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VOL 97 NO. 20. RICHMOND HILL, ON “In Essentials Unity; in Non-Essentials Liberty; in all things Charity” 7 TARIO, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1973 74 GREMLIN x VI BAKER'S 9144 YONG! ST. '(THORNHILL) HOME PAPER OF THE DISTRICT SINCE 1878 SALES & SERVICE (1968)I.IMITED 889-1189 or 223-8066 PRICE 15¢ PER COPY Hill Council Again Passes An effort by Regional Councillor Lois Hancey and Councillor Andy Chateauvert to have an application for an amendment to the Richmond Hill Official Plan to permit modular housing on 19th Avenue east of Bayview, in an area zoned agriculture, deferred and the planning director consider such housing as battle had been lost at official plan, was defeated at Monday night’s meeting of Richmond Hill Council. mittee meeting October 31. majority of the committee was to receive the all she a component part of the A similar council’s planning com- The decision of the cillor planning continued. out guidelines is contrary to procedures," “We have no criteria to go by at all and so we cannot do this application justice." CONFLICT OF INTEREST “I’m not against the con- cept,” added Councillor Lou Wainwright. need this type of housing. My biggest concern is con- flict of interest. “I feel This coun- was elected by the Charles Stewart. “At committee I thought it worthy of consideration," stated Councillor David Stephenson, chairman council’s planning committee. “It shouldn't be prejudged. We haven't said in commit- tee we are in favor of it." we At the request of Mrs. Rimon for his opinion on the matter. of: Hancey, Mayor Lazenby ask- ed Planning Director Hesse ‘ ,. application and refer it and recommendations. DECISION PREMATURE Councillor Chateauvert told council that at the com- ‘ mittee level he had stated that he felt the application was premature, that the lo- cation was not proper. He had also said that, regard- less of location, because the application had been submit- ted on behalf of a member of council (Ward 5 Council- to staff for comments tise. This is a new type of housing and should not be dealt with by isolated appli- cations but as a policy state- ment in our official plan. This would enable us to do all justice to the applicant and to all government‘ poli- cies. We should decide where in Richmond Hill this type of housing can be pro- vided by the Official Plan people of the area where he proposed to place his devel- opment. Suppose 100% of the people in that area are not in favor of it, how can he represent the people who elected him when he is not participating in the discus- sions. I have spoken to build- ers who claim they can build at the same cost as these modular homes by conven- tional construction methods if the town’s bylaws would allow a square footage of 900 fine himself to professional advice, Mr. Rimon said, “Re- gardless of what’s decided tonight, ment‘s duty is to prepare an official plan and as part of it we will be looking into all types of housing, surveying the existing housing stock, and looking at any break- through in technology. He said that the first .phase of the official plan would prob- PLANNER’S OPINION Stating that he would con- planning depart- Study Of Modular Homes tors HANCEY ' For Proper Planning Mr. Rimon was asked by Councillor Wainwright. lor William Corcoran is the not by isolated applications. to 1,000. Maybe we should ably be brought t0 0011M“ principal of Bayvsew Estates This application has been re- be asking if we want a per- for its consideration in the ANOTHER PROPOSAL (Photo by Ron Fawn) which made the 'application) ceived â€"- it has a number, manent type home as op- near future. Mr, ijon noted that an- the people would be within we've received the filing posed to the modular." DRASTIC CHANGE other application in the He pointed out that the nature of the project is quite costs. I am asking that north end of town for 276 work on it be deferred until their rights in criticizing OTHER AMENDMENTS We Will Remember Them And Their Sacrifice The sacrifices of their comrades in World ers), Wars I and II and the Korean War were remembered by the Royal Canadian Legion Richmond Hill Branch 375 at an annual Vets Night and Banquet on the eve of Remem- brance Day. Honored guests, all veterans of the first of these conflicts, are seen above (left to right): Edward Turpin (Queen’s Own Rifles), Judge James Butler (Royal Canadian Engineers), Bill MacPherson (220 York Rang- Rangers). Richvale Arts School Approved They and mem Chris Bridport (3rd London (English) World Fusiliers) and Jack Sanders (220 York bers of the Legion partici- pated in the traditional remembrance cere- mony and affirmed their intent to take up the torch, pursue the fight for peace and to re- member always those who died that Canadians might have the opportunity to live in peace. proceeding on an isolated basis because he is in a pos- ition to influence such a de- cision, even though he has declared a conflict of inter- est_and is not participating in discussions or votes. “In my opinion he was ill-advisâ€" ed to submit this application while a member of this council. I am not