DO IT NOW! Lawrtmower Service ^ 'V 6 9 ^ CURRENT POWER MACHINERY INC. 1661 Lakestore Rd. W. Mississauga New Look For Trafalgar Village Business Art of Quilting A rtscene Mercedes Benz CLE.W. & D o rv a l D r. 822-4211 w w w .o a k v ille b e a v e r.c o m NORTH A M E R I C A 'S MOST AWARDED W K D N E S 1 ) .\Y . M A R C H COMMUNITY 13. 2 (X )2 NEW SPAPER Oakville's in for a royal treat Friday Oakville residents are invited to attend a brief reception to welcome His Royal Highness Prince Michael of Kent -- cousin to Queen Elizabeth -- on Friday at 12 noon at the Town Hall Atrium. The prince will be wrapping up a whirlwind tour o f Oakville with his last stop at the Town Hall located 1225 Trafalgar Rd. Earlier on Friday, the prince will visit the Oakville Fire D e p a r t m e n t 's Oakville Training Campus for Emer_ . .... , gency Excellence Pnnce Michael (9 : 15-10 a.m.). of Kent H e'll visit Dog Guides Canada (10:10-10:25 a.m.) for a demonstration and an introduction to the previous day's graduation class, both humans and dogs. The prince will tour the Kerr Street Oakville Seniors' Centre (10:35-11:05 a.m.) and watch a demonstration by sen iors of tap dancing, doggers and the choir. At Halton H ealthcare-OakvilleTrafalgar Memorial Hospital (11:1511:50 a.m.), the prince will be wel comed in the lobby before touring the cardiology department. Town Hall will be his last stop and he should arrive at 12 noon. From noon to 12:15 p.m., the prince will be honoured at a Town Council and public reception, at which a local street naming in his honour. In recognition of the prince's visit, (S ee `P ublic' page A2) Town forms Environment Protection Committee By Angela Blackburn O A K V IL L E B E A V E R S T A F F A t an emergency Tow n of Oakville council meeting Monday, councillors approved a new sub-committee, the G row th Management and Environmental Protection Committee. Its job will be to direct staff and report to council on growth issues north of Dundas Street -- particularly the Town's legal strategy as developers, and potentially others, challenge the Town's stance on future growth at the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB). One councillor from each ward will be named to the committee. That should be done by the Town's next Planning & Development Council meeting on March 25. The committee, like any other Town committee, would operate under the authority of Town council. It would be in operation fol lowing the March 25 meet ing. At that same meeting, an interim report from staff is expected on how to deal with a many-faceted motion about proceeding on issues regard ing growth north of Dundas Street. That motion passed with a 7-5 vote at council last week and saw the majority o f council opt to take more time to look at environmental issues, among other things, before approving north Oakville growth. It came at the cost of not immediately adopting the proposed OPA No. 198 -- despite the risk o f facing OMB challenges from devel opers. Last w eek's decision called for the hiring of lawyers and planners, specif ically those involved with Toronto's Oak Ridges M oraine, ,to defend the Town's position. Staff has been asked to provide feedback before that happens. Meanwhile, the new com mittee approved Monday would be a first step to taking action on last week's motion. It would be able to set about getting experts on (S ee 'C om m ittee' page A4) Another developer files with 0MB By Angela Blackburn O A K V IL L E B E A V E R S IA F F Thieves steal trailer load of French fries Halton Regional Police are looking for a truck trailer loaded with French fries that was stolen Saturday from out back of Oakville Town Centre. According to investigators, the rig was parked at the rear of the plaza, located at 200 North Service Rd., around 4 p.m. Shortly after 9 p.m., how ever, the driver discovered his truck was missing. On Sunday at around 6:30 p.m., the tractor portion of the vehicle with dam age to the ignition was found in the car pool parking lot at Bronte Road and the QEW. The refrigerated trailer was miss ing. This is described as a white, 1999 Waba trailer, Ontario licence W 13356. Anyone with information about the theft, or who was in the area of the Oakville Town Centre or the Bronte GO lot over the weekend and observed a tractor trailer, is asked to call police at 905-825-4777 or Crime Stoppers at 1800-222-TIPS. Ron Kuzyk · Oakville Beaver IN HARM'S WAY: H alton Regional Police C hief Ean A lgar addresses