UPDATE:  Many thanks to Angela for getting a hold of me with updated information as she wanted to ensure that the public is getting the information correctly….so thanks Angela

An application has been made by Altus Group Limited (on behalf of Bell Canada) to install a cell tower in Milton in front of New Life Church on Thompson Road near Clark Blvd.

The date of the application is February 28th and this starts the process for input from places like the Town of Milton.  I had originally posted the due date for submissions was March 20th, but that is wrong.  The notices havent been sent out to area residents as of yet but will be sent shortly.  There will be an opportunity to send in your input and in addition to that there WILL be a public meeting scheduled for a later date before the decision is made by Industry Canada. 

Its important to know that the Town of Milton is a commenting agent only.  The town will not be making the decision on this matter as it is under the jurisdiction of Industry Canada, which is the federal government.

Notices WILL Be sent out to homes in the area of 120 m radius of the proposed location which encompasses homes in both ward 7 and ward 6.

The tower will reach a height of 29.9 metres tall.

The proposal is for the installation of a cross style steel telecommunications mono-pole tower.

It will include:

• Fenced mechanical compount 8 x 9 m (equipment shed dimensions 2.03 x 2.44 m)
• Installation of buried hydro line and / or overhead hydro line
• Installation of concrete filled bollards
• Planting of spruce trees to surround compound.

If you do have any questions, please contact the following:

Angela Janzen, Planner – Policy

Town of Milton 150 Mary Street Milton ON L9T 6Z5

angela.janzen@milton.ca

The next meeting of Milton Town Council is on Monday February 27, 2012 starting at 7pm at Milton Town Hall.

The governing body of the Town of Milton is Town Council, consisting of the Mayor and 10 Councillors who represent Milton’s eight wards.  Milton residents elect members of Council for a four-year term of office.  You can find a link to watch the Town Council meetings here.  The meetings are also broadcast on TV Cogeco (Channel 14).

Town Council deals with:

• Matters requiring policy direction
• By-laws or by-law amendments
• Responses or actions to pertinent issues

Council also makes decisions on the recommendations of Milton’s two Standing Committees of Council:

• Administration & Planning Committee
• Community Services Committee

The link to the agenda can be found here.

http://www.milton.ca/MeetingDocuments/Council/agendas2012/CL03_February_27_2012.pdf

Hope to see you there at the meeting and if you cant make it click http://www.milton.ca/en/townhall/webcasts.asp for the live link to watch.   The town of Milton has recently updated its website so some of the links might not work.  I’ll do my best to make sure it all works properly so please be patient.

Subject to getting approvals for zoning in the area from the Region of Halton (ROPA 38) and the province of Ontario, Milton will be moving forward in constructing the velodrome facility for the Toronto 2015 Pan Am games on the Milton Education Village.  Council voted 9-2 last night in a marathon meeting to approve going ahead.

Listen to the velodrome discussion on the Scott Thompson show AM900 CHML this afternoon.

Tonight (Monday January 23rd) is the Administration & Planning Standing Committee meeting at Town Hall starting at 7pm.  

This Committee consists of five Councillors and the Mayor. Committee members review all reports, formulate policy and make recommendations to Council on matters over which Council has authority under the Municipal Act, the Planning Act and other legislation. Recommendations are made in the areas of corporate administration, personnel, legal issues, planning and finance.

The Administration and Planning Committee reviews the operating and capital budgets as well as various financial matters affecting the Town of Milton.

The agenda for the meeting can be found here.

Some of the highlites inlcude:

• Public Meeting for amending a bylaw RE property owned by M Durante Enterprises for the area around James Snow Parkway and Main Street to Steeles,
• Public Meeting for amending a bylaw RE property owned by Mattamy for the area around Bronte Street South north of Louis St Laurent to the CN Tracks,
• Technical Report to propose a bylaw amendment for property owned by Woodbine Entertainment Group near the 401/ Guelph Line area.

As always you can watch online on Monday night at 7pm.  If you have any questions or comments for any of these reports, please email me mike@mikecluett.ca

Notice is hereby given pursuant to Section 11(3) of the Municipal Act, S.O. 2001, Chapter 25, as amended, that Milton Town Council at its meeting to be held in Town Hall, 150 Mary Street, on Monday January 30, 2012 beginning at 7:00 p.m. will consider the adoption of a bylaw(s) authorizing temporary road closure for Mattamy Homes Inc. to complete a sanitary connection on Louis St. Laurent Avenue at Diefenbaker Street. 

