strawberryfestivaLca “We look at the festival as our baby," Strawberry Festival Comâ€" mittee chairperson Laura Roessler said. “It takes nine months of hard work to put it all together." The lO-member committee, along with hundreds of other vol- unteers, is responsible for putting on the event, which draws crowds from across the GTA. Flaming for the event begins a year in advance, b The berries are late, but abundant, this year. See story on page] 1. and committee members put in as many as 10 hours a day, Ms Roess- ler said. Love Stouffville, a group of churches, was created last year and is ready to help out again. This is the second time they are participat- ing in the festival. “I’ve heard great things from the volunteers (of Love Stouffville),” said Scott Clubine, youth pastor at EastRidge Evangelical Mission- ary Church and leader of the cam- paign. “You get different people from different churches working Learning . . ‘ Opinion . . . ‘ Food . . . . . . n Things to do together. It’s a great way for them to be involved with the community." Besides the approximately 75 volunteers Love Stouffville pro- vides, many other volunteers not involved with the committee also contribute to the success of the Love Stouflville supplies “80 per cent of the logistical volunteers throughout the festival", said Ms Roessler. ’ “Without Love Stouffville, it's almost as if there wouldn’t be a festival," she said. Sec VOLUNTEERS, page I 8 STAFF PHOTO/SJOERD WITTEVEEN WWW {9056464646 6312 Main St