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of i had i. a SLANG a lod bl dh oh adial L LT hd a lal OF Le 8 - PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, May 29, 2001 "Scugog"s Community Newspaper of Choice" Full house turns out to view CTC plaza plan By Jeff Mitchell Port Perry Star Proponents of a plan to build a new Canadian Tire plaza south of Port Perry got an earful from residents and politi- cians when a public meeting on the mat- ter was held last night. Representatives of Stockworth MBG, the development group that proposes to build the large new plaza on land adjacent to Simcoe St., south of town, heard a variety of concerns, including environmental, economic, and even aesthetic worries at the special meeting, convened by township council at the Scugog Community Centre. The councillors made no decision on Stockworth's proposal to rezone the land from its industrial designation to commercial to accommodate the plaza, which plans show will include a new Canadian Tire Store, a new IGA store, two restaurants, and other commercial uses; they held the meeting to acquaint residents with the ambitious plan, and allow them an opportunity to offer input. Ng While there was no expression of vehement opposition to the 'plan, resi- dents and councillors cited several environmental, economic and other sorts of issues. : Sandy Beaton, a Scugog Island resi- dent who is involved with the local fish- ery and a shoreline restoration project on Lake Scugog, expressed grave reser- vations about the location of the plaza. It's to be built on a 6.4 (16 acre) hectare parcel that's to be carved out of a much larger, 43 hectare (106 acre) piece of land which borders on the Scugog Marsh, a provincially significant wet- land. "I want (the new stores) in town, | just don't want them on that site," said Rev. Beaton. He cited Lake Scugog and the adjoin- ing marsh lands as the home and mating habitat for numerous fish and fowl species. Rev. Beaton said he worries that run-off from the plaza - it would include a gas bar and an automotive maintenance centre - will have an adverse effect on the delicate environ- ment. "You know where all that stuff's going to end up? It's going to end up in the marsh," said Rev. Beaton. "This isn't the only place to put it." He was alluding to another recently- created commercial site, established west of Port Perry's downtown core on Hwy. 7A, on the site of the old Port Perry Flea Market. Quorum Development Corp. succeeded in rezoning that prop- erty to accommodate a plaza, with hopes of attracting Canadian Tire Corp. and Sobey's, the parent company of IGA. That deal soured when the devel- oper couldn't meet requirements of the two companies, speakers told the meet- ing. But the existence of the Quorum lands - and the fact that the Stockworth rezoning would effectively devour the last piece of serviced industrial land in Port Perry - came up a number of times during the meeting. Township planner Jim Dyment said good planning principles dictate that any proposal meet two criteria: That it can be proven there is a necessity for the development, and that lands that could accommodate the proposal aren't already available in the municipality. Clearly, such land exists in the form of the Quorum site, said Mr. Dyment. In fact, he said that passage of the STockworth plan, which calls for well over 100,000 square feet of new com- mercial space, would leave Port Perry with an inventory far in excess of the 200,000 square feet recommended in a market needs study recently commis- sioned by the municipality. He suggested that if the Stockworth proposal were to gain passage, the council might want to consider reversing the commercial designation granted to the Quorum lands. That statement took some members of council aback. An incredulous Ward 2 councillor Marilyn Pearce asked the planner: "You cannot take away someone's zoning, can you?" Theoretically," Mr. Dyment replied, "you could." Residents living in the new subdivi- sion located across Simcoe St. from the proposed plaza - built, ironically, by Stockworth - expressed concerns about the high rate of traffic that would be cre- ated by the new stores. They're worried about traffic flowing down their residen- tial streets as motorists and shoppers try to avoid a heavily congested Simcoe. They also raised questions about the compatibility of the huge new stores, a theme seized upon by Councillor Pearce. She asked the developers for justifi- cation in building near a significant wet- land, and criticized plans to erect build- ings she feels don't fit in with the nature of downtown Port Perry. "What's the justification for going into an environmentally sensitive wetland area and building big box stores?" she asked. "This community is not about big boxes. (The development) needs more than big box planning, and that's all we're getting here." Stockworth officials came armed with reams of reports, and consultants to back up their assertions. They outlined ambitious plans to protect the wetlands and build the plaza in such a fashion as to enhance the southern entrance of Port Perry, and provide much-needed space for Canadian Tire and the IGA, two stores that are now located in cramped, outdated buildings. And Stockworth representative Norm Dagenais said the developers will make efforts to ensure no adverse effect is felt by downtown merchants, another con- cern that was expressed throughout the evening. He even went so far to as to suggest that some of the commercial development associated with the plaza may be deferred until the stores vacat- ed by the two anchor businesses down- town are filled. "It's not in our interest to see Queen St. collapse," said Mr. Dagenais. "We are significant investors here." For Super Decals & Great Service ~~ Come see Diane Richardson or Brian No EH CHEVROLET UX 'OLDSMOBILE CADILLAC 852-3331 128002263-2000 Garden Centsd Your McMeal can help effort A team of 11 people from Uxbridge will be partnering with African nationals to build a school house in the remote African village of Carpenter this summer. You can help by attend- ing fundraising events at: McDonald's on Thursday, May 31 from 4 to 8 p.m. (A portion of the meals pur- chased will go towards the Also, on Saturday, June 2 there will be a car wash at Noble Transport in Uxbridge. All proceeds from this event will go to the Ghana Project. We appreci- ate everyone's support. For more information on this project or either events, please call Uxbridge Baptist Church at 905-852-3662. 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