milton

St Patricks Day Weekend

Mike Cluett

Yes, its St Patricks Day Weekend.  Blarney stones, green beer and jigs will be the order of the day this coming Sunday.  Lots of fun to be had by all but we should also remember to enjoy the celebration and party responsibly.

Here is an article from the Milton Canadian Champion about Halton Police’s plans this weekend.

http://www.insidehalton.com/community/milton/article/1593505

Halton police watching on St. Pat’s weekend

Halton police announced Friday they will be out in force on the lookout for impaired drivers during the St. Patrick’s Day weekend to ensure it is remembered for its festivities and nothing else.

Police are reminding residents to plan ahead if their evening is going to involve any amount of drinking.

Such planning can include assigning a designated driver, calling a cab or using public transportation.

Police said being prepared ahead of time is key to avoiding the temptation to get behind the wheel while intoxicated.

The consequences of impaired driving are severe and can result in licence suspensions, vehicle impoundments, fines and even jail.

Police said those who drink and drive not only put themselves in danger, but their passengers and other motorists as well.

Residents who suspect a person is driving while impaired are asked to call 9-1-1 immediately.

The Halton Regional Police Service has stated it is committed to combating drinking and driving and keeping Halton’s roads safe.

Champion Editorial Comments on 3 Bag Limit

Mike Cluett

Unloading baggage

We fully support Halton Region’s plan to reduce the bi-weekly number of garbage bags residents will be able to place curbside before a user-pay system kicks in.

Next spring (April 1, 2013), residents will be provided with complimentary bag tags to affix to any garbage bags beyond their three-bag limit (currently residents enjoy a six-bag limit) they place at the curb on their regularly-scheduled waste collection day.

Five months later, on September 9, 2013, after having had ample opportunity to monitor and adjust their waste habits, residents will be asked to pay $2 for each tag they affix to garbage bags beyond the three-bag minimum.

There will be some exemptions granted, to those living in townhouses with common collection pile areas, those with diaper/medical condition-related waste as well as a two-week exemption for everyone immediately following the December holiday period.

While some municipalities have similar limits to free waste collection — Durham’s bi-weekly limit is three bags and Peel’s weekly limit is two bags — other municipalities — like Wellington (Guelph) — charge residents for every bag collected on garbage day.

We believe the Region’s tag concept is an incentive for Halton residents to be less wasteful and more thoughtful when deciding what should and shouldn’t get thrown out. The goal is to reduce the amount of Halton waste ending up in the landfill and, by doing so, extending the number of years before the landfill will be full. Regional staff say a three-bag limit could extend the landfill by as much as four years, creating an overall savings of $15 million.

Halton has been a leader in waste diversion among GTA municipalities with a rate of 57 per cent. That success is due, in part, to 85 per cent of homes already placing three garbage bags or less to the curb.

Only five per cent of Halton homes don’t participate in the Blue Box program each week, while 70 per cent of residents have been regular users of GreenCart since its Halton launch in mid-2008.

In order to help Halton homeowners reduce their waste, the Region is also planning to expand its Blue Box program to include mixed plastics like clear clamshells and yogurt and pudding cups, empty steel paint cans and cardboard spiral cans, which are commonly used for products such as refrigerated dough, frozen juices, chips, nuts and other snacks, powdered drink mixes and baby formula, shortening and powdered cleansers.

With this boost to the Blue Box program will come a larger 22-gallon container to hold the additional recyclable items.

Hopefully these initiatives will convince more of us to divert our waste and maintain Halton’s place among the greenest communities in the GTA.

Milton Town Council Meeting July 16, 2012

Mike Cluett

The next meeting of Milton Town Council is on Monday July 16, 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.

Some of the highlites in the agenda are as follows:

If you have any questions, please feel free to call or email me mike@mikecluett.ca You can also go to the Watch Online link on my page to view from the comfort of your home.  I look forward to seeing you there.

Optimist Walk In The Park

Mike Cluett

Happy Fathers Day everyone!  I hope all the Dads, Grand Dad’s the Dad’s to be had a great time on Sunday.

Speaking of Sunday, it was the first annual Optimist Club Walk in the Park in Milton and it was a great success.  Many people came out to enjoy the great weather and the fun activities as well.  There was some cricket for those willing to try…tougher than it looks folks…some great races for the kids, playground and splash pad as well as one of the newest Toronto Blue Jay (and Milton’s own) Nathan DaSousa was on hand to toss the ball around and help kids with some baseball skills.  Councillors Colin Best and Rick Di Lorenzo also attended and had a great time.

Many thanks to the organizers of the event (Kim, Joanne, Steve, Angelo et all) for putting on a great time for the kids AND the Dad’s as well.  Looking forward to next year being even bigger!

 

Administration & Planning Standing Committee Meeting June 18 2012

Mike Cluett

This coming Monday night June 18th will be 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 highlights include:

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

Upcoming Public Meetings

Mike Cluett

There are two upcoming public meetings on Monday March 19th as a part of our Administration & Planning meeting that residents in ward 6 would be interested in.

The first one is a potential development at the north west corner of Thompson Road and Louis St Laurent that would possibly bring in a Tim Horton’s restaurant along with drive thru across the street from the Metro Mall.

Here is a link to the public meeting notice.

I had an opportunity to meet with the person designing the development and I was very encouraged that the designs included lots of room for cars to enter without having any backup on the main roads (Thompson / LSL)  Its a situation that many drive thru’s run into…too many cars at busy points in the day lead to spillage on the roads and potential safety issues and traffic backups.

In addtion to a well designed parking lot with lots of spaces and room to move for vehicles, the outward design is also very nice.  Utilizing stone in the design keeps with the “escarpment feel” Many residents have commented that new development in Milton seems to be all over the place design wise and no continuity.  As soon as I can get the designs scanned in (likely when the agenda is available online – Thursday before the meeting) I can post it to show you.  It does look really nice, but I wont know until the final presentation is made.  This meeting is to ask for a zoning by law change to allow this future development.  There is still time before the site plans etc are to be presented.

Residents are invited to send submissions to council for that meeting either in writing or in person if they have any questions or concerns.  As always if you do have any questions you can email me mike@mikecluett.ca & I can bring them up.

The other public meeting to be held that night concerns zoning application at the corner of Hwy 25 and Louis St Laurent from Mattamy Corporation.  The link to that public notice is here.

That is a request to change the zoning to Future Development, which can lead to something similar at this location as the previous one, or something different.  The full details will be listed before the meeting so if you have any concerns, please let me know.

So what do you think?  A Tim Hortons is good for this location or not?  Do you think it will benefit the area or add to congestion?  Let me know mike@mikecluett.ca or feel free to leave a comment here.