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PAGE 14, WRTfY FREE PRES,: WEDNESuAy, AUG;UST 1, 1990 Downtown Whi'tby -thriving ordyin ...* ~4 CORPORATION OF THE TOWN OF WHITBY DEPARTUENT NOTICE 0F PUBLIC MEETING Monday, Auguet 13, 1990 C & OGp.m. Meeting Hall, Whltby Municipal Building Whltby, Ontario A Public M Neeting wili be held by the Planning and Development Committee of Council of the Corporation of the Town of Whitby to consider a proposed amendmnent to the Regional and Town of Whitby Officiai lans and Zoning By-lw 1784 submitted by D. Puckrin. The subject property is located on the south side of Myrtie Road East, Iný Part of Lot 1B, Concession 8 as shown on the sketch below. MYRTLE R.EST O SUBJECT PROPER. 610 EY R- - EAST Th h plcain st emi--igefrnl eketa us ot r --ry -- Ile The prposeof tis meting s toprovie adeuaeinfraint h publi andto prmitinteestedpersns te oportui omk resematio in espet ofthe rzonig aplicaion.I.yuaenbl t:atedth etig yu rpeenaio anb lidin i/t mailOr ersnaldelveryto eac th Plnnin Deartentnotate Tte osofte applications is tthermitaaningle fmilyresienti e.l7 7 osal. Thepurpas ftis eeta wing s ouride dqaytiformdatio ta h monaotesoa eier amc the Planning Department flot later(46)66-503 ROBERT B. SHORT Diroctor of Planning Corporation of the Town of Whltby FROM PAGE 1 are lots of seniors in Whitbyv but no place for tbem ta buy clothes. «On. of the bigg.st problema is that somehow they forget us., Theýy also forget that teena ers don t have money, seniors do Sarka adds that it is becoming aimost futile for bier ta, open w..knigiits and Saturdays. 'People juat don't corne down- tawn. Go ta Aurora, Markham, Nisgara-on-the-Ljake and you see people in the evening walking around. "Friday ev.ning, Saturday evening and Sunday, there are no people downtown in Whitby.» -According to Sarka, Town council must accept some of the responsibility for siioppers avoid- ing the downtown in the evening. She says cour.cii bad a chance three years ago ta prove it sup- ported tii merchants but fail.d tdo so when it refused ta bar exotic dancers from A downtawn botel. "Town council bad the oppor- tunity ta dcean up tiie downtawn and get rid of the element that keepa people away from bere, but the voted us down.» Sarka said «99 per cent» of merchants signed a petition agant: tii. dancers, but council ch ose taior. them. Gary Grant is a relative new- corner among downtown mer- chants, having owned 0f Keg & Clothe for almost three montha. He is bullish about the. down- town's future. "In past tirnes -a lot of people thought of tii. downtown neça- tiveiy, it was getting ta the. point wbere a lot of stores were run- down,» said Grant. «Peo e are, trying ta change that, t e re ýputting work inta their store fronits.» Grant disagree with. Sarka about the. lacl, of variety among'. downtawn'stores.,. Hie points -ta Pearson Lanes as an example of new sbojps ýthat offer something a littie different fromi those- centred around the. four corners. «There seerna ta b. a lot of variety, no one seema ta b. dupli- cati ff eacb other for the most part says Grant. às a store owner, Grant is> most appreciative of tii. police profile in tii. downtawn. A resident of Toront but planning ta move ta Wtitby, Grant says, "I wisii we iiad tbe presence of police in Toronto that we have out ber.. I se. plic walk the. beat every single daiy.» Iàonel Graveline has operated Picture This & That on Brock St. S. for about five years. He bas been involved with the. Downtawn Business Imnprove- ment Area (DBIA) aimost since its inception. The Whitby Free Press would like to wish a Happy Birthday to ail ils carriers wit~h AUGUST birthdays! Craig Armstrong Laura Bri Ryan Burweîî Catie Challoner Cindy Davis Darreil Dion Sam! EI-Hajjeh Melissa Glazier Jessica Grocot Jamie ,Heindel AndreW Methven Kevin Mor ris Alex Payne Sharon Pugh Christina Sorenson Graham Tsui Joey Walsh Brendon Witton Chanteil Wood According ta Graveline, on. of the' problema with the downtown in recent years bas been that the DBIA has almost becorne redun- dant. "The DRIA was juat forming when w. got bere, Ed Buffett and Georgina Phillips were go- getters wbo got a lot done. There were good thin»gs