An open design competition for Lansdowne Park should stay on hold while city officials study a single proposal from a development group with plans for a football team, Ottawa`s top bureaucrat says.
City manager Kent Kirkpatrick said the "conceptual" pitch by three local developers to create a public-private partnership to renovate the park has merit. However, he said, the developers need to provide more details of their plan and city officials need to work out all the costs of the proposal before a final decision is made.
1108OTWA Riverside South dream now dead: councillor
South Gloucester will never become the new kind of suburb officials envisioned as a transit-based community if council approves the latest plan for light rail, the councillor for the area says.
Gloucester-South Nepean Councillor Steve Desroches represents Riverside South, a relatively new suburb south of the airport where it was once believed a north-south light-rail line would be built to whisk people downtown and home each day.
1108OTWA Capital region`s job market continues to grow
Fears of recession are gripping the U.S. and wide swaths of Canada`s industrial belt, but the Ottawa-Gatineau economy keeps on humming along with unemployment levels close to record lows.
Observers say that, so far, the region`s safety margin to manage a major downturn appears solid, despite some troubling signs.
There is big trouble in the technology sector: It had the biggest single one-month job loss of 4,200 jobs in October.
They`re known by some cops and paramedics as "the dirty dozen."
The city streets where paramedics are more likely to request police backup while responding to calls.
Ritchie St., Morisset Ave., Caldwell Ave., Kitchener Ave., Ledbury Ave., Banff Ave., Heatherington Rd., Bell St., Murray St., Russell Rd., Emond St., and Bayshore Dr. It`s not official protocol to call for backup first to the areas, but most veteran medics do, paramedic sources told the Sun.
Ward 4 Councillor Sam Merulla is calling on Kenilworth Avenue North businesses to form a Business Improvement Area or he will seek to have the city impose one.
Merulla says his ward has seen a lot of business activity over the past five years and says Kenilworth North is lagging.
James Ling thought he was getting a deal when he bought a west-Hamilton church building.
He had no idea that a 47-year-old fee would cost him $27,000 more than he planned.
Ling, a local contractor, paid $350,000 for the Christadelphian Ecclesia church on Ewen Road, near Main Street West and Rifle Range Road. He planned to turn it into student apartments and put aside $75,000 for renovations.
1108YTHL Bold plan for Thornhill community outlined
Markham has unveiled a plan for a community that could set a new standard across the GTA and the continent.
The devil, however, is in the details.
It was a packed house Thursday afternoon at Markham town hall where the design for the Langstaff Gateway, at Yonge and Hwy. 407, was unveiled.
"The pre-eminent notion is that this is a singular site in North America," said Peter Calthorpe, the American smart growth expert developing the plan for the town.
1108YVGN Capital grant brings city hospital step closer to reality
A hospital in Vaughan is becoming more of a reality, thanks in part to a $1 million funding injection from the Vaughan Health Care Foundation`s second annual gala.
"It`s just amazing given the economic climate. It shows the commitment from the community to having a hospital in Vaughan," Vaughan Health Care Foundation administrator Anastasia Vogt said.
1108DCLR
Municipality has a responsibility to get a hotel built: Mayor
BOWMANVILLE -- The Municipality has a responsibility to ensure infrastructure, such as another hotel, is built to help make coming to Clarington as easy as possible for the Province and Ontario Power Generation when work gets underway to build new nuclear reactors here, says Clarington`s mayor. Bowmanville Creek Developments, which is in the process of developing the lands near Baseline Road and the Waverley Road exit to Hwy. 401, had asked permission to alter its plan to permit a greater variety of retail store sizes. As well, it asked for changes that would allow businesses other than a hotel to develop in an area previously earmarked for such a facility.
1108DPIK Growth plan gets cool reception in Pickering
PICKERING -- Now is not the time to limit long-term growth options, says a member of the Green Door Alliance. The comments came as Pickering`s planning and development committee supported a regional growth scenario and policy directions report Monday night.
Toronto councillors will be asked to climb on board the Pan Am Games bandwagon today.
In a report going to Toronto`s influential executive committee today, city manager Joseph Pennachetti recommends councillors endorse hosting the international amateur sport event and authorize him to negotiate agreements to help bring together the bid.
Up until now, City Hall hasn`t taken an official stand on Toronto hosting the 2015 event.
1108TNTO Activists slam plan to curb slum landlords
A city plan to crack down on neglectful landlords does not go far enough to satisfy tenant activists who want landlords to be licensed.
After 18 months of study, an executive committee of city council is expected to vote today on a new auditing regime that, starting Dec. 1, would involve the inspection of 167 of Toronto`s most poorly maintained apartment buildings. The city has 6,000 apartment buildings; 80 per cent are more than 40 years old.
The proposal also calls for another year of study into additional options, including licensing.
A lack of doctors is the main concern Simcoe North residents present to MPP Garfield Dunlop.
"I hear more about that than anything else. I`m worried about it," Dunlop said. "I know the government`s got all these ideas for family health teams and things like that, but, at the same time, people like the personal touch of a family doctor."
The province has designated the Orillia area as under-serviced when it comes to family physicians, and the local physician recruitment team is trying to turn that around.
The city is set to move ahead with financing arrangements for infrastructure improvements to the Duckworth Street/Highway 400 area.
But the developers of the proposed Home Depot/Loblaws/Mady property could be taking a step back from their plans for new stores and housing.
While city council approved the financing earlier this week, David McKay of MHBC Planning said his clients now have a problem with the financing arrangements.
TORONTO — Nortel Networks Corp. (TSX:NT) is cutting 1,300 more jobs and freezing salaries after a multibillion-dollar quarterly loss amid "worsening economic conditions." The Toronto-headquartered international telecommunications equipment maker, reporting in U.S. dollars, said Monday it had a third-quarter net loss of $3.41 billion. Nortel still has significant operations in Ottawa, as well.
That is, if all goes according to plan on York Boulevard.
City staff have designed three concepts to revamp the streetscape of the road, all of which include a pedestrian scramble at the intersection of MacNab Street and York across from the Hamilton Farmers` Market.
The city is one step closer to adopting 1,900 new residences to its municipal register of cultural heritage properties.
But being on "the list" does not necessarily mean a property will be designated under the Ontario Heritage Act. It affords the planning department 60 days to assess the property if the homeowner wants to remove or demolish the structure, explained Joan Jylanne, senior policy planner and author of the staff report that recommends the expansion.
1108DCLR Clarington says no to Port Darlington subdivision
BOWMANVILLE -- A proposed subdivision in Port Darlington won`t be allowed to go ahead early. The Kaitlin Group had asked to build a subdivision, with about 700 dwelling units, including single-family homes, semi-detached, townhouses and apartments, near the Bowmanville east Lake Ontario shore. The developer had wanted to get construction underway as early as 2010.
