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4 - The Oakville Beaver, W ednesday January 18, 2006 Jewelry heist arrest A 26-year old man has been arrest ed in connection with the dramatic Sept. 26 daylight robbery of Gabriel Fine Jewelers in Downtown Oakville. Believing gunshots had been fired during the incident and that a possi ble hostage situation was developing, Halton Regional Police sealed off parts of Downtown as they searched for suspects after one female store employee was pepper sprayed and an undisclosed quantity of jewelry was removed from display cases. As it turned out, no shots were fired during the robbery and the clerk was treated at the scene for the effects of the spray. Zvonko Markovski, arrested Jan. 6, has been charged with robbery and administering a noxious substance. 0MB nearing is for the birds Fate ofPalm Place Developments high-rise plan on former Shell house lands could rest on its impact on migratory birds By Angela Blackburn O AKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Auto Workers host candidates debate The Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) Local 707 will host an Oakville riding all candidates debate on Thursday, Jan. 19 at the Galaxy Club, 475 North Service Rd. The meeting is slated to start at 7 p.m. and all four Oakville riding can didates are expected to attend. The riding of Oakville is bordered by Winston Churchill to the east, Burloak Drive to the west, the lake to the south and Upper Middle Road to the north. It also includes the quad rant bordered by Eighth Line, Dundas Street East and Winston Churchill. The remainder of town north of that is included in the riding of Halton. IHf i T i i Halton Affordable A t Home in Halton Visit our website and view the latest issue of Affordable Housing Halton News. Topics covered in Newsletter: Response to new government funding announcement, AHH's building project, Community Partner Award presentation, Overview of the Federal government's Supporting Communities Partnership Initiative (SCPI) activities in Halton, AHH membership information. w w w .a ffo rd a b le h o u s in g h a lto n .c o m Sheridan Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning w ill be offering a 2-Year Diploma in Interior Decorating. A public information session will be held January 26, 2006 from 6 - 7 p.m. at the Trafalgar Road Campus in AA-Wing, Rm. AA1a. (Crafts and D e% n Building) rs K s y ii 5 .Wm s i y jD ' J Sheridan Institute of Technology p and Advanced LSarning 1430 Trafalgar Road, Oakville, ON L6H 2L1 For more information: Donna Armstrong · 905;%45.943G e x t 8610 donna.armstrong@sheridaninstitute.ca www.sheridaninstitiite.ca m i s § The former Shell House prop erty does not qualify as a signifi cant wildlife habitat and a 370unit condominium proposed by Palm Place Developments would not have a negative impact on migratory birds. So testified Al Sandilands at an Ontario Municipal Board (0MB) hearing on the development pro posal. Sandilands is an ornithologist, a biologist with more than 34 years experience who participated in the writing of the Province of Ontario's Significant Wildlife Habitat Technical Guide. He is also Palm Place' s expert witness on birds. The six-week hearing began Monday, Jan. 9 and Sandilands' testimony came near the end of the hearing's first week. Palm Place Developments expects to take about 10 days to present its case and last week, OMB hearing officers Norm Jackson and Gary O'Connor heard testimony from planner Peter Russell in the way of an -overview, forester Greg Scheifele and landscape architect Pat Bollenberghe. Sandilands' testimony is to be followed by that of an environ mental expert, coastal engineer, architect, traffic expert and plan ner as Palm Place lawyers Patrick Devine and Michael Kovacevic present the developer' s case. Palm Place has challenged the Town of Oakville' s refusal to allow the 370-unit condo on the west half of the nearly eight-acre lakefront property in west Oakville. The plan represents a scaled back version of the original 1,000unit, four tower version of the plan first applied for at the Town. Palm Place has said it would hand over the east half of the property to the Town if it gets to build the 370-unit, three building complex. The Town had previously, in the subdivision agreement for Lakeshore Woods, the communi ty by New Province Homes north of Lakeshore Road, given approval to credit parkland dedication on the first 300 units applied for on the property south of Lakeshore in return for an over dedication of green space in Lakeshore Woods. However, the subdivision agreement was conditional