A developer is relieved that he won`t have to appeal to the Ontario Municipal Board to get approval for fourplexes on North Park Street, after city council had a change of heart. "I`m excited to get going. I want to start as soon as I can," David Gans said after council reversed itself by approving a rezoning application that will allow him to build three fourplexes for a total of 12 units on a long, narrow parcel of land running from North Park Street to Wood Street Park.
Gans was in a better mood than he was a week ago, when council, in committee of the whole, rejected the application 6-5 after a long debate, with some residents in the chamber to oppose it.
Owners of waterfront properties will be soaked by tax increases as a result of rising property values.
But most Orillia homeowners will not be directly affected by increased assessment.
The value of residential properties in Orillia has jumped an average of 21.9 per cent since 2005. This increase in assessed value will be phased in between 2009 and 2012 at an average rate of 5.4 per cent per year.
However, property owners will not see a tax increase as a result of reassessment unless the value of their home has gone up more than the average across the city, says city treasurer Bob Ripley.
The country`s largest manufacturing group says Canadian industry needs immediate emergency help to avert a catastrophe in the next six months to a year.
Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters president Jayson Myers says he will ask the ministers of finance and industry after Thursday`s cabinet shuffle for an emergency meeting to address the short-term needs of the sector. Myers says Canadian exporters are being squeezed by tight credit conditions in money markets and a plunge in stock prices due to the economic slowdown.
1008OTWA Approved plan for hospital lands `something out of the `50`s`: councillor
A new development plan for the hospital lands at Smyth Road and Alta Vista Drive is being touted as an effort to create a more mixed community, with residential buildings constructed along with more hospital buildings. But one city councillor says the plan approved at committee yesterday is old-style suburban development.
The plan, which involves land bordered by Riverside Drive in the west, Smyth Road to the south, Russell Road in the east and the Alta Vista transportation corridor to the north, allows for the future expansion of The Ottawa Hospital.
1008OTWA Expedited approach on transit tunnel reaping benefits: city transit official
The necessary feasibility and costing studies for a possible downtown transit tunnel will be done on schedule, says the city`s top transit official. In an update on the studies yesterday, infrastructure and sustainability deputy city manager Nancy Schepers said the expedited approach the city is following is working, and she expects them to be done by December 2009.
City council is being asked for the first time to designate heritage buildings over the owners` objections -- the owners being Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Hamilton.
The matter saw members of the economic development and planning committee deadlocked in a 4-4 tie, which could be broken when the full council meets tonight.
For every person who walks, unblinking, across the Main Street Bridge, there`s another person stopping to watch parts of it disappear before their eyes.
The north sidewalk offers a unique view of the extensive work being done to repair and rehabilitate the 77-year-old structure.
The features that set the bridge apart -- the concrete railings and the bowstring arches -- are being preserved. The crumbling deck is being replaced.
Regional council will be putting the brakes on expanding services next year as it grapples with rising costs during an economic slump.
"It is going to be a tough year," said Coun. Tom Galloway, who chairs regional council`s finance committee.
Today, councillors will take their first look at the 2009 budget, which, as a starting point, is up by 3.84 per cent because of rising fuel costs, inflation and more welfare cases. It`s one of the highest opening budget positions in recent years.
OSHAWA -- The stretch of lands where the historic General Motors north plant once stood have been sold, but it`s not yet known what new development will go up there. The area bounded by Bond Street and Adelaide Avenue, and Division Street and Ritson Road in Oshawa, was previously owned by Axis Technologies and later sold to Toronto-based company Miya Consulting.
1008DOSH Developer asks City for $1 million for Genosha facelift
OSHAWA -- The future owner of the Genosha Hotel is asking the City for more than $1 million in grants and loans to help get a massive renovation project off the ground.
Rick Summers, co-owner of local development firm Summers and Co., has set his sites on the dilapidated downtown landmark, saying he plans to buy it and funnel $6.1 million into renovations, creating a 103-unit student residence on the upper floors and high-end commercial space on the ground floor -- Second Cup and the Honest Lawyer bar and lounge franchise have submitted letters of intent.
DURHAM -- A one-day hearing is being held in Ajax this December on the proposed refurbishment of four reactors at the Pickering nuclear station.
The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission is holding the hearing on Dec. 10 at the Ajax Convention Centre on Beck Crescent. The Ontario Power Generation wants to refurbish the four `B` side reactors. If approved by the regulator and the Province, the work would begin in 2014 and take about 10 years. The refurbished units would operate until 2060.
Opponents to wind farms in Ontario, at the best of times a local thorn in the side of wind-energy developers, have suddenly realized the benefit of getting organized.
Earlier this week a new anti-wind group called Wind Concerns Ontario, a coalition of 22 small rural groups each fighting their own community battles, announced its creation as a "strong, unified voice of opposition" to provincial plans that would see thousands of industrial wind turbines "tearing apart the very fabric of rural Ontario."
1008CATH
Chamber of commerce wants regional tax relief for industries
Niagara`s struggling industries need tax relief from regional council, says the St. Catharines- Thorold Chamber of Commerce.
The Region should "immediately" cut the industrial tax ratio from 2.63 to 2.45, chamber policy co-ordinator Kithio Mwanzia told councillors Wednesday.
Those cuts should continue over time, he added, until Niagara`s ratio matches or beats the provincial average of 2.27.
"We don`t want to give any excuses for companies to leave," said Mwanzia, pointing to a local industrial sector that is shedding jobs and closing plants. "We need to do this to remain competitive."
Property values in St. Catharines are up about 19 per cent, but the tax pain you`ll feel depends on whether your property goes up more than the average.
Homeowners in Niagara will begin receiving their new tax assessment notices next week, and in St. Catharines, at least, the average increase is close to the provincial average of 20 per cent.
The new assessment will be based on the market value of the property on Jan. 1, 2008. The previous assessment was based on the market value on Jan. 1, 2005.
Barrie is looking south again. City councillors gave initial approval Tuesday to create a working group to co-ordinate, develop and implement a strategy to address Barrie`s urgent need for new employment and residential lands.
Coun. Jeff Lehman said the working group of staff and councillors will work on boundary negotiation and related growth-management issues.
In terms of strategic planning, he said this is probably the most important issue facing Barrie.
"We are eager to move it forward," Lehman said. "We would like to see the issue resolved by getting back to the table with Innisfil.
1008WIND Area`s mayors lock horns over border crossing
Six mayors from Windsor and Essex County gathered Wednesday to figure out what they jointly might do to bolster this area`s staggering economy, but had a tough time getting past animosity around the city`s ongoing fight with the provincial government over the route to a new border crossing.
Much of the 90-minute strategic session Wednesday at Willistead Manor was dominated by a border showdown between Windsor`s Eddie Francis and his county counterparts.
1008HAMN Purolator adding staff at Hamilton airport
Purolator is adding 30 new employees to its local operations as it boosts the amount of cargo moving through Hamilton International Airport.
The firm will transport an extra 170,000 pounds of mail cargo into Hamilton using two DC-1030 long range, wide-body planes. That`s four times the amount of cargo carried into Hamilton on Purolator`s current 727 aircraft.
