There are a number of items to report on this month. On January 5th the Ontario Municipal Board hearing on the Manson property resumed. The hearing concluded on Jan 14th, 2004 with a decision to allow the development to proceed. We have not seen a copy of the final decision from the OMB so are not able to report on any details or conditions that the board may have specified. Once we do we will report them to you. The CCRA withdrew from this recent hearing as the board decided they would not entertain any issues related to the environment. This completes a long procedure that started back in the early 90's with the initiation to change the official plan designation of the Johns Manville property from industrial to residential. There is a full report in this newsletter, from our planning chair Kathy Sullivan, on the latest OMB hearing.

The City of Toronto has initiated a feasibility study and future expansion of the Port Union Community Recreation Center. After much lobbying by the CCRA, the present center was officially opened in 1984. Since then the number of residents in our community has grown and with it a need to make changes to the center. On January 13th, a public meeting was held at the centre to explain the process for this study and to receive input from the residents of the community. This is the information gathering stage. Later recommended changes will be developed and reviewed by the community at a meeting planned for Tuesday April 6th, 2004. More details on this meeting will appear in our March newsletter. Once a plan is decided upon the budget process to implement the plan will take place. Depending on funding, the implementation of the changes could take several years but at least the city has started to take action.

On January 31st our annual Winterfest was held. This annual event is co sponsored by the CCRA in conjunction with West Rouge Community Assoc. and West Rouge Sports and Rec. Assoc. Thanks to all who came out to participate in this community event.

Recently we have received some e-mails complaining about the late delivery of the newsletter. We realize that a number of people rely on the newsletter to give them information about events in our community. While we make every effort to get it out in a timely manner our newsletter is produced 10 times a year by a very small number of volunteers (4) who fit the newsletter production around their family and daily business lives. Distribution is also carried out by a network of community volunteers. We have no control over the timing of advance notices we receive for events. Many of these events are advertised elsewhere in the community through flyers or school signs as well as on our web page. www.centennialcra.com. We would welcome anyone who would like to volunteer in any way to assist us in producing, writing articles or distributing the newsletter.

An advance notice about our Annual 50's Dance which will be held this year on Saturday April 3rd, 2004 at the West Rouge Community Centre. More details will be provided in the March newsletter.

Jeff Forsyth
President