The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

mwý2 - Ororio Wýeekly Times, Wednescla, ovemiber 15, 1995> QRONO WEEKLY TMMES Produced Weekly By Sonbon Publishing Puliaton MilRgistration No. 0368 Publishing 47 Issues Annually at the Office of Publication 5310 Main Street, P.O. Box 209, Orono, Ontario LOB 1 MO Teleph on. 905-983-5301 Fax 905-983-5301 Troy Young Editor e Publisher THE WEST SIDE MWARSH The Waterfront Regeneration Trust made a report last night to the Munlcipality of Clarlngton about the future of the West Side Marsh. I must admit that I arn divided on this Issue, and do not know which side to support. I have heard the Information from both sides. I understand that the West Side Marsh is a very diverse and important part of the local waterfront area. I know that it is flot as diverse or 'nice' to use a value judgement, as the neighbouring Bowmanvllle Marsh. It does serve a purpose for>water regeneration and is home to somie rare plants, as well as a significant fish and wildlife population, especlally birds, as the marsh is known as one of the finest birding sites in all of Durham;. I also have my doubts about how the St. Mary's operation will impact on the marsh., Having a mine that close to the marsh is bound to affect the quality of it and, the wildlife population In the area. I also do not believe that the new portions of the marsh that-will be constructed will be able to compare to or replace the land that will belost. The answers are not as simple as they have tried to make us believe. SYet I cannot become a champion for the marsh. St. Mary's has a legitimate dlaim to the land,,in question. They were given the right to mine the area back in the late 70's, and to disallow them to develop it would be to renege on the agreements made between them and the governiment. That is a dangerous precedent to make. I also understand how the marsh affects the long range pîans of St. Mary's. St. Mary's invested large sums of capital into their plant based upon the understanding that they would be able to have access to the limestone deposits under the marsh. To have limestone shipped from outside Sources when such'a large deposit exists adjacent to the site would be not only cost ineffective, but ridiculous. Also, as a major employer and source of tax revenue to the Munlclpality. certain concessions must be made to St. Mary's. We Icould not afford to have St. Mary's close its doors and move on, regardless of what residents of the area may think. So what happens? St. Mary's must be allowed to mine in the marsh, and be allowedaccess to enough of the deposit to justify the large costs they have already spent and for them keeping their operation in the area. But the marsh must retain some of its integrity and not be destroyed. Also, even though the residents in the area are all more recent arrivais than St. Mary's and knew of the operation before they chose to live there, their considerations must be taken into account. I feel that the report given by Mr. Cromble and the others deals with both sides of the issu e very well. It seems to be a nice middle ground for all parties. St. Mary's has made concessions; I hope the residents of the area will do so as well. It is a difficult Issue to take sides with. Who ultimnately wins? Although I have said that St. Mary's is an Important employer and tax base for the Municipality, that does not give them the rlght to ask for whatever they want. If their demands were to become impossible for the Town to grant, then St. Mary's would have to suffer the consequences. Big business'must be given leeway. but not a blank cheque to do what they want. I understand and sympathize wlth the defenders of the marsh. I donot belleve that the marsh should be allowed to disappear, but St. Mary's needs consideration QUESTION I hae a question to ask, a question I know wil c ause anothler backlash agalnst me from certain members of the community already upset wlth me and my newspaper. This is dîrectedto ail of those people who stîll say to me: "If I want to read about Bowrnanville, lil read the Statesman." My question to them is: "Have any of you Lasked the Statesman to stop wrîting about Orono?" Wate riront Regeneration Trust contmnued fi om page 1 onto the west side. This was the first opportu- nity that anyone had of seeing the report; as such, Council was unable to make a deci- sion on the recommendations until they have had a chance to look at it further. The report seemed to satis- fr many of the concerns exhibited by both St. Mary's and the Town. St. Mary's gets to utilîze the limestone deposits that are important for its continued future in Bowmanville, whfie the marsh retains a significant part of its present site. The buffer between the St. Mary's opera- lion and area residents is also kept much larger than the proposal submitted by St, Mary's in April of this year. Concemns were brought up regarding the amount of marshland belng preserved. 51 of the present 102 acres will be kept; the parts that are being kept are the most pro- ductive and sensitive portion of the marsh. The added 13 acres will be placed along the outside edges of the marsh. Area resident Brian Henshaw was concerned about this new constructed marsh area, and what were the safeguards that it would become a pro- ductive and viable marsh. No real answer was forth-com- ing, but it was stressed that there was a contingency plan that would be followed, which according to govemnment reg- ulations, could include sub- stitution of other lands for the constructed marsh. David Ashcroft, who lives on Cedar Crest Beach, won- dered about how fixed the lines limiting St. Mary's expansion were, and whether they could change in the future. He was told that the lines In the proposal were what they believed St. Mary's and the community could live with. The boundary should not change in the future;, the line is as far into the lime- stone deposits as St. Mary's was willing to give up. Mel Garland wondered if the limestone in the new des- ignated area would be enough to satisfy all of St. Mary's future needs. He was assured that St. Mary's had been a part of' the process. that set the lines and that they were confident that enough limestone was avail- able to them. Satlsfied with that answer, Mr. Garland had a question for the Town. He wondered what assurance the Town would give that the in- filling of the marsh done by residents of Cedar Crest Road would be stopped. He dlaims that many residents use the marsh as a dumping ground for their garbage., 'These peo- ple are so concerned with their marsh, yet they contin- ue to throw garbage into it," said Mr. Garland. Mayor Han-re assured hlm that their were by-laws to take care of that and that the Town was not aware that this was going on. She promnised that if such activities were in fact going on, then they would be taken care of by the Town.' SMore.information on the report should be coming available in future weeks after Council has had the opportu- nîty to look at the report a lit- fie further. Dart Players welcome The Durham Seniors Lodge welcomes any Seniors wishing to join in on their Wednesday after- noon dart games. For information cal vMarion 983-5361. 40.s St., Saviour's Anglican Church MILL STREET ORONO, ONTARIO Minister: Rev. Ann Tottenham Rectory 987-5678 - Church 983-5594 SUNDAY SERVICE, SUNDAY SCHOOL and YOUTH GROUP 9:30 a.m. 1ST & 3RD SUNDAY 0F MONTH HOLY COMMUNION ORONO PASTORAL CHARGE o Minister Rev. Dr. Mervyn Russefi ~' Risebrough, ÇL, , ~ Secretary * 983-5702 Churcb Office 983-5502 CHURCH SERVICES SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 19TH Sacrament of Baptism Kirby United 9:30 ar. Orono United1 11:00 a.m. (lst Sunday of Every Month Communion Sunday at Orono and Kirby United Churches) Leskard Service Last Sunday of Every Month Pot-luck 5:00 p.m. Service 6:15 p.m. EXPLORERS Wednesday, November l5th meet at Rosalyn Allun"s home 4:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. For girls & boys ages 8 - 12 yrs. LOGOS YOUTH GROUP meet Tuesdays 4:00 - 7:00 p.m. Orono United Church For girls & Boys ages 12 -16 yrs. A.A. meets every Thursday 7:30 p.m. 983-5009 Think GHRISTMAS! ORONO, ONTARIO ý ý illm 1 im- a 1