Its that time of year again. Municipal leaders all over the GTA are producing what they refer to as the “state of the union/town/city” addresses. Milton was no different as on this past Friday the Milton Chamber of Commerce hosted the 2020 Breakfast with the Mayor.
Town of Milton CAO Andrew Siltala gave the sold out audience of both the public and business leaders a quick snap shot of where we are in 2020 and the prospects for the future including an informal question and answer session with the Presidents of Laurier University Deborah MacLatchy and Conestoga College’s Jon Tibbits.
Many of the points I plan on highlighting here were covered during that presentation and I’ve included a few other items as well. As I did last year, I will provide you with my views as to where we are here in the Town of Milton, what is planned moving forward and my priorities for the future.
One doesn’t have to look far outside their window to see that we are a continuously changing and adapting community. New homes are being built as we speak, road construction continues to be something we deal with daily – except during the winter where we deal with snow covered roads and the inevitable potholes. More and more people are coming to realize this town as a great location for business and to call home.
The Province of Ontario has deemed Milton as one of the Places to Grow – a piece of legislation that governs municipalities along with several other laws – which tells us how much we are going to grow and how fast. The most recent changes to the PTG act have mandated Halton Region (Oakville, Burlington, Halton Hills and Milton) will grow to a population of roughly 1,000,000 by the year 2041.
What seemed a long way from today, is now rapidly approaching and plans are in place for that growth. Milton is obviously in a unique spot to accept that growth. The “BIG PIPE” was built in 1999 and since the year 2000 we have seen our population balloon from roughly 40,000 then to unofficially over 135,000.
As a councillor for Halton Region representing the Town of Milton, we passed a new allocation plan ts allocation earlier this year. This process essentially divides up future growth – both residential and nonresidential – between the four Halton municipalities. Plans are now in place for growth to come to Milton in the form of single family dwellings, town homes, condominiums and rental properties. This also includes industrial, commercial and office development in our Derry Green Business Park and along the Trafalgar corridor.
Once everything is finalized you will see Milton’s population grow over the next 20 years to possibly eclipse both Oakville and Burlington leaving Milton as one of if not the largest municipality in Halton Region.
This type of growth has its challenges. Infrastructure demands rank highly on the lists of priorities of many Milton taxpayers. Some of the questions I get are “when are the schools going to be built?” and “when is this road going to be widened?” These questions are common throughout the town and are repeated by Milton Town Council when we speak with the conductors of growth, the Province of Ontario.
We are going to continue to deal with these challenges going forward and we must make sure there’s a plan in place to tackle them as they come forward. I feel we are getting better at dealing with growth but there remains several issues that need to be dealt with properly as a growing municipality.
What I do feel strongly about is we cant simply continue to point the finger at the province and give false assertions to the public saying “if they don’t pay, we won’t grow.” I believe making statements like this create false expectations with taxpayers and when problems continue to persist, it is disheartening for taxpayers. The Town of Milton needs to come up with better ways to deal with the province by ensuring projects are shovel ready so that when funding is allocated by the province, we’re ready for it. Blaming the province has not worked in the past, and will continue not to work in the future. Politically is easy to do, but not the responsible thing.
There are financial issues – taxation, spending, customer service, economic development, climate, housing, transportation and transit challenges that need to be addressed in order to continue to build a complete community.
In my report, I will highlight just some of those issues and how we are working on them and together with Miltonians input, have a vision and plan to getting them done.
Milton Official Plan – We Make Milton
Earlier in 2019 the Town of Milton embarked on developing a new official plan – a roadmap for growth – and building a complete community. It’s a process we like to call “We Make Milton”
Over the last year several hundred residents came out to public sessions and told their stories on what kind of community they want Milton to be. They registered online through our Let’s Talk Milton website and provided their vision for the future of Milton.
Phase 2 of that process is now under way and you will be hearing more about even more opportunities for Miltonians to have their say on what our hometown will look like. I have been incredibly encouraged by the feedback we have received over the course of the “We Make Milton” process and hope the conversations continue as we create a direction for Milton that we can all get behind.
Whether it is a discussion on increasing park space in our new developments to ensure residents have the ability to enjoy playgrounds for their children or have a place to walk or cycle without using their vehicles, or what types of industries Milton needs to attract, it is important to have your voices heard. There are a number of opportunities to provide that input in projects like our mobility hub at the GO station, providing increased parking and the development of a celebration square in downtown Milton, or input in the mature neighbourhood character study. There are opportunities to have your voice heard and we want that.
I have always believed that input from residents is essential to our future prosperity as a town both financially and as a community. Its the reason I continue to knock on doors in between election campaigns. We as elected officials need to hear feedback from residents. One of my top priorities has and always will be to find as many ways to get that feedback from you. Together we are designing our community for the future and your input on that vision is a must and I will always work to make sure that happens.
Economic Development
One of the keys to a complete community is being able to balance residential and nonresidential growth. An active and vibrant business community is the key to success in providing the residents of Milton with opportunities to work in their home community. The benefits are endless with being able to live and work in Milton. It builds a better and healthier lifestyle for people, giving them more time to spend with their families instead of in their cars or trains getting to and from work.
We have worked on and are completing important master plans for the Trafalgar Corridor with mixed development uses and different types of residential development. This area has the potential of being the home to close to 19,000 jobs in different industries and 30,000 residents providing Milton residents with even more options of living and working in their home community.
More nonresidential growth means less pressure on the residential tax base. To give you an example our CAO provided during his presentation, a 1,000,000 sq ft non residential development not only brings in much needed jobs but revenue in the form of development charges (DC’s) and property taxes. That same million square foot development means roughly $600,000 per year in property taxes which equates to 1% of the tax levy. More development like this is planned for Derry Green in the next 3-5 years and the resulting revenue from DC’s and property taxes will go a long way to relieving the pressure on the residential tax base and higher than normal increases in the towns portion of the budget. Win – Win.
I am truly excited as the business potential is being realized with the development of the Derry Green Business Park, the Milton Education Village along with our partnership with Laurier & Conestoga College . The curriculum and education programming have begun at the Milton Innovation Centre with students excited about the future options to come. We are moving forward together with plans to bring the highest quality of post secondary education here in Milton.
Over six years ago, Milton council decided to invest in the Milton Innovation Centre. This is a place where entrepreneurs can bring their ideas to reality, collaborate with others and innovate new technologies and services to create the jobs of the future. Many of the companies that call the MEV home have been working with worldwide companies on new online and manufacturing technologies and more is to come as this facility develops.
Milton’s most recent success story is DSV Logistics as they recently moved their Canadian headquarters to their new location on 5th Line just north of Derry Road. By bringing over 1,000 new office and warehouse jobs, DSV is now one of Milton’s top employers. Seeing the incredible potential of this community, they are now realizing even greater success by tapping into the highly educated workforce that resides in Milton.
It is widely known over the last two census periods, that Milton is the home to one of the most highly educated residents. Over 40% of Miltonians have post secondary education and while we have a healthy business environment, it is our responsibility to attract a wider variety of companies and industries to provide opportunities for Miltonians to realize their desire to live and work in town.
For the last number of years, I have had the pleasure of being the chairperson of the Milton Economic Development Advisory Committee (MEDAC). It is a collection of business professionals, the Milton Chamber of Commerce and economic development staff from both the town and Halton Region. I have been able to see firsthand how Milton’s business community has grown in many sectors, including warehousing, distribution and logistics.
The challenge we are currently facing is the inventory of physical locations for these companies. This requires the support and assistance from our development community to push forward much needed construction of industrial, commercial and prestige office development to make these goals a reality.
As chair of MEDAC and working closely with our economic development staff and Chamber of Commerce, I will bring all parties to the table in order to realize Milton’s business potential to realize these much-needed opportunities to Milton residents.
By putting all these pieces of the puzzle in place, you will see some big changes and increases in our nonresidential development. Milton WILL be a leader in business growth in the next few years and it will help improve that ratio of residential to nonresidential growth in line to where it should be.
Business follows education and as we get closer to shovels in the ground and construction beginning on the Milton Education Village, we will realize that potential of being the desired location of companies in the Greater Toronto Area.
Transit & Transportation
The 2020 Town of Milton budget has brought forward a number of highly needed infrastructure projects to help Miltonians get around town to work and play. What I have heard over the years is that we need to do better in getting roads built to handle the flow of traffic in areas where new housing and commercial development is being completed before it happens.
Thompson Road is slated to be widened this year from 2 lanes to 4. Construction on new homes has already begun and we will ensure this road is ready to handle the traffic flow south of Louis St Laurent.
