Search - Gordon Prentice at Large - Politics in Newmarket

1. My Complaint against Newmarket's Director of Planning regarding the FSI of the proposed Clock Tower Developmen: (Category); Created on 09 March 2018
2. Former Steve Clark aide, Luca Bucci, boasts that Ford’s planning and housing policies are now written by home builders association: (Blog); Luca Bucci, the former Chief of Staff to Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister, Steve Clark, and now Chief Executive of the Ontario Home Builders Association (OMBA), told "industry leaders" in a state ...; Created on 15 July 2023
3. Doug Ford and Land Use Planning: Making it up as he goes along: (Blog); On 6 April 2023 the Ford Government issued a consultation paper on land use planning designed to sweep away the impediments which prevent or restrict developers building in open countryside. A companion ...; Created on 04 June 2023
4. Taylor votes against York Region’s Official Plan and slams colleagues for undermining the entire planning process: (Blog); ... input from the regional staff. “These significant amendments came forward largely with only a verbal explanation from a member of council. I cannot support this approach to planning. Some have even been ...; Created on 19 June 2022
5. Developers on Strike: what to do with developers who have planning approvals but won't build anythin: (Blog); ... way to start increasing supply: force developers to act on the planning approvals they have. The Task Force report says this on page 22: Municipal leaders... shared their frustrations with situations ...; Created on 10 February 2022
6. Use it or lose it. Planning approvals should be time-limited.: (Blog); ... by buying land and doing nothing with it, simply waiting for its value to increase. This happens in Newmarket and all across Ontario. Property speculators secure planning approval for major schemes and ...; Created on 26 July 2020
7. Wannabe Liberal MP Tony Van Bynen shifted second shadowy $67,068 severance payment from 2018 to 2019 “for tax planning purposes”: (Blog); Tony Van Bynen, the wannabe Liberal MP for Newmarket-Aurora, arranged for his severance payment of $67,068.33 from York Region - which he claimed in 2018 - to be paid in 2019 “for tax planning purposes”. ...; Created on 13 September 2019
8. Newmarket’s Director of Planning, Rick Nethery, breaks silence on how he was "misled" by Clock Tower developer Bob Forres: (Blog); ... Director of Planning “misled” For the first time – outside the Town’s inner circle – Newmarket’s Director of Planning, Rick Nethery, has let it be known he was misled by figures in a key document ...; Created on 27 May 2018
9. Let's knock down Main Street but keep the facades - that's good heritage planning. ...: (Blog); The casual demolition of irreplaceable historic commercial buildings - including one dating from the mid 1840s - represents "good heritage planning" according to Ira Kagan, the lawyer who will be presenting ...; Created on 27 April 2017
10. Can the OMB - on an appeal by a developer - order the Town of Newmarket to make its own land available to that developer to facilitate a development that has been denied by the municipality in its role ...: (Blog); ... from the historic Old Town Hall in Market Square.) If things go pear-shaped and Forrest loses his appeal I suppose he could exact revenge by putting in a planning application for a seven storey apartment ...; Created on 24 April 2017
11. Newmarket's Planning Director, Rick Nethery, knew "comprehensive" staff report on the Clock Tower was misleadi: (Blog); The report written by the Town's planning staff that went before councillors on 28 November 2016 contained key information which was known at the time by the Director of Planning to be bogus and misleading. ...; Created on 10 April 2017
12. Looking for an interesting opportunity? York Regional Council is in the market for planning advisers.: (Blog); York Region is to set up a Planning Advisory Committee (PAC) to consider and provide advice to Council on "key Regional planning matters". But where will its members come from? What kind of person would ...; Created on 13 February 2017
13. Public Engagement in the Planning Process: (Blog); The Town's Planning Department is reviewing the way it deals with development applications to encourage greater participation and engagement by the public. This initiative comes not a moment too soon. ...; Created on 05 February 2017
14. Forrest launches appeal to OMB with his lawyer, Ira Kagan, claiming the seven storey apartment block "represents good heritage planning and good planning in general": (Blog); ... variation were rejected by councillors on 5 December 2016. "Good planning" Are you serious? There is nothing in Ira Kagan's letter that comes as a surprise. Even his contention that the proposed seven ...; Created on 27 January 2017
15. The Clock Tower: a case study in a broken and deformed planning system: (Blog); ... from councillors and the public. Where was the man in charge, the Director of Planning, Rick Nethery? The developer, Bob Forrest, who gamed the system. He believes he can make things happen "by leveraging ...; Created on 06 December 2016
16. Why is Michael Di Biase still Chair of Planning and Economic Development at York Region?: (Blog); ... this series of events makes jaw-dropping reading. At the time I called on Biase to volunteer to give up three month's pay from York Region and stand down as Chair of Planning and Economic Development ...; Created on 14 November 2016