upon the proposed development for the former Shell House lands going through the development approvals process. Palm Place appealed to the OMB before the Town formally took a position on the application. The Town' s position is that while it prefers the property to be a park, it would look at allowing 27 single-family homes no higher than three storeys. The OMB will now hear the Palm Place evidence before hear ing that from the Town, Conservation Halton and the Bronte Village Residents' Association (BVRA). Both the conservation author ity and residents' group the lat ter formed as a reaction to the Palm Place development plans are parties to the hearing, though both have claimed part-time sta tus. The OMB will also hear from members of the general public who may wish to express an opin ion at a public evening set for Wednesday, Feb. 1 at 7 p.m. Devine, a lawyer for Palm Place, argued that the Town and Conservation Halton were pursu ing the issue of migratory birds despite a finding that it wasn't a significant issue according to a joint Palm Place/Conservation Halton Migratory Bird Study con ducted last spring. The OMB heard, however, that the study was a snapshot in time and the issue will be argued. Jackson said last week during Sandilands evidence in chief that it seemed surprising that with both study participants agreeing on the study' s terms of reference and data collected that they should differ on opinion in regard to the outcome. However, last week' s testimo ny was very detailed and included a long series of radar images from Buffalo to esta&lish migration patterns across Lake Ontario. Also covered were the various types of migrating birds -- those who migrate by day, like blue jays, and those by night, and others who don't show a preference such as woodpeckers. The OMB even heard testimo ny about what' s been dubbed the Patagonia Effect-- based on a per son's sighting of a rare bird while eating their lunch at a picnic table in the area located in the south of Chile and the fact that while the event drew people more frequent ly to the location, more rare birds were sighted. The OMB heard that Palm Place has been designed with no stairwells or hallways that would be lit at night and visible from the outside to attract birds to a possi ble collision while flying. The' project' s glass would also carry a green tint to offer low reflection so that it would not, again, attract birds to their untimely death. .While it' s expected that it will be argued that even if the former Shell House property doesn't act as a significant area for migratory birds, it could be considered a stepping stone for birds to Shell Park and potentially even Bronte Creek Provincial Park a little far ther north. That isn't what Sandilands tes tified, however. Sandilands said Palm Place' s proposal complies with Provincial Policy Statements from both 1997 and those updated in 2005 and that the building's height -- pro posed to be terraced from seven to 12 storeys -- would have no impact on migrating birds. Numbers of bird strikes will be very low or non-existent, stated Sandilands in his witness state ment, noting only four storeys of the proposed building would be above the tree canopy. Sandilands noted that higher buildings exist just to the west in Burlington and they also stand in the region covered by Conservation Halton. Sandilands also noted that only the best examples of wildlife habi tat should be deemed significant according to provincial policies and that Oakville is not on a major migration corridor. The issue of migratory birds is expected to be in front of the OMB hearing as it continues. The BVRA also hopes to revisit the issue of trees. BVRA founder Laurie McGinn told The Oakville Beaver last week that of some 316 trees located on the half of the site earmarked for development, that 109 or 35 per cent are red pine -- unique in that they're existing in clusters here in town -- and that up to 75 could be removed in the development. Bone marrow match correction In an article headed `Oakville resident needs lifesaving bone marrow match' published in the Oakville Beaver on Jan. 7, it was incorrectly stated that registration forms for the Unrelated Bone Marrow Donor Registry (UBMDR) can be faxed to its office. The information was contained in a story about Jason Hammerschmidt of Oakville who requires bone marrow as part of his treatment for leukemia. UBMDR requires an original registration form and signature from potential registrants, hence faxed copies cannot be accepted. The Oakville Beaver regrets the error and apolo gizes for any inconvenience it may have caused. Sheridan