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ON Economic Fundamentals 2008-08

Thorold has paid enough for new hospital: councillor

Thorold Coun. Jim Handley isn`t hip to the Niagara Health System`s hospital improvement plan.

Ditto for the NHS`s chosen location for a new hospital in west St. Catharines.

As a result, Handley plans to bring forward a motion Sept. 2 that will ensure Thorold doesn`t chip in more than the $4.3 million to $5.2 million it pledged to the new hospital`s construction -- just in case the NHS ever asks the municipality for more money for the project.

"I don`t want to give them more money. I didn`t want to give them the money in the first place. I felt it could be better spent," Handley said.

"They`re not getting any more as far as I`m concerned."

http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/Article....aspx?e=1154845
 
Neighbor not surprised by grow-op

Twelve-foot cedar trees surround a single-storey home on Charlotteville Road 8.

There is little evidence anyone has lived here.

Weeds have overgrown parts of the gravel driveway.

Looking through a window, a patio furniture set acts as dining room décor while a leather couch and computer screen fill the rest of the living room.

Stacks of coffee cups line a counter and a pair of running shoes sit at the front entrance.

Behind the small blue-sided house is a large greenhouse with a shed attached. Plastic is taped up around the shed windows and along the greenhouse making it impossible to see inside.

http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/ArticleDi....aspx?e=1154155
 
Gill Street condo project going to OMB

The fight may not be over for neighbours opposed to a development on Gill Street.

Less than three weeks after Orillia city council unanimously turned down a zoning bylaw amendment for a proposed multi-storey condominium project at 395 Gill St., the applicant has filed an appeal to the Ontario Municipal Board.

Among the reasons council gave for the decision was that the application for two four-storey buildings with 32 condominium units each and an additional eight townhouses on the 2.35 acre property didn`t fit in with the immediate neighbourhood.

http://www.orilliapacket.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1154513
 
Homeowners stuck with grow-op costs

Owners of buildings found to house marijuana grow ops will be saddled with a bill for costs associated with dismantling the illegal operations with Orillia council`s approval of a fee bylaw.

The bylaw was part of a package that included two new protocol agreements surrounding dismantling residential grow-ops found in the city.

The two protocol documents outline the process the OPP, Orillia Fire Department and the city`s building division will follow when a marijuana grow operation is discovered.

"Love it. Great. Long overdue," Coun. Michael Fogarty said at Monday afternoon`s council committee meeting. "My only question is why are we just limiting it to marijuana?"

http://www.orilliapacket.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1154498
 
City may not have power over zoning

Mayor David Miller admitted yesterday that the city may have little say over the eventual reopening of a propane depot that blew sky-high on Sunday -- the legacy of a regulatory spat in decades past that pitted municipalities against the province and the industry before ushering in a zoning chill.

"I don`t know from a city perspective if we have the authority to say no or not," Mr. Miller said at a media briefing where he explained the city`s powers over propane companies are limited to regulating land use while the province and an arm`s-length agency are in charge of safety.

http://www.nationalpost.com/todays_paper/s....html?id=719040
 
Route change request sparks bus war

Every weekday morning Sandra Cassidy wakes up to the sound of the bus carrying her neighbours to work and school.

"It just comes roaring down the road. We can`t open our windows because of the smell and noise," says the Ajax homeowner.

Over the objections of residents who rely on the service, Cassidy is lobbying Durham Region Transit to reroute the bus so it doesn`t go past her grey stone house on Audley Rd. S.

"We paid a lot of money to have the only custom-built home in a very special subdivision." That included a $100,000 premium to look out over Lake Ontario. "I can`t even hear the TV when a bus goes by," she adds, complaining the service was "dumped on us" without warning two years ago.

http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/477380
 
Ontario gets high marks

In just five years, Ontario has jumped from being a laggard in energy efficiency to being an "A" student.

