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The Oakville Beaver, W e d n e s d a y July 2, 2003 - A7 Developer says demand is Incredible' Fraser reP°rt (C ontinued from page A 1 ) mittee will hear a proposal for re-development o f the downtown riverfront property that currently houses Sharkey's restaurant. The developer, the Daniels Group, wants to build a 14-storey, 105-unit condominium apartment building to meet demand for luxury, one-storey downtown living. "It's housing that's absolutely required in Oakville," said M artin Blake, director of project implementa tion for the Daniels Group. "The need is absolutely incredible." But the four area Residents' Associations say the building is too tall, too massive and too out of character for downtown Oakville. They also fear approval could set a precedent that would allow other sites in the down town to be redeveloped to accommo date high-rises. "W e're trying to protect the future." says Don Pangman. president o f the West Harbour Residents Association. "This will set a precedent that will screw up this town forever." The proposal calls for the 14-storey building to be designed in a tiered fash ion. with a 5.000-sq. ft. restaurant on the ground level and underground parking underneath. The restaurant, intended to offer upscale dining, will be about 15 percent the size of the current Sharkey's restau rant. which has run into conflicts with its neighbours over noise and parking issues. Individual suites in the building are proposed to average about 1,800 to 2.000 sq. ft., with prices expected to run around the $500,000 mark. Blake says his company already has a database of 400 people interested in purchasing a unit in the building. Artist rendering special to the Oalnille Beaver Residents living in the area of Sharkey's have expressed concern over plans for a 14-storey building to be designed in a tiered fashion with a 5,000-sq. ft. restaurant on the ground level. The condo suites are expected to be priced in the $500,000 range. He says many are downtown resi dents living in some o f the area's recently-built townhouse units, who are now ready for maintenance-free living without the physical challenge o f stairs. "One of the key things people have been adamant about is that they don't want to have to leave Oakville," says Blake. But Pangman doesn't believe market demand should drive a redevelopment proposal that will impact the town's future. While he says neighbourhood resi dents are willing to see the site devel oped, they want the developer to create a proposal more in keeping with the core's character. Throughout most o f downtown Oakville, the town's Official Plan imposes a four-storey height restriction on buildings. The high-rise buildings that exist largely pre-date the Official Plan estab lished in the late 1960s. However, the Sharkey's site is desig nated private open space, a designation in the official plan that encourages lowand medium-density development, but doesn't include an official height restriction. Town planner Bob Zsadanyi said that the last 20 years have seen devel opments on other parcels o f land in the downtown area with the same designa tion. Typically, he said, those develop ments have been medium-density town house clusters with three-storey heights, in conformance with the Official Plan. "This is the biggest project in the downtown in 30 years," said Zsadanyi. Town councillor Linda Hardacre sympathizes with the concerns of the local residents. "I think this is too high, it's too mas sive." she said. "I'd like to see some thing that fits into the neighbourhood." Pangman adds that most neighbours are not opposed to redevelopment of the site. But, he says, the redevelopment must protect, not threaten the future of downtown. "If they want to come in with a fourstorey building, w e'll open our arms wide," he said. " But if this gets approved, the Official Plan might as well get thrown out the window." `misleading', says educator (C ontinued fro m pa ge A1) Contractor challenges businesses to help Habitat H o m ebuilder m a k e sp le d g eto m a tc hdollars BY TIM WHITNELL SPEC IA L T O TH E BEAVER A Campbellville contractor is chal lenging Halton residents and businesses to donate money to a local non-profit home-building organization. Marlar Homes president Tony Laros and his brother. John, issued the chal lenge at a news conference recently at the Burlington-based headquarters of Habitat for Humanity Halton. The head of Marlar. which is a luxury homes builder, has pledged to match every dollar donated in 2003 to the Halton chapter o f Habitat up to a maxi mum of $25,000. "My parents took 16 years to buy their first home," said Tony Laros, the son of Dutch immigrants who came to Canada in 1960. "We had a wood stove in the kitchen and no indoor plumbing," he recalled. The experience reinforced his belief in affordable