For those residents along 4th Line near Beaty Trail & Menefly Place who are getting increasing frustrated with the detour, you are not alone.  I have over the last few weeks have received a number of complaints from residents in the area who are upset that 4th Line south of Derry towards Clark Blvd has been closed off.

The reason for the closure is that the developer has been doing some tree replacements and some other work in preparation for development at that corner.  This is a piece of land that is close to the new school that will be built (timeline unknown) and a proposed condominium is slated for the area but nothing has been presented to the town in the form of a sight plan yet.  I know residents in the area are concerned about the impact of that development so stay tuned to this blog for more information as it comes available.

The latest delay in the work at on the property is due to weather & soil issues, amongst others.  The new deadline for completion is January 30th and I have been in contact with staff on a regular basis to ensure it stays on schedule.

Here is the notice we received from town staff:

MTE Consultants Inc. has requested that the closure of Fourth Line between Beaty Trail and Menefy Place be extended until January 30, 2012.

The following is a synopsis of the issues that have taken place related to this project which has resulted in construction delays and thus the need for the extension of the road closure.

• Unusual soils conditions and dewater requirements have delayed the installation of the footings for the structure.
• Heavy rainfall events have cost the contractor over a week in down time.
• A 6” gas main was broken during excavation.
• There was a breakdown of the onsite crane used for the culvert installation.

Stay tuned to www.mikecluett.ca for more details as they come.

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.

As I stated in this blog  recently and in the Hamilton Spectator last week, the 2015 Pan Am Games committee has chosen Milton as the desired location for the velodrome.  The City of Hamilton couldnt get a deal finalized after being part of the process for a couple of years and didnt get the job done.

MPP Ted McMeekin said recently that Hamilton is “too late to recoup the velodrome.”

Recently Hamilton Mayor Bob Bratina made comments that a silent funder had come forward to see if they can get one last chance to get the velodrome back to Hamilton, but that was once again shot down by Mr. McMeekin this week.

The Town of Milton has been chosen as the location of the velodrome pending approval by Milton Town Council.  There is one more report to review and that is slated to be before us by January 23rd at an upcoming meeting.  We have until the 24th to sign a binding agreeement with the Pan Am committee and we are awaiting the receipt of that report.

Here is the artcile from the Milton Canadian Champion/Hamilton Spectator by Matthew Van Dongen

Hamilton too late to recoup velodrome: McMeekin

Hamilton can’t buy its way back into the Pan Am velodrome race with mystery millions, says Liberal cabinet minister Ted McMeekin.

Sources told The Spectator last week a private corporation is willing to make a multimillion-dollar commitment to a permanent indoor cycling oval in Hamilton — even though Pan Am officials recently announced Milton as the facility host.

Milton has until Jan. 24 to sign a binding agreement to help fund the facility, which could cost up to $45 million.

“I guess if it doesn’t work out in Milton, everything is back on the table,” said McMeekin, the Minister of Agriculture and MPP for Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale. “But the Pan Am people have been pretty clear Milton has been selected as the (velodrome) site. Clearly, the Pan Am people have moved on.”

Unless Milton backs out, McMeekin said he didn’t know how new mystery funding could help Hamilton’s cause “after the horses have left the barn.”

Hamilton was originally the preferred site for the cycling venue, but lost that status after Pan Am officials rejected the city’s $5 million offer towards building costs. A local fundraising group has continued collecting pledges and lobbying government to build in Hamilton and, in a recent year-end radio interview, Mayor Bob Bratina cited a deep-pocketed “prospective partner” for a local velodrome.

The mayor of Milton figures that effort is too little and too late.

“Where was that interest a few weeks ago? Seems pretty late in the game,” Gordon Krantz said of Hamilton’s behind-the-scenes manoeuvring.

Krantz acknowledged that Milton’s offer could still fall through. His council is set to consider a business plan for the velodrome on Jan. 23 — the day before the Pan Am deadline for finalizing an agreement. The town of close to 90,000 is also waiting for the provincial go-ahead for a satellite university campus that Milton politicians want to pair with the velodrome.

But even if Milton retracts its bid, there’s no guarantee Hamilton will get another crack at the cycling oval. Krantz said Pan Am officials have told him they would consider building a temporary velodrome on Toronto’s port lands if Milton doesn’t commit to a permanent facility.

“I don’t think anyone is enthusiastic about that idea,” he said. “I’m hoping we can make (a permanent indoor facility) happen.”

Milton has its own private benefactor, Mattamy Homes president Peter Gilgan, who has offered $9 million in donations and cash for naming rights.

But the town would have to find at least that much money again to cover the 44 per cent municipal portion of velodrome building costs, estimated by Infrastructure Ontario at between $35 million and $45 million.

The next meeting of Milton Town Council is on Monday November 21, 2011 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.  Some of the highlites of tonights meeting include:

• Item for consideration:  Parking around Town Hall
• Item for consideration:  Staff Report on potential velodrome for 2015 PANAM Games

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.

As I announced recently, I am taking part in the Movember campaign to help change the face of men’s health and funds for prostate cancer.  Just yesterday, The Blue Room Spa in Milton made a donation of $100.00 and their choice of colour…obviously BLUE!

You still have time to make your donation at my Movember page http://mobro.co/MikeCluett before the 20th if you’d like to see my ’stash your favourite colour.

