MiltonSearch.com would like to extend thanks to one of our readers for alerting us to this minor Milton news story — but an interesting one nonetheless.

Between 6 – 6:15am yesterday morning (May 27), one of our readers noticed a car stopped with its hazard lights on in the northbound left lane on Thompson Rd. at Nipissing just south of the overpass on the way to the Milton GO Station.

Upon driving by in the right lane, our reader noticed a deer of all things, lying on the road directly in front of the stopped car. We have to assume that the deer was in fact unfortunately hit by this motorist or another.

This of course happens all the time on rural roads and highways, but it is a little surprising to hear that deer would be trying to cross a wide, busy stretch of road in this developed area of town.

Or is it?

We’re all accustomed to rabbits, mice, voles, raccoons and the like creeping around our streets as they’re pushed out of their habitat by Milton’s aggressive development into Halton’s rural areas. There are also deer in these parts and apparently they’re living closer than we think.

The lesson in all of this: Milton’s expansion isn’t slowing down, but as drivers we can. Take a little extra care on Milton’s major routes early in the morning and late at night. Granted, deer are quick and unpredictable, making them almost unavoidable when driving — but be alert nonetheless.

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Big Brothers Big Sisters of Halton will be holding a volunteer information session Tuesday January 26 at 7:00 p.m. at its office, 69 Main Street E.

From Big Brothers Big Sisters of Halton:

Children at a number of Milton schools continue to wait for an in-school mentor and a local agency is working hard to fix this.

If you would like to make the difference in the life of Milton child, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Halton is interested in speaking to you. The agency will be holding a volunteer information session Tuesday January 26 at 7:00 p.m. at its office, 69 Main Street East.

This is a great opportunity to hear more about who the agency serves and how its programs can have a powerful and positive effect on both children and their mentors.

Call (905) 878-8840 or visit www.bbbshalton.ca for more details.

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From Zeeshan Hamid:

Continue reading “Web-stream these meetings already!”

You can read Zeeshan Hamid’s blog here

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At 5:00 am this past Saturday morning, the phones rang out at the offices of MiltonSearch.com, waking everyone from their slumber.

The reason for this 5am wake-up call? Well, it was an automated message from Halton District School Board letting us know that indeed, classes and field trips were cancelled for the day due to inclement weather.

It’s worth mentioning again that it was a Saturday morning and after running to the window to see what kind of winter storm we were experiencing, there was absolutely no snow to speak of.

Later in the day — after waking up on my own — whilst perusing the Hawthorne Villager discussion forums, I realized we weren’t the only lucky ones who received this early wake-up call.

School trustee Donna Danielli later posted the following apology in the thread:

I am so very sorry for the glitch in our system which sent 5 am phone calls out to all of our houses this morning.

Technology is great when it works, but when it doesn’t….grrrr!

Again, my apologies to all who disturbed so early on a weekend. Please know that the Board tech department is investigating and hopefully it won’t happen again.

Donna Danielli
Public School Trustee
daniellid@hdsb.ca

and this:

Again, I cannot apologize enough for those who were disturbed so early this morning. Our head of IT sent out the following explanations for those who are curious how it happened:

This message was sent in error. It occurred as a result of testing updates to the system. I.T staff did not double check the cancellation of a test message. This resulted in the system sending the message you received.

We take this situation very seriously. We apologize for waking households and for delivering an incorrect message. We apologize for undermining the value of the Home Notification System and will work to ensure this never happens again.

And then Sunday, I came across this article in the Toronto Star, realizing that this wasn’t limited to Milton — thousands of families across Halton received the call. Apparently ‘the call’ also made the airwaves on 680News later in the day.

Now, as bothersome as it was to be unexpectedly awakened early on a Saturday morning, it’s hard to imagine how this ended up as front page news in the Sunday Star. Slow news day or what?

Let’s keep this in perspective folks — it was just a phone call. These kinds of technical glitches happen — albeit not too often — but they happen. It’s not the end of the world.

To Donna Danielli: thank you for responding to the online posters and apologizing, although I’m pretty sure you didn’t have to and it definitely wasn’t your fault.

And what about us? Were we annoyed? Well, yes — but it’s good to know the school board’s new automated phone alert system is obviously operational, date issues aside.

Granted, our children stayed sound asleep and snuggled in their beds during all of this. If that wasn’t the case, well, I think this post would have had a slightly different tone.

Chill, people.

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Burlington farmer James Fisher says a natural heritage designation will inevitably put agricultural interests behind environmental concerns.

