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

Public school board vows to move ahead with Campus TIM WHITNELL Special to The IFP The loss of the Halton Catholic District School Board as a partner for the proposed facility to house four regional organizations will not prevent Halton's public board from forging ahead with the plan. Acting on a staff recommendation to continue with the concept of a `super centre' complex for Halton Region, Halton Police and the Halton District School Board, public board trustees gave unanimous approval to the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the groups at a board meeting Wednesday. In doing so trustees gave the OK to an initial outlay of $70,000 as the board's share of the cost of site pre-design work. The public board go-ahead came a day after Catholic board trustees voted 4-4 on signing the memorandum. The tie defeated the issue and leaves the separate school board out of the project. The Halton Regional Campus is a proposed 540,000-square-foot, one-stop centre that could be open by 2009 on the grounds of the current regional headquarters in Oakville. It would cost about $127 million to build, saving taxpayers an estimated $20 million over the cost of the four original partners building their own individual facilities. The separate board decision left public board administrators and trustees a little confused and disappointed but still convinced they can make the project work, while expressing hope the Catholic board will opt back into the process at some point. "I'm really surprised because there has been a lot of support of it from the public and through editorials in the newspapers," said HDSB chair Paul Tate. When asked by another trustee if there was a chance for the Catholic board to slide back into the deal, Tate noted a municipal election is coming in November and possible changes in trustee personnel might prompt that board to re-open the issue. "Probably the issue comes down to protecting their autonomy and their Catholicism, but that's easy for me to say An artist's rendering of the proposed Halton Regional Campus lobby. because I'm not in their shoes," Tate said. HDSB Director of Education Wayne Joudrie said that from his perspective the joint project is too good to pass up. "The estimated savings for our board is $5M, as opposed to our own stand-alone facility. "I don't have all the specifics of the implications of one partner not being involved (but) there is so much of benefit to this that I believe we should go forward to the next level." Facilities superintendent Gerry Cullen told trustees costs would go up if one of the four partners backs out but he predicted the increase would be marginal. Joudrie said the board's projected share of costs had been 14 per cent but that it will go up if a partner leaves. He said that by February 2007 trustees would have to make a decision as to whether "we are all in or not". At that time $750,000 more would be required of the board for more detailed architectural designs. Growth plan for Halton will see population double by 2031 LISA TALLYN Staff Writer The Province says Halton's current population will double by 2031 and figuring out where the new residents will live is one of the key objectives of the Durable Halton Plan. Halton Region is in the early stages of working on its Durable Halton Plan-- a long-term growth strategy that will address requirements of provincial plans such as the Places to Grow and Greenbelt plans and Provincial Policy Statement. Those plans require that Halton's population grow to 780,000 residents and 390,000 jobs by 2031. The Region and all municipalities already have plans in place to accommodate 615,000 people by 2021, so the new plan will address growth in Halton for an additional 165,000 people. Area residents had a chance to learn more about the plan and have a say about the direction they would like it to go at a meeting in Georgetown last Tuesday. About 30 area residents and several local council members, Town and Region staff, were at the meeting at the Cultural Centre. Similar meetings are being held throughout "If we could achieve that, land would last the region. well into the next century," said Lehman. Through the process of formulating the Region predictions show that, without plan, several issues key to Halton's future are intensification, the 37,000 acres left for to be discussed and development in examined such as: Halton would be `I don't think it (the · What kind of urbanized in 45 role agriculture name Durable Halton years, with intensifiwill play in Halton? cation they could Plan) says anything to · How can last 115 years. Halton improve the anybody. You need to A resident raised health and quality concerns about the talk to people in of life of its citiroads in Halton language they zens? Hills and how they RON · How can will be impacted by understand.' CHATTEN Halton protect its growth. Natural Heritage Director of planSystem? ning and transportation for Halton Region · What would intensification of Halton's Jane Clohecy said transportation and water communities look like? will be addressed through the plan. · How and when should communities in Halton Hills Ward 2 Councillor Bryan Halton expand their urban boundaries? Lewis asked if the population target set by Bob Lehman, a planning consultant hired the province could be appealed, and wonby the Region to work on the plan, said the dered if there wasn't enough well water density recommended by the Province for available in Halton Hills to service the numgrowth centres (there aren't any in Halton ber of people it has to accommodate, would Hills) is more than 200 people and jobs per that mean the town would have to accept hectare and more than 50 people and jobs piped Lake Ontario water. per hectare in new areas. Lehman said the provincial population target could not be appealed. "How it changes Halton Hills we don't know at this time," said Clohecy. Another area resident said he was amazed by the lack of interest by residents in the Durable Halton Planning process. "I don't think it (the name Durable Halton Plan) says anything to anybody. You need to talk to people in language they understand," said Councillor Ron Chatten. "You've got to engage them locally and they've got to believe if they come out it will make a difference," said Chatten. Mayor Rick Bonnette stressed the need to include in the plan commercial and industrial growth in Georgetown. Lehman said over the summer and fall the region and consultants working on the Durable Halton Plan will work on background papers and studies and come back to the public for input on some options for where the growth might be. For more information on the plan visit www.halton.ca/DurableHalton. Anyone with questions should contact Gena Ali, Halton's Senior Planner Growth Management at 1866-4HALTON (1-866-442-5866). (Lisa Tallyn can be reached at ltallyn@independentfreepress.com)