housing. "As a volunteer and past donor to Habitat for Humanity Halton. I've seen first-hand that same expression of satis faction appear on the faces of the two low-income working families in Halton and witnessed the amazing transforma tion home ownership has made in their lives," said Tony Laros. He and his brother did a lot of the inte rior finishing work on the first two proj ects by Halton's Habitat group in Aldershot. Those two homes, completed over the last two years in Burlington's west end, currently house two families totalling 12 people. The Laros' pending donation will be used in conjunction with the next home build by Habitat. "This challenge is for a Burlington house," said Pat Atkinson, a Habitat Halton board member. "As soon as the challenge (funds) is in place, we'll pro ceed." Atkinson said the group is on the lookout for land to buy. "There is a lot of (undeveloped) land" across Halton. said Atkinson, "but it's how it's zoned and whether we can get it at a reasonable price." Atkinson acknowledged it is impor tant in the future for Habitat to "expand across Halton and out of Burlington." Habitat for Humanity Halton chair Perry Catena said they would like to have construction of the third home started by the fall and completed by Christmas. "We do have a single working mom with three kids waiting" for the unbuilt home, he said. Halton Habitat board vice-chair Susan Goetz said the organization has eight or nine applications on file from lowincome families looking for affordable housing. "We are receiving them not just frorq Burlington but Milton and Acton as well. "There are lots of people who are hes itant to come forward because of the stig ma of poverty in the community. We have people willing to talk to them confiden tially." said Goetz. Anyone wanting to file an application for housing, to make a donation or for more information about Habitat for Humanity Halton, should call 905-6374446. ··· A non-profit, non-denominational Christian housing organization. Habitat for Humanity International has built more than 125,000 houses in more than 87 countries since 1976. The following statistics were supplied by Habitat for Humanity Halton: · Housing is considered 'affordable' if it costs no more than 30 per cent of a fam ily's income. · Twenty per cent of Halton house holds rent with 46 per cent of renters pay ing more than 30 per cent of their income on housing. · The poverty level of income for a family of four in Halton is $29,000. · There are 59 Habitat chapters in Canada They and other educators have main tained over the years that provinciallymandated student testing has been done in Ontario that the criteria used is too narrow in focus. They also say the tests and the students tested change from year to year, making the data unreliable or irrelevant. "W hoever referred to the Fraser Institute as a think tank needs their head read," said Papke. "They rate nothing on the (overall) quality of education." As superintendents, Finlay and Hine are called upon annually to review their board's provincial student testing results with their colleagues and trustees. Both said they have looked at the 2003 Fraser Institute report card. "I believe that it's unfortunate that it has been published in the way it has." isolating schools based on limited crite ria, said Finlay, his board's schools pro gram services co-ordinator for the past two years. "It's at minimum misleading and it's dangerous at another level. A cadre of assessm ent measures and tools are needed for (testing) effectiveness," Finlay added. Hine said, "Our senior administra tion, we don't support the ranking of elementary schools. What we believe is it is critical to improve the learning for all students." The Catholic board has action plan committees at the board and school lev els to help students learn, she said. Hine noted key academic initiatives next year are in the areas o f numeracy, literacy and students-at-risk. Finlay said parents have "leapt to misunderstandings" based on the latest Fraser report. He said his office alone has handled about a dozen phone calls since its release last week with the most common questions being about why a specific school w asn't on the list and why, if it was, it was ranked the way it was. "It's nice when people call because we have a chance to explain it to them," that is the board's concerns with such tests, said Finlay. The Halton public board is not against studies of students, he said. Finlay said they always searching for effective ways to conduct and evaluate them. www.oakviUebeaver.oom Historical society hosts guided walking tours of downtown The Oakville Historical Society's two-hour guided histor ical walk tours continue on Sept. 7 and Oct. 5 with The Main Street o f Oakville. The tour focuses on Oakville's commercial district from Navy Street to Trafalgar Road. O f the 66 