region of halton

Response From Infrastructure Minister Coming

Mike Cluett

As reported on her Twitter account, Christina Commisso @C_Commisso (who is one of the reporters for the Milton Canadian Champion) sent out a message yesterday saying that the Minister of Infrastructure Bob Chiraelli responded to the article “Councillors Disappointed with Infrastructure Plan“

You can read my response to the article here in my post called “Hey Bob! Read OUR Lips“

Call me a cynic, but I’m not expecting a full time line report from the Minister but hopefully we will get a clearer idea of when any possible expansion of Milton District Hospital will happen.  Its not that it should happen, its that it HAS to happen.  Miltonians deserve an answer or at least a timeline of when things will begin to move forward.

Milton Council needs to have answers.  There are a lot of issues financially that we are facing with our 2012 budget about hospital expansion reserve accounts and other projects that need help from the province that we need to address and we at the town and the Region of Halton have done our work…we just need the province to take some action.

Regional Councillor Colin Best has also expressed his frustration about the plan.  The Region has been working on getting ROPA 39 approved (something the province requires) so we can continue with the long range planning and with the province and if its not approved it can put the town and the region in a difficult position at the provincial level.  At our last council meeting the measure passed…just barely.  Again, we are doing what we can to send a message to the province that we need them to step up to the plate.

I’ll update the blog later on today when we get a chance to read his response.  Cross your fingers folks.

Motor Vehicle Collisions in Ward 6

Mike Cluett

Many thanks to Regional Councillor Colin Best for sending this information to the local councillors in Milton.  He has been in discussions with the Halton Region Police Services and one of his reports included a map of all areas and where the most motor vehicle collisions (MCA’s) have occured in town.

As you can see by this list, the top 10 intersections in the region (minus Oakville/Burlington) for MCA’s are located in Milton.

The following is a map of ward 6 specifically.  As you can see the intersection of Derry and Thompson Road is an intersection that has a high number of MCA’s.  There are also a number of other areas in our ward that have a low number of collisions but they are still quite serious.

Community Services Meeting May 9 2011

Mike Cluett

This coming Monday May 9th will be our Community Services Standing Committee meeting at Town Hall.  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.  These matters are related to Community Services, Fire, Library, Transit and other operational programs.

The agenda can be found here at this link.  Some of the highlights will be discussion on whether or not the Canadian Road Cycling Championships should be re-routed due to some issues Springridge Farms have with road closures.  The race is slated for Saturday June 25th and this would mean the road in front of Springridge would have to be closed, meaning customers wouldn’t be able to get there.  There are also other issues about the road in general and there is one delegation slated to speak.

Another presentation to be given is the Transportation Projects update which gives updates on Ministry of Transportation’s projects, GO Transit, Halton Region, and the Britannia Road Environmental Assessment process.

If you would like to speak on any of the items listed you can email the Town Clerk before 10AM on Monday and get listed as a delegation.  You can also drop me an email mike@mikecluett.ca if you have any questions. 

As always the meetings are now streamed live and click here watch council in action.

More Construction Notices – Hydro One

Mike Cluett

The town of Milton received a notice from Hydro One about some upcoming constrcution to the transmission corridor along James Snow Parkway from Steeles to Main Street.  As you will read the construction will take a number of weeks with the goal of being finished by mid-May.

Reisdents will see helicoptors flying around and there will be some loud bangs from the use of implosive devices to fuse wires together…so dont be alarmed.  The notice I’m posting here will be sent to area residents and businesses, sent to the local papers, and local police & fire services.

Here is a link to the notice & a copy of the letter to residents/businesses.

IMPORTANT NOTICE

Bruce to Milton Project Construction Activities

April 28, 2011

Dear Residents,

Hydro One would like to inform you about some upcoming construction activities in the Town of Milton associated with our Bruce to Milton Transmission Reinforcement Project. 

Over the next several weeks our contractor, Valard Construction, will be installing conductor (wire) on the Hydro One right-of-way east of James Snow Parkway, between Main Street and north of Steeles Ave (see map on reverse). In order to string conductor onto the new towers, helicopters will be used and will be required to make short stops at each tower.

In order to fuse the conductor together, our contractor will be using implosive devices. This process makes a loud banging sound similar to that of a firearm discharging, so please do not be alarmed when you hear it.

These activities are scheduled to begin on Saturday, April 30, and will continue periodically, throughout the area until mid May, 2011. Crews will be working seven days a week, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. We expect several implosive connections will be made each day.

Hydro One will be notifying residents and businesses within one kilometre of the work sites.  In addition, we will be notifying nearby schools, local police, ambulance and fire departments to ensure they are aware of the work.

We apologize in advance for the noise and any inconvenience this work may cause.  We thank you for your patience while Hydro One and its contractor complete this critical 500 kilovolt transmission line that will add 3000 megawatts of transmission capability to Ontario’s grid.

If you have questions or concerns, please feel free to contact Marty Dendekker, Construction

Contact Officer at (519)873-0331, or our Community Relations Line toll-free at

1-877-345-6799, or by email at Community.Relations@HydroOne.com.