against modular homes." “Why should conflict of interest be used as a dis- criminatiOn against a man's way of life?" asked Mayor William Lazenby who point- ed out that is the reason for the legislation requiring an elected representative to de- clare a conflict of interest. the staff, committee and council have considered it as a component part of the official plan, just as the Yonge Street and Lake Wil- cox Studies will be compon- ent parts." “We will want to look at densities. To proceed with- matter," “This is an Official Plan amendment. We have passed other such amendments for a shopping centre, rural estates, for the town park area â€"â€" how come all of a sudden it is so immoral to pass another? ing for staff advice on this s a i d Councillor I am wait- a drastic change and quite a departure from the normal method of servicing. He re- ported that he had request- ed substantially more detail- ed elaboration of the pro- posal since it has all kinds of unknowns. “The proposal is for fairly high density in the middle of the country- for R. Hill Town Council No Smoking Bylaw Doesn't Pass side. When a proposal of this size comes in we invar- iably ask the developers to prepare a secondary plan of the whole area, to attempt to establish road pattern and density for future develop- ment in the area. “I am not knowledgeable enough in the area of mod- A new school for the “un- derprivileged" in York was agreed to by a meeting of York County Board of Educa- tion Monday night. but not without a lengthy and far from one-sided debate. In fact, it took a recorded votcâ€" requested by Trustee Craig Cribar of Newmarketâ€" before the motion by Trustee Doreen Quirk of Markham to build a school of the arts in the BAIF Subdivision in Richmond Hill, was approved. The vote showed 10 for and eight against. T h e t e r m “underprivi- lllllllllllllllillllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll Drug Company In Stouffville M c N e i l Laboratories (Canada) Limited, a subsi- diary of Johnson & John- son. will build a $1,000,000 plant in Whitchurch- Stouffville, it was an- nounced this week. The 35,000-square foot plant will cover 31 acres west of the town on High- way 47 on the south side of Concession SE in the former Village of Stouff- ville. About 100 people will be employed in the plant, which will manufacture ethical phannacetical spe- cialities, such as tranquili- zers, anesthetics. analge- sics and sedatives. Construction is expected to get underway in the spring, with completion slated for December, 1974. Services for the plant will be supplied by the Town of Whitchurch- Stouffville. Mayor Gordon Ratcliff termed the project a wel- come addition to the town and said he hoped it would “add to other prestigious companies coming here.” fif‘ [t7 leged” to describe those who will attend the school, which is supposed to serve the en- tire region from Richmond Hill to Sutton. was used by Trustee John Honsberger of Markham. Mr. Honsberger said there were underprivi- leged students at both ends of the scale; only at present, it was these at the bottom end that the system was conâ€" cerned with. The lame and the halt were taken care of, but the very intelligent, bright and talented â€"- the ones who wanted to do something with their lives â€" were being shortchanged, “To be elite is a dirty word around here," said Mr. Honsberger. “We need these schools." He said the school should be for the whole province,â€" with boarding facilities with children starting be- tween the ages of eight and nine. MATTER OF COST He said the costs would be the same as for children in other schools. If anything were going to defeat the educational sys- tem it would be putting all children in the same mould. Trustee Donald Sim of Markham said that, although “my heart goes out to tal- ented peoplo." he couldn't support the motion. “The fact of the matter is axiomatic; it costs more to educate the exceptional child than it does the average child," Mr. Sim said. The province granted special concessions to edu- cate those at the bottom of the scale; until it did the same for the other end, the board couldn’t afford the costs. Trustee Douglas Cousens of Markham. speaking in favor of the school, said it. would “provide the balance! . 1,) I h [lssi’ org-f > I A o :i'tDaSnS i from raft, as i» of education required today." Trustee Cribar, who op- posed the motion, but asked for assui‘ancc that the school would indeed serve the entire» area. Trustee Robert Houghton of Richmond Hill, said he always felt the school should be for the whole region, but warned how much it would cost to run approximately five school buses. ' “BEAUTIFUL IDEA" Stephen Bacsalmasi, super- intendent of planning and development, said the aver- age cost was $35 a day, or $40,000 a year. Trustee Margaret Coburn of King, speaking against the motion, said the idea was “beautiful”, but it possibly should be a private enter- prise. “I'm more concerned about quality than the in‘no- vative," Mrs. Coburn said. She said also she felt the proposed school would de- plete the system, with staff members fighting to join it. Trustee John MacKay of Markham said he was for it. but wasn’t sure the timing was right. The STEPHEN BACSALMASI BAIF School Planner no “r ,"\; l7 . / #17 .'r F '7 s'. 