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Bonnette asks for meeting to speed up development By FRANCES NIBLOCK The New Tanner Frustrated by the lack of residential and commercial development in Acton, Councillor Rick Bonnette has asked Town staff to set up another meeting with Acton East developers to see if the impasse can be broken. A similar meeting over a year ago produced no results, but Bonnette wants to try again. In the four years since the Ontario Municipal Board bs 1988 RANGER w/cap Rockwood 856-2222 we Acton fire fight- ers were among those honoured last week with 65 years of volunteer fire fighting between them. See Page 7 Willow Lane is cel- ebrating 20 years in Acton servicing health- conscious customers. See Page 16 As the buildings come down and the land is re- claimed the old Beardmore tannery grounds create a new, pleasent vista. See pho- tos on Page 4 $2,995 approved plans for Acton's population to increase to 10,000 there's been only one major development built - West Meadows Village-- and Bonnette wants to know why the developers aren't even marketing the area. "It's is prudent to find out why they aren't moving," Bonnette said, adding that lo- cal councillors are being asked to support commercial development -- Home Hard- ware's proposed new store at Queen Street and Churchill Road and the proposed Volume 1 No. 41 Leathertown Junction -- which were not approved in the OMB decision. Following the last meet- ing the developers were to try to find ways to reduce the $1 million price tag for a storm water management pond that must be built before develop- ment can occur in Acton east, but the Town has heard noth- ing. Glenn Wellings, the Town manager of development re- view, said "it's really difficult to tell a developer when to go forward," but he felt that the eb CLEANUP CONCERNS: Acton Boulevard homeowner Henry de Vries is con- cerned about the fire and safety hazard posed by this pile of debris behind his home. - Frances Niblock photo Vacant land subject of concern The owner of the vacant land, soon to-be a housing subdivision on an extension of Lasby Lane, promised to cleanup up the site after be- ing told that it was a hazard- ous and dangerous mess. Several residents, whose backyards are adjacent to the property north of McDonald Boulevard between Church- ill Road and Division Street, called the Town and The New Tanner to complain. about the site. A house and barn on the property had been demol- ished and the callers were worried about a rumour that a large pile of wooden from the house would be burned to dispose of it. Homeowners in the area report seeing youths among the piles of rubble with flashlights and fire- crackers and are worried about somebody being in- jured or a fire being set by accident. When contacted, Jerry Montemarano, president of Bayfield Homes, which suggested meeting is a good idea. "We're getting people like (Acton developer) Doug Fread filing applications on the old Ajax property which files in the face of what we want to do on the Coscan property in Acton east, but Coscan is no where to be seen," Wellings said in an interview on Thursday. Coscan has draft approval to build subdivision and a ma- jor plaza on the south side of Highway 7, east of Church- ill Road. "The Acton councillors and staff are wondering why more developers aren't going forward and maybe another meeting would help." One developer, Jerry -- Montemarano, whose Bayfield Homes is proceed- ing with plans for another 60 houses with an extension of Lasby Lane, said he knows why there's no major devel- opment happening. "Unfortunately Halton Hills hasn't got enough man power to service builders and developers," Montemarano said in an interview on Fri- day. "Apparently there's just one engineer to look after everybody out there and it's taking forever and a day to get any paper work through. If they had enough work force, we'd have probably been in the ground this fall and now I'll be lucky to get there in the spring." : _ Thursday, November 5, 1998 hopes to begin construction of 60 homes in the area, was surprised that the site had not been cleaned up. Initially, Bayfield allowed local fire fighters to use the yacant farmhouse for train- ing in search and rescue and ventilation exercises, which Montemarano said, may have led neighbours to be- lieve that the remains, which have been pushed into a great tall pile, were going to be burned. Montemarano said Continued on page 3 "PAUL SIMMONS, SERVICE MANAGER 357 Queen Street ©**) 853-0200 Halton Hills (Acton) ©°) 453-8965 It's worth the drive to Achilles! ACHILLES maZzDa in Acton By FRANCES NIBLOCK The New Tanner It looks like Acton's two public elementary schools are safe from possible closure or consolidation. At a meeting tonight (Wednesday) Halton trustees are expected to ratify a deci- --=-)-~ sion «made-last night by the accommodation manage- ment committee to delete both Robert Little and McKenzie-Smith Bennett schools from the list of Halton schools to be consid- ered for closure or consolida- tion. Prior to the accommoda- tion meeting Halton District School Board chair Ethel Gardiner, who taught at Robert Little for 19 years, said she was "fairly confi- dent" that the cluster of el- ementary schools would be off the list for review. "The Acton review area clearly has excess capacity -- but less excess than any school in the review area and I'm sure the Board is inter- ested in consistent applica- tion of the closure and con- Lest We : sorget See pages 8 and 9 Schools here off hit list solidation criteria across the entireregion," Gardiner said. Because the Halton board has approximately 6,773 more student spaces than stu- dents, trustees must get rid of that excess before being eligible for funding for new schools and also to be able to charge developers lot levies to help pay for new school sites in growing areas. Robert Little school has capacity for 484 students but is operating under capacity with 350. MBS's capacity is 709 and the projected enrol- ment 625, leaving the school with unused space for 84 stu- dents. Although it is operating under capacity, Acton Dis- trict High School has already been removed from the list for possible review --mainly because it is a community school and there is no other facility available for the stu- dents to attend. There are approximately 50 Halton schools -- mostly in south Burlington and Oakville -- which remain on the review list for possible closure or consolidation. ° full-time 4WD M.S.R.P.$23,97. © 2.0litre 16-valve EFI engine ¢ AM/FM cassette stereo Lease for uP. 8 o sx per 59 for 4 payment includes freight & P.D.E. Only CHECK OUT THE 1999 ALL-STAR LINE UP FROM TOYOTA 1999 RAV4_ OW aS or choose 9.8% no limit financing for up to 60 months on selected 1999 all-star models! SCOUTING REPORT Comes to play every day. Amazing repertoire of moves off road and on. Loves lots of ice. 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