milton town council

Transit Information Sessions

Mike Cluett

Last night was the first two of four information sessions put on by Milton Transit at the Seniors Activity and Milton’s Sports Centre.  According to Transit Coordinator Tony D’Alessandro the first session was well attended with over 25 people showing up.  Last nights session at the Sports Centre had roughly 10-15 people attend to find out about the newly designed routes through town (the files are about 3MB so if you have a slower internet connection be warned) and the plans for the future.  Jan Mowbray, one of our current town councillors who is an advocate of transit in Milton, was also in attendance last night

There are two more sessions tonight (Thursday August 19th) and they will be held at the Milton Public Library (Beaty Branch on 4th line) from 2-4pm and Town Hall will host the final one from 7pm to 9pm.  If you have time, make sure you come out.  There will be lots of people from Milton Transit, the transit advisory committee and the company who runs the buses and they’ll love to answer any questions you may have.

As I brought up before here on the blog, I told Tony some of my concerns about each of the routes.  The routes that run through Hawthorne Village, while they cover the area very well, all revolve around the GO Station as the main hub.  For instance if someone from Ward 6 wanted to go downtown Milton to shop or eat would have to take the bus to the GO Station, transfer there (waiting approximately 10-15 minutes) and then take the bus to downtown.  Going through the schedule that trip would take roughly 30-35 minutes if everything is running on time.

The alternative is someone from Ward 6 getting into their car and driving downtown Milton which at non rush hour times takes roughly 10-15 minutes.  Where is the incentive from a time and convenience aspect for someone to say “I’ll take the bus instead of my car.”  Nothings perfect of course and the transit system is still in its infancy but these are concerns that are brought up at the door when speaking with voters.

These routes are constantly being reviewed and alternatives can be considered depending on usage.  Tony mentioned that ridership is up 15% since the new routes were put in place which sounds encouraging but I’d like to look at the numbers from a paid ridership point of view.

As our town continues to grow over the next several years, the need for a vibrant and efficient transit system is a must.  If we get the Wilfrid Laurier campus on the west end of town and as the Derry Green Corporate Business Park is developed there will be added pressure to ensure the transit system works, is efficient and able to meet the needs of the public.

I won’t be at the Transit meetings tonight as there is another public meeting at the Sports Centre about Milton Hydro’s proposal to install 2 vertical wind turbines in front of that same sports centre.  I was the first to bring up the meeting back in July and while I have been out at the doors the last few weeks, this issue has been on the mind of many voters.  They have concerns about how they will look, possible sound pollution and what benefit the Town of Milton will get from such a proposal.

There will be a presentation made followed up by a question and answer session where members of the public will have an opportunity to get answers.  Following this public meeting a report will be sent to council for review and approval.  I don’t know about the timing of the report and when the decision will be made, so it might be this council that makes that decision or it could be the next after Oct 25th.

I hope to see some of you out at tonight’s meeting and at the transit meetings later today.  This is an opportunity to have your say…so get out and speak.

Until then, I’ll see you at the doors.

 

Milton TigerCats? Its Possible & Here’s How

Mike Cluett

Town Of Milton Should Pursue Pan Am Stadium and Tiger Cats CFL Franchise

The City of Hamilton and the Hamilton Tiger Cats franchise are embroiled in a controversy that might result in the beloved CFL franchise to leave Hamilton forever. 

At the heart of the dispute is the location of the stadium to be constructed for the 2015 Pan Am Games, a stadium that would end up being the home of the Tiger Cats franchise.  Caretaker Bob Young, successful Hamilton businessman and the person responsible for bringing the Ti Cats back from the brink of bankruptcy over the past several years, wants to build a stadium on an east mountain location in Hamilton.  By having the stadium there, it would be able to locate a state of the art facility as well as much needed parking that their current location at Ivor Wynne doesn’t allow for. 

The City of Hamilton wants to locate the new stadium at the west harbour location of Hamilton near Barton and Bay Street.  For several months now there have been negotiations between the City of Hamilton and the Tiger Cats franchise to come to a solution and none has been met.  Yesterday, the owner of the Tiger Cats Bob Young, issued a letter saying that seeing how they can’t come to a resolution on the location, he notified the Mayor and City Council that they will play out the remainder of this season and 2011 and find another location, possibly outside Hamilton.

