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PAGE 4, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 11, 1979, WHITEY FREE PRESS W li-tDo f Published every Wednesday by M.B.M. Publishing and Photography Inc. Phone 668-6111 The Free Press Building Voice of the County Town Michael lan Burgess, Publisher - Managing Editor 131 Brock Street North, hie only Whitby newspaper Independently owned and operated by Whitby residents for Whitby residents. P.O. Box 206, Whitby, Oi gt int. Community Editoi -Brian Winter Contributling Editor .Jim Quail Production Manager -Marj Burgess print & Promotiona .Robin Lyon Manager Classiled Ad -Leesa Menard Mailing Permit No. 460 Member of the: Better Business Bureau of Toronto Whitby Chamber of Commerce Bright future ahead for Whitby harbor EDITOR'S NOTE The following is the text of a speech on the development of .Whitby Harbor, past, present and future, delivered to the Whitby Chamber of Commerce, Monday by Whitby's Trea- surer and Co-ordinator of Development Forbes McEwen. Mr. McEwen, who was born and raised in Pickering Village, started working for the Town of Whitby on April 15, 1954, and this weekend, marks 25 years of service to the town. He was honored Monday evening by the town council for his 25 years of service. Mr. McEwen started with the town as Tax Collector, Deputy Treausurer and Deputy Clerk. He acted as secretary of the Planning Board of five years and of the Arena and Swimming pool Boards for 10 years. He was also Welfare Officer for seven years. He bas been Treasurer of the town since 1966 and involved in development since the formation of the Region of Durham in 1974. A lot of his work today is in the development of municipal property. One of his biggest tasks has been the development of the Port Whitby Marina, the subject of his address to the Chamber of Commerce. WHITBY WATERFRONT By Forbes McEwen I have been asked to talk, to you today on the WHITBY WATERFRONT and its future. I think first of all, I would like to give a very brief history report of WHITBY HARBOUR. Prior to 1854 Whitby was known as Windsor and I am pleased to have available a map of Windsor Harbour as it appeared in 1838. The Town of Whitby developed in its present location because of the Harbour and this map shows the original Scaddings Plan of what we now call Port Whitby. In its early days the Harbour was used more for export, mainly of lumber, flour, grain and cordwood. You will notice that the Anglican Church in Port Whitby was built with limestone from Kingston brought in as ballast. Long lineups of grain waiting to be unloaded made the convenient hotels a popular place. A brewery and distillery were the first manufacturers in Port Whitby. The construction of the "Nip and Tuck" Railway, Port Whitby to Lindsay, provided a feeder line for shipment of goods to the U.S. and eastern Ontario. The tonnage declined as more land became cleared and the McKinley tariff of 1890 brought exports to a halt. Ever since the turn of the century Port Whitby was used more for imports - first of coal and then oil from the U.S. I expect some rum was shipped in during prohibition, but there are no records available. The evidence has long since disappeared. I am sure that the Chamber is more interested in the present and future development of the Harbour area. I like to tell the story of when Sid Correl's father, who was Deputy-Registrar for about 45 years, and our former Clerk Mr. Frost, during-the depression. Over a bottle of scotch, Mr. Correll tipped off Mr. Frost that the original Scadding deed gave ownership of the lands surrounding the harbour to the water's edge. Mr. Frost then made sure that the 100 year-old estate was assessed for the property and it was subsequently purchased in a tax sale. In 1956 the municipality closed the road to the hospital and received in exchange for this land, about 50 acres, mostly bull-rushes, from the Province. Last year the municipality purchased the 30 acres along Gordon Street from the Province, bringing our local holdings around three sides of the Harbour to 100 acres. Approximately 10 years ago after studies by the Federal Department of Public Works, it was generally agreed between Whitby and Oshawa that our harbour should develop for recreation purposes, while Oshawa should concentrate on commercial development around its Harbour. With this policy decision the municipality co-operated with the local boaters in the fo~rmation and development of the Whitby Yacht Club. Parly because of the recreation orientation of Whitby Harbour, the municipality acquired first Whitby Boat Works and later Ouyang Boat Works. In the fall of 1975, after some public criticism of the municipality by Whitby Boat Works who claimed that they wanted to build a boat too long for haulage on the highway, I was requested by Council to try to solve the problem of the local boat manufacturers in delivering of their manufactured products. We tried for about a year to get some type of agreement whereby the