Ontario and British Columbia have "made the most progress" compared with the rest of Canada when it comes to using electricity, natural gas and other fuels more efficiently, according to a 2007 report card from the Canadian Energy Efficiency Alliance.

"Amendments to the Ontario Energy Efficiency Act have established minimum efficiencies in 50 product categories that consume 80 per cent of residential energy consumption and 50 per cent of commercial usage," the alliance said, adding that the province has also set efficiency standards higher by amending the building code.

http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/477300
 
Valuable lesson for homeowners

While you may not have a Sunrise Propane facility under your roof, you do have items with the power to level your home.

Mitchell Gibbs of Team Hazco says a propane cylinder such as one for a barbecue stored in your basement or garage can cause that scale of disaster. All it takes is a leak from the tank, combined with something as simple as the automatic turning on of a hot water heater.

http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/417617
 
City will pay to flood-proof golf course

CAMBRIDGE

Spending city tax dollars on an irrigation system to help flood-proof a private golf course baffles Coun. Linda Whetham.

The $25,919 cost is part of a $638,290 project city council approved this week, to prevent future floods of Groff Mill Creek.

"Why are we paying for this?" Whetham asked before council voted to hire Acton-based R & M Construction for the project.

The Galt Country Club job is part of an $1.75 million flood control plan council approved earlier this year for the creek that drains dozens of asphalt parking lots along Hespeler Road.

http://news.therecord.com/News/Local/article/397737
 
Uxbridge to woo big city

UXBRIDGE -- If the tourists aren`t coming here, Uxbridge is going to the tourists.

The Township, along with the Lucy Maud Montgomery Society, are busy working on a major display and parade to be showcased at this year`s Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) in Toronto. From Friday, Aug. 15, to Monday, Sept. 1, a `100 Years of Anne` booth, highlighting the life and work of author Lucy Maud Montgomery, will be set up in the CNE`s Direct Energy Centre from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. each day. But this is no ordinary booth, said Kathy Wasylenky, of the Lucy Maud Society.

http://newsdurhamregion.com/news/uxbridge/article/105204
 
Cow pastures to condos

It was a new market for fur traders.
The old market was the village of York, too far for traders coming from the north.


The first time Newmarket appeared on the map was 1810. It was bunch of plotted mills and farms that slowly grew into a market, then a village, then a town.


Now, Newmarket is growing up to become an urban centre.


"History repeats itself in different forms," said Wes Playter, former president of the Newmarket Historical Society.


The first time the town`s population was driven by new market ventures was during the latter half of the 19th century. Torontoians fled to the little town north of York with prospects of working at one of the three new factories: the Davis Tannery, Office Specialty or Cane`s Woodenware.


This Victorian urban growth put Newmarket permanently on the map, thanks to the streetcar extension and railway system, Mr. Playter said.

http://www.yorkregion.com/News/Newmarket/article/79505
 
Augimeri loses it

Travel-weary city councillor Maria Augimeri told a resident to "shut up" during a heated city briefing yesterday. Days after the Downsview community was rattled awake by a fiery propane blast, there was an explosion of tempers as irate residents criticized the councillor for calling an "official city meeting" at the same time the Ancaster Ratepayers Association arranged a community meeting.

http://www.torontosun.com/News/TorontoAndG...444506-sun.html
 
More than 40 propane facilities exist here

A list released today by Ontario`s Small Business and Consumer Services Minister Harinder Takhar indicates Mississauga is home to some 43 of 337 propane-filling sites dotting the GTA.
Takhar, who`s also MPP for Mississauga-Erindale, made the addresses public in the wake of Sunday`s fatal explosion in northwest Toronto that forced the displacement of thousands of residents. Residents are concerned they might be living too close to a potential hazard.
Takhar pointed out the investigation into the explosion at Sunrise Propane by the Ontario Fire Marshall is not yet completed. The facility, he also noted, was inspected three times since 2005 by the Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA), which is responsible for implementing Ontario laws on the safe handling of propane.

http://mississauga.com/article/17655
 
Urban growth battle back

A year after Deputy Mayor Tom Gosnell accused a "whining socialist cabal" on city council of impeding growth, the issue that sparked his anger has returned.