The Tiger Cats have been a part of Hamilton for over a hundred years and this would deal a severe blow to the local economy.  Both sides seem steadfast in their ideas and it looks like the Tiger Cats CFL franchise will be looking for a new home.  Personally as a Tiger Cats fan for many years, it would be heart breaking to see them move to other locations including Quebec or Moncton NB.  I would like to provide the Tiger Cats owners and the Pan Am officials a backup plan…a plan that can work for all parties involved.

This is where Milton comes in.  The Town of Milton has the available land to house such a facility available for Pan Am officials and the Tiger Cats to consider.  There are many benefits for all parties involved to consider Milton as a viable location for the Pan Am games AND becoming the new home for the Tiger Cats Franchise.  The potential location would be on the west side of the 401 Industrial Park in Milton.

By having it there the games and the franchise have easy highway access to Toronto (45 minutes) downtown Kitchener / Waterloo / Cambridge (30 minutes) and residents of Hamilton as well (30 minutes)

Here’s how it can work.

Why Milton as a Pan Am Games partner? 

  • Willing host
  • Proposed site could be easily rezoned for stadium purpose
  • Located 20 to 40 minutes from all other Pan Am Games venues
  • Located on west side of Greater Toronto Area
  • Located 20 minutes from Pearson International Airport
  • Proposed stadium site is located on with easy access to Highway 401, North America’s busiest superhighway
  • Proposed site alongside Highway 401 would make it highest visibility Pan Am venue in Canada
  • Located 20 minutes from Q.E.W. and 10 minutes from Highway 407
  • Located in an area with more than six million Ontarians
  • Well supported by local hotels, restaurants, general goods merchants and service industry; high-quality municipal services, well-trained workforce
  • Easy media access

Why Milton as a Hamilton Tiger-Cats partner?

  • Willing host
  • Most Milton CFL fans are Hamilton Tiger-Cat supporters
  • Proposed site could be easily rezoned for stadium purpose
  • Proposed site still reasonably close for many current seasons’ ticket holders to commute to
  • Proposed site alongside Highway 401 would make it highest visibility CFL stadium in Canada
  • Located 20 minutes from Pearson International Airport
  • Located on and easy access to Highway 401, North America’s busiest superhighway
  • Located 20 minutes from Q.E.W. and 10 minutes from Highway 407
  • Located in an area with more than six million Ontarians
  • Well supported by local hotels, restaurants, general goods merchants and service industry; high-quality municipal services, well-trained workforce
  • Easy media access

 Why west side of 401 Industrial Park?

  • Proposed site could be easily rezoned for stadium purpose
  • Located 20 minutes from Pearson International Airport
  • Located on and easy access to Highway 401, North America’s busiest superhighway
  • Located 20 minutes from Q.E.W. and 10 minutes from Highway 407
  • Located in an area with more than six million Ontarians
  • Well supported by local hotels, restaurants, general goods merchants and service industry; high-quality municipal services, well-trained workforce

I talked directly with Milton Mayor Gord Krantz early this morning, he will be directing town staff and the economic development department to work on getting a preliminary proposal prepared for review and possibly present to the Pan Am officials and the Tiger Cats franchise.  The Town of Milton is no stranger to the Pan Am committee as just recently they were involved with other municipalities to look at Milton being an option to have locations for the Pan Am games in 2015.

Milton has been Canada’s fastest growing municipality for the last 3 years and will be the “go to” location for businesses from around the region, the province and the country.  We have the ability to take on something like this and put Milton further on the map.

Nothing is written in stone but the play has been called and the time clock is running.  Can a Hail Mary save the Tiger Cats franchise and keep it in southern Ontario or will an icon in Canadian sports history be forever lost.

Stay tuned, this will be a fun ride.  I’ll see you at the doors.

Keep Your Eyes Open

Mike Cluett

An alert citizen in Milton is being credited for helping nab a car thief earlier this month.  Here is the story from the Milton Canadian Champion.

This goes to show that keeping your eyes open and reporting anything suspicious can always be helpful.  This also serves as a reminder to everyone to make sure your cars doors are locked and all valuables are stored away out of sight in order to deter these kinds of break ins.