municipality did some dredging and the three boat manufacturers did some onshore work. Wegu Rubber had by now also located in Whitby and their final decision to locate here was because of the potential of the Harbour for their small sail boats. We were not successful because private interests wanted a long term lease to recover their investment, while the-municipality was not inclined to lease a public asset for a long term. Also dealing with three parties made the task three times more difficult. It was normally not a Town reponsibility to do dredging anyway. In 1976 we made application to Small Craft Harbours Branch of the Department 0f Fisheries for Federal Dredging. To make application it was necessary to have a plan of the proposed development of the harbour. We therefore developed a scheme that wilultimately accommodate 450 boats at the north end of the harbour. It became quite apparent in 1977 that our application for dredging would be granted in 1978. It would be very remiss and extremely untimely if I did not give some credit to Norman Cafik for his strong support for this application. The municipality was faced with the question of whether to proceed on its own to construct the harbour or to lease it out to a private party for a long term. The Federal Government does not grant any money but does the acutal dredging which is work in an area owvped by the Federal Government. They require that the municipality spend a matching dollar on onshore improvements and if the land were leased by the municipality, it would require a three party agreement. The dredging costs were $700,000 so we would be required to spend this amount over a three year period on onshore works. In the spring of 1978, the municipality decided to make the necessary capital improvements and the dredging proceeded that summer. Some of the reasons we decided to go this route are: 1. We have only one harbour to build a'nd we wanted to be assured of a quality development in a key location. 2. The municipality would have been involved to some extent anyway in the construction of roads, fill, services and berming for the dredging and construction of the park. We would probably have spent $500,000 on these services. 3. The municipality owns 100 acres of land around the harbour and only about 15 acres will be used for harbour purposes. It is difficult to establish where the harbour ends and the park area starts. 4., With the municipality owning the marina we were able to take advantage of various government grant schemes as well as acquiring the necessary fill. 5. The municipality felt that the property- was a most important piece of real estate in terns of the future. We have acquired over a number of years these important lands to protect access to the waterfront and we felt that a continuing investment should be made to protect the public interest. The marina is not being built just to satisfy the needs of the boaters. and the following are other advantages: 1. The municipality will acquire at least 50 acres of a passive park along the west side of the harbour with over 2,000 feet of harbour frontage. 200,000 yards of harbour spoils have been dredged and deposited in this area. We will start to cover this area this year with construction material and from.the large stock pile of topsoil that was removed before the dredging started. The park will start to take shape in 1980. 2. By extending Watson Street to meet with Henry Street at Victoria we are providing an alternate route for many workers who live in the west end of town to get to work. 3. With the construction of an area for a travelift we facilitate the delivery of the manufactured product of two Whitby industries. 4. The.more activity we create in this area the greater the potential we have for some commercial venture, be it a restaurant or hotel. 5.. We are improving the industrial potential of the area west of Charles Street. I have already had an inquiry for 30,000 square feet for a boat manufacturer and 50,000 square feetfor a boat repair operation. I predict that before long most of the industry in these two blocks will be boat oriented. The total town cost of the project is estimated at $1,063,000. The town had a profit of $300,000 from industrial land sales in Whitby Industrial Park. Since the authority to purchase more industrial land was removed from local municipalities when the Region was formed, it seemed appropriate to use the funds to assist existing industry. We expect to receive approximately $335,000 from various Provincial grant schemes and the balance of $428,000 will be obtained from development levies over a three year period. The total town dollars therefore will amount to $728,000 but not raised from taxation. Included in this expenditure are the following: 1. $300,000 for 200 steel floating docks that are now under construction. 2. $200,000 for shorewallprotection, public ramp and travelift area. 3. $100,000 for an administration and service building. 4. $100,000 for berming and park construction. 