Many thanks to everyone who has donated so far and THANK YOU to The Blue Room Spa for your generosity.

This is some of my other Milton Mo Bro’s as well. 

Mike Heenan

Martin Capper

John Challinor III

Pablo Faria

Sean Hazlett

Nik Spohr

Achilles Mazda

Angelo “Milton Orthotics & Wellness Centre” Posteraro

Niraj “Discover Milton” Adhiya

Chuck Mason 
 
Bryan Gaudet

Here’s what I’ve got at the half way point.

Thanks to Bernadette for letting me know of two more Milton Mo’ Bro’s.  As you are aware, I along with many other Canadians and people around the world are donating our muggs to help change the face of men’s health by growing insane mustashes.  If you’d like to donate to my Movember campaign, please visit http://mobro.co/MikeCluett.

So far Pat is OK with it, but Im sure as it grows in, that opinion will change.  I have also decided to sweeten the deal to see how much more money we can raise. 

From now until November 20th, the person with the largest single donation to my Movember campaign can decide what colour I will dye the ’stash and I will keep it until the end of the month.  Please be kind with your colour choices…PLEASE

Here is my updated list of ‘Mo Bros in Milton.

Mike Cluett (Yours Truly of course.)

Mike Heenan

Martin Capper

John Challinor III

Pablo Faria

Sean Hazlett

Nik Spohr

Achilles Mazda

As well as…

Chuck Mason – http://mobro.co/ChuckMason
 
Bryan Gaudet – http://mobro.co/BryanGaudet

Keep the Milton Mo’s coming and make sure you make a donation to choose what colour the Cluett ’stash will be.

Three great articles in today’s Milton Canadian Champion.

Thanks to both Angelo from Milton Orthotics , Angelina & Dean and Ken Patterson for their hard work in raising funds for the Milton District Hospital Foundation.

Brother and sister donate sales from lemonade stand

A $100 donation collected through a neighbourhood lemonade stand was recently presented by a young Milton brother and sister to the Milton District Hospital Foundation.

For two weekends in July, Angelina Appleby, 9, and her brother Dean, 5, set up shop in their Hawthorne Village neighbourhood selling lemonade and iced tea to raise funds for the Milton hospital.

“It was their idea from start to finish, we merely helped facilitate it,” said the childrens’ mother Zeena. “We (Zeena and husband Mark) couldn’t be more proud of both of them and all that they have accomplished.”

The donation was accepted by Anne Zujko, the foundation’s development associate.

“It is truly a pleasure to see young people caring so much about their community,” said Zujko.

Helping out the hospital

Milton Orthotic’s Angelo Posteraro, Krystal Xavier and Lisa Walter present a cheque for $2,600 to Anne Zujko of the Milton District Hospital Foundation.

The funds were raised from the business’s summer volleyball tournament.

All shook up… for a good cause

Elvis tribute artist Ken Patterson serenaded 10-year-old Isabella Maturana during Boston Pizza’s recent Elvis tribute night in support of the Milton District Hospital Foundation.

The event, which raised $4,000, features two tribute artists as well as a silent auction.

As you may have noticed, I am taking part in this years Movember movement to help change the face of men’s health in Canada and much to my wife’s shegrin the “Hulk Hogan” stash is taking form quite nicely.

I had sworn off facial hair after it kept going whiter and whiter as time went on, but this is for a good cause.  You can donate to my Movember page http://mobro.co/MikeCluett and help raise money for prostate cancer among other things about men’s health.

There are also a number of other Miltonians taking part in this as well so take some time to visit their pages as well.

Mike Heenan

Martin Capper

John Challinor III

Sean Hazlett

Nik Spohr

UPDATE:

Achilles Mazda

It was suggested on the Milton Lifestyle page that once its long enough, to dye the stash blonde, Leaf blue or as Anthony suggested yesterday PURPLE!  I’ll update as to THAT contest and maybe we can raise even more money.  Stay tuned.

Until then, I’ll continue to grow the prickly stash until Pat tells me to trim it a little.

I’ll be posting the agenda to tonights Community Services Standing Committee meeting a little later.  You can tune in by clicking on the WATCH link to the right live tonight at 7pm.

From Milton Search.com

On the first Saturday morning of November here in Milton, a downtown jewellery store was robbed in broad daylight.

Halton Regional Police are reporting that Halton Hills Fine Jewellery was robbed Saturday morning shortly after the store opened for business at 10:00 am.

Police described the suspect as a black male with no additional details at this time. It’s believed that no weapon was involved in the robbery and the suspect fled on foot westbound along Main St.

Police and a canine unit were spotted in Downtown Milton by witnesses who spoke to MiltonSearch.com.

Anyone with information regarding this crime is asked to call Halton Regional Police at (905) 878-5511 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS).

Ward One Councillor Sharon Barkely posted on the Hawthorne Villager last night information about a gas line being cut by accident in the 4th line area which affected a number of homes.  Work will continue in the area and at last note from our Milton Fire Department is Union Gas is working on reconnecting roughly 130 homes back to their gas lines.  The last word we received was that the target for completion was 830AM this morning, but as of 930AM I havent received an update.

No one was hurt and unlike back almost a year ago, no fires were started thankfully.

We should have an update soon on the status of those homes so stay tuned to either the Hawthorne Villager or here for details.