Mayor Ted Salci took several issues of importance from his office at city hall to Queen`s Park this week, but it was the push for getting GO Transit service to Niagara that garnered a lot of his attention Monday.
Salci said he had a "very interesting and informative" meeting Monday with Rob MacIsaac, chairman of the Greater Toronto Transportation Authority.
"I`d love to see GO extended to Niagara and we, as politicians in Niagara, made it quite clear that transportation is a hot topic right now," Salci said from his cellphone in Toronto.
St. Clair Township council is calling on residents to help plot the municipality`s future.
A new strategic plan was launched this week, inviting community input to help map short-term and long-term priorities for improving quality of life.
"We haven`t had a strategic plan since (Moore and St. Clair) amalgamated," said township CAO John Rodey.
The goal, Rodey said, is to identify the strengths in the community and build on those successes, as well as identify weaknesses where improvements are needed.
MOORETOWN — The Deputy Mayor of St. Clair Township says he hopes a London developer will walk away and abandon plans to build on town green space.
"This proposal is not something we desire. It`s too dense for a piece of land that is considered precious," Peter Gilliland said.
The developer has made a conditional offer on eight acres of land north of the township`s civic centre here.
He wants to build 22 single residential homes and five townhouse buildings with 17 units on that property. Council has accepted the conditional offer, pending rezoning approval and an official plan amendment.
Local tourism is a gas; port huron hopes fuel cost will boost spending in the area
A recent study predicting a statewide decline in tourism is what some local officials wanted to hear.
That`s because high gas prices, a driving force in the report released Monday by Michigan State University researchers, could actually bring more people to the Blue Water Area, some said.
"(There`s a) huge market in the Detroit area that would consider this up north," said Capt. John Rigney, who operates the Huron Lady II cruise ship in Port Huron. "I think we`ve got an opportunity to snag those people."
A proposed multi-million dollar condominium tower on Sarnia`s waterfront has fallen through.
But local realtor Doug Bain said Tuesday a similar project could replace the complex, which was slated for a one-acre site at 275 Front St. N.
It was announced in July 2006 that an Ottawa-area developer planned to build a 14-storey, 84-unit complex known as `Park Place on the St. Clair` on the property.
High taxes could cost Sarnia Shelll plant says Tory
POINT EDWARD — High taxes and an insecure energy supply could cost Lambton County the proposed new Shell refinery, Ontario`s Progressive Conservative leader says.
John Tory made that claim during an address to party supporters attending a breakfast meeting here Saturday.
Tory asked his audience to envision Shell executives sitting around a boardroom table trying to decide where to build the multi-billion dollar plant. "We have the highest rate of taxation on new businesses in Canada," he said. "If you`re trying to get people like Shell to come to Sarnia" you should keep in mind that there are other jurisdictions with lower taxes.
Cleanup site eyed for homes; Ottawa pledges $7 million to redeem tainted property
The cleanup of lead-contaminated land in east St. Catharines - touted as the biggest environment cleanup in the city`s history - might result in residential development by a Crown corporation.
Canada Lands Company Ltd., is expected to purchase and develop the former gun range property at 555 Glendale Ave. when the cleanup is completed sometime in 2009, said St. Catharines MP Rick Dykstra.
"I know they have their eye on it and are very interested in developing it," Dykstra said Thursday after announcing $7 million in federal funding for the cleanup effort at the 14-acre site
It`s like playing Russian Roulette with children`s lives
The way Andy Redman tells it, residents who live around the QEW near the Niagara Street exit are a close-knit bunch, and they`re feisty.
For years, the St. Catharines neighbourhood has known a major QEW expansion project was coming, said Redman, standing outside a QEW construction information session Thursday evening.
Residents also knew it would be disruptive, the Linden Street resident said. Now that work is underway, if locals feel they`re being run over by construction crews, they`re going to fight back, Redman said.
One of the reasons Paul Chapman supports the Port Place development is the potential it offers for revitalizing Port Dalhousie`s commercial core, the city planner told the Ontario Municipal Board hearing, but he has no way of knowing if it will actually succeed.
"From a planning perspective, we cannot make representation as to its viability," Chapman said Wednesday, testifying during the ninth week of the hearing that will eventually decide the controversial development proposal`s fate. "I don`t believe that part of the planning focus is to determine if a project is viable.
"I would not, as part of my job, be asking someone to tell me if their proposal is viable or not."
