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“We went 15 hours Friday at the hotel with only one meal. so you can see we were all down to business," said Kinnee. After a membership meetâ€" ing Sunday, CUPE Local 1196 Negotiator Keit‘h Houghton of RR 2, Stouff- ville. announced the agree- ment was ratified by a 68% majority of the 222 members present and voting. UNION’S FIGURES Houghton said the basic caretaker gets a 12.4% in- crease in the first year and 10.8% in the second year of the two-year contract. "Percentages compounded to show the true dollar gain during the last six months of the contract show York County caretakers will close the gap with Metro from 64 cents to 46 cents per hour. This is still a sizable amount but both the employees and the board feel it is a step in the right direction. “On the other strike item, the local accepted a clause protecting all employees from layoff due to contract- ing out, but failed to gain the goal that no further The board's negotiating chairman said he was very pleased 'with the attitude and seriousness of the union's negotiating commitâ€" tee. He said they had a very friendly gathering for the final negotiation session. The school staffers get $321,700 or 15.7% more this year and $320,300 or 13.5% more next year, according to the official board report. They won‘t get any chintzy type jackets in their bian- nual clothing issue because there was the general feel- ing they didn't want that," reported Vaughan's Kinnee. All board members present supported the agreement. NEARER METRO PAY Kinnee said the negoti- ators felt they had to close the gap between the pay rate here and that in Metro. He said the agreement brings the staff here within 41 cents an hour of the Toronto rate. Membership in the union continues to be voluntary and the board can still con- tinue to have caret-aking done by contractors at its discretion. VOL. 97, NO. 43. Under the two-year agree- ment retroactive to January 1 the caretakers, mainte- nance.staff. matrons and ca- feteria staff receive a total wage improvement package costing the board an additio- nal $642,000 over the two years, reported Negotiating Committee Chairman and Vaughan Trustee Morley Kinnee of 23 Idleswift Drive. Thomhill‘ |But union and board differ considerably on just hcw big the pay im- provement was. Fears that the public schools here might be closed again by a caretaker strike were laid to rest Monday night. York County Board of Edu- cation gave final approval to on the weekend by 1196 of the Canadian of Public Employees. a working agreement nego- tiated Friday and approved By HAL BLAINE An extensive town planning re- view of undeveloped and redevel- oped lands along major traffic arteries through the Markham Town portion of Thornhill is con- tinuing. Adams said it has proven to be very difficult to do planning for an existing street like Yonge be- cause it is such a “hodge-podge". Markham Council's planning committee has scheduled another public hearing for Wednesday of next week at 8 pm at Thornhill Secondary School. This time the subject of the public hearing is the Bayview Avenue corridor between Steeles Avenue and Highway 7. There rapid change and plans for a multi- million dollar railroad overpass have altered local conditions dras- tically since the original planning was done. Markham planning staff and council have been working for months on Yonge Street and Bay- view Avenue zoning and Official Plan bylaws. Many hours of con- sultation meetings have been held with affected property owners. HEARING ON YONGE On April 10 the planning com- mittee held a public hearing on Yonge Street bylaws at Thom- hill High School with very satis- factory results. With new bylaws at a conclusive stage the council- lors and staff were able to sat- isfy the inquiries of all the crowd of about 100 residents and prop- erty owners. The committee is proceeding with the final draft of the Yonge Street bylaws for referral to council. At that hearing Regional Councillor Robert Adams of Ida Street, Thornhill, the planning committee chairman, explained that Yonge Street has been like Topsy â€"â€"â€" it just grew that way. (Continued on page 9) Caretaker Settlement Keeps Public Schools Open T hornhill Development Plans Under Review Along Yonge Street, Bayview‘Avenue Local Union Strike Means Tax Reduction Although $1,300,000 was not paid out in wages during this period. the final amount won’t be known until the board of arbitration has made its award. There will be a reduction in local taXation of about $506,000 this year as a result of salaries not paid