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Ontario Economic Fundamentals 2008 Q2

Mall plan stalls over parking

A $55-million redevelopment of the Mountain Plaza Mall has hit a snag over parking.

Developer SmartCentres, which plans to demolish most of the existing mall and build six new retail structures, wants to nix 594 spots in favour of more retail space.

The city`s committee of adjustment tabled the application and will hear more information at a public hearing June 5.

http://www.thespec.com/News/Business/article/376100
 
City OKs condo conversion; 76 downtown units will go up for sale

Developer Gabriel Kirchberger says getting approval to convert two rental apartment buildings in the Harmony Square project into condominiums will enhance the downtown`s ongoing renaissance by increasing the number of property owners in a key area.

He also says it will allow him to reinvest the revenue from the sale of the units in new projects in the city.

"I`m happy that council is going to let me do it," Kirchberger said outside the council chamber Monday after the committee of the whole overwhelmingly endorsed condominium applications by his company, G.K. York Management Services Ltd..

http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/ArticleDi...el-Allan+Marion
 
Development at former Penman property gets city backing

A plan to develop the former Penman brownfield property with apartment buildings and townhouse units may have many neighbours up in arms, but it has city council`s support after the company undertook a major redesign.

After several delegations and lengthy debate, council has endorsed 6-3 a proposal by Napev Construction Ltd. to rezone a vacant property at 232 Grand River Ave. The property was once a former Penman textile operation and is next to Jamieson Court and down a hill from homes on Dufferin Avenue.

The rezoning would allow the company to build a condominium complex containing two six-storey apartment buildings with cupola towers and 24 townhouse units in six clusters of four units each.

overlook river

http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/ArticleDi...el-Allan+Marion
 
Condo project draws support; Petition urges city to back Orchard Point development

City council should stop wasting taxpayers` dollars fighting a legal battle and back a plan to build highrise condominium towers at Orchard Point, a resident of the Lake Simcoe neighbourhood said Tuesday.

"Council should drop their opposition to this project and bow to the majority," said Frank Kehoe, who has spearheaded a petition in support of the high-density plan that is currently before the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB).

The petition in favour of the Orchard Point Development Corporation project bears 38 signatures, seven of them belonging to either Kehoe himself or his development company.

The council vote the signatories are hoping for is unlikely to happen since the city is an active party in the OMB dispute, said Mayor Ron Stevens.

http://www.orilliapacket.com/ArticleDispla...uth=Teviah+Moro
 
Councillor lashes out at board; Design for school changed after city agreed to sell land

Orillia fell victim to the old "bait and switch" when it agreed to sell five acres of the Lions Oval property to the Simcoe County Dis- trict School Board, says Coun. Michael Fogarty.

Months after the city sold the Brant Street parcel for $1.5 million, the school board is planning a different "bill of goods" with a scaled-down school, he said.

"We signed an agreement. Sent it back to them. Now, all of a sudden, all the rules have changed," Fogarty told The Packet & Times after Monday night`s council meeting.

The $9.9-million plan for a new elementary school at the Lions Oval, beside the Community Centre off Brant Street, calls for a 46,000-square-foot building, 8,000 square feet smaller than initially envisioned.

http://www.orilliapacket.com/ArticleDispla...uth=Teviah+Moro
 
Growth plan given the OK; Controversial plan puts emphasis on creating strong urban boundaries

After years of planning, the county finally has a growth plan in place as the newest puzzle piece in the creation of its new official plan.

"We`ve been talking about (the growth plan) for over three years. From where we are and where we want to go, there will be challenges along the way. We tend to look internally rather than at the common good. We need to position ourselves for the future," said Dennis Roughley, deputy-mayor of Bradford-West Gwillimbury.

http://www.thebarrieexaminer.com/ArticleDi...h=Kelly+McShane
 
Residents slam housing plan; Students blamed for noise, rowdiness

Not in this north-east Barrie neighbourhood.

That`s the initial reaction of some residents to a development proposal that could add 376 college students to the area of Penetanguishene and Cheltenham roads.

"I don`t intend to put up with these students any longer," said Bernard Coomber, 85, who lives on Sydenham Wells, at Monday`s public meeting. "Already the traffic is bad for children on our street."

http://www.thebarrieexaminer.com/ArticleDi...auth=BOB+BRUTON
 
School board trustees oppose new Superstore

WATERLOO REGION

Public school board trustees have come out against the building of a massive Real Canadian Superstore near Winston Churchill Public School.

Tom Schell, chair of the school`s parent council, asked trustees this week to write a letter to the City of Waterloo about concerns over increased traffic.

http://news.therecord.com/News/Local/article/357107
 
Megadevelopment looms in southeast end

GUELPH

Three developers have joined forces to continue the housing boom on the city`s southeast side.

The work is readily apparent to motorists driving on Victoria Road South, past giant earth movers working to the west of this arterial road.

Kortright East Phase Two envisions construction of 101 single-detached residences and between 125 and 160 townhouse units this year, local planning consultant Nancy Shoemaker said yesterday.

http://news.guelphmercury.com/News/article/333479
 
Student apartment project downsized

OSHAWA -- The developer behind a controversial new student housing development in north Oshawa has agreed to downsize the project, slashing nearly 250 bedrooms out of the plan. "We looked at the community input and decided we had to make some changes," said Carlo Di Gioacchino, vice president of business development for Dundurn Edge Development Inc. "We`ve shown the new plan to the community and everyone seems accepting of it now. We think it will be a win-win situation for everyone."

http://newsdurhamregion.com/news/oshawa/article/99485
 
Downtowns want development charges exemption to stick

WHITBY -- The steering committees for downtown Brooklin and downtown Whitby are asking council to keep a bylaw exemption to encourage development there.

Letters from both downtown steering committees asked council to keep a development charges bylaw exemption to help renewal in the downtowns. The bylaw includes exemptions for expansions to existing commercial development. Staff is proposing council consider deleting the exemption. Both downtown steering committees wrote asking council to ask them to keep this exemption for the downtown areas.

http://newsdurhamregion.com/news/whitby/article/99506
 
A world of hurt

Some call it Mississauga`s wasteland. Conversely, there are those who view it as a diamond in the rough. Others aren`t sure exactly where it`s located, or even if it`s part of this bustling city.
Countless opinions regarding Malton, a community of about 40,000 people in Mississauga`s northeast corner, exist.
One belief, however, is echoed by the masses: in the last 20 years, things have gone awry in this secluded, working-class community. It`s rich in multiculturalism, but caught in a web of violence that continues to grow.
Malton was the scene of four murders between last November and this past April, and six (of 20 homicides in Mississauga) since the middle of 2006. No other specific area of the city has seen that many murders during the same period.
It has shaken residents, leaving them wondering how such heinous crimes could take place in the community in which they chose to raise their children.

http://mississauga.com/article/14470
http://mississauga.com/article/14592
http://mississauga.com/article/14639
 
Market sales grow despite competition

Bob Usher smiles as he tracks the construction of the new Renaissance apartment tower at the corner of King and Ridout Streets.

"Another 1,000 people at the foot of the street. I`ll be one happy camper," says Usher.

He`s been general manager of Covent Garden Market for the past five years. It`s not that the 163-year-old downtown institution needs a rescue.

http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Local/200...702516-sun.html
 
$9.5M; Many demands on city`s record budget surplus

A record budget surplus of $9.5 million from last year may be quickly eaten up by the demands of a growing - and aging - city.

"It may be a big cash surplus, but we have a huge infrastructure deficit to tackle," Coun. Mark Littell, chairman of the city`s finance committee, said Wednesday.

He noted that more than $400 million in needed repairs and upgrades have been identified to a host of city facilities over the next three decades.

http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/ArticleDi...el-Allan+Marion
 
Waterford residents want new Tim Hortons to fit in with historic look of town`s Main Street

Some say it`s a sign your community is doing well when Tim Hortons comes to town. That is certainly the case in Waterford. In the past few weeks, Norfolk council has approved some new subdivisions for the town and, this week, councillors gave a new Tim Hortons the go-ahead.

Construction will begin in July and the coffee shop will open in September or October, Peter Jakovcic of TDL Group said.

The business will employ 40 to 45 full- and part-time workers.

TDL Group of Oakville will build the Tim Hortons on a piece of land just south of Thompson Road on Old Highway 24.

http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/ArticleDi...th=Kate+Schwass
 
Development must be carefully considered

Letters to the editor are questioning the wisdom of too much development and urban sprawl in and around Brantford.

This concern has been echoed by experts in many fields of science, not just here, but in cities and countries all over the world.

In 2004, archaeologist and writer Ronald Wright did a series of lectures all across Canada called A Short History of Progress. Development and progress are often used in the same sentence. However, when cities or civilizations become over-developed, that is not progress. That is going backward, not forward.

http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/ArticleDi...h=George+Beaver
 
City, Teletech lease deal reworked; Call centre acts on option to renegotiate

The city should try to cut a long-term deal with TeleTech, its largest private employer, to keep the call centre in Orillia for years to come, a University of Toronto business professor said Wednesday.

"Kudos to the city for attracting them in the first place," Richard Powers, assistant dean at the Rotman School of Management, told The Packet & Times. "Now you`ve got to keep them.

"If I was the city," Powers added, "I would get into a long-term lease with fav- ourable terms."

http://www.orilliapacket.com/ArticleDispla...uth=Teviah+Moro
 
Officials digest growth plan approval; Move by county still quite controversial

The county has spoken, but will the province listen?

The Simcoe Area Growth Plan approved by county council this week will determine how the area will look in 25 years.

But opponents of the plan say it is flawed and flies in the face of the province`s Places to Grow program, which outlines growth province-wide.

"Our main objection is that it does not conform with Places to Grow in many aspects," Barry Ward, chair of Barrie`s ad hoc growth committee said yesterday.

http://www.thebarrieexaminer.com/ArticleDi...uth=IAN+MCINROY
 
Toronto drops to 47th spot worldwide for office costs

It costs more this year to set up and run office space in Toronto than last.

The city ranks as the 47th most expensive spot in the world for office occupancy costs, according to a survey released by CB Richard Ellis yesterday.

But paradoxically, compared to other global city centres, Toronto is looking cheaper – falling 10 spots from the year before.

http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/432613
 
Hot telecom market good for users, bad for firms: Conference Board

Tough competition in the telecom industry in years ahead will be good for consumers but bad for industry players as new wireless entrants whittle down sky-high cellphone costs, the Conference Board of Canada says.

While the board forecasts the telecommunications industry will grow at a modest pace, this outlook disguises significant shifts in market share as the old landline business continues to falter and wireless business grows, it said.

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/b...6c-c236ef0d8f6c
 
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