Wind energy likely to blow into Niagara on the lake
Niagara-on-the-Lake will likely be the first municipality in the Niagara region to pass regulations governing the erection of wind-energy turbines.
Zoning bylaw and official plan amendments to regulate the installation of the machines were approved by the planning advisory committee Monday following a public meeting.
Only one resident, Charlene Quevillon, spoke at the meeting, raising concerns about noise and the visual and environmental impact of the turbines.
On one point London politicians, civil servants and builders agree: No one`s happy when construction workers wait idle for a call that a house needs to be built. But when it comes to describing the extent of the problem or who`s to blame for it, the rifts are evident -- and were on display yesterday before the city`s planning committee.
A major player in Ontario`s farming industry disputes a government report predicting reduced acreages of corn and soybeans this year.
The report, based on a survey of 3,618 Ontario farmers at the end of March, calls for a 13.1 per cent reduction in corn acreage and a 6.2 per cent drop in soybean acreage.
Dennis DeBot, who farms close to 4,000 acres in the Wallaceburg area, said he was never contacted in the survey.
Welland Hydro rates going down; will drop by 5.63% as of May 1
You may find this shocking - Welland hydro rates are actually going down.
Customers will see the change come May 1.
Last Monday the Ontario Energy Board issued orders on 2008 electricity distribution rates that for Welland means a reduction of 5.63 per cent, said Welland Hydro customer service director Perry Orosz.
The changes include the impact of a recently announced regulated price plan, which will also take effect May 1.
Distribution rates are set to recover the cost to deliver electricity to consumers and are based on an individual utility`s cost of providing electricity service.
Partington pushing for hgighway expansion; design study is being started for four lane highway 406 in Welland
A preliminary design study is being started for Highway 406 four-lane expansion to East Main Street, but there`s still no word of when construction will begin.
Widening the 406 is something that`s been on the books for some time. The overall project received environmental assessment approval back in 1985.
At that time plans called for the highway to eventually connect to Highway 58.
That`s still in the plans, said Will MacKenzie, Ministry of Transportation information officer.
Watermains and road being replaced; Wallace Avenue residents should see work completed in 2009
It`s been a long time coming for Wallace Avenue residents, who will soon have clean tap water and a freshly-paved road.
City councillors voted Tuesday to hire Stevensville-based A. VanEgmond Construction to replace watermains in the area at a cost of $279,165.
Replacing the old iron watermains will reduce breakage, improve water pressure and minimize or eliminate problems with cloudy, discoloured water residents have experienced from time to time, a report by the city`s engineering department said.
The City of Pembroke offered residents the chance last night to comment on a proposal to extend Melton Street to connect with Angus Campbell Drive and they offered a resounding "no".
More than 70 residents affected by the reconstruction project - which includes Chamberlain, Noik, Cooper and Melton Streets from Broadview Drive eastwards - were at Our Lady of Lourdes Church to discuss it with members of city council, city staff and the project engineers of Jp2g.
While no one had major difficulties with the project as a whole, most objected to the plan to connect the end of Melton Street from where it stops at O`Brien Street to Angus Campbell Drive.
TTC chair Adam Giambrone said subway stations are now open and trains should begin to run by 6 p.m., just hours after the Ontario legislature passed back-to-work legislation to end the transit strike. Riders should expect lengthier delays between trains as the systems builds towards regular service, said Giambrone. Streetcar service has also returned.
The official guide for growth in Canada`s largest city is too downtown-focused and doesn`t pay enough attention to highrise residents and schools, a world-renowned urban planner says.
"We don`t have a plan," local architect-planner John van Nostrand told a packed session on Toronto`s future held by the Canadian Urban Institute last week.
"We`ve discovered our waterfront but I don`t think we know our valleys. I don`t think we know north of Eglinton. We certainly don`t know north of the 401."
For years, it`s been an unrelenting upward march of taxes, water and sewage bills.
But, finally, the price of one basic commodity -- electricity -- is about to take a small, but welcome, dip.
Effective May 1, local electrical utilities estimate residential customers will be getting four to five per cent cuts in combined rates that will save them around $5 a month on an average bill.
Enwin spokeswoman Sylvia de Vries says city residential customers should see a 4.3 per cent cut in bills. The Ontario Energy Board hasn`t fixed the detailed package of rates yet, but that`s expected within days, she said.