to secon- dary school teachers during the recent walkout, it was reported at a meeting of York County Board of Edu- cation last week. ‘ Vowingto walk the whole 15 miles wearing bedpans on their feet in the Operation Bedpan Walkathon April 17 in aid of the new wing at York Central Hospital are these two eager beavers on the hospital staff. Leading is YCH Business Office Manager Ray Woodend of 126 Keele Street North, King City. Following closely and competitively is YCH Assistant Director John Flint of 55 Pringle Avenue, Markham. Flint and Woodend are planning to start the Walkathon early and are looking for joint pledges from public supporters for the whole 30 miles. If you can’t enter the walkathon yourself but would like to con- tribute to the project, call either of these walkers at the hospital 884- 1171, Extension 220, between 9 am and 5 pm to make your pledge of dollars and cents per mile. The Walkathon is sponsored by the York Central (Southern York Region) Branch of the Canadian Progress Club. As the province pays 61.1 Y C H Bedpan Walkers Want Pledges If there were any complaints at the hearing. they came from res- idents adjacent to the .Yonge Street strip who would have liked to see planning improvements go further. It was explained the rights of property owners must be respected and there were limits on what council could do with lands in private ownership. WIDENING YONGE Chairman Adams indicated it was a matter of taking advantage of every possible opportunity to improve the situation along Yonge Street in Markham, having in mind the Ministry of Transport and Communications is proposing a major widening program for Yonge. Adams said the town is opposed to increased highway traffic cap- acity on Yonge Street and has pushed for removal of additional north-south traffic to Bathurst Street where disturbance of de- veloped lands will be minimal. The town hopes to persuade the provincial authority to hold a pubâ€" lic hearing on any Yonge Street widening. Adams said he hopes for citizen support on this. A Royal Orchard Boulevard res- ident urged that where there is conflict with the wishes of the town planners, perhaps the town should expropriate private land. Then it could change the controll- ing bylaws to suitable uses and re- sell the lands. He felt this could be done with little or no financial loss and would assure develop« ment in line with the local people's wishes. Hector McNeill of Kirk Drive said he was appalled at the trees being cut dowu at Annswell last year. “It was criminal," he said. “The town should have the power to preserve these trees. SAVING TREES percent of the secondary costs and 38.9 percent is raised locally, the reduction in local [taxation amounts to $506,000. The 1973 grant regulations provided that the expendi- ture ceilings for a board would be lowered by the salaries and related fringe Based on the assessment for 1973, a $1,300,000 reduc- tion reduces taxes for secon- dary school purposes by .33 of a mill, or about $6260 on a home assessed at $20,000. "7"""1$1‘Cfi‘1VIOND HILL, ONTARIO, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24, 1974 , Lug 1+ A‘iln Essentials Unity; in Non-Essentials Liberty; in all things Charity” McNeill urged council to work hard on Yonge Street. warning that otherwise this region could end up with 50 miles of street all the same in ugliness and with no character. “We had‘a really distinctive old Thornhill village community to start with,” he said. KAY STATEMENT “We can't make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, but we're going to do what we can. I want to pre- serve the old village of Thornhill as much as possible," said South Thornhill Ward 1 Councillor Gary Kay of Aberfeldy Crescent, Ger- man Mills. "We hope to have a hearing on the Yonge Street widening by the Department of Transport." said Ward 2 North Thornhill Council- lor Roy Muldrew of Romfield Cir- cuit. Along Bayview Avenue the Markham planners propose to move away from the present com- mercial, institutional and high- rise zoning toward townhousing that can be more compatible with noisy railways and busy traffic arteries. The townhousing would be separated from rail and road traffic as much as possible by landscaping. On the east side of Bayview is the Beamish property at the north- east corner of Green Lane and Bayview, the Sullivan 1R. David- son) property on the southeast corner of John Street and Bayview and the Pinetree property on the Involved are undeveloped lands on the west side of Bayview own- ed by Costain interests south of Romfield Circuit on each side of the railroad