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Written by Gordon Prentice

Published: 11 September 2015

To York Region Administrative Centre for the much anticipated Metrolinx presentation on when we can expect all-day two-way GO trains on the Barrie line. Leslie Woo and James Purkis will tell us about the “Regional Express Rail Service Concept”.

They arrive late. Was the traffic bad coming up? asks the jovial Chair, Wayne Emmerson, face creased with a giant grin. “Well, we were here before ten” says an unruffled and unapologetic Woo.

We learn a “preliminary framework of analysis” will be going to the Metrolinx Board on 22 September with firm recommendations on the location of new stations and grade separations in early 2016. I hear about the on-line “engagement plan” due to be unveiled in the Fall.

Much of what I hear is very familiar. It is a huge undertaking and we are all wondering how and when it will all fit together.

Now we are on to questions.

Tony Van Trappist

Newmarket’s Tony Van Trappist is nowhere to be seen but his understudy, John Taylor, is in his place.

First up is Richmond Hill’s Vito Spatafora. In his meandering way, he sometimes struggles to get his questions out but today he knows what he wants to say. When are we going to find out where the grade separations will be? James Purkis tells us Metrolinx and York staff will “mutually select” the locations towards the turn of the year.

Spatafora also wants to know what can be done to improve traffic circulation around GO rail stations. It the short term, probably not a lot.

Now it is Markham’s Frank Scarpetti, the highest paid mayor in Ontario, hauling in a lip-smacking $210,628 every year, excluding taxable benefits. He is mellifluous but long-winded. He butters up everyone, flattering them into submission before making his pitch for some concession or benefit for Markham.

He starts by lauding the Provincial Government which “deserves a lot of credit for bringing this forward”. Now I am listening to a paean of praise for Metrolinx. He asks them to consider extending the 15 minute service to Stouffville “if more dollars flow federally after 19 October”. Now he wants special treatment to eliminate a “train whistling hot spot” in his patch.

Now everyone is talking about grade separation including East Gwillimbury’s Viginia Hackson. She comes over as slightly apologetic calling for grade separation at Green Lane. But she needn’t worry. I’ll eat my hat if Green Lane keeps its level crossing. She also wants to know about the GO train weekend service to Barrie. Woo tells us there is a gradually increasing ridership. It has to be aggressively marketed.

Taylor wants answers (but doesn’t get too many)

Now John Taylor is making up for the Mayor’s absence with a series of quick fire questions, getting to the point.

He wants to know how many of the 170+ level crossings will be replaced with grade separations? Woo keeps her cards close to her chest. She is not confident at this stage giving him a number. But, yes, there will be discussions with the municipalities.

Now Taylor asks if there is a dedicated budget for grade separations. It is going to be humungously expensive. Woo says there is no budget yet. They are still working to refine their plan.

Now Taylor is talking about new GO rail stations. Are they funded or not? Woo tells us they will look for a good business case for new stations but she warns that more stops mean a slower service.

Taylor is now wondering about the future of Mulock Drive rail station – which appears as a dotted circle in the maps supporting the Town’s new Secondary Plan. It’s all hog-wash. If Newmarket wants a Go rail station at Mulock then the Town better start lobbying hard and come up with something concrete. Taylor wants to know if the land at Mulock can be safeguarded. No, says Woo. Not at this point.

Staff take the line of least resistance

Taylor presses the Transportation Chief, Daniel Kostopoulos, if other proposed new stations have been prioritized ahead of Mulock. I learn there have been discussions concerning those with some kind of formal status but “by no means is this list final or exhaustive”. No. No. No. I hear those listed in the report are just those at the front of his mind.

Why can’t senior staff tell it as it is? Why can’t they say Mulock Drive is not on the radar? Not now. Not ever. The Region’s top planner, Valerie Shuttleworth, tells us “Mulock is one we are looking at”. She, too, takes the line of least resistance. Say what is needed to get through the meeting and things will sort themselves out afterwards.

Now Taylor is zipping through the rest of his shopping list. 15 minute service to Aurora but why not to Newmarket and East Gwillimbury? No satisfactory answer given. What about adequate parking? And doing something about whistling.