Insurance and financial services giant Sun Life Financial wants to build an industrial park in south London, but on the wrong side of a boundary set by city planners to manage growth -- the urban growth boundary. While the request has been political fodder for a year, it wasn`t until this summer that Sun Life filed an application with the city that proposes an industrial park featuring 11 buildings with 1.4 million square feet of floor space.

http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Local/200...445401-sun.html
 
City seeks another planner

The departure of Orillia`s director of planning and development means the city is seeking its fifth replacement for the position in almost as many years.

Kathy Suggitt, who held the reins for around three years, accepted a position as a policy planner with the County of

Simcoe and said her goodbyes to Orillia.

Despite losing four planning directors in five years, neither Mayor Ron Stevens nor city manager Ian Brown see it as reason for concern.

"Certainly there hasn`t been a history of high turnover in the director`s position," said Brown. "I think there`s been an unfortunate series of personal circumstances."

http://www.orilliapacket.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1156280
 
Bylaw wording not changing

Zoning bylaw wording remains in place which could prevent an ethanol plant from being built in Barrie.

City planning staff say no changes will be made to the list of noxious products prohibited on industrial property, at least until a study on ethanol production is complete.

Northern Ethanol wants to build a Barrie plant to produce more than 400 million litres of ethanol annually, making it one of Canada`s largest facilities.

Jim Taylor, the city`s planning director, said in an Aug. 11 memo to Barrie councillors the consideration to remove the words `glucose and starch` from the bylaw dates back two-and-a-half years.

http://www.thebarrieexaminer.com/ArticleDi....aspx?e=1155843
 
Inspectors open up Sunrise file

It`s responsible for inspecting myriad things that touch our lives – from elevators and ski lifts to fuel storage, boilers in office buildings, amusement park rides and even the stuffing in pillows and teddy bears.

But it was a deadly propane explosion that thrust the Technical Standards and Safety Authority into the public spotlight.

Last night, the private, not-for-profit agency responded to the serious questioning of its effectiveness at protecting Ontarians by releasing first details on three years` worth of inspections at Sunrise Propane Industrial Gases – the plant that exploded in a spectacular fireball Sunday.

http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/478171
 
Some owners not buying Bloor fix

A coalition of Toronto retailers plans to file a legal challenge of the city`s $25-million transformation of the upscale Bloor and Yonge area, arguing the construction process is seriously affecting their revenues and should be delayed.

The dozen or so unhappy businesses, banded under the Concerned About Bloor name, have retained noted lawyer Clayton Ruby to apply for a judicial review of the city`s undertaking of the project.

Ruby told reporters yesterday his clients want to see a proper environmental assessment of the project performed. He said they contend local businesses weren`t consulted enough.

http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/478143
 
Development reforms rejected by city staff

OTTAWA - City staff are rejecting two recommendations aimed at preventing the kinds of problems that have bedeviled the controversial Kanata West development.

Having the city`s auditor general widen his investigation of Kanata West would be "overkill" because there`s enough scrutiny already, the planning department says.

Staff also say consultants should be able to work on projects for developers and the city, as to do otherwise is not "practical."

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/s...b9-909134a9f6ec
 
Transit satisfaction on the rise: poll

Ottawa`s transit service has regained some public approval after a sharp drop in customer satisfaction last year, according to a poll conducted for OC Transpo.

OC Transpo reported yesterday that satisfaction among transit users was at 70 per cent this spring. Satisfaction in public transit among all respondents in the survey, including people who don`t use the service, was at 63 per cent this year. That`s a big rebound from the 45 per cent who expressed satisfaction in 2007. In 2004, the satisfaction rate was 62 per cent.

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/c...10-9487f3a3138e
 
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