2 t " rid it at <7. :’ ‘ school would have to be subsidized by taking funds from somewhere else. Trustee Warren Bailie of Richmond Hill, said he felt the BAIF location was the best one geographically for the region. “I‘m pleased to support it,” he said. Speaking to her motion, Trustee Quirk said the only way not to lower educational standards was to have differ- ent types of schools. Trustee Mariane Gillan of Georgina Township, said it was “a great thing, but it was foolish to ask people from all over the region to vote on it." When the vote was taken, Mrs. Gillan voted against it. SHOP AREA, T00 Trustee Douglas Allen of Richmond Hill. speaking for the motion, said that only about 10 percent of the area was devoted to special uses. Speaking against it was Trustee Norm Weller of Aurora. The board will now submit a preliminary proposal to the Ministry of Education. Purpose of the school of the arts, as defined by the board, “is to educate talented young people in this chosen field of the arts and give the liberal education necessary in any walk of life." The needs of artistically talented young people are not met by the public school system, and there are import- ant secondary occupations and skill areas related to arts which are becoming increas- ingly important and neces- sary to develop," the board said. The school would include a shop area, which will focus on such things as prop deâ€"i sign and making, metal cast- ing, small instrument making, , i ident costume design and making, 1 lighting technique and others. “I am thinking in terms of the oath of office,” the councillor replied. He quot- ed the ‘path as“ saying that the taker will' not‘ benefit directly or indirectly from his office. PLAN FOR FUTURE “An Official Plan is not for today and not for to- morrow. What we do today is for the future,” stated Reg- ional Councillor Hancey. “This is good planning prac- Catholic Board Pays French Pupils' Fees Five children of French language families, resident in York County, are attending French language schools in Toronto from kindergarten to grade 8, York County Roman Catholic School Board learned at its November 6 meeting. The parents of these chil- dren are Roman Catholic school supporters in the Reg- ion of York, and they have requested that fees be paid by the local board for the education of their children. The Ministry of Education has also requested clarifica- tion of the York board's policy regarding fees for children attending French language schools. The local board has a policy that it may pay fees within the levels kindergar- ten to grade 10 for services which it does not offer, or which it does not offer con- veniently for the pupil. The board decided to include French language schools in this policy and agreed to pay fees to the Metropolitan Roman Catholic School Board for children attending such :i~ 14‘. i schools, provided that the parents or guardians are res- separate school sup- porters in the Region of York. No smoke fouled the air of Richmond Hill Town Council Chamber Monday night from the opening hour of 7:30 pm until after 11 pm. The dozen or so ash trays usually dis- tributed around the desks and through the public area were neatly stacked behind the chair of Councillor Andy Chateauvert on the dias. On the agenda for the meeting was a bylaw banning smoking in the chamber. On first reading of this bylaw the vote was tied 4-4 with Councillor Lou Wainwright, a non-smoker, joining the three smokers, Regional Councillor Lois Hancey and Councillors Andy Chateauvert and Charles Stewart in opposition. This left the decision up to Mayor William Lazenby, who followed the policy of decid- ing in favor of the status quo and declared the motion lost. Immediately smokers at the council table, the press table and in the public area lit up. This was their second smoke of the evening, since at approximately 9:30 the mayor had declared a recess and they enjoyed a “coffin nail" in the adjoining foyer. In speaking to the motion before the vote the mayor had pointed out that the council chamber was also used for sittings of the divi- sion court and that often cigarettes are found after such sittings on the carpeted floor, posing a fire hazard and showing lack of respect for the council chamber. at it it Earlier in the meeting council had considered a let- ter from Mrs. Ellen Bellach, 147 Elgin Mills Road West asking for a bylaw to pro- hibit smoking in supermar- kets and food stores and perhaps also in department and clothing stores". Suhddy JAL<J:‘"7 7- 'nmwn»! a: 1"” 6 1i 1‘ ‘1 a a l? . .e . _,£/ a; r a 1: rriorrri a Status Quo ls Maintained Mrs. Bellach had noted in her letter that many mer- chants and store managers realize the unpleasantness and damaging effects to their merchandise from smoking but are hesitant to offend a customer. “It needs public action to regulate and en- force No Smoking rules in all establishments concerned." A smoking 'ban should come under the jurisdiction of the provincial health department, Regional Coun- cillor Lois Hancey