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The Herald Second Front Wednesday Augmt Page The fultsize paper reaching more than 12600 homes in Halton Hills Playground fun According to these children It more fan to slide down a slide you made yourself out of old bleacher Gibbooa Public School than it to Exciting new look for downtown Acton has merchants agog The municipal office on Mill Street Herald Huff writer and businessmen in down own Acton are week pour over dralt plarB of what their Business tm Area may look like start as soon as spr The plans and sketches for the encompass about establishments were last week by the board or management who are ting feedback from the businessmen The merchants are lo have their suggestions lions and beefs If any back by Friday to allow a draft plan to come before the public at the end of September Without except on the peo ple say the report la excel lenl said Henry chairman of the board of man in an interview He added however lhat a few merchants as might be expected have some doubts as to the feasibility and of the proposals Some merchants feel thai vandalism might increase and oil era are worried about technical as pects of Ihc proposal he laid Some of course say ifwill work someplace else but it work In Acton he said avers park ing traffic build Improvement special features and special projects it notes that there Is a full of essential goods and services available within downtown Acton a situation which is unique even In tlon to downtowns of a much larger scale Also unique and again of a healthy commercial centre Is the fact that the commercial vacany role and the rate In upper sto ries 78 per cent of which ore residential arc both proachlng zero the report goes on to say It notes too that the retail floor space within downtown Acton Is adequate If not some what excessive for the population It suggests that as Acton growth in the next five years the span of the proposal will be limited another persons zoning changes be mode to limit the opportunity for cinl expansion and date commercial development onto the principal commercial streets The report says no rapid growth Is to occur around Acton until after 1 when a shopping plaza may develop offering more competition The breathing space be tween now and Ihe develop ment of a suburban facility provides downtown Acton with the opportunity for Improve ment thai many downtowns have not enjoyed The reports suggest that even though the downtown has an adequate mix of goods and services offer the If it is to attract a great portion of the local com shopping dollar the retail mix should be adjusted over lime afford wider variety In selected goods It notes the success or small towns with hemes Stratford and Niagara on the- Lake with theatre Shclbume Carlyle with music festivals with crafts and Baden ih cheese and suggests that Acton adopt a leather theme and become known as Leather Town with appro priate promotion and annual The three major leather com pan In Acton which employ about persons ex pressed Interest and support In the idea the report says A committee of the board of management Is expected to Investigate Parking has long been a problem for the merchants in downtown Aclon and the re port mokes seven recommen da In area among them lo increase the an mint fat parking Install parking me tres In twine lots hire an bylaw enforcement office jointly with Georgetown to enforce metred parking and have downtown employees park further away But even though the parking in downtown Acton is per to be the fundamental problem the report notes in comparison with six other town has ade quate parking facilities As for the report has a number of lions ranging from sidewalk projections much like what Georgetown will have in Its to trees and street fund lure Neither the Hi Us engineering department more Ihe Ministry of Transportation and Communication have ma eel sidewalk pro ject the report says The report recommends lhat the board of management un dertake a building Improve ment program to restore build where possible upper and lower stores coordinate fa cads along the long h of M add color and prohibit overhanging A canopy extending a long the street would unify it and provide a degree of dim ate control The report recognizes lhat Aclon Town Hall is a promt fealure of and that a roup is working to restore the structure It the structure be used as community centre a ecling for local groups Including the and Downtown Business or as an Information centre operated by the Cham of Commerce Vibrant centres were once by a farmers market the report notes In 1972 a farmers market wna operated on Willow Street be tween Main Street and Church Slreet by youths with an Op- for Youth Grant with a high degree of accept the report says and suggests Ihe Acton chants organize one Implementing the proposals of plan modified though they mny bo has a five year time limit Mr Strachrya told TI and has a celling ce of There it 1 We negative comment as cos he reported of the n initial reactions Approach to the downtown core Two day symposium on downtown cores slated for Nov A twoday symposium on the problems polenlial of downtown cores In medium and smaller will be held in Toronto November 1 and Housing Minister John has announced The symposium called New Directions A on Downtown Cores will be held at Toronto York Hotel Details of Ihc program arc now being finalized with the assistance of a steering com mittee consisting of municipal and professional association They include The University of Western Ontario the Assoc on or Municipalities of the Canadian Association of Housing and in Is Poly technical Institute the Organization of Small Urban IV pall ties the Orrlo lion of and Provincial Municipal I Committee odes said thai the number of participating agencies the extent of Interest concern about downtown cores in the non melropol Ian res in Ontario II Is our in ten lion to provide the public businessmen and municipal officials and leaders with a broad spectrum of useful Information on subjects ranging from administrative issues to potential facilities and services In downtown areas he said Information on Ihe sympos ium will be forwarded to all municipalities and Interested parties within the next few weeks Registration will be open to public and the program will emphasize the needs and concerns of the municipalities retailers and A quiet corner