the crowd gathered last Sunday at St. Jo h n 's United C hurch for " In H arm 's Way," a special trib u te service honouring local fire, police and emergency m edical personnel. P articipants also included a G round Zero volunteer, the H alton Police C olour G u ard , a piper and a Celtic harpist. Emergency service vehicles and crews were also on view across from church. Rev. Jim M cKnight said it was fitting that "o u r com m unity pause to honour and pray for the brave men and women who protect us all." A second developer is headed to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) to secure the go ahead to devel op north of Dundas Street. Last week, after Town of Oakville council voted 7-5 against adopting its Official Plan Amendment (OPA) No. 198 -- its own guide to growth on 7.000 acres of land north of Dundas Street -- Bressa Developments almost immediately asked the OMB to adopt the Town's OPA 198. As of 4 p.m. Monday, Trinison Management Cor poration had also turned to the OMB to approve growth north of Dundas Street. The news about Trinison's action was made public at an emergency council meeting Monday night. It was also learned from councillors at the meeting that at least, two more devel opers are waiting in the wings and are expected to file appeals with the OMB. Other north Oakville landowners include Mattamy Homes, StarOaks Homes, Green Ginger Developments, among oth ers. On Monday, Michael Telawski, spokesperson for the Residents Association North of Dundas (RAND), announced that group of 100 Bumhamthorpe Road home owners are seriously consid ering retaining a lawyer and seeking party status at the (S ee R A N D ' page A4) New pool off limits for swim competitions Editorials................. A6 Academy Awards B1 Business........................ C7 By Angela Blackburn O A K V IL L E B E A V E R S T A F F Artscene...................C8 Focus...................... Cl Classified.......................C5 Sports...................... D1 Best Wheels................. D6 P mUMv c o : Tru Green Ijn rn Care, Enrvsckm Interiors, O n-Site Enterprises. A uto Park. The Bay, Hoopers Pharmacy, Future Shopi Good life . Stars. W estpnint Stetvns Canadan PuMcaoont Mai Town officials continued last week to dive into possible solutions to the problem of diving depth at the new Iroquois Ridge Community Centre pool. In the meantime, the Oakville Aquatic Club (OAC), which is one of the pool's major tenants and is now headquartered at the new pool, contin ues to hold swim practices at the pool, but is holding competitions at its old haunt. Centennial Pool on Navy Street. The double-pool aquatic facility is considered the crown jewel of the $ 10million. 56,000-square-foot recreation centre, pool and library complex on Glenashton Drive. There's a traditional eight-lane swimming pool as well as a leisure pool. The 25-metre pool was intended to serve as the local aquatic club's host site for provincial swim competitions. The smaller, adjoining pool is used for therapy, rehabilitation and instruc tion. Yet, the diving depth at the new pool became an issue after two 'young women were injured there earlier this year. One woman struck her face on the bottom of the pool and received a bloody nose on Jan. 17. A second young woman received a concussion after striking her forehead on the pool bottom during a swim meet held on Jan. 19. The pool, along with the library and recreation centre unofficially opened to the public on Boxing Day. Its official opening was held Feb. 9. "The pool was designed to accom modate a variety of uses and needs. It"s eight lanes wide and has a competitive timing system that's really state-of-the- art for competitive swimming," said the Town of Oakville's parks and recreation director Bob McFarland. It was designed to meet the interna tional swimming federation, FINA's standards. And though the standards were upgraded while the pool was under construction, the Town's original plans met F1NA requirements at the time of construction. The pool was meant to meet interna tional competitive standards of 1.25 metres deep, but FINA changed the standard to 1.35 metres deep after the Sydney Olympics. (See S w im ' page A5) Oakville Volkswagen 5 5 7 K err S tre e t I P et er Watson M I N V E S T M E N T S 905.844.3285 www.oakvillevwaudi.com 4 M OTION a ll-w h e e l d r iv e R E T IR E M E N T P L A N N IN G SP E C IA LIS TS Drivers wanted.! Free C o n s u l t a t io n 842-2100 P e t e r C . W ix s o n C-rJv,