17. Clock Tower planning application stays at 7 storeys: (Blog); Bob Forrest’s planning application for the Clock Tower which goes to the Town’s Committee of the Whole on 28 November 2016 will be in exactly the same form as the application that went before the second ...; Created on 26 October 2016
18. The role of Tim Hortons in the planning process in Newmarket: (Blog); Tim Hortons has an important role in the planning process in Newmarket. It is a neutral location where developers can meet individual councillors and talk about their pet projects over a cup of coffee ...; Created on 21 May 2016
19. The Heritage Impact Assessment of Bob Forrest’s Clock Tower Planning Application is to be “Peer Reviewed” but who decides who does the reviewing?: (Blog); Bob Forrest’s planning application for a monstrous and out-of-place 7 storey apartment building in the heart of Newmarket’s heritage conservation district has now been lodged with the Town. It is expected ...; Created on 05 March 2016
20. Silken Laumann: How easy will it be for the developer to meet the planning conditions?: (Blog); ... the experts say, we are seeing some seriously bad planning. If this is "good planning", try living there The Town should not be facilitating this kind of development. The planners and lawyers who say ...; Created on 30 September 2015
21. Developers have choke-hold on key planning information denied to the public: (Blog); ... addressed.” We are told the remaining issues are considered minor. So I ask the planning department for sight of this additional material that had such a persuasive influence on the Town’s planners. ...; Created on 29 August 2015
22. Glenway Lessons Learned: Planning Staff answer questions put to Town: (Blog); Planning staff directly employed by the Town of Newmarket have now answered questions posed by the Glenway Preservation Association, residents and others at a Public Information Centre and by me (Shrink ...; Created on 18 June 2015
23. York Region Council 21 May 2015: the big debate on planning for growth and protecting the greenbelt: (Blog); ... councillor, Michael Di Biase, who moves that the report is referred to another meeting next week. Agreed. He is still, no doubt, collecting his pay cheque from York Region. Planning for all-day two-way ...; Created on 22 May 2015
24. Slessor is the antithesis of good planning: (News); ... number of points relating to the proposed development and here I recap. The developers say Slessor is an example of good planning in a high visibility site. On the contrary, it is the antithesis of ...; Created on 11 February 2012
25. Newmarket library: Boosting numbers: (Blog); ... into the next strategic planning process.” The Working Group plans to report by the end of June this year with its findings being used to inform the library’s new strategic plan. The Board says it will ...; Created on 01 April 2026
26. Chief Executive artificially boosts Newmarket Library membership numbers by substituting her definition of "active cardholder" for the Province: (Blog); ... monthly or quarterly basis.” This could provide the basis for a presentation along the lines I have proposed. The Chief Executive says that: “As part of the next round of strategic planning the Library ...; Created on 16 December 2025
27. Postscript: "Extraordinary assumptions" and the valuation of land at Glenway Wes: (Blog); ... formally consult the Town’s Director of Planning and Director of Engineering before making his “extraordinary assumptions”? Why don’t valuation protocols from the Appraisal Institute of Canada specifically ...; Created on 16 June 2025
28. The real Greenbelt Scandal: "When records are lost, destroyed, obfuscated, or never created in the first place...: (Blog); ... Annual Report which found: “officials broke legal record keeping obligations in planning Greenbelt Removals”. Accountability She makes a series of recommendations for strengthening transparency and ...; Created on 14 June 2025
29. Bogus land valuation nets developer a multi-million dollar tax windfall: (Blog); ... the ponds were filled in? The valuers say they consulted the Town’s Planning Department. Was that question ever put to them or to the Town’s engineers? If not why not? Ponds to be upgraded Next week ...; Created on 03 May 2025
30. Glenway: a decade on: (Blog); ... the land. The Town didn't meet the deadline for considering the developer's application and Marianneville appealed to the (now defunct) planning adjudication tribunal, the Ontario Municipal Board, which ...; Created on 26 January 2025
31. Will Doug Ford appoint the Chair of York Regional Council?: (Blog); ... problems for Ford and his developer friends. That’s why the Province stripped the Regional Council of its planning powers on 1 July this year. Ford will appoint Newmarket Mayor, John Taylor, and former ...; Created on 19 November 2024
32. Newmarket Public Library sees collapse in membership numbers for Town residents: (Blog); ... had been part of a strategic planning exercise in 2022 but the figures hadn’t been updated since then. The Chief Executive assured Cllr Bisanz she could find out. But six months have passed with no update. ...; Created on 08 October 2024
33. Doug Ford the surprise guest at Dawn Gallagher Murphy's third tax-payer funded BB: (Blog); ... the Government’s housing policy. Undeliverable Taylor had impertinently dismissed Ford’s housing targets as “undeliverable” and accused the Premier of planning to transfer huge infrastructure costs ...; Created on 30 September 2024
34. The Greenbelt Scandal: Southlake refuses to release "preliminary concept plan" for the now abandoned acute hospital in Kin: (Blog); ... to the new acute hospital. The Ministry’s Hospital Capital Planning and Policy Manual published in 2022 sets out the approvals process. Long-Term Care We do not know if the Preliminary Concept Plan ...; Created on 18 September 2024
