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GATES OPEN. Family Kartway back in business By Mike Kowalski Family Kartway is back in business. The opular tourist attraction on Highway 12 opened its doors for the 1993 season last Wednes- day, only weeks after it had been closed for financial reasons. National Trust, holder of the mortgage on the 35-acre amuse- ment centre -- which includes Canada's largest go-kart track -- had padlocked the gates last month and posted a security guard inside. But owner Gary Sorichetti said "congenial talks' between him- self and National Trust resolved all issues leading to the trust company initiating proceedings to foreclose on the mortgage. However,,Sorichetti would not elaborate. "That's between us and them," he said. "The guy on the other side and I came to terms, everybody's happy." Aspokesman for National Trust was not available for im- mediate comment. Sorichetti has operated Family Kartway since March 1990, after having purchased the property from Richard Clark, who had owned the business since 1963. In addition to the go-kart track, the park includes minia- ture golf, rides, batting cages and a water slide. By Mike Kowalski Tentative contract settlements have now been reached between the Durham Board of Education and both its secondary and ele- mentary teachers. Last week negotiators for the board and its 1,476 secondary teachers arrived at a settlement with the help of provincial mediator DavidWhitehead. Teachers will vote on the pro- posed agreement during an in- school vote this Friday. Details of the tentative settle- ment are not being released until the teachers hold their ratifica- tion vote, but the package is being recommended by the tea- chers' bargaining committee. The settlement follows, by two weeks, an agreement reached between the board and its 2,300 elementary teachers. Elementary teachers voted 68 per cent in favour of the one-year contract to replace the previous Commemorative occasion GAIL FORBES was one of 26 local residents to be presented with Canada 125 medals by Ontario Lieutenant-Governor Henry Jackman Wednesday at Whitby council chambers. The recipients were nominated by Durham Centre MPP Drummond White. See story on page,18. Photo by Mark R1esor, Whtby F1 Press agreement which expired last August. Details of that settlement were to remain confidential until trus- tees registered their approval at last mght's (Tuesday) school board meeting. Shirley Smith, president of District 17 of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Fede- ration, refused comment on any aspect of the high school tea- chers' settlement, including the length of the proposed agree- ment. However, Smith did admit that bargaining was sometimes diffi- cult. "We've been negotiating for quite a long period of time. To say there were no stumbling blocks is not really fair," she said. Teachers have been without a contract since last August. Last December a provincial fact finder -- whose recommenda- tions were not binding -- pro- posed a one per cent wage in- crease for the 1992-93 school year. The union had been seeking a 3.1 per cent increase over one year while the school board had offered three increases of 0.5 per cent over a two-year period. Secondary teachers now earn between $31,102 and $64,345, depending on qualifications and experience. Smith said recent suggestions by the Ontario government that a public sector contract talks be suspended until a new 'social contract' between the province and its employees- is obtained, had little impact on bargaining. (Premier Bob Rae met with union leaders last week to dis- cuss government plans to reduce Ontario's growing deficit. The province has proposed trimming SEE PAGE 15 By Mike Kowalski A decision on whether to sup- port two controversial ware- ouse-style stores proposed for Whitby has been delayed. Duram Region's planning committee last week deferred action on an application to build Price Club and Aikenhead's out- jets on Victoria Street, east of Thickson Road South. Committee voted to postpone the matter until next Tuesday (April 20) so that planning staff can respond to concerns raised at the meeting. Issues to be examined by staff are the impact of the bulk mer- chandising stores on competing businesses in Durham and whether the outlets will receive a tax advantage from being located in an irdustrial area rather than on commercially-zoned property. Committee directed staff to p repare a report despite claims y Whitby officiais and the appli- cant that these and other mat- ters have been addressed. "I have concern that the plan- ning committee didn't deal with it on planning matters," said Whitby councillor Joe Drumm, a committee member. "If the planning committee had of dealt with it as a planning matter it would have gone (through)," he said. Last month Whitby council aproved rezoning and official pfan amendment applications from Invar Industrial Ltd. for 22 acres of vacant land on the north side of Victoria Street. If supported by regional coun- cil, this will allow Invar to build two $5.5-million facilities which would house the Price Club and Aikenhead's -- two unrelated wholesale/retail/warehousing operations. The Price Club is an Ameri- can-owned chain which does not cater to the general public but operates on a restricted member- ship basis. About 55 per cent of its sales come from food, with the remain- der coming from non-food and department store-type mer- chandise. Aikenhead's, owned by The Molson Companies, is a building supplies and garden centre geared to both consumers and professional contractors. About 540 full-time jobs are expected to be created by the stores, which will have a projec- ted combined sales of $135 mil- lion in the first year of operation. While studies prepared in sup- port of Invar's application con- tend the impact on local business will be minimal, many area mer- chants disagree. Representatives of small businesses and large retail chain stores in Durham failed to dis- suade Whitby council from approving the project and have now taken their fight a step further. About 150 people crowded into an empty store in the Whitby Mail last week to argue against the proposal. But despite fears of lost in- come and jobs, Drumm believes the development will ultimately SEE PAGE 20 -PRICE CLUB, AIKENH EAD'S Warehouse store plan delayed Board, teachers reach tentative agreement e-IJ V iâm It. Vol. 23, No. 15 Wednesday, April 14,1993 32 pages