WH1TBY FREEPRESSý,,VEDNESDAY, JULY 110 1990, PAGE 7 PAGE SEVEN PLANNING BY INTJMDATION As I pointed out last week, inflated land values place an undue pressure on the planning procese as owners attempt te justify thei. prices they've paid for their, proporty. Munici- palities, plannors and politicians have no roal stalce in the. outcome,1 and succossful land developers are not oasily dissuaded - it may tae montha ...or oven yeare te patiently mould. thoirnew vision. They may ovon have te appoal te tth. Ontario Municipal Beardt. but the. panning procees will usually givo themn mot of what tiiey want. Howevor, wiieroexismting rosidents are dir.ctly affoct.d, tii. procese is 'more complicated. People- who.' feol. their own propertiesirw ill b. adversely affectod are 7flot so oaay persuaded that change ie always a good thing. Faced with uch concerne, dovéloprs usually try ignorlng them as a firet reeort, thon a subtle forrn èf intimidation, and if that doosn't work, more direct intimidation. The power cf a land dovolopor jintth. intimidating influence of money. Money buys a lot cf thinge - hiko lawyors, architecte, consultante, and lots df flattering diagrams, documentation and drawings. If a doveloper appoare wifling to spond an apparently ondless amount of money te goet approvel for hie plans, thon only the very ricii, the foohardy or tho hoadstrong are ikely te put up much of a flgiit. But, this je just the. subtle part df the intimidation. Evon govrniments got drawn into this- web. Our councillors have on a nunibeo f occasions beckod away fromn rejecting a devlopmont simply because tiie developor would appeal it te tii. Ontario Municipal Board at great oxpense te both sides. A couple of years ago, the. Downtewn BA also backed away from, an 0MB. hearing on a plaza developmont because they felt it would b. too expensive. So, wiiat chance doese an individuel resident have in opposing a new devlopment in his neighbouriiood? He has tii. right to b. heard before Council, but what if Council chooses to disagree or ignores hie concerne? Yes, he can appeal te the Ontario Municipal Board, but et wiiat expense? These are not theoretical issues te me. Earlier this yeer I opposed a development in =y erea. I felt tiie heat first iiand. It concerne tiie properties et tiie corner of Eucid' and Dundas. -Lik. sro meny wiio bougiit the ir lend at the, ieigiit of tiie real es"at boom, tiie developer paid too much. The. three propertiee' (not - including tiie corner property which wes bought separately by Canada Trust) cost him $1.5 million. The developer wes from Toronto and knew little about. Whitby. He bougiit tiie firet of tiie three proporties (tiie red-brick Regency cottage- whicii has since been moved) for $535,000 on the strengtii of tiie real estate broker's cdaim tiiet h. could build a four-storey building there. To get tiie otiier two properties (for $1* million) heoiiad te buy out tiie ladies' wear store that occupied one of tiie buildings. Prom tiiere ho. tiiought it would b. smooth sailing. Not sol The real estat. agent neglected te tell huma that tiiere had been a wholeeale change in the TomW's Official Plan (the. Downtewn Secondary Plan) and'tiiree-storeys was the maimum. Furtiiormore a portion of hie land was zoned rosidential and it would have te b.e rezoned. Al of this tales timo and conte monoy. 1It also oponod the. door for tiie residents of tiie adjacent stable low-d.nity noighbouniiood te voice their opinion. Not eurprngl4y, thoy opposed it. for thoir part Council extrected its Pound dfleeh, but only haif ofwhat the. residonts wantod. Ujnder normal circumtances an appoal tethe OMB would have been fruitlese and frivolous, but, by accident, ne&Hgence or design the. procoss was flwed by the Planning Depart- ment's misr.preeontation of the allowable zoning limite. I knew that togo te tthe 0MB could b. ve . xpensive what with lawyoe n rl u ne lotat twould b. oxpensive fortii. otiier aide as well. Sufflciontly so that tiiero was a lot of rom for compromise. Suffice it to say that wii.n a devel r je paying $20,00 por montii in'intorest, it dom. not greoty matter te him how right or iiow noble hie opponiente. The intimidation was no longr subtie. At a meeting held in the Town planning depertmnente board room, I was threatened with overytiiing that came te hie lawy.r's mind. Intimidation, iiowo-ver, in a bit cfa garms - ho wiio flinches firet, loses. Intimidation in aloo cheap..I iield my &run TWO days inter, we at down togothor without eny faw=rs and nogotiated face te face for the flrst time. It Siiould have takon place monthe earlier. I discovored that. becauseocf conte already A.ncurrod, there was r.ally very- little room to manouver on the. issues tiiatjpaticularlY _concrned me, BAND AT WHITBYPS FOUR CORNERIS, C. 1900" The corner of Brock and Dundas Streets ie decorated with evergreens forBonspca occasion which is not known. It may b. Dominion Day or smre evont during the. Boer War of 1899 to 1902. Harry Wolfenden ie the Young man behinid the. emal drurn. 10 VZAIRS AGO fr-orn the Wednes3da, July 9, 1980 edition, ofthe e Town Councfi voted five to two toshow Brooklin to grow to 10,000 people. e One-legged Marathon cf Hope runner Terry Fox will pas through Whitby early tomorrow morning. e DorothiyOriiston, president of the. Ladies' Aufliary of Royal Canadien Legion Branch 112, has been awarded a Certificat. of Merit by the. Ontario Command. * Mayor Jim Gartshore opened three new tennis courts at Iroquois Park last week. 25 TEARS AGO from theWednesay,, July 8, 1965 edition ofthie IVIMT WICEKIXMme e Whitby i. seeldng provincial aid te develop D'Hlfler Park, eat Lynde Creek. 9 VAWb8 paste annex -part of Whitby Townshp will follow the trend.Set by the. Golderbort Report for Métro Toronto. * Mr. and Mrs.'Peter Duiveseyn 'of Perry Street are celebrating thefr 35th wedding anmiversaw. e A and PFood Store issefling four loaves of bread for 69 cents. 125 TZARS AGO fromn the Thursday, July 6, 1865 edition cf the. wHrIUY CHRONCIC 9 The Véerable A. N. Bethune, DM), Archdeaon of Toronte. laid the, corner stone for AUl Saints? Anglican Church on June 29. Thfe first moéwing machine match i Ontario County attrscted 500 people te John flomsone farm on the'third'concesson. *A young boy flshing i Cheik Lake, north of Ashburn, was pulled inte tth. water by a uthundering large pike." *Robert Bailey cf Wbitby died of iiduuies when h.'was thrown from, bis buggy on Byron -I m