suggested. “I recommend this request be forwarded to that depart- ment. If smoking is injurious to the health of the majority of people, then that departâ€" ment should ban it." Mayor Lazenby also noted that any major store banning smoking can get lower insur- ance rates. “They should rec- ognize what smoking does to certain people," he said. “As a non-smoker, I ques- tion whether we should say no smoking in any building," stated Councillor Wainwright, “I think this is the prerogaâ€" tive of the merchant. The law of the land is that you can drink and you can smoke and I believe a ban is dis- crimination and an infringe- ment on the rights of the individual." “I don't believe in dis- criminatory legislation," said Councillor Andy Chateauvert. “I am man enough to refrain from smoking if I am re- quested to do 50." “Smoking doesn't bother me, although I haven’t smoked in 20 years," said Regional Councillor Gordon, Rowe. “This is a public place, and smoke does affect some{ ,people more than others. I‘, ,think it is up to the stores themselves to make this de-l icision. My place of business ibans smoking and signs to, ment as to procedure to be ward so we can look at this suggested Mrs. Hancey. “But council adopting policies and proceeding on those policies is proper planning. mature to deal with this ap- plication now." .that effect have been posted." " it, ular homes to really com- followed. It's awfully diffi- cult for staff to look at this in isolation, since we will be looking at developing a res- idential area about a mile and a half from the serviced area," the planner said. “I'm being very cautious in my remarks, because I am not knowledgeable enough to give council advice â€" not yet," he went on. “We will be studying them, but it would be easier to first look in general at the concept and determine wide policies before treating individual applications. It would be difficult if council directs us, at this time, to follow a course of direct response to the application for official plan amendment. We will have to look at it in the broader sense." “You are saying you would rather establish a policy than deal with a particular case," summed up Mayor Lazenby. He then went on to note that the provincial government is advocating that municipal- ities accept this type of housing. “We have been criticized because we don't plan ahead. But we are never in a financial position to do so. I can't see why you can't do both jobs at the same time," he told the planner. LIVE WITH DECISION “The town has to live with our decision,” cautioned Mr. Rimon. “This is quite a serious responsibility." “Maybe it's a good thing an application has come for- new approach to housing," It's pre- homes on 1,500 foot lots has been received. “The official plan permits this type of de- velopment in that location. When the application was referred to staff We met with the applicants in or- der to report back to coun- cil. We have asked them to look at the whole 1,000 acres to try to establish road pat- terns, population patterns a n (1 commercial pattern. Either development w i l 1 never stay in isolation. They will generate more develop- ment in their immediate area. It is our policy to re- quest the applicant to pre- pare a secondary plan, a refinement of Official Plan (Continued on Page 3) Salary Offer Not Final, Honsberger Yorlr Cty. Teachers York County Board of Education's present salary offer to its secondary school teachers, is not a final po- sit-ion, even though the board would find it difficult to justify the teachers“ pre- sent demands, Trustee John I-Ionsberger, chairman of the board’s negotiating commit- tee. said last week. The teachers and trustees have been locked in a salary dispute since May, with the board offering -â€"â€" and pay- ing on at present â€"â€" an aver- age increase over last year's grid of $875 per teacher. “Every teacher is getting at least $700 more than last year’s grid figure and some are getting as much as $1,- 300,” said Mr. Honsberger. The teachers' negotiating committee is asking for a grid which would result in an average increase of $1,- 798, with individual teachers getting increases from $1,300 to $2,250. “Even with the fast-erod- ing dollar of today, the board would find it hard to justify to the taxpayer a salary increase of $2,250 to a teacher who is now get- ting over $15,000." Mr. Honsberger said. The board‘s salary grid would give a novice teacher (no experience. category 1) $7,200 no increase while a career teacher (13 years’ experience, category 4) would receive $16,850, a raise of $850. “If this application was for 430 permanent homes, would; we deal with it in isolation?" } and The teachers would like $8,000 in the first category $17,800 in the second. By MARGARET LADE Queen's Park may be less than 20 miles away from Richmond Hill, but as far as the Family Services, Family Life Centres, and York Regional Committee on Health and Social Services are concerned, it could be 1,000 light years away. William Hodgson MLA, York North, recently approached Rene Brunelle, Minister of Community and Social Services, asking for provincial assistance in financing the four family services agencies operating in York Region (Thornâ€" hill and Richmond Hill, Markham, Aurora and Newmarket, and Georgina). When the region drew up its budget earlier this year it allotted $70000 toward payment of salarâ€" ics for the four services. The agree- ment was that the local commun- ities, through grants, fees and do- nations, would pick up the tab for office rentals and other operat- ing expenses. 