The temporary closure will be in effect from February 6, 2012 until February 21, 2012. Local and emergency access will be maintained throughout the construction via Bronte Street South, Farmstead Drive, Ruhl Drive and Ledger Way.

2nd Floor, 150 Mary Street.

Traffic Inquiries Project Inquires

Heide Schlegl, C.E.T., MITE, Dipl. M.M.

Andrew Mason, Dipl. T.

Engineering Services Department

Phone: 905-878-7252, ext. 2506 or ext. 2515

Fax: 905-876-5029

E-mail: 

heide.schlegl@milton.ca or andrew.mason@milton.ca

Plans detailing the project are available for viewing at the Town of Milton,

On Monday January 30, 2012, Milton Town Council will give consideration to the proposed bylaw. At this meeting, Milton Town Council will hear, in person, or by their counsel, any person who applies to be heard. Persons wishing to be heard must notify the Clerk’s Department in writing, no later than Monday January 30,2012 at 10:00 a.m. Further information regarding this process can be found at www.milton.ca.

Any inquiries should be directed to the following:

Milton Velodrome FAQ’s

Courtesy of www.milton.ca

What is a Velodrome?

•An arena for track cycling (approximately 120,000 square feet)

•A banked oval track consisting of two 180-degree circular bends, connected by two straights (The straights transition to the circular turn through a moderate easement curve)

Multi-purpose Infield

•The infield (middle) of the track can be used for other recreational/event purposes, such as basketball, volleyball, badminton, soccer and trade shows, and is approximately the size of three basketball courts.

Existing Velodromes

•Carson City Velodrome
•Manchester Velodrome
•Manchester Velodrome, infield event

How was Milton selected as the preferred velodrome site for the Toronto 2015 Pan/Parapan American Games?

September 23, 2011

•Toronto 2015 Pan/Parapan American Games committee approached the Town of Milton with the possibility to bid for a permanent velodrome

October 12, 2011

•Toronto 2015 committee invited the Town of Milton to submit Expression of Interest

October 17, 2011

•Milton Council resolution to explore two location options – the Milton Education Village as a permanent location and Derry Green Business Park as a temporary location

November 21, 2011

•Council Report: COMS-047-11

•Indication of support received (including letters from Laurier University, the Canadian Cycling Association and land donation)

•Further direction required from Toronto 2015 to reduce capital cost and local host share

December 5, 2011

•Council Report: COMS-050-11

•Milton Council authorized the Town of Milton to commit to funding local share based on a $40-million project

•Next step identified was to engage Sierra Planning to undertake Business Plan

•Required to report back to Council with results of Business Plan and due diligence process

Where is the money coming from to build the velodrome?

•$22 million: Toronto 2015 Pan/Parapan American Games organizing committee

•$19.8 million: Local share (includes 44% of the project cost at $40-million, plus site servicing/parking costs)

◦Town of Milton share confirmed at $3.8 million: Re-allocation of funds for future recreational facilities to serve community needs

◦Milton Education Village commitment at $2.5 million: Town of Milton to finance the Milton Education Village commitment; if timing is delayed, a contingency plan will be developed

◦Private sector partnership commitment at $13.5 million: This includes – pledged donations, sponsorship, in-kind services and fundraising support

•Peter Gilgan/Mattamy Group: $9 million committed

•TD Canada Trust: Tim Hockey and team

•Milton Energy and Generation Solutions

•TSAM Investment Group Inc. •GreenLife Energy

•Local suppliers/consultants

•Legal counsel

Where will the velodrome be located?

•Within the Milton Education Village: Louis St Laurent and Tremaine Road

•Adjacent to proposed location for Laurier University

Planned transportation links to the velodrome location:

•Public transit routes

•Cycling lanes on Tremaine Road

•GO station proposed at new Tremaine Road 401 interchange

•Town undertaking Secondary Plan for Milton Education Village and update to Trails/Cycling Master Plan in 2012

What will the velodrome be used for once the Pan/Parapan American Games are finished?

•Sierra Planning and Management, in cooperation with the JF Group have been retained by the Town to undertake a Milton based business plan for the legacy phase of the facility:

◦Discussions have been initiated with local/regional/national/international cycling groups with meetings, surveys and interviews planned to determine demand for the facility.

◦Discussions will be initiated with local sport organizations for infield use potential.

◦The extent of municipal risk associated with business plan projections will be verified.

•The facility will be used for a number of international, national and provincial competitions, creating a positive economic impact on the business community in Milton.

•There will be a significant opportunity for a high performance and local cycling legacy, as well as community recreational use.