being don. in tii. beigmnning, explains Grave- "The problem, now is that the same people are doing the same tbings ail thi. time and everyone else is trying ta benefit from it. «When it's the same people al tii. time you can't get new ideas and support.» With more than 400 members, Graveline aaya the. DBIA lisaup- pos.d ta b. the voice for down- tawn merchants. But he feels many busiesses are membera onlybjecause ofgeo "They're inthe B because fbudries, they went nothing ta, do with it.» Furtiier compounding tii. ro- blein is the apparent attitudéOf Town council, aays Graveline. He says counil'sapolicy seems ta b. that the DB~IA oke after the downtawn whule council con- cerna itself with the rest of Whitby. «They seem more- worried about new development and becorning a bedroom community and ieavin the downtawn té fend for tef ays Graveline. "It seema l e .have a down- tawn which isrun- by tii. DBIA, and, then the reat of Whitby, the re. not working together.» Graveline wants council ta tae. a stronger rôiei helping promote the downtawn rather than leave it ta the DBIA. 1Me.'eTown bas ta atart belp- ing we have people who bave. Iiived bere five or six years and neyer-been downtown ahoppng.'ý. «Thsy've been. telkng4'or yeara now that Whitby. woùld b. the- neit '-Unionville. We're 50 far frorn it, t'ridiculous.»,ý, Gravieine believes tbe down- tawn bas a lot ta offer. "We, bave good shop'a and a, good mixture,» says qravelie, addig that it takes les - time ta walk erud the perixneter of the DBIA tban it does moat shopping, mails.- Like many downtawn mer- chants, Graveline is concerned about the impact of more piazas iWitby, sch as the on. plan- nedby Graywood Developmenté Ltd., north of Rossland Rd. Tiie firt phase of the'.eventuai 190,000 sq. ft. mall will include a major grocery store and approxi- mnately 40 reteil outiets. . Qjti custamer base is word- of-moutii, we're service-based. Go inta a mal and try ta get service and se. what bappens,» says Gravéline. -«At; Ieast downtown when.you want to deal with the owner y ou can. Go ta a mail and. you deai mostiy with atudents wlio don'lt know a thing abouýt the produet. They'rej>ust theret colleet a pay cheque. Gene Peacock, owner of Pea- cock Sports & Tropnhies on Athol St., is one of t he merchants, mentioned by Graveline who, are in the DBIA because. they have no choice. (cMv complaint; is the DBIA tries ta run ev-éiyone elseas busi- ness. rveô got enough ta do run- ning my own store,» says Péa- «I don't se. any reason for the. DBIA. I don't know what the tai money is for. (Funding, for the DBIA is col- lecte by the Town of Wihitby from a spc-iai levy on downtown merchants, based on such factors as square, footage, parking erea and generai tai assessment. MTe average levy paid by DBIA members mncreased, 70r cent ta fund this year's $158,M1 budget.) Peacock bas operated his busi- ness for 13 yearsaend believes that "quality service» speaka for itself and attrâkts customera. «W. appreciate ail the busi- ness w. get from Whitby but we)re findinUg we're doing more and, more buinssf-or.,ail- oÇ Durham Region. «If people worried about thei..ý own businesses instead of others the would b. better off. » Peacock, too, bas nroticed that' many downtown- stores- have closed, but he is n6t certin of- the cause. «I don't know if it'sthe DBI»" or the boqrs on the bill (council,ý that's their business."» ,- h_ 5Next W.ek: a look at thW DBIA. Ajaxtr-ustee conmifttee "Duncan Read of Ajax Wa Dur-' hem:i Board of Education true;'. bas9 been named ta, a commite. that, will study Ontario's muici- pal conflict of mnt.rest rules.'--ýý Committee members, nemedý by Municipal- Affaire Minister John Sween.y, will hold public meetings ecrose the Province. The, meetings wiil ailow coin- ment on issues raiaed in a -ds., cussion ppr aotmuncipal" conflict of intresrleasdb the ministry. Tih. committee will then makei recommendations ta the' mûnister on amendinents ta the mnunicipal, Conflict of InterestAct. Ohairman of the comniittee is, Cy Armstrong, chief- administra- tive office r of Hàmiltan-W.nt-ý worth region. Other members are Ray Tim-- son, former executive editar of the Toronto Star Elizabeth Kish-ý' Please glv..