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OPINION Develop commercial Building construction in Halton Hills hit a record high in 2005-- after a new mark had already been established in 2004. The Town issued 1,382 building permits, representing a construction value of $183 million. In 2005, permits were issued for 786 new homes including 565 new single detached homes, 23 semi-detached or duplexes and 198 townhouses. This alone represented a construction value of $145 million and $1.8 million in permit fees for the Town. That's a lot of money, for the Town, now as fees, and in the future, as taxes. Praise for development in this community tends to fall into two camps: good or bad. The bad sees the ugly side of a town under construction: over-crowded recreation and school facilities, too much traffic on roads not yet reconstructed to handle it, encroached natural areas and increased taxes to pay for new municipal infrastructure. "Development does not pay for development" is the mantra. The good see the benefits: a stronger tax base spread across residential and commercial/industrial sectors, new, improved facilities and roads partially paid for by development charges, and an influx of people energy to a stagnating community. While residential growth in this community will slow in the next couple of years as land slated for development becomes filled, the more desirable commercial development will pick up the slack. That, in turn, will ease the tax weight on the residential taxpayers and provide new job opportunities for those living here. But the pressure will continue on regional and local councils to extend the urban boundaries for more housing, which will undoubtedly require the import of water from Brampton or Lake Ontario. Hopefully these councils will stand firm in the coming years and focus on the commercial development in established areas, which will generate the tax dollars to make development palatable to almost everyone. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Board should revise school boundaries Dear editor, I am pleased with the Halton School Board's recommendations to renovate the existing building of Georgetown District High School. GDHS is a good school in our community. It provides a number of quality programs to its students including the new International Baccalaureate Programme. The current boundaries, however, prevent Georgetown/Halton Hills residents from attending this school. Instead, our children are bused to Milton. There are several problems with this: Milton District High School is twice as far away. It makes no sense to bus our students so far away. It must be less expensive to provide busing to GDHS. We live, vote and fund services in Georgetown. We shop in Georgetown; our families participate in social and sporting activities in Georgetown. Schools are an integral part of our community, and our students should remain in our community. After-school activities require that we pick up our students. Again, it makes no sense to have to drive to Milton to pick up our kids. Now more than ever, it is important for the board to consider changing the boundaries to include in Georgetown all of its residents in its school district. Some of Georgetown's longest standing residents live in the rural areas. These people attended GDHS, have remained in the area and want to send their children there. The current boundaries seem outdated. It should seriously be considered that we increase the GDHS boundaries to include students from south of 10 Sideroad up to the north side of Steeles Ave. At this time when the Halton Board is looking for input from the community on future growth plans, I urge all rural residents to make themselves heard. Karen LaFlair-Patjas, Halton Hills Postie's assistance appreciated Dear editor, On February 24, I slipped on black ice near my mailbox, falling hard. The postman delivering the mail was at the boxes, and he immediately came over. Frank made sure I was all right, then collected my mail, and made sure I made it safely to my front door. His service was well above his job expectations, and his actions certainly enhance the environment of making Georgetown the welcoming place to live that I and many others have come to experience. My sincere appreciation to Frank for his caring and kindess, and my gratitude to everyone in the office, including our other delivery person, Robert, and Norm from the Glen, as every postal service I have received has been above and beyond my expectations. Terry Antoniewicz, Georgetown Sidewalk clearing can be difficult Dear editor, A response to "Be nice, clear your ice". A troubled reader wrote to complain about un-shovelled sidewalks and the problems incurred by such. I find myself in the predicament of having an un-shovelled sidewalk and fall into the situation, but not the category the reader complains about. I (and quite a few residents of my street) do diligently shovel the sidewalks because the single sidewalk is a direct path to the high school. However, it is more effort than people imagine, because of the very narrow median; the plough pushes snow up onto the sidewalk. When, as did occur this winter, a slushy snow was thrown upon the sidewalk in large clumps then frozen solid within a matter of hours, one finds this rather impossible to remove with modern plastic shovels. Also, subsequent snowfalls cannot be removed either, because of the extreme rough surface. The shovelled sidewalks on the street are more a matter of fortuitous timing than of greater perseverance. A call to the Town for one-time assistance fell on sympathetic, but otherwise deaf, ears. This winter has been an exception, so do not judge your neighbours too quickly. James Colter, Georgetown