What are the Milton velodrome timelines?

•January 2012: Business plan commenced

•Late January 2012: Report to Milton Council on business plan recommendations

•Late January 2012: Binding agreements to be signed following project approval by Milton Council

•Spring/summer 2012: Ground breaking and construction commences

•Summer 2014: Targeted completion date

•June/July 2015: Pan/Parapan American Games

If you follow the Hawthorne Villager forum, you will see there’s been quite the discussion amongst the posters about the potential velodrome in Milton.  There is one more report to go and that will be received by council on January 23rd for review.  As soon as the report is made available online, I’ll post a link.

UPDATE:  I am including links to the Town of Milton’s website for the velodrome reports that council has reviewed during this process.  Please take some time to review them and feel free to email or post here any questions you might have.

Toronto 2015 Pan/Parapan American Games – Velodrome Status Report November 21st 2011

Velodrome Status Report, December 5th 2011

If you’ve been following my blog recently, you will have noticed I have posted quite a bit of information on the progress.  Someone tweeted me recently to ask “what does Mike think?”  So here it is.

The basis behind this facility is that its more than just cycling. Its a facility that can be and will be multi purposed. As with those other velodromes others talk about as failures this will provide more than just cycling. Basketball courts, indoor tennis, or if turf there’s indoor soccer, cricket maybe, football practice field (Ticats are you listening?)

As I mentioned during the special council meeting, the $3.8 million has already been budgeted for similar use facilities. Its in the bank so to speak and not coming out of taxes. We have been able to stand above other municipalities in the Greater Milton Area for a reason….partnership with the private sector.

This deal could NOT have been done without the assistance from the private sector. Mattamy is just ONE of the companies involved in the fundraising process for this deal…there are many many more. Tim Hockey, President and CEO of TD Canada Trust who is also an avid cyclist, is getting behind the project personally and will assist in fundraising for the velodrome. The pool of resources isnt just in Milton, its national organizations…international organizations as well that can assist in the fundraising.

That’s where other municipalities failed. They couldn’t harness the power of the private sector in getting things done. We as a council made it very clear that if we were to move forward on this there has to be minimal to NO impact on taxpayers. This can only help in growing our business base … and hence more tax revenue in town.

The Milton Education Village is just one of the keys to that success. The land is ready to go, our partners are ready to go and the provincial government needs to see that by approving Milton as one of the locations for satellite university campuses (as they have already acknowledged) it will go a long way for THEM to keep a promise made in the last election for increasing the number of post secondary spaces in Ontario. This MEV project moving forward can help kick in the pants OTHER things that Milton needs, like an interchange at Tremaine Road so that everyone on the west side of town doesn’t have to drive along Derry and or Britannia to go to the 401 and help with the backlog of traffic that way.

With moving the Canadian Cycling Association here to Milton with this facility we can help increase travel and tourism to the area. Right now we only have 2 hotels. We WILL need more (any entrepreneurs out there?) for when they hold national/international events that’s even more businesses that can benefit…from hospitality to restaurants to local businesses the impact can be huge.

Having the velodrome on campus adds some other benefits that can be looked at for revenue generating possibilities. The parking lot can be used at the university and we can charge a monthly fee for profs using it or what have you. There’s also the matter of the legacy fund set up by the Pan AM games … we don’t know the amount yet, but that should evolve through the business plan process over the next 4-6 weeks.

Is it a done deal? Not yet. ONE more report to go. That report will outline the needs for commitments at all levels so that we feel comfortable the project will stay under $40 million (contingencies are already built into that number) and that we can get the job done with our fundraising partners so that we don’t have to dip into the tax pool on this.

Sorry for the rambling and Im sure Ive missed a few points but I wanted to make sure we let people know that theres one more step in the process before its a go and I can assure you if the numbers don’t add up for me, even though Im excited about the project I wont want to see it move forward.

This town has shown others that we’re not the sleepy town we once were. I watched a Hamilton city council meeting recently when they were discussing their umpteenth attempt at getting it back and the almost disdain in their voices when they mentioned MILton of all places. We aren’t 35,000 people anymore. I know I sound sales-y by saying this but its true. Milton is a force to be paid attention to from now on. This is a project I know we can put together, that can be used for the games and years after so its not abandoned like the others and that it can help kick start the business growth we need in town to add more revenue to the town and to be the “new” centre of the universe in the GMA.

From Margaret Shikmba from the Hamilton Spectator

We dropped the velodrome ball – It’s not just about cycling — it’s about how we see ourselves