track. by the Toronto Ladies Golf Club at Royal Orchard and the Baywood property on the southwest corner of John Street and Bayview. benefits not paid during the time services were withheld. This was reduced by any additional expenditures in- curred by a board that were attributable to the withhold- mg of services. The meeting was told that it was expected a similar rule would apply this year. This means that any saving on teacher salaries cannot be re-directed to other parts of the 1974 budget and still have the latter stay within expenditure ceilingS, (Photo by Susan Samila) northeast corner of Laureleaf Road and Bayview. COSTAIN PROPERTY The vacant 5-acre Costain prop- erty is now zoned high density res- idential for maisonettes, apart- ments or multiple attached dwell- ings up to 60 units per acre. The 3-acre Costain land south of the railroad is similarly zoned. “The site has poor environmen- tal characteristics as it adjoins a railway track and a future high- way overpass. This is particu- larly critical for high-rise apart- ments, as landscaping buffers are- n’t effective protection for tall buildings. Apartments at high density will also adversely affect single family residential (proper- ties) across Romfield Circuit." says planning staff. For the Northern Costain lot staff recommends that since this block is bounded by townhouses to the west and single family houses to the north across Romfield Cir- cuit. townhouse development would be appropriate in order to minimize adverse impact on single family residential. They say suf- ficient on-site landscaping as a buffer from the railway and the Bayview overpass would be desir- able, with access being from Romfield Circuit. About the southern Costain vacant lot they say there are town- houses to the west and single family homes are in close prox- imity. Townhouse development would be appropriate in order to minimize adverse impact on the neighborhood. Sufficient on- site landscaping as a buffer from the tracks and Bayview Avenue is considered desirable. GOLF CLUB LAND The front portion of the golf club lands on Bayview will be severed for the overpass and Royal :Smoking Is Banned I Hill Council Chamber Nuw it is officialâ€"there will be no «more smoking in the Richmond Hill Council Chambers. Monday after- noon council passed the third and final reading of the con- troversial bylaw 5-4 on a recorded vote with Council- lors Graeme Bales, William Corcoran. avid Stephenson. Regional ouncillor Gordon Rowe and Mayor William Lazenby voting in favor and Councillors Andy Chateau- vert. John Major, Lou Wain- wright and Regional Coun- cillor Lola Hancey voting against. Rowe had left the meeting but returned so that the third reading could be given. The bylaw was first intro- duced by Councillors Steph- enson and Bales in the fall of 1973. ‘ Speaking to the bylaw Councillor Lou Wainwright said, “As a non-smoker I must say I‘ feel it is dis- criminatory. I have to accept the claim that smoking is a filthy habit. I have to accept the fact that one person in seven will die of cancer of the lungs. ,But if we are sin- cere in our thinking we will ‘want to accept these facts wherever we are. I therefore proposed to amend the by- law to read in any municipal building. If we're sincere in our thinking we will pass this amendment, and not only will save lives but will also save money in fire insurance premiums." His amendment was seconded by Mayor Laz- enby. However it failed to gain the support of the ma- jority of council. “I consider ‘this legisla- tion definitely discrimina- m\ummmuuuumummmummumumm1umuuummuu Thirteen xesidents of York Region were among more than 1,000 Ontario Graduate Scholarship win- ners whose names were an- nounced this month by Minister of Colleges and Universities James Auld. The scholarships offer students $800 per term plus the amount of their tuition fees for a maximum of three consecutive terms. They were awarded to students who plan to pur- sue full-time graduate studies at Ontario univer- sities in 1974-75. Four of the winnersvlive in Thomhill: Mrs. Sylvie Arend, William Harper. Miss Mary Kirby and Martin Spray. 