****

Dear Mayor Krantz,

This weekend, Hydro One’s contractor Valard Construction will begin stringing the conductor (wire) along the new Bruce to Milton transmission towers in the Town of Milton.  The area affected is along the transmission corridor, east of James Snow Parkway and between Main Street and north of Steeles Avenue (see attached notice and map). We expect this work will be completed by mid May.

Helicopters will be used to install the new wires.  Following this, implosive devices will be used to fuse the wires together. These implosive devises make a loud bang, similar to a firearm discharging.  The attached notice will be distributed to homes and businesses in the area through the Milton Canadian Champion and Georgetown Independent, so people are aware of the process and won’t be alarmed if they hear the occasional bang. We have also notified local Police and Fire Services.

In addition, to string this section of line,  helicopters will need to fly over Highway 401 at James Snow Parkway tentatively this weekend and next (May 7 and 8).  As a precautionary measure, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) will slow down traffic on Highway 401 in the vicinity of James Snow Parkway to ensure that this work can be completed safely.  We expect there will be eight slow-downs of traffic over the two weekends for about 5 minutes each time.  The exact timing will be determined by Valard Construction and the OPP on site.

If weather conditions allow, this work could be completed in less time, and traffic slow downs may not be required on both weekends.  

Please do not hesitate to call me or Marylena Stea, Community Relations Officer at 416-345-5706 if you have any questions.

Regards,

Enza Cancilla
Manager, Public Affairs
Corporate Communications
Hydro One Networks

Road Closure at 4th Line & Britannia Extended to May 31 2011

Mike Cluett

UPDATE 3:15pm:  I did get a chance to speak with the Region of Halton regarding the reasoning behind the delay.  Mainly the delay is due to weather conditions being too wet with all the rain we’ve been having.  It makes it difficult to continue to dig along the road side, install the water pipes and pour concrete.  Their number one priority right now is to get that intersection open to help alleviate the congestion along Britannia during the rush hours.  More information to come and letters will be sent out tomorrow to area residents.  Of course, stay tuned here for more updates as construction progresses.

If you recall a couple of months ago, I reported on the road closure at Fourth Line and Britannia.  The approximate date of completion was set to be the end of April, but there have been a number of delays with weather being one of the factors. 

I recently received a notification from the Region of Halton that the intersection of 4th Line and Britannia Road will continue to be closed until May 31, 2011.

This is a one month extension of the previous deadline of April 30th.

“The road closure will be extended to the end of May 2011 from the original completion date of April 29, 2011.  There will be no access across Britannia Road at Fourth Line.  Access to Fourth Line, north of Britannia Road still remains Louis St Laurent Avenue and Fourth Line south of Britannia Road via Lower Base Line.”

As soon as I hear more about a possible completion date, I’ll update the blog.

Committee Meetings

Mike Cluett

Tonight is the first of our “non-council” meetings throughout the year.  As I’ve mentioned here before, Milton Town Council is divided up into two standing committees (Community Services Standing Committee & Administration and Planning Standing Committee)  Half of council is on one and the other half is on the second with the Mayor sitting on both.  The Community Services Standing Committee consists of Regional Councillor Tony Lambert ( Wards 1, 6, 7 8 ) Local Councillors Greg Nelson (Ward 2), Local Councillor Rick Malboeuf (Ward 4), Local Councillor Arnold Huffman (Ward 5), Local Councillor Rick DiLorenzo (Ward7) and Mayor Gord Krantz.

The Community Services Standing Committee consists of the five Councillors and Mayor. Committee members review all reports, formulate policy and make recommendations to Council on matters over which Council has authority under the Municipal Act. These matters are related to Community Services, Fire, Library, Transit and other operational programs.

Our first meeting of the Community Services Standing Committee is tonight at town hall (7pm) and while I don’t sit on that committee, we do attend these meetings without a vote.  Council members are not required to be there but the standing tradition is that they attend when possible to provide any additional information and feedback from the community that other councillors might not have.

The agenda for tonights meeting is here.

One of the items on tonight’s agenda is the by-law to be passed regarding the 4th Line / Britannia Road intersection closure slated for March to April of 2011.  You can find the report here.

Some of the questions Ive received over the past couple of weeks that I had my posting on the blog was to find out if the traffic lights set for Britannia Road (during the closure, Britannia Road will be reduced to one lane instead of two) and if the temporary lights will be unmanned and / or timers set to accommodate morning/afternoon rush hour traffic.

I received an email from Joe Proietti at the Region of Halton who assured me the lights will be unmanned but set up on timers and those timers will be set to recognize the increased amount of east / west traffic through the mornings and afternoons on Britannia Road.  This isn’t the most ideal situation and hopefully the Region of Halton will complete their work as soon as possible during this time.

Its imperative that the traffic flow along Britannia Road not be hindered during this time as it just adds to confusion and frustration of drivers looking to leave and enter Milton during the day.

I’ll keep you posted during the meeting via Twitter for any other updates.  Thanks to everyone who sent me emails about this.