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GeorgetownActon Wednesday Jan Who did Nicholls work for citizens group asks council f This Is he plan Tor the Stevens property or Maple Ave Georgetown across North I la I on Golf and Country Club prepared by Longmore Developments Hob Nicholl dated August 3 This plan Is referred In the group report on the Stevens land purchase and municipal complex Issue It Block A where the complex would be as well 14 link homes and Z4 single family home lots The first appraisal of the land from August 1B82 states the Stevens property worth and single family home lots and link homes for a total of lots The Humphries Hamilton appraisal puts the price or the properly at WOO but building lots on the land The building committee report to council envisioned Who was Dob of working for Was it the Town or estate of Paul Stevens Those questions were raised Monday night in the report from the alliens group probing the municipal complex and Stevens land purchase issues Twice in the section dealing with the citizens note they questioning his integrity or that of his company but we do question his objectivity He ask who Mr was working for A number of councillors have assured us that Mr was working for the Town or so they believed But that is not so he was working for the estate of Paul Stevens and is so described in the Agree ment of Purchase and Sale as the vendor s agent If we may use the often suspect method of arguing called analogy wewouldaskyou to consider the hypothetical case of a Town being able to issue one licence to six or seven competing applicants One applicant brings his lawyer or accountant to make a presentation for him Would council than ask that lawyer or accountant to value all the applications where he or she was repre senting one of them and paid by one We think not but respectfully suggest that this is what happened here They recalled came to the old building committee the one in existence prior to the last election indicating his firm expertise in project management Mr Nicholl then did certain investigations at four sites The citizens brief noted that none of the four sites includ one in downtown Georgetown as mended in a previous study nor in the area of Mountainview and Guleph St in Georgetown as suggested in another study done for the Town recommended to the building committee that the Stevens site be selected because it had the greatest potential Nicholl also received a servicing study dated August 19B2 R Clipsham dealing with the Stciens site which was presented to the as well as a land valuation from Stephen Saxe on the pro perty His recommendations and the act the Town was puking up the option to buy the Stevens property had taken out several months previously were made public council on November 1982 at the first and last meeting of Ihc outgoing council following the November municipal election At the time of the announcement of the op tion forjio land Council lor Harry Levy noted interest was being paid to because the deposit should have been authorized some time ago The Town s offer of purchase made public November 1382 states reach an agreement to buy the land for including a deposit on June 18 this newspaper reported Decern 1982 By understanding previously reached between Longmore and the Town the pro perty be purchased unless the was transferred to the Town with having no further rights or obligations under the agreement of purchase and sale published December 1 In addition the Town was lo pay Long more Interest on the deposit made by Longmore for the purchase of the property on June 9 such sum being out standing at least up to and including September Clerk administrator Ken Richardson said at the time that September referred to an council session dealing with the land pur chase when the first draft of the agreement was hammered out but council didn tact on it at that time The in interest is calculated on the basis of per cent per an num on the deposit for the male five month period Richardson said at the time the months was from mid June to November I Why is more space needed when the staff is smaller I As recently as last month departing mayor Peter Pomeroy said there is less Town staff now than when he became head of Hills In 1979 Then why does the Town need more office space That was one of the questions raised in their presentation to council Monday night by the citizens group probing the Stevens property purchase and municipal complex issue Certain departments of course appear to be very badly overcrowded and we under stand this and there are obviously many efficiencies of consolidation But the space I needs study report suggesting that we need three times the space we currently have is at best somewhat suspact It is questionable whether or not we want a large municipal complex A number of years ago citizens reaction succeeded in stopping a million building on Trafalgar Rd In the following election two councillors who were the main proponents of the sion were defeated and there appears to be some connection We would suggest that the citizens have not changed his approach their report states The only estimate given to the land which the Town requires in quantity from the space needs study suggesting an area of some seven to eight acres This study also envisioned a complex occupied by both Hydro and the Town It was also this study which suggested both seven to eight acres and a cost million dollars If this is not the kind of building which council we know how much land is needed Their report a number of councillors have been saying they were not voting for any kind of building and the Robbie report space needs assumes that Hydro would participate and use 18 per cent of the space But the Hydro through its solicitor stated in September that it would not commit at Ihitt lime ta any participation So how much land is required for complex We do not The report of the building committee suggests that all the sites investigated only the Stevens property was given quote and complete treatment There pears to have been no studies done on any other site and targe numbers of reasons exist why the Maple Ave Georgetown site should be chosen and only negative reasons exist with respect to the other areas We note that one of the reasons for objecting to downtown Georgetown Is there Is no op portunity to recover money but one questions why the Town is in the land development business We note that the Garrett property was rejected among other reasons as there were preexisting condl with respect to the sale of part of that land but j letter submit I council by Mr Garrett indicated that there were no pre conditions Referring to a study done by the architect of the Trafalgar ltd building for council in the mid 70s the report notes Mr Hall ford examined this particular site and suggested that expansion herds possible Now we are being told that no expansion of this site Is possible and we must look for a new site The citizens noted when the final decision on the purchase was made in new Esquesing Councillor Jake hud just been elected but joined conn ell yet Esquesing residents were some what under represented on this Issue This is the first fullscale presentation by any group or individual on this issue which has not been made in a vacuum The Georgetown and Georgetown Chamber of Commerce made presentations in Sep tern but neither group had any back ground information prior to making their presentations and both delegations were heard prior to the building committee re porting to council They admitted they represent everyone in llalton Hills but we do believe that wc represent a substantial proportion of the population They acknowledged there are varying opinions within the citizens group but their presentation reflected a fair balance of the views expressed by those citizens we hove contacted and who contacted us THE PENCIL ART STUDIO PORTBAmjReFNS AST DERMOT CLEARY The convenience Food Store that has it when you need it WC THE TO LMfT WE ARE TOUR LOTTERY TICKET CENTRE Lottario Lotto ACTON JUG CITY M Main StfMt North Keep your ear on all the action Tune in up to frequencies without crystal PRO 2003 scannerlspackBdwlth features It our beat 10 FM channels Memory uses battery AC operation or negative ground Portable stenographer Private pleasure Minicassette recorder Is a perfect com at 8 DODlllar price Never miss another phone call service Answerer takes up to 120 messages With Call Monitor two tapes Convenience style with tone dialing Slim tone in white or brown