If you would like more information about the Milton Community Policing Committee and how to get involved to learn more about community safety, visit the website http://haltonpolicingcommittees.ca/

Vehicle break-in suspect faces 14 more charges

Fourteen additional charges have been laid against a Milton man arrested earlier this month and charged in connection with a series of thefts from vehicles.

The additional charges follow a continuing two-week investigation by Halton Regional Police and relate to several break-ins and thefts in Oakville and Toronto over the past couple of months, police said.

Early May 8, police were called to a street in south Milton after a man reported seeing a suspicious male wearing dark clothing exit a vehicle. The man observed the suspect attempt to enter vehicles parked in various driveways on the street, police said.

The alert citizen called police, who searched the area along with a member of the canine unit.

An arrest was made after a suspect was located in a vehicle.

A 51-year-old Milton man is now facing a total of 21 criminal charges including break-and-enter and prowl by night and multiple counts of theft under $5,000, possession of stolen property and possession of stolen credit cards. 

Council to Debate Hospital Tax Levy

Mike Cluett

From the Milton Canadian Champion May 20, 2010 By Tim Foran

Councillors to debate hospital tax levy

Milton council will debate whether to provide cash, perhaps through a dedicated tax levy, to assist Halton Healthcare Services Corporation’s as yet unapproved plans to expand Milton District Hospital.

At Monday’s council session, Ward 3 Councillor Cindy Lunau introduced a notice of motion, which Ward 4 Councillor Paul Scherer indicated he would second, stating the Town would “endeavour” to help HHS cover its share of the costs to redevelop the half-century-old hospital, which hasn’t undergone a major expansion since the mid-1980s.

The motion states the Town would research and identify potential funding mechanisms including the possibility of including a special property tax levy beginning next year.  Council will debate and vote on the motion at the June 28 council session. Lunau said she wanted the long lead time for the community to have an opportunity to provide feedback and plan to attend the session.

Under Provincial funding guidelines that began in June, 2006, Ontario pays for all of the planning costs and 90 per cent of the bricks and mortar for hospital capital projects. Previously, most capital cost share rates varied from 50 to 80 per cent depending on the project, the Province stated at the time.

However, the hospital corporation is still responsible for the remaining 10 per cent of construction costs along with covering the full cost of building revenue-generating facilities such as cafeterias, retail areas and parking lots as well as the medical equipment inside the hospital.

In total, depending on the equipment a hospital needs, that means the Province will cover around 70 per cent of the total project costs, with the hospital corporation paying the remaining portion, dubbed the local share.

The hospital has three ways to pay that local share: its own revenues from, for example, parking lot fees or stores; fundraising done by the Milton District Hospital Foundation; and through financial assistance from municipalities.

The problem Milton council tried to wrap its head around Monday is that HHS won’t provide the municipality with an estimate right now of how much money it would need.  “At the end of the day, if we put too much (money) away, that’s fine,” Scherer said to HHS President John Oliver during Monday’s council session.  “But we need a starting point.”

Oliver said he understood council’s frustration but he doesn’t want to float a dollar figure that would inevitably turn out to be wrong years later after more detailed planning has taken place.

The hospital provided a preliminary cost estimate when it presented its business case for the expansion to the Ministry of Health in September, 2008 but Oliver said after the council meeting that number is already out of date and he doesn’t wish to release it.

“It’s not just inflation, the original size and scope has evolved from the original business case,” he explained. He said he also doesn’t want to jeopardize a competitive bidding process by leaking expected total costs.

However, Oliver did provide council with a benchmark for comparison when he said the redevelopment planned for Milton’s hospital is at least as big as the one proposed for Burlington’s Joseph Brant Memorial Hospital. The first phase of the redevelopment of Jo Brant is projected to cost $312 million, with the local share pegged at $120 million. In December, Burlington’s city council committed to covering half of that cost, or $60 million, and has already started a dedicated property tax levy this year. The City of Vaughan last year committed $80 million to a proposed new hospital for its community. Both projects are also unapproved and are in competition with the Milton hospital expansion to get on the Province’s next 10-year list of infrastructure projects, to be released next year, likely as part of the 2011 budget.

However, the competition is not just among those three hospitals. The Ministry of Health is currently prioritizing at least 50 other proposed hospital projects before submitting its list of requests to the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure, which will ultimately decide on the 10-year capital plan.

Other ministries are also prioritizing their own lists of proposed capital projects, one of which includes the proposed Wilfrid Laurier University campus in Milton. That prioritization is expected to take place over the next three months, said Jason Grier, a professional lobbyist from Hill and Knowlton working on behalf of HHS.

One of the things the Ministry of Health will be looking for during this time when prioritizing projects is whether the hospital corporation has a firm plan to meet its local share commitments, Grier said after council Monday.

“They don’t want to move forward on projects that aren’t going to have that local share commitment because then the project isn’t going to happen,” explained Grier, who served as executive assistant to George Smitherman when he was health minister in the provincial government.

Oliver told council it would help the hospital if the Town made a firm commitment of financial support. “I don’t know if you need to put a dollar figure behind it right now.”

Well That Was Interesting

Mike Cluett

Last nights council meeting had it all.  Expectations were running high by some members of council that it could either be a very short meeting or a very long meeting.

I had reported before that council salaries would be discussed at this meeting but apparently it went through on consent items and didn’t even make a blip on the radar.

Ward 3 councillor Cindy Lunau had a notice of motion to include a quick presentation by Halton Healthcare Services to Milton Town Council to give them an update on Milton District Hospital and its possible expansion.

John Oliver from Halton Healthcare made a presentation outlining the fact that expansion of the Milton DH is essential and must happen.  The provincial government has put a freeze on capital projects and will be reviewing them for the 2011 budget.  He made it very clear that Milton needs to be on the radar and get approval fast.  Even if they were given the green light today, it would be at least 2-5 years before anything will happen.

Regional Councillor Colin Best was frustrated with the process, as all councillors are, and with the fact the provincial government KNOWS Milton is growing but is doing nothing to help out.  We are being mandated to grow our population and size but yet have a hospital that is well under the required size for our community.  Mayor Krantz also shared in that frustration as well.

Mr. Oliver also outlined his pleasure with the community as a whole that came out as a result of the Friends of Milton Hospital campaign when over 35,000 people signed a petition to raise awareness with the provincial government that we need something done and soon.

He said that more work is needed and the community and council need to get behind this full force.

Councillor Lunau also put forward a notice of motion for staff to review possible ways for Milton Town Council to fund expansion, as if it were to happen, the local level of government would be required to put money forward.  Council’s idea is to start saving soon for that eventuality.

The problem council faces is where do you start?  And how much do we save for?  John Oliver couldn’t give us a number, although pressed by Councillor Paul Scherer a few times, as legally he could not give a number.  Council was advised to review other area municipalities and what their costs were as a starting point.

These possible funding options include, but are not limited to:

Increase of Development Charges; Special Tax Levy on Milton taxpayers to go to a dedicated hospital expansion fund only to be used for that purpose; Combination of the two.  Another possibility is using the GTA funding poll that has been collected from Milton taxpayers to support Toronto (don’t get us started on that) and now is no longer needed as another source of funding.

Needless to say, this will be something that will require community support like we havent seen before.  Last year, 35,000 people came to the table and to go forward we will need more!

There were some other discussions last night about parking on Queen Street, which is not allowed.  Councillor Greg Nelson failed in his attempt to put forward a motion to reopen the discussion to allow parking on either one side or both.  But after a very convincing presentation by the Milton Fire Chief, which included pictures of the street with one emergency vehicle and how it would impede traffic and cause a safety issue, it was voted down and parking on Queen Street will not be allowed.

And of course, the highly anticipated motion from Ward One Councillor Rick Day was ruled out of order.  Im not going to get into it here, but if you wanted to read what he was going to talk about, here is a link to his proposed notice of motion.

I also experimented with live Tweets from the council meeting last night.  Judging from some of your emails and comments to those posts, it was pretty successful.  I will try for future meetings to post updates via Twitter, which of course you can keep track by going to www.twitter.com/mike_cluettor follow here on the home of the Mike Cluett.

As always I welcome your emails and comments so keep them coming.  Until then, I’ll see you at the doors.