South Stormont and East Hawkesbury will be home to four of Ontario`s first solar energy parks by the end of the year, generating enough power for more than 5,000 homes annually.
Kinu Energy and Solaris Technology were granted contracts from Ontario Power Authority for renewable energy projects. Construction of the "solar farms" will cost about $270 million and could employ more than 100 people.
The city will hire a new department head and let one go in a restructuring of city departments.
The plan unveiled yesterday will see Burlington hire a new director of strategic initiative and merge the communications department with the city clerks department. This means communications director Liz Daly will leave the city "to pursue other opportunities," said city manager Roman Martiuk.
Construction has started on the $9-million expansion of a major hangar at Hamilton airport.
Cargojet is expanding its maintenance hangar to 65,000 square feet -- with 12,000 square feet for its shop, office and parts warehouse areas, as well as 75,000 square feet for an apron area.
The new facility will accommodate a Boeing 767-200 and a Boeing 757-200 aircraft simultaneously and will provide apron parking for up to three widebody and narrowbody aircraft.
As gas prices climb, so does membership in a local car sharing co-operative.
"We usually aim to add two new net members a month; we`ve been adding four to six a month in the last while," said David Steffler, executive director of Grand River Carshare.
All gasoline costs are included in the per-kilometre or flat day fees charged on members` monthly bills, making memberships an easy sell. And more people tend to sign up in the summer months.
"I don`t know if it`s the warm weather or longer days, but people have more places to go," he said.
Greenhorizons Group moving to Woolwich Township locale
WOOLWICH TOWNSHIP
After 72 years, Greenhorizons Group of Farms Ltd. is leaving Cambridge, but it`s not going far.
The sod company, which operates as Compact Sod in the Waterloo Region area, is building a new office, ware- house and garage on Kossuth Road near Shantz Station Road in Woolwich Township.
Skyline Inc., a local real estate investment and management firm, wraps up its latest series of free investor information seminars today. The company is noted for putting together syndicates of investors to buy rental and commercial properties that it manages, notably in Guelph and the surrounding region.
DURHAM -- Dumpsters and mounds of garbage that were once prized possessions dotted Durham neighbourhoods on Tuesday as hundreds of residents tossed out the contents of their basements after a storm Monday caused a backup of sanitary sewer flow and flooding in their homes. The downpour overwhelmed pumping stations in Ajax, Whitby and Oshawa causing toilets, showers and floor drains to overflow in some neighbourhoods.
"The toilet was just overflowing, it was like a geyser," said Whitby resident Sue Lytwyn. Ms. Lytwyn and her husband Bil fought the flow, eventually opening the door of their walkout basement so the water could flow out.
Business owners working together to rebuild after fire
CLARINGTON -- The rebuilding of the area of downtown Bowmanville gutted by fire in April is beginning. With help from the Municipality, the owners of most of the affected buildings are working together and have hired one architect to take on the project.
"Obviously, it makes senses to keep the bodies involved to a minimum," said Richard Lange, who owns the building which housed on the main floor, Lange`s Photo, a business he had owned until selling a few years ago.
The Municipality`s planning department has taken on the role of facilitator, bringing the business owners together and making some suggestions on how to rebuild. Out of that came the idea of working with one architect.
By next summer, it will be against the law to spray your lawn with chemicals in Aurora, after council passed the town`s pesticide bylaw Tuesday night.
"Residents have been requesting this for years. It is a pro-active step," Councillor Evelina MacEachern said.
A representative of Frechette Lawncare said the company is waiting for a provincewide bylaw to be released in the fall that would level the playing field for the industry.
"We are poised to deal with that," said Tina Passmore, office manager at Frechette.
"I am looking quite forward to one for everybody. Now, it (the bylaw) makes my head spin," she said.
Canada Post review may lead to changes in rural mail delivery
After being stopped two years ago, rural mail delivery is slowly returning.
But for Oak Ridges-Markham MP Lui Temelkovski, who waged war against Canada Post since the decision, it`s not happening fast enough.
And now a Canada Post review, which critics say could recommend privatizing the Crown corporation, is further raising his hackles, although his office confirms privatization or deregulation are mere rumours.
After rural mail delivery service was pulled over carrier safety concerns in 2006, Mr. Temelkovski introduced a private members` bill calling for Canada Post to maintain traditional driveway delivery for the 843,000 Canadians living on rural routes. The bill passed unanimously, with support from all parties.
The new Vaughan city hall is well on its way to completion, despite early challenges faced in the construction process.
The new civic centre, being built right beside the current facility at 2141 Major Mackenzie Dr., is nearly 40 per cent complete.