Kudos to Halton Region, which is finally looking to limit development after a huge amount of some of Ontario’s finest farmland has already been or is planned to be developed on.

This will be interesting to watch as the situation pits green politicians vs. rural politicians supporting farmers vs. farmers who want to sell their land to developers vs. farmers who want to preserve Halton’s rich farmland.

You may also want to read two other articles posted previously on MiltonSearch.com: Strawberry Fields (not) Forever and A Farewell to Farms.

Below is an overview of Halton Region and its land designations. Click the image for an enlarged, interactive version.

Here is this latest column in it’s entirety from the Toronto Star:

Where Homes Don’t Grow

Halton’s radical plan to limit development pits red-taped farmers against green politicians

Outspoken Oakville councillor Allan Elgar has a name for the practice of building a sprawling subdivision on prime farmland: He calls it “the final crop.”

That’s why the farmboy-turned-environmentalist is backing Halton Region’s groundbreaking proposal to set its own protections on an extensive natural heritage system. The plan would preserve a whopping 36 per cent of the region’s developable land, set up an integrated network of preserved areas, and drastically curtail where houses can be planted some day.

The land included is neither part of the protected greenbelt and Niagara Escarpment nor under consideration for development.

But the move is pitting green-minded politicians in Oakville and Burlington against those in Halton Hills and Milton, who are more responsive to concerns raised by farmers and development interests and have opposed it. A final vote is slated for Dec. 16.

Supporters make no bones about the fact the plan will thwart speculators who have bought, or arranged to buy, vast hectares of prime agricultural land in Halton, and the farmers who want to sell it.

Caught in the crossfire, however, are farmers who don’t want to sell but are deeply concerned that the new designation will add another layer of regulation that bodes ill for farming in the long run.

It is, contends James Fisher, all about how words are interpreted.

“The actual designation has negative impact,” said Fisher, one of several farmers who spoke to Halton regional council this week. “It’s not that we are against the natural heritage system. We want an alternative that respects agriculture.”

They fear that replacing the current agricultural zoning with the term “natural heritage” will inevitably put farming interests behind environmental concerns, despite repeated assurances that farming will always be allowed.

Farmers want, at a minimum, to see the natural heritage system designated as preserving both environmental features and agriculture.

Whatever the final wording, Elgar and most of the Halton councillors seem ready to approve the creation of a vast “systems-based” network of natural heritage corridors to connect environmentally sensitive areas such as river valleys, woodlots and wetlands.

It would end the old practice of protecting only isolated pockets, which tend to degrade over time if there are no corridors ensuring that wildlife can move freely.

The proposal may be more radical than the provincial greenbelt legislation because it bans golf courses anywhere on the system, whereas the province just blocks golf courses from prime agricultural land.

“If we get this, we will be the first region in the Greater Toronto Area with a systems-based approach on a regional basis,” said Elgar, describing the preservation plan as simply an extra layer of protection.

“It is a no-touch zone … There is concern that there is a lot of farming land bought by the development industry, with the hope in future of flipping it to plant houses.”

The plan would not only make protected areas off-limits but also make anything built within 120 metres of a natural heritage feature or corridor subject to an environmental impact assessment – a proposition feared both by developers and farmers who want to make improvements to their property.

While other GTA municipalities are also doing more long-range development planning now, Halton’s scheme is the most ambitious.

In the face of similar opposition, Peel Region politicians recently deferred a decision on their own plan, which targets mostly farmland in Brampton and Caledon. Peel’s plan is less stringent than Halton’s – it has been slammed by the Sierra Club for example, for allowing golf courses to be built in the valley lands of its waterways.

Halton politicians could take courage from an Ontario Municipal Board ruling last year that approved Oakville’s controversial decision to protect 900 hectares on its own initiative. The preservation area – won after a decade-long tussle with the development industry – represents more than one-third of the 3,400 hectares of undeveloped land north of Dundas St. W.

The OMB ruling was a major victory for the likes of Elgar, Oakville Mayor Rob Burton and members of the environmental group Oakvillegreen, who had fought to preserve green space in north Oakville while making room for an eventual population of more than 50,000.

The ruling also emboldened them and other Halton Region politicians to go after developers for thousands of dollars in extra development charges on each home sold – significantly higher than other regions – under the mantra that “growth must pay for itself” and municipal government doesn’t exist to subsidize developer profits.

Halton Hills Councillor Clark Sommerville says the intention behind the natural heritage system proposal is good – and driven by urban councillors from Oakville and Burlington who are trying to make amends for the fact their communities were largely built out before such protections existed.

But he thinks it’s “overkill.”

No matter how well-intentioned, overregulation “will be the death knell of farming,” Somerville said – not development.

“The biggest thing we are trying to protect is the non-urban rural land from development, but the way it’s being written it almost appears that agriculture is the threat,” he said.

Still, environmentalists such as Liz Benneian of Oakvillegreen say the new rules will ensure protection for farmers. Her only concern is that a provision in the original plan – superimposing the natural heritage system on Greenbelt areas as a second layer of protection against a future change of heart by the province – has since been removed.

“We believe this is a forward-thinking plan from planners and politicians,” Benneian said. “A gift to our grandchildren.”

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From MiltonSearch.com:

Earlier this week, Local and Regional Councillor Colin Best posted an update on the Hawthorne Villager forums on the possible acceleration of a project critical those living in the new Milton developments west of the hospital.

That particular area of the town has and continues to grow and expand rapidly. Trains on the north-south CN railway tracks just west of Milton District Hospital frequently stop traffic in both directions along Derry Road, not only simply inconveniencing residents, but also delaying emergency response services to that new development — ambulances and fire trucks being the obvious ones.

Thanks to the response of Milton residents, Colin’s request to accelerate the underpass project was included in the 2010 budget presentation. Hawthorne Village Escarpment resident Zeeshan Hamid should also be commended for his efforts. Hamid posted a petition on his personal website to assist in bringing awareness to this issue in an attempt to accelerate the project and 273 residents sent emails through his site to the town.

Both Colin and Zeeshan should be commended for their efforts on this critical issue to thousands of new Milton residents.

From Colin Best:

Just wanted to let everyone know that thanks to the hundreds of emails sent by Milton residents and hawthornevillager members, my request to accelerate this project has been included in the 2010 budget presentation which was presented today to bring forward the engineering and design work to be tender ready from 2014 to 2010 at a cost of $ 2.4 million with the construction work which takes about 18 months to complete from 2016 to 2012 at a cost of $ 20.6 million.

Regional council will be considering all the budget submissions and recommendations over the next three weeks and have final approval at the Regional Council on Wednesday Decemeber 16th.

You can see the details of the staff recommendations at www.halton.ca and in Friday’s Champion.

Council also today finalized some of the details of the engineering work for the widening of Tremaine Road to Main St. W. to start that process in early 2010 and the completion of the widening of Derry road from Bronte to Tremaine Road and the detour around the CN line within the next few months to allow the underpass construction to start.

Chair Carr and the public works staff have been working closely with the Town and I to bring this project forward due to the growth of the Harrison and Scott neighbourhoods and increased traffic along Derry road.

The Town will be announcing its staff recommendations next week and I will be posting more information on both budgets in the near future.

Colin Best
Local & Regional councillor
Member of the Halton Budget Review Committee
www.colinbest.ca

From Zeeshan Hamid:

Thanks Colin!

273 people sent e-mails via my website. Wow, I did not expect more than a few dozen hits honestly.

@csb101 – design etc. in 2010. Construction in 2012. One caveat is that 2010 budget is what’s coming up for approval in 3 weeks … 2012 is technically still at the mercy of the next council.

I will take the petition down from my website when the budget is approved (Dec 16th).This petition was a huge motivation behind setting up the site (my blog was initially hosted at blogspot). The site will feel so empty without it.

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The 2009 Milton Volunteer Fair takes place Saturday, October 24th, 2009 at the Milton Sports Centre on Santa Maria Blvd (click image to open pdf document).

From Big Brothers Big Sisters of Halton:

Are you looking for hands-on experience to link to your academic plans? Do you want to find ways to explore future careers and add valuable experience to your resume? Are you interested in the rewards of getting involved in your community?

Well now is the time.

The annual Milton Volunteer Fair is slated for Saturday October 24 from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. at the Milton Sport Centre, 605 Santa Maria Boulevard. The Fair is an excellent way of providing local residents with an opportunity to speak with community organizations and find out more about how they can gain experience in a variety of fields. Rather than searching through the internet, pounding the pavement and knocking on doors, the fair offers a stress-free way to speak to many groups under one roof at one time.

No registration is necessary.

The Milton Volunteer Fair is being organized by representatives from local non-profits, including the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Halton, Milton Community Policing Committee, the Milton Community Resource Centre and Volunteer Halton. The event continues to be a popular way to link potential volunteers with an agency that meets their needs.

For more information please contact Stu Johnston (stujbs@sympatico.ca, (905) 634-5844) or Anne Coburn, Director of Volunteer Halton (acobourn@cdhalton.ca, (905) 878-0955).

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The popular Hawthorne Villager forums are glowing red hot this week as many soon-to-be residents of brand new Mattamy-built homes received their much-anticipated letters from Mattamy announcing details of exactly how much they would have to pay in increased Halton Region development charges. Now that the posts are flying fast and furious, the magic number seems to be $7888.00 no matter the size or price of the home currently under construction.

The full, ongoing discussion can be found here.

The general feeling is that of rage at this point, and I really feel for the new homeowners who have been hit by this unexpected charge. Fortunately for some, they had lawyers with enough foresight or knowledge of the new homebuying process that they had their contracts amended to cap the amount at $1000 — but for most, it’s a huge extra cost out of the blue — money they either don’t have, or were planning to use for their downpayments, upgrades, new appliances or renovations after moving in.

Initially, I looked at Mattamy with my conspiracy theory hat on: they’re taking great pleasure in passing along this increased development charge to their customers — get everyone incensed enough to protest this increase, so maybe it goes away and possibly they increase their profits. Whatever the case, any charge the Region hits them with, you know they’re just passing it down to the customer. It’s what any business would do.

The Region of Halton has also posted a Q&A on their website here, which was an interesting read:

Information for Purchasers of New Mattamy Homes in Milton

Q: Mattamy says they are requiring me to pay about $8,000 before closing to cover a new tax / levy / development charge that has been imposed by Halton. Is that true?

• No. This cost did not come about due to a new tax, development charge, or levy.
• It did not come about due to an increase in an existing tax, development charge or levy.
• The amount Mattamy Homes is referring to relates to a financial contribution that Mattamy agreed, in 2007 and 2008, to make to Halton Region in two installments to pay for key infrastructure to support growth.
• The amount payable under the agreement is the responsibility of the Mattamy Homes, who now appears to be trying to pass these costs on to you.

Q: This came as a surprise to me. Why am I only hearing about this now?

• Halton Region was not aware that Mattamy Homes did not communicate with you about the amount of the costs before now.
• The industry and Halton began discussions about this subject in 2007.
• The amount of the per unit payment that developers were going to have to make as a contribution was estimated and disclosed publicly in November 2008.
• Mattamy Homes has known these costs would be payable since 2007, and have known the magnitude of how much it would be since October 2008.
• There were over 22 meetings and a full consultative process.
• Mattamy Homes participated fully in the process.

Q: Does Mattamy Homes have the right to pass these charges on to me?

• Mattamy Homes agreed to pay for the costs of new infrastructure under the agreement that they made with Halton.
• Whether or not they can now pass that cost on to you is a contractual matter between you and Mattamy Homes.
• Given that the sum arises from a “payment under an agreement”, and not from a tax, levy or a development charge, you might ask your solicitor if this charge can be appropriately passed on to you under the terms of your agreement of purchase and sale and if the amount under the agreement was fully disclosed to you after November 2008 when the amount of the contribution was estimated and disclosed publicly.

Q: Why did Halton seek contributions from Mattamy Homes and other developers?

• The contributions arise from the long-standing Council approved policy that existing Halton taxpayers should not pay for the costs of growth.
• Halton’s Financial and Implementation Plan determines the actual costs of infrastructure, like roads, water and waste water services, and assigns those costs to each new unit.
• This policy is essential to the long term financial sustainability of Halton.

Q: Can you simply drop the charge or lower it or not apply it to us?

• No, we cannot do that. Halton’s Financial and Implementation Plan for the 2008/2009 Allocation Program is essential to the long term viability of the Region.
• Without it, Halton would face a significant shortfall and burden present and future taxpayers.
• The Plan applies to all new units being constructed in Halton, so there is no ability to make exceptions.

Q: But I can’t afford to pay it. What am I supposed to do?

• The fee is payable by Mattamy Homes.
• It appears they have tried to pass them on to you.

From the Region’s perspective, they’ve charged Mattamy and it sounds like they feel Mattamy shouldn’t pass this on. As stated above, what did they think Mattamy was going to do? Absorb this cost? At $8000 per home, you don’t need to be a math wiz to figure out that’s a big dollar figure we’re talking about. The Region sure sounds like they’re making Mattamy out to be the bad guy on this one….

Some think Mattamy should at least have let their customers know about this charge sooner — however, they themselves apparently only found out about what the exact charge would be in April 2009 according to the Region.

Apparently on September 30th, the Region of Halton will sit down and review a proposal from the builders which may or may not reduce or eliminate this fee.

Grab the popcorn, this one’s going to get interesting.

