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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1996 THE GEORGETOWN GEMINI Basement ap Town councillors want more information before deciding whether to proceed with a registry for houses with two dwelling units. Following a spate of fatal fires in basement apartments that did not meet fire and safety codes, the Province authorized municipalities to pass bylaws requiring houses with two units to register so safety standards could be enforced. Staff estimates that there are approximately 1,000 ille- gal second-units in Georget- own with approximately 30 to 40 legal units and 100 re- quests for inspections. Requests for such a regis- try have come from real es- tate lawyers, financial insti- tutions, insurance companies and individual homeowners and tenants and at last Mon- day's General Committee meeting staff recommended that the registry be set up and that a one-time fee be col- lected to cover the cost of administering the registry. Following a long debate councillors decided that there were too many unanswered questions and asked for more information. Staff said there would bea $5,000 fine for anyone who has two units in their home but doesn't register, and that the issue would be handled on a complaint basis. Ward 2 Councillor Kevin Kuiack reminded councillors and staff that there is a huge backlog of uninvestigated bylaw infractions now on the books. He suggested the reg- istry would open up a "major can of worms;" that the en- forcement would be "ridicu- lous" and that the $625 fee was too high. Ward 4 Councillor Ron Chatten argued that if there were no complaints, there would still be hundreds of illegal apartments being rented in Halton Hills. artment registry studied by "I'd like to know how many illegal apartments we have now," Chatten said, noting that it would cost peo- ple $625 to register just to find out how much it would cost to bring a second unit up to code. "T can see charging $75 or a nominal fee. I think we should be encouraging peo- ple, I think we should be go- ing out as part of a service to show people how they can do it [have a legal second unit]," Chatten said. Fire Chief Bill Cunningham said that with or without a bylaw establish- ing a registry, the Town was Dominion Seed property could be multi-use Cont. from Page 1. Planning Director Bruce MacLeannoted thatthere was considerable pubic input into plans for the land in 1993-94, which included discussions with 17 community interest groups. "The long and short of it is thatthe community was heav- ily involved in developing and participating in approval of policies that now exist in the Halton Hills Official Plan, which defined the framework for going forward with this study," MacLean explained. MacLean also noted that there will be a series of pub- lic meetings and advertise- ments in the local papers as wellas invitations to specific ratepayer groups to come back to the table and partici- pate in the exercise. Councillorsrejected Day's Arena property future Cont. from Page 1 residential uses and would like the Town to commit this property for long-term park uses," Harlow explained. Noting that even with the arena site added in there would still be a parkland de- ficiency of .6 acres. Harlow said he'd been told that the Carr property, which abuts both the Lions Park and Memorial Arena, was for sale and suggested the Town pur- chase it to add to the parkland in the area. Stephen Carr, owner of the so-called Fenny Copse prop- erty, said they had not had any direct discussions with Recreation and Parks staff about their property, but en- dorse staff's attempts to re- solve parkland problems in the area. The neighbourhood, bounded by Maple Avenue, Guelph Street, Main Street deferral suggestion, confi- dent that the public input to date andthe public input proc- ess designed by the develop- er's consultant is more than adequate. "I was a member of the public involved in the public participation process and it was very extensive," ex- plained Ward 3 Councillor Moya Johnson. "What comes to the public parkland? and the CN lands, has what staffcalla "significant" park- land deficiency that must be resolved as the Town deter- mines the long-term planning for the area. Staff said that the future of the Memorial Arena is tied to astudy next year ofthe future of indoor recreation facili- ties. The Memorial Arena is slated for demolition in 2003. -- Niblock MILTON (905) 875-0971 v ON COMPLETE FRAMING PACKAGE (your print or ours) V TREMENDOUS PRICES ON ALL SHOWROOM PICTURES Quality Workmanship (18 years framing & decorating experience) Innovative Designs Unique Frame & Art GEORGETOWN 42 BRONTE ST. S., UNIT #9 71 MOUNTAINVIEW RD. N., UNIT #5 Tues.-Fri. 10-6 (at Armstrong) (905) 877-2428 HOURS Saturday 10-5 is a picture of what the prop- erty will look like --there will be lots of public comments, good and negative," Johnson said. Only Day and Ward 2 Councillor Rob Heaton voted for the deferral and Council was expected to ratify the terms of reference for the Dominion Gardens Master Plan at its meeting last (Tues- day) night. town "There are an awful lot of them (illegal second units) and safety is a paramount concern." required to do safety inspec- tions on second units and that safety is a paramount con- cern. % ARTS & CRAFTS OF GEORGETOWN 54th Annual Exhibition & Sale Saturday, October 19/96 10:00 am to 4:00 pm St. George's Anglican Church Hall 60 Guelph St., Georgetown (next to the High School) Refreshments hosted by Admission The Open Door Youth Centre $1.00 Acton Motors Servicing All Makes Selected Used Cars 853-1280 BLAIR McCALLUM OPENS THIS WEEK! y t 4 GEORGETOWN LITTLE THEATRE 4 PRODUCTIONS INC. - PRESENTS Naa NG Peel ADVISED A MYSTERY BY LEZLEY HAVARD DIRECTOR: Vesta Jorgensen OCTOBER 18, 19, 23, 24, 25, 26, 1996 - 8 PM Be eee ms ut 9 CHURCH ST., GEORGETOWN PROT oyN ea ee eM TUM ea Parte oN case THEATRE BOX OFFICE: (905) 877-3700 aca PRODUCED BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT WITH - DRAMATISTS PLAY SERVICE INC