"The foundation is in and the topping off of the building milestone is expected to occur at the end of August," Commissioner of Community Services, Marlon Kallideen said. He added the structural part of the building is coming along at a quick pace.
The building, which is the largest project ever undertaken by the city, has a price tag of $107 million and is being built by Maystar General Contractors Ltd., designed by KPMB Architects.
BEIJING -- Canada may not be striking gold as it takes on the world here, but Premier Dalton McGuinty says Ontario is a hit with the international crowd as it rounds up support for Toronto`s 2015 Pan Am Games bid.
McGuinty is here to show Toronto is a serious contender to host the Pan Am Games by meeting with the officials who will make the final call. Yesterday he said Canada`s strong reputation makes a difference. During a press conference at Canada House -- the relaxation and meeting spot for our athletes and their families -- McGuinty said he wanted to look decision-makers in the eye and "plant our flag and make it known to everyone that we are serious and determined.
Londoners have lost more than time waiting for funding partners to get fully behind plans to build a rail overpass at Hale and Trafalgar streets -- the estimated cost for the project has more than doubled in six years to $17 million.
The rise in costs hasn`t been sudden, climbing from $8 million in 2002 and, more recently, from $12.8 million. The new estimate comes as city council considers whether to include the overpass in a request for federal and Ontario money which, if approved, would cover two-thirds of the cost.
A who`s who of London`s biggest developers is challenging an Ontario Municipal Board decision that protects the city`s woodlands.
The London Development Institute -- along with Fahri Holdings, Sifton Properties and Z Group and others -- has filed a leave to appeal, requesting the recent decision be reviewed by a court.
The city plans to defend its position in court.
"The OMB made it very clear what we put forward as policy upholds guidelines that are sound scientifically," said Mayor Anne Marie DeCicco-Best. Activist and former councillor Sandy Levin called the move by the developers "one more instance where it has been a constant struggle to protect the remaining woodlands in the city of London."
They may have looked healthy, but the tall trees lining Merritt Street were diseased and dying, the city`s acting parks and recreation director says.
St. Catharines city workers took up their chainsaws Thursday morning and cut down 17 of the trees between Wedsworth and Almond streets.
The aging Norway maple and green ash trees will be replaced with more suitable canopy trees by Labour Day weekend, Jim Benson said.
"There were some stumps in places, and some of the trees, although they may have appeared large and healthy, are nearing the end of their lifespan," Benson said.
It`s all part of a plan to clean up and spruce up Merritton`s downtown, particularly in light of recent construction on the Merritton Street bridge.
Those who drive the oft-travelled stretch of Highway 12 through Ramara Township can look forward to a smoother ride. The township was recently informed of the province`s plan to upgrade about 23 kilometres of the Trans-Canada Highway, from Rama Road to Gamebridge.
"That`s good news for the township because the highway is starting to show its age," said Ramara Mayor Bill Duffy.
Innisfil has amended the town`s development charges bylaw, which means in some areas, building fees could double.
The amendment could jeopardize plans for a No Frills store, proposed for an area around Sideroad 20 and Innisfil Beach Road, according to the developer`s lawyer.
Council gave its approval Wednesday, resulting in at least one developers` group threatening to challenge the decision at the Ontario Municipal Board.
"Our consultants advise us that your charges remain high, and we should appeal this matter to the Ontario Municipal Board. The worst case scenario -- we would be successful at half our claim," Marvin Geist said, a lawyer representing the Alcona Developers Group. Geist was at council to protest the move because the amended bylaw could see building fees in the Alcona and Lefroy areas more than double.
LAKESHORE - An illegally built road that was ordered closed by council last month is pitting neighbours against each other.
The OPP were called Thursday to deal with vehicles breaking down municipal barriers and cutting over lawns to use the short stretch of road as a shortcut into the River Ridge subdivision.
Heather Cox, whose home is on Woodland Crescent adjacent to the road, said a garbage truck drove around the new barriers erected by the town and cut over a corner of her lawn Thursday morning.
VANCOUVER - A B.C. judge has ordered a 59-year-old marijuana grower on the Sunshine Coast to turn over his mortgage-free $600,000 home to the government.
"The value of the equity in this property would appear to be higher than that in any other reported cases," Provincial Court Judge Carol Baird Ellan wrote in a ruling ordering Roy Sundstrom to surrender his Roberts Creek, B.C., acreage.
TORONTO -- For Canadians looking to buy a get-away-from-it-all piece of paradise down south, this is probably one of the best times to take the plunge with the Canadian dollar strong and U.S. property values tumbling, say real estate experts. And some baby boomers who are retired or about to retire are doing so even though they are concerned they might buy on the high side only to see the value of their investment sink if the U.S. economy falls into a deep recession, the experts say.