'hvo come from Rich- mond Hill: Austin Gulliver and John Linton. Others are Allan Bacon of Stouff- ville. Joseph Buijs of New- market, Mrs. D. M. Cross- land of Bradford, John Di- Gangi of Woodbridge. Mrs. Linda MacLean of Schom- berg, William Reeves of Nashville and Christine Schroeder of Markham. Grad Students Winners tory," charged Councillor Andy Chateauvert, who was a smoker when it was original- ly introduced but is so no longer. “It is aimed at one member of council. one mem- ber of staff, one member of the press and one or two members of the public who attend these meetings. I know smoking is hard on the lungs but that’s my business. they're my lungs. There is a great deal of other pollu- tion which harms people. I would like everyone who votes for this .bylaw to apply the ban in their own busi- nesses and enforce it, not alone on their staff, but on the general public. Council had the opportunity to ban smoking in stores and didn’t do anything about that." “I have no intent to dis- criminate against anyone," ‘aid Stephenson. “1 screen applicants for positions in my office very carefully and don't hire those who smoke." “I acknowledge the health hazard of smoking,“ admitted Regional Councillor Lois HanCey. “But there are other air pollutants such as aircraft, motor vehicles, emis- sion of gases from industry. I haven't kicked the habit yet but I’m working on it. I'm not selfish, I'm not stupid and I acknowledge the fact that my smoking may be objectionable to members of council but I have‘never been requested to refrain. I have certainly been given a hint by this legislation. I reiter- ate that the philosophy of this country is democracyâ€" ‘the element of choice. I don‘t think there is any room for intolerance. it often leads to discrimination." “Nobody smokes back of the door of the showroom in my place of business. a rule that is rigidly enforced," stated Regional Councillor Rowe. “We're always on our guard against fire.” “If more people don’t smoke than those who do, then who is being discrimi- nated against?" asked Coun- cillor Bales. “You don’t smoke in church and if you go to the theatre if you want to smoke you have to sit in the back three rows," pointed‘ out Councillor Corcoran. “I am voting against the bylaw for personal reasons. although I haven’t smoked in seven years," stated Coun- cillor Major. “What people do to themselves is their own problem." When his amendment fail- ed to carry Councillor Wain- wright added the word “hy- pocrisy” to the word “dis- criminatory” in- describing the legislation. Mayor Lazenby pointed out there is no smoking in the House of Commerce and at Queen’s Park Legislative Chambers. “This chamber is Richmond Hill‘s sanctuary and the same rule should apply here.” Orchard Blvd. realignment to a point further south. There are five acres now set out for apartments and two acres for commercial use. Now allocated to institutional use, the Baywood property at John Street has been mooted for use as a nursing home site. But plans for this use haven't yet gotten past the proposal stage. The planners say the site is now severely restricted due to the plan- ned overpass and that the neigh- borhood commercial will hardly be necessary at this location since a commercial plaza is in existence about Wâ€"mile north. It is pro- posed to change the Official Plan designation for this land to open space. Markham's planners propose to leave this site open for institution- al use, with the option for the land- owners to switch to a new plan for townhouses if they wish. The 22-acre Beamish property now could have apartment devel- opment up to 60 units per acre although it is zoned rural indus- trial. Planning staff evaluates this major parcel as follows: “The site has severe environ- mental limitations, bounded as it is by the railway tracks and the high volume arterial road of Bay- view Avenue. The awkward shape of the parcel will be quite restric- tive for satisfactory utilization of the northern, tapering portion of the site. Additional adverse im- pact of the future overpass will make the position worse. “Permitted density of 60 units per acre is higher than the 30 units per net acre permitted for the lands southeast of John and Bayview, Since no provision for a school site has been made, it is BAYWOOD PROPERTY BEAMISH PROPERTY HOME PAPER OF THE DISTRICT SINCE 1878 al“mummmumumunum\lIInul1mIlumnmunumuumm New Vaughan Estates Policy Vaughan Town Council took steps last week to as- sure that prime agricultural land will be excluded from estate residential develop- ment in the future. The problem arose with the realization that certain areas designated for estate residential included parts of properties that spilled over into agricultural land. It was pointed out that when an applicant “comes forward with a proposed es- tate residentialplan he in- tends to include all of his property. 