With the approval of the Boyne Survey financial agreements, we are moving closer to adding another estimated 50,000 new people to the town of Milton. I have some concerns about the estimated total however. Municipalities have been burned in the past underestimating the number of people projected for each area, which can lead to under servicing of the area, not just by the town or region, but by the province of Ontario as well.
We don’t have to look very far in the Greater Milton Area (GMA) to see problems that the Region of Peel had to endure over the past several years. There is a new reality to home ownership in many parts of Canada and Halton isn’t immune to this…multiple families per home.
With the prices of homes on the rise, the cost of home ownership is also increasing. There are families who have difficulty paying day to day bills in our economy with both parents working. It is apparent that this new reality of home ownership will mean more people living in areas than planned for. This can affect many services including water and waste as well as provincial services like education.
Its important to keep in mind our estimations going forward when site plans are submitted to council for review and approval. When our reports state that 50,000 new residents will move into the Boyne Survey when its all said and done, I worry that it might be a lot more. I would be more comfortable planning for a higher total in the range of 60-70,000 so that we can over estimate instead of under estimate when it comes to servicing of the new survey.
More on this to come, but here’s the story by Julia Le from the Milton Canadian Champion.
Council approves agreement to develop Boyne Survey
The Town of Milton is one step closer to developing 2,300 acres area of land bounded by Louis St. Laurent Avenue to the north, James Snow Parkway to the east, Britannia Road to the south and Tremaine Road to the west.
During a special meeting Monday night, councillors unanimously approved the Boyne financial agreement between the Town and the Boyne Landowners Group to develop the Boyne Survey Secondary Plan area.
It’s the third residential growth area located in the Milton urban expansion area. The other two growth areas are the Bristol and Sherwood surveys, which have been under construction for most of the past decade.
The Boyne Survey Secondary Plan area is planned to accommodate an additional 50,000 residents when fully developed. It’s intended to integrate with the existing urban area.
The report outlines the deal agreed upon by the Town’s negotiation team, which met with representatives of the Boyne Landowners Group over the past several months to iron out the details of the planning and financial requirements associated with developing the Boyne Survey.
The landowners group has agreed to pay a capital contribution on a per unit basis in addition to development charges when residential building permits are issued.
The contribution is expected to generate about $38 to $40 million, which will be used to finance infrastructure required to support the growth of the area. This in turn, will minimize the impact on property taxes and assist in keeping dept capacity within legislative and policy limits.
Town Treasurer Linda Leeds said the Boyne Landowners Group has also agreed to provide, at no cost to the Town, a total of 105 acres of parkland within the secondary plan area.
“In addition, the landowners have agreed to acquire and transfer to the Town at no cost lands that are known as the CMHL (Central Milton Holdings) lands,” she said.
This additional 158.4 acres of parkland is located just outside the secondary plan area. The acquisition of the CMHL, located on the north side of Main Street, west of the CN Rail line and the 43.7 Ha (108 acres) of parkland known as the Jannock lands, is expected to be finalized now that council has approved the financial agreement. It will accommodate the community-scale facilities required to serve not only future residents of the Boyne Survey, but also the broader community.
“The CMHL lands are strategically located. They’ll be joining onto the Jannock lands that overall will create the largest urban park in Canada, which is a real legacy for this town council to be able to secure,” said Leeds.
Other agreements include the early dedication of lands so that the Town can construct roads and plan for the appropriate infrastructure in accordance with the Town’s capital program.
Council heard from delegate Glen Schnarr of the Boyne Landowners Group, who expressed his personal satisfaction with the agreement.
“In our minds since we conceived the notion of the off-site parkland dedication of the CMHL lands so close to the core of downtown Milton, at the end of the day personally I am very proud to be a part of that,” said Schnarr, president of land development consulting firm Glen Schnarr & Associates Inc. “I know that the landowners group feels it’s a monumental accomplishment and I believe through working with your staff what we have achieved if the agreement is approved this evening is a major moment in the history of Milton.”
Mayor Gord Krantz thanked the Town staff and the landowners for spending a considerable amount of hours pulling together the agreement.
He told The Milton Canadian Champion that growth should pay for itself and the town is well on track of making it happen.
Bill Mann, the Town’s director of planning and development, used the analogy of the agreement being the first domino in a set of dominoes ready to fall into place.
Now that the agreement has been approved by town council, he said secondary plan , with minor medications made, will go before them again in the fall. It will then be passed to Halton Region’s director of planning, the delegated authority to give final approval.
If all goes according to plan, the developers will then enter an agreement with the Region and be part of the Region’s infrastructure staging plan and allocation program. A part of this process will be the planning of subdivisions through the town. By 2014, the Town can expect to issue building permits for the expected 17,500 residential units to be built in the Boyne Survey area.
Mann said the Town is on the right track to building a balanced community within Milton.
“Non-residential growth is a direct result of residential growth,” he said, adding that big companies are looking for a local employment base that’s growing because of affordable housing.
Mann said the Town has been making a conscious effort at providing a full range of retail shops while maintaining the downtown core as the centre focus. With the anticipated addition of the CHML lands, Mann said residents can look forward to 1,200 acres of green space that connects to the Jannock lands, Kelso Conservation Area, Country Heritage Park and is a gateway to the Niagara Escarpment.
The town is in its third phase of residential and employment growth originally designated in the 1997 Official Plan. The plan anticipated Halton Region’s delivery in 2000 of ‘The Big Pipe’, carrying Lake Ontario water up from Oakville to Milton, and a population that would grow to about 165,000 people by 2021.