3 t t t At that time, says Dr. Owen Slingerland, Commissioner of Health and Social Services for the Region. the region was led to understand that the province would provide subsidies of up to 50 per- cent. as it does for construction and maintenance of regional roads, sewers, etc. They could not have been more mistaken. By the end of the sumâ€" mer the regional grants had been exhausted, and as a stop-gap meaâ€" sure. regional council approved an additional grant of $15,000 to help keep these services going to the end of 1973. In his reply. dated October 30. to Mr. Hodgson‘s appeal, Mr. Brunelle said: “I am informed by Mr. Jack Spence, Director. Family Services Branch. that negotiations for pur- chase of services 150 percent of cost shareable by Ontario‘ are currently being undertaken be- tween the Family Life Centres and the Regional Municipality of York. “Such negotiations, once con- cluded. will permit the province to share in funding services to re- cipients of assistance leg. General Welfare Assistance and/or Family Benefit Allowance). This should result in substantial financial support to these Family Life Cen- tres." # t t t On enquiring of the Richmond Hill Family Services. Executive Director Dr. Frank Fidler reports that from February, 1972 to July, 1973 just 7.4 percent of the cases that came to his office were re- ceiving welfare. family benefits. unemployment insurance, work- man‘s compensation or other pubâ€" lic assistance. Fees charged to clients for coun- selling services for marital. family or personal problems are charged on a sliding scale according to the size of the family and family in- come. Of those who are working, said Dr. Fidler, 33 percent fell below the recognized “poverty level" and paid no fee. Another 19 percent paid less than $5 per counselling session. t it t 1 Commissioner of Health and Welfare, Dr. Owen Slingerland said this is fairly typical, that for some areas the numbers of paying clients may be even below that of the Thornhill and Richmond Hill agency. Regional representatives have had several meetings with Mr. Spence. said Dr. Slingerland, hop- ing that some type of reciprocal agreement might be forthcoming. Chairmen of the four regional agencies met last Thursday with the region's health and social services committee chaired by Richmond Hill Mayor William Lazenby to discuss needs and pre- pare recommendations to be pre- sented to Queen’s Park. Chairman of the volunteer board of directors for the Thom- hill-Richmond Hill Social Services is Dr. Robert Alexander of Rich- mond Hill. In the minds of the regional committee there is no question of need. The demand for services has amply proven this. 0 t t X In an article in the November issue of the “United Church Ob- server" it was reported that at Markham Family Life Centre alone. since 1970, counselling has increased 500 percent. The centre was established on a half-time basis in 1968, and in 1970 the Thornhill-Richmond Hill service was established, also on a half-time basis. The Markham Family Life agency has provided full time service since 1970, and “The Observer" wonders when Queen's Park is going to “cough up” and give family services fin- ancial assistance as well as its in- itial blessings. When the Markham Family Life Centre was formed in 1968, with backing from 11 churches in the Markham and Whitchurch area, it rec -ived a grant from the province to help finance a special research project for the Department of Community and Social Services, but these funds were exhausted and the research project com- pleted over a period of about 18 months. The Newmarket and Aurora Family Services agency was form- ed in mid-1971, and when Georg- ina learned of the services being provided by the three established centres. it too. appealed to region for assistance in establishing a family services agency. 1 n: k x Locally, the Richmond Hill and Thornhill centre is now sponsor- ing a series of workshop sessions on "Marriage and Parenting In .- O 5 The '70‘s", with seven workshop and discussion sessions at monthly intervals, as well as carrying on its caseload of private and group counselling at its offices, 25A Yonge Street North, Richmond Hill. The first session, October 23, was an overwhelming success and the organizers had difficulty in breaking up the meeting of its enthusiastic audience. The next session November 27 will deal with “Handling Marital Conflict - Problem Solving - Fighting Fair". All of these sessions are being held in Richmond Hill United Church Auditorium. And despite money problems, all four services are including pro- grams of public education in mat- ters dealing with marriage. the family budgetting, teen problems, etc, and have a steady stream of clients seeking counselling. As