7 To prevent the possibility of estates development sub- Livisions sprawling over into )rime agriculture land the council decided to add the following amendments to its previous policy. They are: Any subdivision of over 12 lots must be on a community or municipal water system. Council recognized that if abutting land was also eli- gible for , estate residential development it would be taken into consideration with regard to this policy. The population density op- tion of four persons per acre or one acre lots will be changed to t-wo persons per acre or two acre lots. The estate residential subâ€" division must have access from a paved road or the developer must agree to pro- vide the paved road. Main objective behind the amendments is to safeguard against a large-scale estates development subdivi- sion speading onto agricul- ture land even though the person concerned may own the land. It was decided that no plans of subdivision pre- viously dealt with by plan- ning committee and/or coun- cil would be affected by the revised policy. Sunday morning at 2 am all clocks are to be advanc- ed to 3 am as Daylight Sav- ing Time for 1974 begins. This will give an extra hour of daylight at the end of the day for gardening and other recreation activi- ties during the summer months and until the end of October. Remember the old saying “Spring ahead fall back" and set your clocks and watches ahead one hour be- fore retiring Saturday night. Daylight Saving Time Starts Sunday assumed children are expected to attend the junior public school projected for the latter site. This will involve crossing a major art- erial (John Street). not to men- tion Green Lane which could also become an important collector for industrial and future residential to the east and north. “At 60 units per acre the site will accommodate 1,320 apart- ment units and a population of 3.430. This is considered to be excessive for this type of site. “Any proposals for this site are the result of making the best of a difficult situation. Establishing a strong core for Thornhill argues in favor of residential uses. The adverse environmental conditions . . argue against residential uses." 2 RECOMMENDATIONS The planners’ preferred recom- mendation is for industrial use of the Beamish site. “To make this possible, a fairly low density has to be considered. somewhere around 15 units per acre. The latter (alternative) does- n’t overcome the difficulty of “High quality extensive, large unit type industrial would be suit- able. Industrial use would be a logical infill between Bayview Avenue and the existing industrial around Guardsman Road and could include professional type uses such as those found in Don Mills (industrial area).” “Residential can be considered on the basis of creation of sub- stantial on-site natural amenities. Such amenities will have to in- clude not only parks for the antic- ipated population, but also fairly wide landscaped buffer screens along Bayview Avenue and the railway tracks as a protection ag- ainst their adverse environmental impact. The planners’ second choice is residential use as follows: Buyer, Seller Rap Park Levy Mr. McPherson contended that the Planning Act which makes provision for dedica- tion of 5% of land or of money in lieu thereof for public purposes other than roads was intended only for subdivisions which would bring heavy concentrations of population, that the money should be used for the be- nefit of those in the imme- diate area and the purpose is to provide open space for passive and active recreation for people living in houses jammed together. SEVERANCE LAST JULY He reported that the se- verance was granted by the Committee of Adjustment in July 1973 subject to an ag- reement with the town on parks and severance fees. "The amount was not known until March 1974. probably as a result of consideration by council of having some mercy on the large land di- vider. This delay has put us beyond the deadline for ap- peal" PURCHASER PAYS Mr. Poot toldv council that his client would be paying the levy. “I appreciate you can set your own policy and standards, but I feel you should be guided by other municipalities. In King Township where parcels of 225 acres or more are sever- ed, they do not impose a parks levy. In Kincardine Township no parks levy is imposed, since it is a rural area and has no need for parks. We could say the same for this area of Richmond Hill. If the morrey was to be spent on a park in that area I would be inclined to sit down with my client and re- commend that the parks levy be paid." RURAL PARK PLANNED ”There is a rural park an- ticipated in that area," stated Regional Councill’or Lois Hancey. “It will contain 130 acres at the corner of 18th Avenue and Concession 3." Richmond Hill’s 5% levy for