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Page 6, Wltby Free Poess Wednesday July 12 1995 The only Newspaper owned and operated b>' Whitby residents for Whîtby resîdents! MEMBER 0F: CANADIAN ONTARIO COMMUNITY VERFIE COMMUNITY NEW$9PAPER NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION ASSOCIATION ISSN#0844-398X The Whitby Free Press is distributed free to 99% of the homes in Whitby, Brooklin, Ashburn & Myrtie as well as numerous public and commercial outiets in Whitby, Oshawa, Ajax, Pickering & Port Perry. 27,500 COPIES DELIVERED WEEKLY MAIL SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE Canada $34 + GSTil* Outside Canada $80 + GST Published every Wednesday by 677209 Ontario Ime. Box 206, 131 Brook St. N., Whitby, Ontarlo Li N 551 Phone: 668-611il Out of town: 1 -800-668-0322 Fax: 668-0594 Doug Anderson'- Pubîisher Maurice Pither - Editor Alexandra Martin - Production Manager Printed on newsprint with minimum 200/ol recycled content using vegetable based inks. t CAil written material, illustrations and advertising conitained herein is protected by copyright. Any reproduction by any means for commercial purposes without the express permission of the newspaper is prohibited and is a violation o f Canadian copyright law. Reproduction for non-commercial distribution should bear a credit line to Ihe1Whitby Free Press. 1 Viwon IOMBhearngaLyndeShore Lndl use couldn't be challenged To the oditor: I wish ta draw your attention ta, Set another hideous bilîboard thai as reared its ugly head ta visually pollute a green field iocated in Whitby. The new bilîboard la located on Victoria Street, just east of the junction with Lakeridge Road. I arn askçing you, your readers and aur local politicuans, us this what we want? Do we reatly want ta surround ourseives with bilîboards, used car lots and donut shops? It would appear that the answer ta these questions is yes. If this is true, then it would b. logical for Whitby ta jain the action and take full advantage of the f inancial benefits la be achieved from def aci ng t he co unt ryside. To the edltor: The Liquor Licence Board of Ontario is issuing extended sale permits like there is no tomorrow. Some are ga until 4 a.m. The LLBOis aiso issuing sales licences ta any establishment with a f ront and back door. The licencing of coin laundries, donut shops and mast recently the Ta-ranto Zoos McDonald's Restaurant aie but a fsw illustrations of the indiscriminate licence appravals awaided in recent months. WiIl the zoo now To the edIf or: Since calls ta the manager of the' Iraq uois Park complex have not been retumned, I have a A large Canadian Tire truck can sometimes b. seen parked in the lot of the Iroquois Park complex ai Henry and Victoria streets. Does Canadian Tire pay the complex for parking or is this free advertislng provided fa Canadian Tire ad the Lynde Shores, Victoria Street, is an ideal location for at least six large bilîboards. A few more couhd b. erected adjacent ta the Iroquois Park buildings. The f inancial benefits of t his proposai would r rovide additional funding for aur ocal authority, and passibhy curtail some of the future tax increases. To b. seriaus, though, h urge you, your readers and most of al aur local council representatives ta, tae ail possible action ta prevent the further spread of this obj ectionable scourge. This is. my hast bitter ta you regardin this subject (do I hear sighs ofr relief?). Hf no action is forthcoming, I must concede this is what Whitby wants and will gel. Jlm Colline Whitby remnove its signs prohibiting alcohol on its premnisos? The motive b.hind the ILLBO's actions appears ta b. profit; profit for the alcohal industry and bath the provincial and federel governmenits. To appease their conscience, LLBO's members advocate imaderatian' in the consumption of alcohol. Possibly they should apply thai word ta their licencing policy. Concerna,, Canada (worklng to achieve healthy lfestylos free from drug and alcohol abuse) expense of the citizens of Whitby? I suggest if the Town is not collecting parking fees for this transport truck, then it should do so, or ticket' it, or otherwise prevent Canadian Tire from taking advantege of fre. parking. Merchants in this aiea deserve a level playing f ield and Canadian Tire should be required ta pay its way. Carole Conrolly Whitby By Johanna Tito, Linda Moyl., Diane McConnell Conicerned Cîtlzens for Lynde Marsh Concerned Citizens For Lynde marsh (CCLM) wish ta explain what gamns have been made at the Ontanio Municipal Board <0MB) hearing dealing wth the Lyde Marsh, as wl as the limitations under which we were and are working. Save the Lynde Marsh (SLM) and CCLM were neyer able ta challenge land use ad the 0MB. The q uest ion af whether development should accur could not be rased, but only how development would take shape. ln short, ail we could do ai the 0MB was fight for added protection for the marsh. The reasons for this are as follows. The question of land use for the entire municipality is deait with in Whitby's officiai plan (OP). ln 1992, that portion of Whitby's officiai plan dealing with the Lynde Shores area was changed by Whftby counicil from "major open spacew ta *residential .industrial.w This change, called an officiai plan amendment (OPA) or the Lynde Shores Secondary Plan <LSSP), set the stage for development. Unfortunately, the majority of Whtby residents were unaware of the implications of the amended plan. Once off iciai plan arnendments receive final approval, as the OPA for Lynde Shores did in 1992, they can no longer be challenged ad the Ontario Municipal Board. After approval of the amended p han, plans of subdivision were produced by th. land owners. These plans came before Whitby counicil in October '94, and in the midst of much public protest, were approved by that counicil. At that time the plans of subdivision were referred ta the 0MB. Our solicitor informed us the most we could hope for ai the 0MB was ta bring the Ontario wetlands policy statement and its implementation guidelines ta bear on the plans of subdivision. According ta the guidelines, plans of subdivision thai have not been draft approved -- and those for the Lynde Marsh had not been draft approved -- must adhere ta the wetlands policy. The wetlands policy, ln turn, states thai there shall b. no development within 120 metres of a wetland boundary without a full environment impact study (EIS) ta show that wetland funiction wilI b. not'b. impaired. Our biologlist and, planner produced sworn affidavits stating that the environmental management plIan <EMP) dlone by the Town and the develapr.did not, in their prafessional opinions, constitute an EIS under the wetlands policy and that one ought to be dlone according ta the paIicy. Months of aur negotiating with the province and the Regian, two of the main developers, led ta their agreeing to adhere ta the wetlands policy on their portion of the lands narth of Victoria Street. They also agreed that there wauld be no redirection of the Lynde Creek tributary withaut' invoking the Federal Fisheries Act, and that baseline data would be collected for use by a monitoring committe. ta compare pre-development conditions ta past-development conditions of the marsh. A number af planning gains were. made also. The sewage pumping station was moved out of the flood plain and further away from the wetland; iR was agreed that certain zoning restrictions and the master landscape plan would meet the more restrictive, nat yet approvedi, new Town of Whitby Off iciai Plan; stormwater management technique would meet the latest provinciai standards. At this point a split occurred in the ranks of the Save the Lynde Marsh organizatdion (SLM). Those of us who believedi that negotiations should continue were obliged ta wthdraw from SLM ta, form CCLM. While CCLM understands SLM's refusai ta, continue ta negatiate a settlement -- no development in this sensitive area is ideai -- we could nat se. how an agreement not ta deveiop could be achieved through the 0MB. Furthermore, a refusai ta settle could resuit in a loss of any gains in added protection ta the marsh that might be achieved thraugh the 0MB. CCLM happily accepted settlement with the Region and province because Rt affered more protection for the marsh on the north side of Victoria Street, and seemed ta set a precedent for the private developer and the Town fa adhere ta the wetlands policy on the lands south of Victoria Street, immediaitely east of the marsh. At the next stage of the 0MB process dealing with the privaiely owned land, the 0MB delivered us same unexpected and seriaus blows: ai the end of May the-0MB chair essentially ruled that the privais developer did not haveeto adhere ta the wetlands policy and thaï we were, in effect, not ta involve MNR in aur challenge.. This lefI us with two options -- either CCLM would have ta do its own EIS in order ta prove thai wetland function would b. impaired or CCLM could challenge the 0MB chairs ruling. in divisional court. These options w ere rwled out for very practical. reasons. After CCLM incurred costs of close ta $30,000 (this is in addition ta the approximately $40,000 for which SLM is respansible) -- the bulk of the costs going ta the planner and biologist -- w. did not have« the funding ta do an EIS which would cost approximatey $20.000 more. Nor was it likely thai the 0MB would give at least a yers adjournmrrent, the time needed ta do an EIS., In terms -of going ta divisional court, a major law f irm in Toronto specializing in- appeals of this nature confirmsd that we had an excellent case but warned that an appeai could cost us anywhere from $20.000 ta $30.000. Given the above canstraints, CCLM's solicitor advised CCLM ta retain a landscape architect ta work with ils biologist ta suggest ways in which added protection might b. brought ta bear on the marsh on the privately held lands. CCLM was abeto negot iate with the private developer for a six-foot chain link fonce, ans and a halff-inch mesh, ta b. placed at the auter, easterly limit of the buffer strip. The 0MB chair has recently handed dcown his wrtten ruling. Essentially it states that because CLOCA and MNR have given approval ta the environmental managemnent plan for-the Lynde Shores area, the requiremrent of the wetlands policy for the privately held lands has been met. Needless ta say, CCLM is not happy with the ruling. Did it really have ta talcs the chair six months and $70.000 ta reach this conclusion? Biliboard 'hideous 5 LIBO motives Free advertising? ff: