metrolinx

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 5^th 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.

At the last Milton Town Council meeting, I put forward a notice of motion to direct staff to review the towns current marketing plan, consult different groups (including seniors & youth) to find ways of improving ridership on Milton Transit Saturday service.

During council deliberations I was very adamant that we need to find different & better ways of promoting our transit service. Over the last number of years the topic of Saturday transit arises and some members of Milton Town Council support the cancellation of this service, only to have a majority of councillors agree to keep it. Nothing ends up happening throughout the year and the process is repeated again to no avail.

We’ve asked for this to be completed by September 2020 so that any improvements to ridership can be reported to council in plenty of time to be included in the budget process and a more informed dialogue to ensue.

Oddly enough, the motion hit a procedureal glitch because seeing how we would want staff to have enough time to start and complete this process, we would have to waive procedure to discuss at this meeting as opposed to waiting for March. Clr Best and Clr Malbouef didnt feel it was that important and declined to support the bump in discussion. No worries, I called for a recorded vote & instead of waiting another cycle, we could get to work. Thank you to my colleagues who supported this motion so we can take action on improving transit as opposed to simply waiting for budget time and spinning our wheels.

Here is an article from MYFM www.miltonnow.ca on the motion.

Town of Milton looking to improve Saturday transit service

As always I am looking for input on how we can improve not only our Saturday transit ridership, but our services as a whole. My email is mike.cluett@milton.ca or call/text/WhatsApp me at (647)-888-9032

Ill see you at the doors.

Had an opportunity to attend the Metrolinx Town Hall in Burlington tonight. I was able to ask a few questions in the limited amount of time where I brought up Route 20 that was cancelled last year and a request to revisit their decision to not fully expand the Milton GO Station.

They did say theyve reviewed the business case and the station is “adequate for the current service levels” and also promised more trains. It does go without saying that 2 way all day service was brought up…again…

The CEO mentioned that they are having productive talks with CP to allow more trains along the route and we should be seeing some progress shortly.

Im attaching a copy of my presentation to Metrolinx which I did deliver and will be following up with them in the coming weeks. Metrolinx did mention they are working on a time to come present to Milton Town Council, which is always appreciated and these issues arent going away.

Here is the link to the YOUTUBE Broadcast of the Town Hall

Metrolinx Town Hall Feb 5th, 2020
Prepared by: Mike Cluett, Halton Region Councillor – Town of Milton Ward 3
Mike.Cluett@milton.ca Cell (647) 888-9032

Thank you for holding this town hall in Halton and giving up the opportunity to let you know some of the issues Milton is facing regarding transit.

Milton has been known for many years as one of the fastest growing municipalities in Ontario. The provincial government has deemed our town as one of the Places to Grow through its legislation. Milton has grown over 56% between 2006 and 2011 from 54,000 to 85,000 and now over 30% in between 2011-2016 to over 110,000.

There are incredible pressures placed on our town from many directions – infrastructure, economic development, and most importantly transit. One of the main goals of our growth plan is to ensure residents can travel quickly and seamlessly around town and throughout the region.

It would be difficult to put only one issue facing Milton and the province of Ontario. Infrastructure, school construction, and transit are just a few of the many top issues.

I have been elected to Milton Town Council now for close to 10 years and I can honestly say transportation and transit issues consistently top the list of importance that Miltonians face.

Our town has a large percentage of highly educated workforce members living here, and unfortunately many commute out of town on a daily basis.

As a Town we are continuously working on many different plans that will help bring job opportunities for our residents. Whether it is our community engagement plans like the Milton Mobility Hub, our economic development plans for the Milton Education Village and growth plans like the Trafalgar Corridor development, we are looking to the province and the related agencies like Metrolinx to assist us in getting the tools we need to create a better quality of life, have the ease of transportation in and around the region doing what we can to build a complete community.

We completely understand the financial aspect of this process but there are in many cases more important “quality of life” implications of these decisions.

ROUTE 20 Cancellation

Late last year, Metrolinx made a decision to cut a number of GO bus routes throughout the Halton region. I believe the one route reduction that made the most impact was to remove Route 20.

This GO Bus route was the only transit route that connected Milton to Oakville from the north to the south. Metrolinx based this decision on ridership numbers as well as costs. Both very valid reasons but one must look outside the box and the implications that decision has had on the quality of life of some residents.

Albeit the ridership was low, but that route connected many students to Oakville’s Sheridan College campus and was the only transportation option for many of them.

Environmental issues are now one of the top three issues of residents / young people in Halton Region. One only has to look at the demand on all Halton municipalities recently to engage the population and work toward declaring a climate emergency which now puts that issue at the top of the list for both Milton and Halton Region.

The decision to cancel Route 20 does run counter to the intention of putting climate change and the environment as decision factors. Many of the students I have talked with are now forced to purchase a vehicle to get them back and forth to school. This now puts more vehicles on the road which not only increases green house gases, but pressures on road infrastructure and gridlock.

Students also live on limited budgets based on the cost of education, books, tuition, and now increased transportation costs. All of this has a negative impact on the quality of life in Milton and the surrounding areas.

If we as a province are doing to do the things like cancelling transit routes, we are definitely sending a clear message to our young people that the environment and gridlock issues are not a priority.

Given these reasons I would like Metrolinx to reconsider its decision to cancel route 20 and reinstate this needed service, even if it might require some rescheduling changes that could make the route more efficient. Cutting it off entirely isn’t going to work.

Milton GO Station Redevelopment

One of the other issues I would like to address as important for Metrolinx to look and review is the full redevelopment for the Milton GO Station. Recent projections of growth that Milton will be facing in the next 2 decades show that we will be reaching a population of 300-350k and a community this size will require 2 GO stations at the very least.

The Town of Milton is stepping up with a redevelopment plan – a mobility hub – on the lands surrounding our current GO station. We re looking at this plan to improve the area by focusing on high intensity residential growth as well as business/recreation to ensure the viability and accessibility of this corridor.

The Town has begun its public input process that you can find at our website www.letstalkmilton.ca gathering feedback from the pubic and business communities. The original plan for the expansion of the Milton GO station was vital to the success of this project and now that a big portion of that plan has been put on the back burner, it brings even more challenges to the success of the mobility hub.

The Milton Mobility Hub is one of the towns crucial projects on improving the quality of life in town and building a complete community. The Towns Mobility Hub study will support future redevelopment and intensification. The project promotes active transportation, walking, cycling and the use of public transit both local and GO transit. It is critical to ensure that plans for higher density, mixed use building and community uses are properly integrated.

The initial plans for the expansion of the Milton GO station and its improvements being completed as the Milton Mobility Hub is being developed is vital for its success. Any delays in the full expansion of the GO station will put at risk the quick turnaround of the Milton Mobility Hub and in the long run increase the costs of the development that eventually will have to be passed along to the local taxpayer.

We are designing this area with future sustainability in mind and will not just improve the quality of life here in Milton but for the entire Halton Region and the GTA.

Given these reasons I would like Metrolinx to reconsider its decision to reduce the scope of the Milton o GO Station improvements back to its original plan as to be able to work in conjunction with the Town of Milton’s mobility hub planning and development and reduce the impact of construction in this high profile area.

These are all pieces of the puzzle that are needed to build a complete community. They cannot be assembled after the fact without either increasing long term costs and disruption of the quality of life in Milton. It must be a cooperative effort with all team members as the table. Those teammates include The Town of Milton, Halton Region, the Province of Ontario and Metrolinx.

The Ask

In summary, the first item I would like Metrolinx to look at is the reinstatement of route 20 from Milton to Sheridan College in Oakville and to help promote this essential lifeline for employees and students in Milton and Oakville.

The second item I would request is to review its decision to not fully expand the Milton GO Station and be revisited with close cooperation with the Town of Milton and Halton Region as we go through the Milton Mobility Hub process.

What I am asking for is further and continued cooperation with the province of Ontario, Metrolinx, the Town of Milton and Halton Region. The end goal is to provide efficient and effective transit services for the residents of Milton – all parties working toward the end goal of building a complete community.