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10 Stouffville Sun-Tribune | Thursday, January 14, 2016 | Downtown restaurant `will be an attraction' BY SANDRA BOLAN sbolan@yrmg.com The concept for a wine bar/ lounge/restaurant has been in the back of Ron Carlton's mind for a couple of years, but there just wasn't a suitable location. That is, until the Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville put the Silver Jubilee back on the market last year. The former post office and seniors' hub, "quite intrigued" Carlton, president of SMC Project Realization and Management. Which is why the company purchased the downtown property late last year from the town for $515,000. "People go to Toronto and Unionville -- every place but in town for a nice place to go," Carlton told The Sun-Tribune of why his Stouffvillebased company wants to construct a wine bar/lounge/restaurant in the Main and Market streets building. The wine bar will have a tasting menu and the lounge will be "higher end, but casual," he said. The restaurant is still being planned, but it will not be a steakhouse, as one already exists in the community, Carlton noted. The restaurant will also be open seven days a week. Too many times, Carlton explained, he has tried to take clients to dinner in Stouffville, but his preferred options have been closed. He wants this restaurant to be available to everyone. `People go to Toronto and Unionville -- every place but in town for a nice place to go.' Much of the building's exterior will remain as-is, except for a couple of tweaks. The ramp will be improved and the front door vestibule will be removed. The parking area at the back of the building will be turned into an outdoor patio. "We're very confident at the end of the day, it will be an attraction for Stouffville," Carlton said. It will employ 15 to 25 people, according to Carlton. Construction is underway and the yet-to-be-named wine bar/lounge/ restaurant will open in June. As for coming up with a name, Carlton will be holding a contest. SUBMITTED BY DEVELOPER "We think it would be nice, getting the community involved in naming Residents will have an opportunity to name new restaurant/bar being created in former seniors' club. it," he said. New rural Internet service a start, councillor says BY SANDRA BOLAN sbolan@yrmg.com Councillor Ken Ferdinands has spent the past three years working on getting rural residents a decent Internet connection. He has finally succeeded, for a portion of Ward 1 homes, but the irony is Ferdinands can't get the new service because he lives just a couple of hundred metres out of the catch zone. By the end of 2015, Vianet hoped to have 140 homeowners in the Trail of the Woods area connected to its fibre optic cable. There are 260 Whitchurch-Stouffville homes within Vianet's new service area. The technology will enable 40 Mpbs download and 20 Mpbs upload, with no data cap. It will also allow people four simultaneous HD video streams, making it "very Netflix friendly," according to Brian McCullagh, director of business development for the ISP . "It's the highest available capacity anywhere in the municipality," according to Ferdinands. But it's not cheap. Homeowners had to dish out $2,500 each for the fibre optic cable, which was not an easy sell, according to Ferdinands. "There will be people, unfortunately, left out of the deployment because it's cost prohibitive," the councillor said. It costs $40,000 per kilometre to lay the fibre optic cable, according to Ferdinands. Once installed, homeowners will pay $109/month and that includes HDTV, phone and Internet, according to McCullagh. "That's probably the cheapest triple play package in the country," he said, noting that's not an introductory rate, but the company's regular fee. But if he were to go to Guatemala, where his daughter currently works, for $50 a month, he would get unlimited broadband and be able to Skype. Rural resident Frank Van Veen, like Ferdinands, is outside Vianet's catch zone. He lives on St. John's Sideroad. He also lives in a Rogers' dead zone and Bell, "is just way too expensive." So, Van Veen has been trying Xplornet. It's only good for reading emails between 8 a.m. and 11 p.m., he said. Facetime and Skype are out of the question. But if he were to go to Guatemala, where his daughter currently works, for $50 a month, he would get unlimited broadband and be able to Skype. "(The CRTC are) aware of it. They have no control. They can't force an ISP to provide affordable Internet," Van Veen said. "What the CRTC could do is change the rules. Make it more feasible for small business to make small markets accessible." Vianet, which is based out of Sudbury and has recently purchased Zing-net and Compu-SOLVE, decided to make the investment in rural Whitchurch-Stouffville because they don't foresee any other ISPs swooping in to do it, which means these new Vianet customers won't be going anywhere anytime soon, according to McCullagh. They were also willing to take a longer payback on their investment. "It's a start and it's something that needs to occur across the municipality," Ferdinands said. The study will look at land use, municipal infrastructure, pedestrian and traffic movement, as well as safety considerations. The results of the study will be the basis for deciding whether or not to proceed with opening the road, according to the report. The study will cost between $100,000 and $150,000, according to the staff report. A detailed traffic management and safety study for the neighbourhood, separate from the Edward Street corridor planning study, will also be undertaken. It will assess the impacts and mitigation of any additional traffic, according to the report. That study, which is not in the upcoming budget, will cost about $25,000. Coach to share secrets There are three secrets to achieving success in business, health or sports, according to Corey McCusker, a Stouffville-based mental performance coach. She is facilitating a 90-minute experiential workshop on Jan. 18, 7 p.m. at the Stouffville Natural Health Clinic. The fee is $30. The workshop will deal with how to avoid chaos and stay focused and in control of your destiny; go over common roadblocks; provide techniques for achievement and experience a group mediation to boost results. Space is limited. Register at info@stouffvillenhc.com or call 905-642-8555. Council wants more information on Bramble/Edward opening Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville councillors wants detailed studies completed before they go any further in deciding whether or not Bramble Crescent should be open between Millard and Edward streets. The town's 10-year draft capital forecast already includes a planning study for the Edward Street corridor in 2016, according to the staff report.