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Emergency crews on the scene after a tornado touched down in the Pine St./Oak St. area of Milton near Wakefield Place. Photo courtesy of Andrea Pettigrew of Milton.

As we’re all well aware, a tornado touched down briefly in ‘Old’ Milton on the evening of Thursday, August 20th, 2009. It was the first reported tornado in Milton in over 150 years, which explains why it was such a big deal around these parts.

As I watched the violent sheets of rain and the wind bending over my trees and shrubs at the MiltonSearch.com offices, I remember thinking “somewhere there’s gotta be a tornado touching down.”

Little did I know that this was indeed the case, although it was a little closer than I expected.

We covered the incident on our site the day after and were the first local media outlet to post photos of the aftermath. This led to MiltonSearch.com’s most successful day (August 21, 2009) and week of traffic ever as we ranked #1 on Google for users searching for info and photos of the tornado.

We asked for visitors to send us their pictures and to submit their stories of the storm, the damage and of course, the cleanup efforts. Andrea Pettigrew of Oak St., who lives right beside Wakefield Place, was the first to respond.

Many of the photos she sent us that were taken during the storm, we didn’t post in our photo gallery, although they were very “artistic.” However, she also sent us a bunch of pictures of the damage to her house and the surrounding area, and also several of the various cleanup crews.

Andrea’s full gallery of photos can be found here. Below are excerpts of her account of the incident, which again, thankfully didn’t result in any serious injuries.

My name is Andrea and I live on Oak St. in Milton.  The tree that took out part of the roof off the dental office on Wakefield landed on my roof.  I can give you further details if you wish as I was taking photos the whole time.  Right now am rather tired from all the cleanup.  I just moved here on the first of the month and was still in the process of moving and getting settled in.

I wish to thank all of the police, firefighters, town and emergency workers who did such a wonderful job under stressful circumstances and long hours.  They were well prepared and very concerned for our safety.  They were simply amazing and very kind!

It is very reassuring to know that Milton is so well prepared for the unexpected and I am very grateful for these special people who just showed up and worked without complaint.

My regards to all of you!

Sincerely,

Andrea Pettigrew

Amen. Thanks Andrea! Sorry to hear about your roof and the damage to your home (especially after just moving in) and good luck with the cleanup.

If you would like to share your story and/or photos, feel free to drop us a line at: info@miltonsearch.com or register and create an account so you can upload your own gallery of photos to our Milton photo gallery.

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Milton Hospital has not seen a substantial expansion since the mid-1980's when the Town's population was less than 30,000. Milton's current population is approximately 80,000 (Spring 2009).

Let the campaign begin – Group launches community campaign in support of hospital expansion

The massive increase of residents to Milton, combined with the town’s unique proportion of young and growing families, requires a hospital that expands along with the community, according to a local volunteer group committed to securing that expansion.

“I use the analogy that Milton (District) Hospital is our community mother,” said Cari Kovachik- MacNeil, co-chair of Friends of Milton Hospital, during the official launch of the group’s ‘Help Milton Hospital Grow’ campaign yesterday on the hospital grounds.

“Our community of Milton is growing, we need our mother to grow with us,” she said.

The group’s campaign is dedicated to garnering support among the community for the hospital redevelopment and expansion, and showing that support to the Province, from which approval and majority funding are needed for Halton Healthcare Services (HHS) to implement its master plan for hospital growth.

With $25,000 support from the Town of Milton, the group will hand out buttons among the community and ask residents to sign postcards directed to Ontario Health Minister David Caplan asking for approval for the hospital expansion.

The current hospital is designed and funded to operate for 32,000 residents, but Milton now has around 80,000 residents. The hospital currently has 68 beds, but can only expand with existing resources and space to 86 beds, which means it will reach capacity by next year, according to HHS.

One of the most visible impacts of Milton’s residential growth on the hospital is in the maternity ward. Only 216 babies were delivered at the hospital in 2000, just before Milton’s current growth spurt began, but that number is around 1,000 now. In 2016/17, the hospital expects to deliver more than 2,000 babies, a percentage increase far outstripping the town’s overall residential growth.

“We need it (the expansion), not just we want it,” said Milton Mayor Gord Krantz.

The mayor said he understands the local community will have to pick up a percentage of the expansion costs, generally estimated at 30 per cent, and he said he expects some of that money will have to come from the property tax base.

“It’s going to have to happen, there’s no doubt in my mind, whether it’s from the Regional or Town side (of property taxes),” Krantz said.

For more information and to sign an online postcard in support of the expansion of Milton District Hospital, MiltonSearch.com invites you to visit the official Friends of Milton Hospital website.

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