Other projects include Bronte Street north to Steeles in ward one and the completion of the widening of Louis St Laurent in ward 3.
The Town continues to monitor our infrastructure deficit and do what we can to ensure roads are developed, widened or improved to make sure getting around town on the bus, on your bike or in your car is as smooth as possible. Going forward we have to make sure we are building this community for the future and transportation plans have to include more than just the vehicle.
A major priority of mine is to find better and more cost-efficient ways of delivering transit in Milton. Both our younger population and our seniors are demanding this service, but for many reasons aren’t taking advantage of it. Transit must be both time and cost efficient and there are many different options to look at in order to make it work for more people. The buses must go to the places where people want to go.
Saturday service needs to improve in ridership. Year after year at budget time, council wrestles with what to do about buses running on Saturday. The ridership hasn’t increased as much as we hoped it would be. This is why I recently directed staff with a notice of motion to work at improving how we market this service and to consult with the transit users and those who want to on the ways to make it happen. In conjunction with this report, our staff are also looking at options to possibly provide free transit service for seniors on specific days. We must always been in continuous improvement mode when it comes to services that we provide. More on that later.
Our transit staff will come back with options and feedback from these groups and market our Saturday service better to help increase ridership. They will return to council in September with results and other options well before the budget process starts so that way we are not once again spinning our wheels with the same questions and getting nowhere. My goal is to make sure we get results.
Its easy just to say things like “no more transit” and “cancel it” and move on, but as we’ve heard from many businesses both in town and those who plan on moving here, transit is one of the top priorities on their checklists to be able to get people back and forth to work. If we continue to do the same, we’ve done before, we are wasting both time and resources and that isn’t what Milton residents want.
What also needs to be addressed and is currently in the pipeline is to have a Steeles Ave bus that can go from Milton to the Premium Outlet Mall and connect to other municipalities transit routes like Brampton, Mississauga and other areas of Halton Region. Thanks goes to the Milton Chamber of Commerce who is spearheading this initiative with neighbouring business groups and municipalities.. This route is vital for not only local commerce but help many young Milton residents that work at the Premium Outlet Mall and need transportation to get back and forth to work. Also by providing options to connect to other transit systems, it will provide an option for other Milton residents who work outside of town.
Modifying and updating our transit routes and making the proper investments to help improve our ridership on Milton Transit remains on of my top priorities and I will continue to work on ways to make this happen. With growth continuing in town, building of the Milton Education Village and our Mobility hub, the demand for transit will increase and its essential to grow, but wisely and financially responsible to keep it affordable for both riders and the taxpayer.
Customer Service
As Milton continues to grow, the way the we do business at Town Hall needs to evolve and change. One of the questions I get as a councillor here in Milton is what do you feel are the biggest challenges we face and I always answer with this. Managing expectations of the changing and growing community needs is probably at or near the top of the list and needs to be a focus going forward.
From the way we welcome businesses to the newest resident moving in to call Milton home, the way we go about providing cost effective and efficient services needs to adapt and improve.
The Town needs and will start focusing on businesses and residents not simply as taxpayers but as customers – customers who expect quick actions and attention to the services that we provide.
Last year, the Town of Milton embarked on the implementation of the first phase of our core services review. This process is an in-depth review of each of the towns departments. This review brought about a number of recommendations for improvement in the delivery of our engineering services. Potential cost savings of over $600,000 were identified and these measures can be implemented by council to improve the customer relations.
The core services review will continue over this term of council and will be a regular occurrence as Milton continues to grow. For many years, this town has been able to get by when it comes to servicing residents and business that call Milton home, but one of my priorities is to look at further investments to help improve the customer experience.
If its red tape in the processing of a zoning change, or a business license application or it it is making an inquiry into a parking ticket easier, we are committed to making the customer service experience better for Miltonians.
One of my major priorities is to work with staff going forward and develop service level agreements, or SLA’s to ensure a higher standard that continues to improve as our town grows.
These are just some of the topics that will be addressed going forward and I will ensure that solutions will be found. I could go on even longer discussing what we need to do as we grow and this is by no means the only list of priorities I have. We continue this journey of growth together and only together will we find the best ways to make it and build the town that suits all our needs and be proud to call our hometown.
I urge every resident to find a way to take part in this ongoing process. By attending council meetings, registering with Let’s Talk Milton, and by speaking with myself and other councillors will we be able to build a complete community that we can all be proud of.