35. Conrad Black Expelled from House of Lords for non-attendance: (Blog); ... in the last Session" Planning to return After he was released from prison in Florida he told the BBC in 2019 that he planned to return to the Lords but it didn’t happen. It may have been something ...; Created on 11 July 2024
36. Steve Clark: Disgraced, Promoted... and Waiting to be Reprimanded: (Blog); ... Clark will be responsible for planning and managing the Government’s legislative program as well as facilitating motions and debate in the Chamber at Queen’s Park. In his report on 30 August 2023, the ...; Created on 09 June 2024
37. Dissembling Mayor Pellegrini still pushing for a new hospital on the Protected Greenbelt in King: (Blog); ... the Oak Ridges Moraine. But despite this, in plain sight, Ford is taking a chainsaw to the Province’s planning system. What he said wouldn't happen - development in the Protected Greenbelt and Oak Ridges ...; Created on 19 May 2024
38. Newmarket Library "Report to the Community 2023: (Blog); ... and driving change has led us to dismantle barriers to access starting the year with transitioning to going fine free. Through attentive listening to our community via strategic planning surveys we ...; Created on 15 May 2024
39. Southlake struggling to find a new site for its acute hospital complex: (Blog); ... Long-term-care On Monday (25 March 2024) Southlake confirmed that it had been planning to include a Long-Term-Care facility within the new acute hospital complex in the protected Greenbelt at Bathurst ...; Created on 27 March 2024
40. Aurora Mayor Tom Mrakas wants to house homeless men in York Region’s underused HQ: (Blog); ... asked York Region to look for alternative sites or whether this is just a convenient ex post facto excuse for his inaction in the year between Aurora’s two Public Planning meetings that considered the ...; Created on 05 March 2024
41. The Greenbelt Scandal and Southlake’s search for a new acute hospital site: (Blog); ... the suitability for flexible, healthcare-appropriate planning, for potential future development and expansion, and to minimise the impact of phasing construction over a longer period. "Factors considered ...; Created on 24 February 2024
42. Tom Mrakas and Emergency Housing: (Blog); ... he took a sideswipe at “some politicians”. Who did he have in mind? John Taylor? “I refused to be pressured into making a poor planning decision for the community I represent just so some politicians ...; Created on 19 February 2024
43. Frank Scarpitti and his dreams of a Mega City: (Blog); ... you want to bring about the most effective change, consolidation is needed in York region: one tax bill, one planning department, one water department, one fire department—and, as you know, we already ...; Created on 10 February 2024
44. We have a Government that stifles debate, ignores rules, trashes conventions and breaks the law. What is to be done?: (Blog); ... The Acting Auditor General Nick Stavropoulos says the Government made: “significant changes to energy, land-use planning and housing policies without meaningful consultation, undermining Ontarians’ ...; Created on 06 December 2023
45. The Greenbelt Scandal in King: Understanding what really happened and why: (Blog); ... Rice, for his own reasons, proposed developing the land for housing. On 17 October 2022 Pellegrini hosted a Southlake expansion pre-meeting at King Municipal Centre which involved Rice and his planning ...; Created on 30 November 2023
46. A Second Southlake in King: the “Bathurst and Davis Drive Opportunity”: (Blog); ... The “Bathurst and Davis Drive Opportunity” is clearly part of that wider evaluation she talks about. Land use planning consultants We now know that Southlake commissioned land use planning consultants ...; Created on 17 November 2023
47. The Greenbelt Scandal in King: Why don't they just ask him: (Blog); ... Senior Vice President of Policy and Planning for the Rice Group, confirmed that he pulled together this package of information for Mr. Rice and that it was his understanding that Mr. Rice would be meeting ...; Created on 07 November 2023
48. The Greenbelt Scandal in King: servicing the Bathurst lands: (Blog); ... Planning Area designations.” They talk about having access to full municipal water and wastewater services “in the 1 to 3 year time horizon” which sounds rather optimistic to me. I am sure the Town of ...; Created on 31 October 2023
49. The Greenbelt Scandal in King: Senior Officials in the dark about second Southlake in King: (Blog); ... It made no mention of the hospital. Why not? Was Rice planning to gift land to Southlake elsewhere? If so, where was this other site? First anniversary Tomorrow (1 November 2023) is the first anniversary ...; Created on 31 October 2023
50. The Greenbelt Scandal in King: Developer Michael Rice makes no mention of a second Southlake when asking for Bathurst lands to be removed from the Greenbelt: (Blog); ... to 2031. The Township explains: The primary purpose of the Official Plan is to provide direction and to set the planning policy framework for managing growth, land use and infrastructure decisions within ...; Created on 30 October 2023
51. The Greenbelt Scandal: Chief Executive explains why Southlake has no records of the meeting when developer Michael Rice gifted land for a new hospital: (Blog); ... site and are continuing our efforts to find land to build a new Southlake...” On 8 April 2022, the Province gave Southlake $5M to help plan for a new hospital. But how was this $5M planning grant spent? ...; Created on 29 October 2023