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2 - Orono Weekly Times. Wednesday. November 7, 2001 ^ Weekly Times Serving Eas t Clarington and beyond s ince 1937 Subscriptions $28.04 + $1.96 G.S.T. = $30.00/year Publications Mail Registration No. 09301 ' Agreement No. 40012366 Publishing 50 Issues Annually at the Office of Publication "We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada, through the Publications Assistance Program (PAP), toward our mailing costs." 5310 Main Street, P.O. Box 209, Orono, Ontario LOB 1M0 E-Mail Address: oronotimes@speedline.ca Phone/Fax (905) 983-5301 Publisher/Editor Margaret Zwart w The Orono Weekly Times welcomes letters to the editor on subjects of interest to our readers. Opinions expressed to the editor and articles are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Orono Weekly Times. Letters must be signed and contain the address and phone number of the writer. Any letter considered unsuitable will not be acknowledged or returned. We reserve the right to edit for length, libel and slander. If your retail or classified ad appears for the first time, please check carefully. Notice of an error must be given before the next issue goes to print. The Orono Weekly Times will not be responsible for the loss or damage of such items. My way or the Highway The Region's plan not to widen Taunton Road through Clarington is rather short sighted according to Clarington councillors. Durham Region's vision of transportation plans for the next 20 years does not include widening Taunton Road past its current two lane width in Clarington. The Draft Durham Region Transportation Master Plan, presented to committee of council Monday, recommends that Taunton Road be widened to four lanes up to the Clarington/Oshawa Townline. Traffic studies conducted for the report indicate that there is not sufficient traffic on Taunton Road through Clarington to warrant expanding the Regional Road to four lanes, according to Durham Region's Manager of Transportation, Gene Chartier. With the Taunton Road corridor corridor well outside the Clarington urban boundary, the prediction prediction is that Taunton Road will suffice as a two lane roadway for the next twenty years. Clarington has never conducted a study to see if traffic volume along Taunton Road would necessitate widening the road in the foreseeable future. All of Clarington's Regional Councillors stated Monday they would not support the Plan unless Taunton Road is widened to four lanes. Mayor Mutton indicated that the shopping center at Harmony Rd. and Taunton, in Oshawa is generating increased traffic flow along Taunton Road through Clarington. Clarington vehemently opposed the construction of this shopping center last term, because the center was depending on a customer base from Clarington for viability. Clarington even went to the Ontario Municipal Board to try and stop the development of the center. Now that shopping center is open, Clarington seems willing willing to facilitate the flow of Clarington shoppers to this unique center of American box stores in our neighbouring municipality. The Transportation Study does not take into account the Provincial government's commitment to build the 407 Highway east to the 115/35 Highway. They assumed it didn't exist for the purpose of this study, Chartier said. Otherwise a number of different scenarios would have to be considered. A Ministry of Transportation spokesperson Mr. Bob Nichols, told the Orono Times on Tuesday, that the Ministry is ready to develop a Terms of Reference for the Brock Road to Highway 115/35 leg of the toll highway. They are ready to hire a consultant, who will guide the environmental assessment process, which should take two years. The environmental environmental assessment will look at such issues as traffic volumes, volumes, where the route will be located, and the impact on the environment. Once the environmental assessment is completed, completed, the process moves into a full environmental impact study. Nichols stated, "I don't think anything is a given at this point," and that the process would provide lots of opportunity opportunity for public input. While the Region of Durham is in favour of completing Highway 407 to 115/35, Clarington council has gone on record as being opposed to the highway's completion through Clarington. Widening Taunton Road would come out of the Region's tax base while building the #407 would be done at thé Provincial level. Either way it hits the same taxpayer. If there must be an east west link through north Clarington to Highway 115/35, a widened Taunton Road would be much less obtrusive than constructing another new highway a kilometres kilometres to the north, fragmenting our base of agricultural land once more. , www.dollghan.com Protedural by-law shouldn't be tam- i, says Mayor Mutton Changes to Clarington's procedural by-law got a cool reception by delegations Monday. This fall, council requested that the Clerk's Department review the Municipality's procedure procedure as it relates to hearing delegations at committee and council meetings. The changes introduced in a report before committee of council Monday, hardly seemed worth the effort, according to one delegate, Jessica Markland. The need for some changes to the existing by-law was made apparent in September . when the Oak Ridges Moraine (OEM) report was before council. The report was on the agenda agenda for the September 4th General Purpose and Administration .meeting. However, before the report was made public on the previous previous Friday, the deadline to appear before council as a del egation had passed. Anyone wishing to speak to council or committee of council council must register by noon on Wednesday. A number of residents wishing to speak on the ORM report were present at the September 4th General Purpose and Administration Committee meeting but did not get the chance to make their presentation. A motion made by councillor councillor McArthur at this meeting, to suspend the rules so the delegations delegations could be heard, did not get a seconder. These delegates did get the opportunity to speak thé following following week at the foil council meeting. The recommendation made by the Clerk's department would give prospective delegates delegates till 3:00 p.m. Friday to register with the Clerk's Department. The agenda pages are posted on the municipality's municipality's web site by noon Friday. The 3:00 p.m. deadline deadline allows ' residents time to view the site. Delegates who register on Friday, rather than by Wednesday noon, will only get five minutes to make their presentation, rather than the 10 minutes allotted to the Wednesday registrants. In her presentation to committee committee on this matter, Linda Gasser stated, "I cannot understand understand why citizens who find out about an issue from looking looking at an agenda, and who make an effort to address you on an issue, should be penalized penalized by being restricted to five minutes. This seems arbitrarily arbitrarily punitive," she stated. The other delegate appearing appearing before committee on this matter, Jessica Markland, stated, stated, "This implies that the point of view of a person who did not know, prior to publication of the agenda, that an item was on the agenda, is of less account than a person who did (continued page 6)