5. $80,000 for engineering and the balance for roads, services, lands-caping, parking lot. The municipality has acquired 150,000 yards of fill from various construction projects as well as the 200,000 yards from dredging. The levelling was part of the disposal costs for the construction projects. The base gravel for the roads camne from the bypass road for the Brock Street C.P.R. underpass. Rubble was acquired for some of the shorewall from our construction jobs. 2,000 railway ties for the shorewall were obtained from the C.N.R. spur line and more will be used on tbe parking lot and walkways. We purchased the Otter Creek sales office on D'Hilier Street as a temporary administration building and this will be moved tbis month to the site. We have therefore been successful in keeping our construc- tion costs as low as possible. 1979 is our start-up year. Our contractor will be delivering 100 slips for May 15, 1979, and we will be opened on time. The Whitby-Harbour Front Park is larger than Toronto's, is being built over only one Federal election, and will be finished much earlier. The total cost will be about 1 per cent of the Toronto Harbour Front Park because the municipality had the foresight to acquire the land. We have told you some of the past about Whitby Harbour and more detail about the present development of the harbour. I would like to now predict the future of the area. These are my personal opinions. Port Whitby is ideally located for medium height apartment buildings. It is close to 401 and GO; close to employment and close to a good recreation area. When the Region solves the sewer problem in 1981, and our planners come up with more realistic zoning, I look for more apartment living. We must be careful to maintain the heritage dwellings in the area. I predict that the industrial area will tend towards boat oriented use. It is not generally realized but with the Town and the Province there is 550 acres of publicly owned land around the harbour area. The Town has reasonably well developed the 50 acres of Iroquois Park and we are well into the 100 acre Harbour development. The Province owns 180 acres on the south side of Victoria and have just announced a 27 million dollar program to reconstruct the psychiatric buildings. The Province also owns 230 acres on the north side of Victoria that presently grows corn. This property has a half mile of visual frontage on 401. If the land were used for residential purposes we would create an isolated neighbour- hood of about 1,000 homes. It has some potential as industrial sites, but it is not the most ideal location for this purpose. I personally think that the land should be used in somewhat similar manner as the Town's development of its own land. About five years ago the municipality held several meetings with the South Ontario\Agricultural Society in an effort to locate their fair on this property. The Fair Board thought it was a good idea but negotiations failed because the municipality was not satisfied that a quality facility would be built. The Town has its Brooklin Fair and County Town Carnival and now we are going to have an agricultural fair. All three are in different locations and we have to be the "fairest" municipality in the Region. Now we have three fairs in three separate locations. That doesn't make sense to me. We should learn from the City of Oshawa who are in the process of moving their automotive museum from Simcoe Street to 401 exposure. I would like to see the Region of Durham take a lead in the development of a Regional Fair. -With the more recreational oriented uses in the area around the harbour we will find that each will compliment the other and we could very well have the major recreational area of the--- Region. I am convinced that the harbour area will again become the prominant area of the municipality that it was 125 years ago. The Warriors film should be seen Dear Sir: For the past month or so, ail I have been read- ing about in the papers are the critical views against the movie "The Warriors." All people say is that the movie is a disgrace and the people who made it should be sued or hung, or both. I have respect and praise for the people who ut together such a film. As these are people who are not afraid to use reality in their film. And I underline reality because this is what's going on in the streets. The movie is a fine example of what happens when the young and the poor are given no place in our prejudiced society, and they won't change until our society allows them to be a part. In my opinion, this film should be shoved down the peoples' throats until they realize that tornor- row might be a little to late! Yours truly, W.R. Cyrus Thanks .from the March of Dimes Dear Mr. Burgess: Thank you and the other members of the Whitby Free Press staff for your support of the Ontario March of Dimes' 1979 Ability Fund Campaign. We appreciated your using our "drop ads" whenever possible. Sincerely, Anne Moore Director of Resources i q -IMM i