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Ontario Economic Fundamentals 2008 Q2

Railway buyer eyes line north to Owen Sound

Prospective owners of the Orangeville-Brampton Railway (OBR) are looking north. The Highlands Railway Group (HRG), a collection of private investors, wants to take the line to Owen Sound.
In order to do so, they`d have to purchase the former Canadian Pacific land through Dufferin and Grey counties.

http://www.orangevillebanner.com/news/article/49425
 
Town facilitates carpooling

The Town of Orangeville`s sustainability action team is promoting alternative transportation choices and environmental stewardship.
Carpooling can save money, reduce traffic congestion and improve air quality. Area residents can access an existing system online to match up with other commuters.

http://www.orangevillebanner.com/news/article/49419
 
Highway 10 widening through village to begin

The widening of Highway 10 through Caledon Village is expected to begin next month, now that utilities have been relocated. There were "a few delays" in sending the job to tender because of the utility placements, says a Ministry of Transportation spokesperson.
"Bids have been received and the tender has closed. It will take another three weeks to determine and announce the winning bid," says Bob Nichols, media liaison officer. "We expect the winning bidder to start work in mid-to-late June. The project will take two years to complete because a new bridge over Caledon Creek is part of the work."

http://www.orangevillebanner.com/news/article/49244
 
BCC announces massive expansion

BRAMPTON - Malls have a lot to live up to for shoppers like 18-year-old Litisha McKenzie.
They need to be spacious, decorative and clean, and definitely must have the kind of stores she said, "make you want to shop."
A love of fashion brings this college-bound student to all corners of the Greater Toronto Area, to places like Yorkdale Mall and Vaughan Mills, which for her offer a great mix of retail outlets, restaurants and lifestyle stores.
http://www.thebramptonguardian.com/business/article/49335
 
Public endorses sports complex, chair says; project`s Cost is still an issue

Coun. Bill Steele said the big question remaining with respect to the proposed sports complex is the funding question.

Steele, who serves as chair of the sport complex committee, said the community gave a resounding vote in favour of the facility when it turned out May 14 to a public meeting to discuss it.

Steele said he was approached by several members of the public who told him the meeting "cleared up a lot of confusion" that exists in the community concerning the proposed sports complex.

http://www.wellandtribune.ca/ArticleDispla...auth=MARK+TAYTI
 
Go big and go home

Mississauga`s skyline is changing rapidly. Within the next few years its downtown core will be completely re-engineered and transformed into a densely populated region with easy access to a new rapid transit system.

Mississauga has a definite vision for the future. "The City Centre has been designated as a focus for high-rise and high-density development for many years, and now it`s really taking shape," says Ed Sajecki, commissioner of planning and building. The vision is taking shape in a big way with at least two massive multi-acre developments in the works.

http://www.torontosun.com/NewHomesandCondo...650961-sun.html
 
Plans for south end Wal-Mart revived -- comment on this story

Plans are set to build a 190,000-square-foot Wal-Mart store in Sudbury`s south end, one of the country`s largest real estate developers says.

But sources familiar with the project suggest that, given it`s decade-long history, nothing should be taken for granted just yet.

The proposed Wal-Mart store is part of a larger retail development that would cost upwards of $50 million, create 400 jobs and generate $1 million in new municipal taxes, city council`s planning committee was told Tuesday.

http://www.thesudburystar.com/ArticleDispl...enis+St.+Pierre
 
Inwood poised to grow

INWOOD — Quarter-century-old restrictions on building in this Brooke-Alvinston Township community should be lifted soon.

Mayor Don McGugan said work will begin any day now on a more than $2-million project to install sanitary sewer lines 11 kilometres from Inwood to the sewage treatment plant in Alvinston.

Lambton-Kent-Middlesex MP Bev Shipley brought the township $123,653 in federal funding this week to cover one-third of the cost of additional upgrades needed at the plant itself.

That`s on top of $1.3 million in provincial funding already pledged to make the sewer line project more affordable for the about 225 residents of Inwood.

http://www.theobserver.ca/ArticleDisplay.a...=By+PAUL+MORDEN
 
Planning for aging population; there is a Need to attract younger residents

Lambton County has a few wrinkles in place to help plan for an aging population.

Dave Posliff, Lambton`s manager of planning and development services, says planning strategies must factor in census data that show local residents are older than the provincial average.

"Lambton will need to work towards diversifying its economy and provide amenities to attract younger residents," Posliff said.

It also means providing passive recreation attractions, such as trails and cultural opportunities, for the older citizens already here, he said.

"The aging trend is clear."

http://www.theobserver.ca/ArticleDisplay.a...th=JACK+POIRIER
 
Waiting for the Wasaga Wow

WASAGA BEACH–Dov Levy enthralls an audience when he shares his vision for the future of this Georgian Bay tourist town of 16,000, which boasts the world`s longest freshwater beach.

The real-estate investor pictures a clutch of new lakeside hotels with more than 1,000 rooms, a Spanish-influenced seawall, an indoor snowboarding and skiing complex, and – blocks away from the 14-kilometre, white-sand beach – 8,000 parking spaces and a monorail for ferrying visitors.

http://www.thestar.com/News/Ontario/article/429716
 
Helping Oak Park development could cost city a cool $1 million

It would appear that city hall is willing to keep getting in deeper in its defence of a controversial program to give tax subsidies to companies that remediate spent gravel pits for redevelopment.

That`s the program that was designed primarily to help the building of a proposed $500-million Oak Park North industrial and commercial complex planned by King and Benton and Prologis on Oak Park Road, north of Highway 403.

