Mississauga homeowners won`t be facing a near double digit property tax hike next year, after all.
Reluctant to put a 9.7 per cent increase before residents, City officials chopped $8 million from the $355.8-million draft operating budget at an all-day cost-cutting session on Wednesday (Sept. 17).
The almost 10 per cent hike was projected by finance staff back in June.
Staff had recommended cutting $12 million from the budget so councillors are three-quarters of the way there. Meanwhile, another $1.5 million of recommended spending cuts were deferred.
0908LNDN Lacking a major company or identity leaves the city 27th in a magazine`s national Top 40
London lacks a "buzz factor" in its business community, says a writer with a magazine that`s ranked London 27th out of the best 40 cities in Canada for doing business.
Canadian Business ranks Sherbrooke, Que., the top city and Vancouver last, at No. 40, in its annual ranking. Lack of a major company or identity hurts London`s profile, said Andy Holloway, a journalist with the magazine.
0908BAOR Orchard Point no place for high-density: planner
An Ontario Municipal Board hearing is underway to consider the merits of a 144-unit luxury condominium complex proposed for Orchard Point. The eight-storey project was supported by the city`s planning staff, but turned down by council after Orchard Point residents objected to the project`s size and expressed concerns about traffic backups at Orchard Point Road and Highway 12. The OMB will hear submissions from lawyers and witnesses representing the developer, the city and a residents association.
The hearing, held primarily in the Orillia council chambers, is scheduled Sept. 15 to 19, Sept. 29 and Oct. 1 to 3.
Like a tall man standing up in a canoe, the high density project planned for Orchard Point will throw the low-lying neighbourhood out of balance, says a Toronto planner.
Home sales in the greater Toronto area got off to a cautious start this month. Sales of existing homes in the first half of September fell to 2,726 -- a decline of 16% over the same period last year, according to figures released by the Toronto Real Estate Board this week.
"Although housing activity in the GTA remains moderate, we`re continuing to see a consistent pattern, and this stability is certainly positive news compared to markets in other sectors and in other world cities," TREB president Maureen O`Neill said.
0908OTWA Ottawa needs only one stadium, experts say
The city only needs one major sports stadium, and it would be a grave mistake to locate it near Scotiabank Place as Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk wants, two prominent Ottawa architects and urban planners say.
Mr. Melnyk`s proposal to build a home for a potential Major League Soccer franchise, unveiled last Tuesday, is seen by many as competing with a plan to rebuild Frank Clair Stadium at Lansdowne Park for football.
Barry Padolsky and Ralph Wiesbrock said yesterday in separate interviews that placing a stadium is about more than sports, it`s about smart city-building.
The windows aren`t all in yet, and already the main building at McMaster Innovation Park has its first major private tenant.
Trivaris -- a company that puts ideas and money together to create new companies and social ventures-- is moving to Hamilton from Burlington and taking over the entire top floor of the industrial space now under renovation on Longwood Road South.
Company president Mark Chamberlain signed the lease late yesterday, and the company plans to move 50 personnel into 23,000 square feet of space as soon as it is ready for occupancy, likely by March.
0908HAMN City looking at new bylaw regulating student houses
Hamilton is considering a new rental bylaw that would limit the number of bedrooms in student houses and regulate noise, maintenance and parking.
Landlords of existing student houses -- where there are sometimes eight or more bedrooms -- would have to apply for licences.
A rally in favour of such a bylaw is planned for today in Westdale, one of the neighbourhoods near McMaster University and Mohawk College where there has been friction between permanent residents and students living in family homes converted to rentals.
0908KWCG Highway between Kitchener, Guelph becoming the road more travelled
There are almost 3,000 more road warriors among us, travelling to jobs outside Waterloo Region.
New data from the 2006 census shows 30,300 residents commuting to outside jobs, up from 27,470 cross-border commuters in 2001.
Guelph is the top commuter destination by far.
There are now 12,480 residents who travel to Wellington County for work. This exceeds all commuters to Toronto and to the regions of Peel, Halton and York.
The Canadian Auto Workers says it has started the legal process toward unionizing Linamar employees, in spite of Linamar management making their anti-union position clear.
Since close to 100 representatives descended on Guelph Sept. 4 to hand out information packages to workers, the CAW has been building its Linamar employee contacts and will continue to work toward unionization, said John Aman, an organizing director with the CAW.
This process could take a minimum of a couple of months.
0908YNEW State of auto industry key issue: Conservatives
The economy will be a hot topic among federal election candidates, according to Industry Minister Jim Prentice.
Spending a day with Newmarket-Aurora Conservative Candidate Lois Brown on the campaign trail, he stopped in to have a chat with The Era-Banner and the auto manufacturing industry was a major topic of the chat.
The state of the economy is also on the minds of Canadians, Mr. Prentice, added.
They have a four-part plan, he said.
The first step is to create solid economic funding. The second is harmonizing the standards with the United States to create equity in the market.
0908YAUR Aurora, developer reach deal on reworking plaza entrance
It seems the median is the message in Aurora.
It has been a long time coming, but it appears the barriers to the proposed Aurora Gateway Centre, to be built near Bayview Avenue and Wellington Street East, have been pretty much removed.
The town has reached a compromise with the developer, Rice Commercial Group, to permit a break in the centre median on Wellington to permit left-hand turns for eastbound traffic and a right-in, right-out style egress from the yet-to-be constructed plaza, Aurora Mayor Phyllis Morris said.
"What we`ve approved in principle is not a signalized, lighted intersection as had been requested," Mrs. Morris said.
If you own a back yard pool, you may be forced to pay to upgrade or modernize your pool fence if Markham decides to adopt higher safety standards recommended in a regional report.
Currently, pool fencing standards in the region`s nine municipalities do not meet strict guidelines recommended by Safe Kids Canada, the national injury prevention program of the Hospital for Sick Children, the report states.
Regional standards as they are now, call for three-sided fences around pools and allow your home to serve as the fourth side, according to the report.
This isn`t the first time the company that was denied a $24-million contract in Stouffville has had problems with taxes on tenders.
Bondfield Construction Company Ltd. of Vaughan was awarded the tender for the Magna Centre, a 215,000-square-foot recreation complex in Newmarket in 2005. But not before miscalculating the GST on their tender.
Bondfield`s bid was deemed to be the lowest once the over-calculation was corrected and it was awarded the contract, valued at $35.3 million.
SCUGOG -- The public is being urged to be patient with construction crews as a series of much-needed road, sidewalk and other infrastructure work totalling nearly $4 million is carried out this fall. From road rehabilitation work in Prince Albert and new sidewalks in Port Perry`s downtown core to road repairs on Scugog Island and Blackstock, there is plenty of work going on across the township and the public is asked to be understanding of inevitable delays, said Ward 3 Councillor Lynn Philip Hodgson on Monday.
There`s something refreshing about Patrick Boyer for some voters.
They sensed it this week as the Conservative candidate campaigned outside the discount stores and ethnic takeout shops of Lake Shore Blvd. W. in New Toronto.
Undecided voter Lee Thirlwall picked it up as Boyer went on about the need for more democracy, including wrenching Parliament from the absolute control of prime ministers and their cabinets.
All the new homes going up on the east Mountain have caught the attention of Home Depot, which is opening a new store there Thursday.
Sheri Papps, Home Depot`s spokesperson, said the growth in the community, the Red Hill and success of the other stores in the area made the location attractive.
AJAX -- A subdivision plan first approved in 1989 was again given the thumbs up by Ajax councillors.
Cougs Investment first proposed building 27 estate homes next to Deer Creek Golf Course. The proposal approved by council`s Community Affairs and Planning Committee on Monday has some changes from the 1989 development. The major one is the homes would be hooked up to sanitary sewers, rather than using septic systems.
Nearly half of all 196 large Ontario propane storage depots that were targeted in a recent inspection blitz were violating provincial regulations, according to a Technical Standards and Safety Authority audit.
In the safety audit, 88 facilities were issued non-compliance orders for offences ranging from gas leaks to inadequate "no smoking" signage.
Seven posed "immediate hazards" and were temporarily shut down.
Following the Sunrise Propane explosion in Downsview on Aug. 10, the private regulatory body began an audit of all 1,708 facilities in the province -- 337 are located in the GTA.