park purposes on sale of 50 acres of the Doner Farm at Gorm- ley for $122,000 was attacked before council Monday afternoon by Tom McPherson of Aurora, solicitor for Mrs. Dorothy Doner, and by Jan Foot of Woodbridge, solicitor for the purchaser. Mayor William Lazenby summed up the solicitors’ presentations as “asking for a more realistic figure." He noted that Richmond Hill was a leader in respect to the 5% on the market value of severed land parks levy and that this land division could set a presedent. Councillor Andy Chateau- vert pointed out that the matter had been throughly studied and discussed by the parks and recreation commit- tee tone of the delays). “This has been our policy for seve- It was reported that this part of Lot 26, Concession and the Doner property part of Lot 34, Concession LETTUCE, CABBAGE. BROCCOLI, ONIONS. ASPARAGUS, CAULIFLOWER, BRUSSELS SPROUTS MAPLE 10141 KEELE STREET MAPLE Se; Ad on Page 5 THESE VEGETABLES NOW READY FOR PLANTING crossing John Street and Green Lane, or the proximity to the rail line," says the planning staff re- port to Markham planning com- mittee. For the 50-acre Sullivan prop- erty between the railway and John Street on the east side of Bayview, the Official Plan now provides for high and low density multiple residential development at 30 units per gross acre. Loca~ tion of park and junio'r public school sites is indicated in this area. The planners call for low dens- ity multiple residential designa- tion of the land with the school and park sites retained. but with density reduced to about 16 units per acre for townhouses, the acre- age basis for density calculation not to include park and school sites The +acre Pinetree property be- tWeen rail line and Laureleaf Road is now designated high density mul- tiple residential with a limited amount of commercial use plus professional offices or medical clinic permitted. A further 2% acres is designated single family. Planning staff proposes two al- ternatives. The first would have the part fronting on Ladyslipper Court stay as single family. The rest would be designated for low density multiple to allow town- houses at a density up to 15 units per acre, since it can become part of the Bayview Glen neighbor- hood. The second alternative would be to designate all the area up to Ladyslipper Court for townhouses at an overall density of 12.5 units per acre. resulting in a net gain of six units over the first altern- ative. SULLIVAN PROPERTY PINETREE PROPERTY ral years and the committee was very adamant that there be no deviation from the policy. The province has now amended its legislation so that more than 5% may be charged and some municipa- lities are charging more. Other people have paid this 5% of market value levy. If you alter the policy in this case. you must be prepared to alter the policy on a wider basis," he warned. ‘ MAYBE A CEILING “Should we set a ceiling on the amount of the parks levy?" asked Mayor Lazenby. “It's just as hard on the man with one lot of $25,000 market value as on the own- er of a larger severance." claimed Councillor Louis Wainwright. This policy was in force when this applica- tion ‘was made." PRICE 15¢ PER COPY “One likes to guide one- self by policy," admitted Mr. Foot. “In this case we relied on the policy in other municipalities in this re- gion." “Richmond Hill has been a regional municipality for 31,1» years and has had this policy for a considerable length of time," stated the mayor. POLICY REVIEW “Maybe our policy should be reviewed." suggested Re- gional Councillor‘ Gordon Rowe. He moved that the planning committee under- take this review and this was seconded by Councillor David Stephenson. The mo- tion carried unanimously, although several councillors indicated they would not 'be willing to make any change which might result retro- active to include the Doner property. Planning Director Hessie Rimon pointed out that the Planning Act confers the powers of the Minister on the Committee of Adjust- ment. “The impost of 5% for parks purposes, while a policy of council, is actually levied by the Committee of Adjustment". "These people are not against one fee for one lot. If the property is subdivided in the future, then we will get fees for the smaller lots,” stated Councillor William Corcoran. “I think the policy is unfair if the land is re- maining agricultural." TWO SALES Councillor Jack Major asked if there is a possibility of more severances. “I don't anticipate any more,” stated Mr. McPherson. “There will be two sales, 50 acres to Mr. Poot’s client and the remain- ing 35 acres to someone else."