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.'PabýiMWhtby'Fréo Press, Wednetday, March 24,'1¶993 Coundil approves warehouse outlets By Mike Kowalski Opponents of two huge ware- house-style stores planned for PRIME LOCATIONI North Whitby', close te schools parks and sho s, 1700 sq. ft., main I. aundry, fami&room w/fireplace, sunkeni living room & mucli moreliAsking $174500. A REAL CHARMER! 19 14 beoutilully ,oalared home. 3 Iloors. 2 alrcunsU. fnn quartors. orignalwoodwork. SHOWS PfI DE OF OWeRS SHIP. Cali oemanry Brown for your ptlrsonal .howing. Whitby will have te take their fight te another level. As a result of a Town council ROSEMARY BROWN Hall of Fame Centurion 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, ROSEMAR'S CHOICE QUIET AREA! 4 bedroom, large eat-in kitchen, nice lot, fenoed, privacy hedge. Asking $179,900. Cail Rosemary Brown at 433-2121I decision Monday, fees of the pro- Sosed Price Club and Aiken- ead's outlets will now have te cenvince Durham Region council te reject the controversial deve- le pment. Despite hearing a plea on behaîf of area merchants te post- pone.the matter, Town council unanimously approved the bulk merchandising stores.. Councillors dismissed dlaims by a lawyer representing the merchants that th e warehouses will hurt local business owners and their employees. Instead, council agreed with councillor Joe Drumni that it was "obligated" te support the proposal or the new jobs and investment it will bring te Whitby. Council approved rezoning and official plan ameadment applica- tiens from Invar Industrial Ltd. Council's decision, if supported by the Region will allow Invar te build two M.5-million ware- houses on 22 acres of vacant land on Victoria Street, east of Thick- son Road South. The buildings' tenants would be the Price Club and Aiken- head's -- two unrelated whole- sale/retail/warehousing ope- rations. The Price Club is an Ameni- can-owned chain which dees net cater te the general public but operates on a restricted member- ship basis. About 55 per cent of its sales would come froni food, with the remainder coming from non-food and department store-type mer- chandise. Aikenhead's, owned by The 1 1 60 DY O HR FOR'*D BLE ONHYP MET *NORTH AMERGAN RAYMENT KMA *FULL SERVICE MOVING EVERYWHERE ePROFESSIONAL PACKING *FULL REPLACEMENT COVERAGE OVERSEAS CRATING s OFFICE RELOCPATIONS ePALLETIZED STORAGE sPROPAC CONTAINER SERVICE *ELECTRONICS HANDLING SPECIALISTS VS ~ Moving Systems Bus: Oshawa (416) 728-1603 in tua Nort ALL the homes and/or businesses in Whitby QE? te selected areas only, cal! the Whth Free Press If you cdd fot get a fyer whidhi s isted for fuI! distribution. give us a cal. Re/Max Summnit Realty (selected homes) Brooklin IDA Pharmacy (Brooklin, Ashburn, R.R.#2) 1 Molson Companies, is a building supplies and garden centre geared te both consumers and profession aI contractors. About 540 fulI-time jobs are expected to be created by the stores, that will have a projected combined sales of $135 million in the first year of operation. Although studies prepared in support of Invar's application contend the impact on local busi- ness will be minimal, some area merchants disagree. Opposition to the proposaI has niounted ia recent weeks and Monday was no exception. About 60 people were in atten- dance to hear attorney Ross Cheeseman speak against it. Cheeseman, who represented a group of local home iniprovement and hardware retailers, objected to the development on three Attorney urges more studies of 'power centres' separate issues -- taxes, jobs and planning principles. Since t he intended site is now designated industrial land, Cheesman said the Price Club and Aikenhead's will pay lower taxes than they would if forced te build on commercial property(. "My clients are concerned that the Town continue to have a level playing field," said Cheese- man. "They should be located on commercially-zoned land and pay commercial rates," hie said. As for the number of jobs expected te be generated,Ce- seman termed this a "red hier- ring.»~ "Rather than create new jobs, it will be a transfer of jobs as other businesses close up due te, unfair competition,"he said. Finally, Cheesmen referred to comnients made by Oshawa's lanning department that further studies of this type of retail outiet are needed. Describing it as a " power centre«, Cheeseman saicUthe development will draw customers from a large geograph ical area. He urged council te, defer the matter until Durham Region could determine its impact on a region-wide basis and where this type of development 18 best sui- ted. "How many of these power centres should there be?" asked Cheeseman. "It's like putting down a regional mail just because someone s corne forward with an application because the land is the right size." Prior to council's discussion, Mayor Tonm Edwards asked trea- surer AI Claringbold and plan- ning director Bob Short to clarifS' two points raised by Cheeseman. On the issue of taxes, Claring- bold agreed that industrial-zoned land is assessed at a lower rate. But if commercial development is permitted on industrial land, the assessment is changed to reflect the amount of commercial uses on the property, Claringbold said. As for Oshawa's position on Invar's prposai, Short said that while t h city does have con- cerns, it does not objcct to the aPàhortiote that the city's report deems this type of deve- lopment "inevitable and appro- priate" in Durhami to "capture" retailing expenditures that would otnierwise be spent outside the Region. Councillor Deifinis Fox said he could "appreciate" the concerns of local business people. "They have invested their time and sweat to inake their businesses succeed," said Fox. "But we w'ould be ostriches if we lot this go by," he warned. 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