building on Lakeshore Road, originally known as Colbome Street, 30 were constructed from 1830-1839. The society's other walking tour is the Houses o f Old Oaln ille. This walk covers the area south o f Robinson Street between Navy and Reynolds streets. O f the 30 houses and site on this tour, 13 buildings date back to the 1830s and nine from the 1850s and 1860s. This tour will be held Sundays on Aug. 31, Sept. 1 and Sept. 21. All of the two-hour walking tours start at 2 p.m. from the Oakville Historical Society's office and archives at 110 King St., west of Navy St. Each participant receives a booklet describing the build ings on the tour. Tours cost $10 each, and for more information, call 905844-2695 or visit www.oakvillehistory.org. Notice o f Liqu or Licence Application O A K V I LLE Ontario The following establishment has applied to the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario for a liquor licence under the Liquor Licence Act: Application for a Sale Licence Wolfgang Puck Cafe 2065 Winston Park Drive Oakville (including outdoor area) Any resident o f the municipality may make a written submission as to whether the issuance of the licence is in the public interest having regard to the needs and wishes of the residents. Submissions must be received no later than July 20. 2003. Please include your name, address and telephone number. If a petition is submitted to the Commission, please identify the designated contact person. Note: The AGCO gives the applicant copies of any objections. Submissions to be sent to: Licensing and Registration Department Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario 20 Dundas St. W., 7" Floor Toronto, ON MSG 2N6 Fax: 416-326-5555 E-mail: licensing@agco.on.ca C O U N C IL & ST AND ING COMMITTEE M EET IN G S Monday, July 7, 2003 Council Meeting Council Chambers 7:30 p.m. Monday, July 14, 2003 Planning & Development Council Meeting Council Chambers 7:30 p.m. TUesday, August 5, 2003 Community Services Comm. Committee Room 1 - 7:30 p.m. Administrative Services Comm. Committee Room 2 - 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, August 6, 2003 Planning & Development Council Meeting Council Chambers 7:30 p.m. NOTICE OF PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO NOISE & NUISANCE BY-LAW Oakville Town Council, at its Meeting on Monday, July 7, 2003, will consider a recommendation to approve By-law 2003-108, being a by-law to amend Town of Oakville Noise & Nuisance By-law 1963-29. The intent of By-law 2003-108 is to add the following subsections, (o) and (p), to Section 6 of the by-law as specific sounds or noises that may be deemed to be unusual, or noises likely to disturb the inhabitants: "(o) The noise emitted during the loading, unloading, packing, unpacking, stacking, discarding or otherwise handling any containers, produce, products, materials or refuse whatsoever, upon private or public property, between the hours of eleven o'clock in the evening of any day and seven o'clock in the forenoon of the next following day provided the noise is of a volume sufficient to be clearly audible inside residential premises. (p) The noise emitted by a motor vehicle or heavy equipment, while in motion or standing, during arrival, departure, delivery, compaction, reception or parking upon private or public property between the hours of eleven o'clock in the evening of any day and seven o'clock in the forenoon of the next following day provided the noise is of a volume sufficient to be clearly audible inside residential premises." If you have any questions or wish to register as a delegation to speak to the item at Town Council please contact Phillip Bouillon, Manager of By law Enforcement and Licensing Commissioner, by telephone at (905) 8456601 ext. 3093 or by e-mail at pbouillonQtown.oakville.on.ca. Written comments may be faxed directly to (905) 815-2025 or mailed to: Town of Oakville Clerk's Department, P.O. Box 310, 1225 Trafalgar Road, Oakville ON L6J 5A6 1225 TRAFALGAR ROAD · OAKVILLE, ONTARIO · L6J 5A6 (9 0 3 ) 8 4 5 -6 6 0 1 w w w .o a k v ille .c a more to L a -Z -B o )! CobbleSlONEmberS "M a s o n r y & F i r e p l a c e D e s ig n S p e c ia lis ts All types o f masonry work & restoration: · chimneys · stairs · walkways · patios · planters · tuck pointing QUALITY BRAND NAMES GAS tk ELECTRIC FIREPLACES AVAILABLE Verm ont C astings Barbecues .Y ou featuring VERMONT IH A llSHC Vr-ir-- # H E 4T -N -(A jD from S 1299"* LA-Z-BOY FURNITURE® GALLERIES QiW&B R A M TS TR K T·(9 0 5 )3 3 17 6 0 0 D esign & installation o f gas, electric & conventional fireplaces: · stone & brick facings · built-in · wood surrounds cabinetry · cast stone mantels BURUNG TO NP O W E RC E N T R E Moa-fri. 9 an-9 pm , Sd 9 am~6 pm, Sun. 10am-5pm 406 Speers RcL, Oakville Iacross fromRonaLansing) Q A FC Q Q rr 4 -^ U O D VISIT THE SPECIAIJSTS TO SEETHEDIFFERENIE