Solicitor to decide if it conform's to town's officiai plan Planning and development committee delays subdivision By BLAKE PURDY Staff Writer Markborough's plan for a development which would- provide housing and services for 2,500 people in the northeast corner of town lias been delayedby the region. The delay was caused by members of the region's planning and development committee that the plans for the 177-acre development do not meet the desired densities for the area set out in thé town's official plan. The committee felt higher densi- ties are required. Oshawa Councillor Bruce McArthur, who lias been a member of the comnimittee for only one month, voiced the initial objection to the development, noting that the plan calls for a great number of single-family homes. At the end of the debate, however, Mr. McArthur supported the development but othercommittee members did not. The committee finally decided to have the region's solicitor make a legal ruling on the matter. Whitby Mayor Jim Gart- shore, a member of the com- mittee, was furious with the delaying action. CouncillorGartshore point- ed out that. after many public meetings, with residen ts living in the neighbourhood of the proposed development, the developers and represen- tatives of the town present, and numerous changes'made to the original plan, Whitby Council approved it. As a result of the meet- ings, the densities were reduced substantially. "We arrived at a very acceptable plan; acceptable to the neighbouring people; acceptable to the developers; and acceptable to the Town", he said. "The region should accept direction from the cormunity". "We think we (the Town) have done a tremendously good job on the develop- ment", said Councillor Gartshore. "The region should accept it as it is". "They can't say it doesn't meet our official plan", he said. "We can say it does". "The region's planning comnmittee came to a very narrow, very conservative interpretation of the Whitby official plan", said Councillor Gartshore. "If they keep it up, they are going to find themselves in terrible trouble". "This is the first and hopefully the last fight between a town and the region over the interpretation of the officiai plan", he said. "We intend to win it". Town's Boy Scouts plan nature trail Whitby District Boy Scouts hope to develop a half- mile portion of Pringle Creek into a nature trail. Representatives of the scouting movement appeared before Whitby Council on Monday to outline their pro- posals for the creek area which is owned by the town. According to Stuart Drew, president of the scouters club, 500 members of the Whitby scouting movement would be involved in developing the Councillor encounters heavyweight - of rock world While at the Olympic Games in Montreal, Whitby Councillor Tom Edwards, a boxing fanatic, met a member of the Rock Royalty but didn't even know it. While Mr. Edwards was watching a boxing match, a scruffy-looking man, accom- panied by an attractive female, came up and pointed to two empty seats beside the councillor. Mr. Edwards, realizing the man wanted to sit in the seats and thinking the man couldn't speak English, made a gesture to indicate that the seats were taken. The seats had been temporarily vacated by Mr. Edwards' 22-year-old son and a Korean spectator. The scruffy-looking man and his female friend got the message and walked away at the same time Mr. Edwards' son returned. The young Edwards told his father that the man whom he had just turned away was none other than Mick Jagger. 'What group does he box in?,' asked father. 'He doesn't box; he rocks with the Rolling Stones', replied son. 'Oh,' uttered father. area of the creck lying between Dundas Street East and Burns Street, just west of Lupin Drive. Mr. Drew said that the scouts are presently cleaning." litter and debris from the creek and creek ban'es. They plan to instilltrashreceptacles at various points along the trail. The scouts hope to build a pathway of wood chipping and bridges from one creek bank to the other. They also plan to set up picnic areas with tables and barbecues. The scouts hope to give nature a helping hand by doing things like building bird houses and planting trees. They also plan to make visitors aware of the area's wildlife by installing informative plaques with pictures and descriptions of the various species. But possibly the most important goal of the scouts is to stop up erosion in the area. Each scout who works on the project will receive a crest. Chairman of the Recrea- tion Department Joy Thomp- son, who has been in close contact with the scouts, thinks highly of the proposed development. Grace Thomas, of 408 Lupin Drive does not share Councillor Thompson's enthusiasm. She told council members that she does not want to see people barbecuing and eating and theni throwing their refuse into big*garbage pails when she looks out a back window. Because council members felt there might be other such objections, they asked the scouts to hold a public meeting with people living in the area of the proposed development before beginning work. The scouts will report on the results of the meeting to the operdtions committee which will then make a recommendation to council. REACHING FOR THE STARS Reaching for the stars is Caledonia fire fighter Ricky hours of Monday. At the extreme right is convention Starr. He was one of several fire fighters from across the chairman John Visser. province to participate in the Ontario Fire Fighters 75th Free Press Photo Convention pyjama parade, held in Brooklin in the early by Mike Burgess More carnival photos are on pages 8 and 9 PR s--- s )À x v