The so-called Northwest Extraction Area Rehabilitation (NEAR) community improvement program would offer grants to defray future commercial taxes to companies that could prove they incurred "extraordinary" grading costs in rehabilitating the former aggregate lands.

http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/ArticleDi...l-+Allan+Marion
 
Tunnel project facing delays

Digging on the Niagara Tunnel Project has passed the two two-kilometre point, but work is so far behind on the $630-million project that officials are reviewing its cost and budget.

Ontario Power Generation president Jim Hankinson says the project has been hampered by "challenging" drilling conditions.

http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/ArticleDi....aspx?e=1042930
 
Much ado about downtown

For better and for worse, it`s been a big month for downtown Hamilton.

To the west, plans for a major education and health complex are moving closer to reality with the public school board deciding last week to move ahead with redeveloping its keystone property bracketed by Main, Bay and King streets.

http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/375079
 
A landlord`s lot is hard work

A strong economy and low mortgage rates have fed a housing boom in Canada that, according to a Royal Bank study, has made the cost of owning a home the highest it has been since 1990.

The study said a townhouse typically gobbles up about 34.5 per cent of pre-tax income, a detached bungalow 42.5 per cent and a standard two storey home 48 per cent. Condos take up about 30 per cent of income.

With few signs that the housing sector is cooling substantially, some homeowners will think it a good idea to give up some of the space in their house, make it into an apartment and let a tenant help pay off the mortgage.

http://news.therecord.com/Business/article/356061
 
New fire station adds green features

GUELPH

The city wants the new south-end fire, police and ambulance station to be certified as an environmentally sustainable building.

That would follow similar plans for the new city hall.

"In all cases, when we`re looking at our city buildings, we`re trying to set a bit of an example," said south-end councillor Karl Wettstein.

They`re planning a host of green features for the emergency services facility, including:

http://news.guelphmercury.com/News/article/332651
 
Council imposes hospital tax

The city has a big chunk of money in the bank but St. Catharines taxpayers will still have to come up with the cash through an extra property tax to pay for the community`s new hospital.

Several members of the public pleaded with city councillors Monday night to use the hydro fund to pay the city`s $30-million share of the cost of the new hospital and regional cancer centre to be built on Fourth Avenue, saying they can`t afford a tax increase.

But councillors followed the advice of city treasurer Shelley Chemnitz and agreed to impose a new hospital tax, which will mean an extra $31 a year for 30 years for owners of a house assessed at $174,000. Owners of more expensive homes will pay more.

http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/Article...+Standard+Staff
 
Lamco makes pitch to city hall on plans for derelict plant site

The owners of the Lamco International Die Cast factory have a plan to reinvent the Thorold eyesore and are asking for the city`s help to do so.

In a letter addressed to Thorold council earlier this month, Goretti Pereira, who manages the languishing Wellington Street property, said the owners have an agreement in principle with an investor willing to transform the derelict building into a "productive use." That investor is willing to pay outstanding city taxes in monthly installments of $7,000 but wants the interest and other penalties to be waived.

Pereira told The Standard a manufacturer has expressed interest in the property, but wouldn`t be more specific.

http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/Article...h=TIFFANY+MAYER
 
City councillors back master plan

City councillors are swinging behind a master plan they hope will be a major tool in guiding the downtown`s ongoing renaissance.

After two hours of sometimes impassioned debate Monday, council`s committee of the whole endorsed 8-1 a master plan drawn up by a consulting team that pulls together several ideas aimed at enhancing the core`s heritage legacy, bring the Grand River into downtown planning, improve traffic and parking, create more green space, assist the redevelopment of the south side of Colborne Street, and fostering more arts and culture.

Most of the debate, however, centred once again on the old question of whether to return Dalhousie and Colborne streets to two-way traffic. On that one, six councillors prevailed over three dissidents, Dan McCreary, Vince Bucci and Greg Martin, who tried to move amendments to have that measure removed from the overall plan. "Wisdom has finally won the day," Coun. John Bradford said in at the end of the meeting, referring both to the debate over traffic conversion and the overall plan.

http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/ArticleDi...el-Allan+Marion
 
Mayor sees past city limits; Servicing township a step toward dissolving boundaries: Stevens

Extending Orillia`s services to allow for the construction of a Severn Township subdivision makes sense with local municipal borders on track to dissolve in coming years, Mayor Ron Stevens said on Monday.

"So what are we doing? We are effectively servicing an area now that will become part and parcel of everything in the future at some point," Stevens told The Packet & Times.

But, for the short term, compensation for the city through property tax revenue will be on the table when municipal staffers sit down to hash out a deal with the township, council decided

"It could fall flat on its face if you don`t get something back for the city," Orillia councillor Maurice McMillan said after Monday night`s council meeting.

http://www.orilliapacket.com/ArticleDispla...uth=Teviah+Moro
 
County`s plan not a fit for city: council

The back-and-forth on growth planning between Barrie and the County of Simcoe is back again. The forth could follow as soon as today.

City council approved its detailed response last night to the county`s draft growth plan, forwarding it to county council. It was a unanimous 11-0 vote. There was no debate.

Coun. Barry Ward, chairman of the city`s ad hoc growth committee, says the county plan doesn`t work on any level for Barrie.

"We have provided a candid assessment of the Simcoe Area Growth Plan, because growth management is the most important issue facing Central Ontario today," Ward said.

http://www.thebarrieexaminer.com/ArticleDi...auth=BOB+BRUTON
 
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