A Delphic Wayne Emmerson tells us he is going to bring something to the table on whistling in the first quarter of 2016. How mysterious! Is the Region going to make us whistle free by taking on the liability for any future accidents or mishaps? Can’t see it.

Taylor obviously fears coming over as a sceptic with his rat-a-tat questions. Looking directly at Woo he tells her “We want this to be as much a success as you do”.

The program to bring in all-day two-way GO trains is still very much work in progress. But we’ve got to start making demands before the train leaves the station.

Scarpetti is already making the case for Markham. I want to hear Van Bynen, loudly and insistently, do the same for Newmarket.

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Details

Written by Gordon Prentice

Published: 09 September 2015

Huge multi-million dollar construction projects to eliminate level crossings in Newmarket are flagged up in a report going to York Region councillors tomorrow (10 September).

The report gives background to a presentation by Metrolinx on the Regional Express Rail program which will see all-day two-way trains on the Barrie corridor.

The Barrie rail corridor has 25 level crossings; 13 of which cross regional roads and 12 cross local roads. The staff report says:

“The planned increase in rail and vehicle traffic will trigger the need for grade separations on all existing level crossings between Regional Roads and GO rail corridors.”

Transport Canada guidelines stipulate that grade separations are warranted where the so-called “exposure index” exceeds 200, 000. (The index simply multiplies daily road vehicle traffic with daily train traffic.)

Attachment 2 to the report gives the figures for all level crossings on the Barrie line.

The figures for Newmarket and East Gwillimbury show a huge increase in traffic in the near term (within the next decade) which underlines the need for grade separation.                                  

The report says that with grade separation “there is no longer the need to sound the train whistle”. However, “not all existing crossings will be grade separated as part of the Regional Express Rail program".

Earlier this year, Newmarket Aurora MPP Chris Ballard, said the 15 minute GO train service would only run from Union Station to Aurora. Newmarket would lose out because of the need to do the grade separations and this would take time.

The fictional Mulock Drive GO Rail Station

The staff report also looks at existing and new GO stations on the Barrie line. The recently adopted Newmarket Secondary Plan has a new station penciled in at Mulock Drive but this has been ignored by regional staff who are prioritizing Concord (Highway 7); Kirby Road/Keele Street and 15^th Sideroad/Bathurst Street.

There was no debate about the proposed Mulock Road GO station as the Newmarket Secondary Plan went through its zillion iterations. I took the view it was a figment of Planning Director Rick Nethery’s fevered imagination – especially when Metrolinx told me they had no plans for a station at this location. In the end, the Mulock Drive station was nodded through by weary councillors, desperate to put the Secondary Plan behind them.

It will be interesting to see if Tony Van Bynen and John Taylor make the case for prioritizing Mulock Drive or if they simply let it go.

I suspect the latter.

Metrolinx has been invited to give a presentation to Newmarket councillors in the Fall.

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Details

Written by Gordon Prentice

Published: 04 September 2015

The trial was due to take place today (4 September 2015) in the Small Claims Court in Newmarket but was abruptly rescheduled by the trial judge to 15 October. His reasons were not given in open court. But he was ill mannered, impatient and rude. Unfortunately, I didn't get his name. He brusquely ordered the public to leave whilst asking Di Muccio and Taylor to stay behind.

Details

Written by Gordon Prentice

Published: 01 September 2015

To Mulock Drive for the first Committee of the Whole for the new term.

Mayor Tony Van Bynen is back from his leisurely river cruise on the Rhine. In an earlier unguarded moment, he tells me he has never had three weeks away from his desk before. He looks refreshed and ready for new challenges but the problems confronting him are, alas, old and very familiar.

We start with a long debate about parking problems in downtown. Joe Sponga, champion of the farmer’s market, is animated. He points to perfectly good parking bays that are fenced off by the Town and are out-of-bounds. Why? He complains about lack of enforcement of parking regulations.

The longest serving councillor in the Western Hemisphere, the irascible Dave Kerwin, is in full contrarian mode. He says he never has any difficulty finding somewhere to park. And the staff has (modest) safety concerns so he is going to back their recommendations – to the letter. Kerwin says he doesn’t want to be held liable if there is an accident and he didn’t back the staff.

Oh dear! So cantankerous yet so timid.

John Taylor states the obvious. Parking is an issue that will never be fully resolved. It will always be, in some sense, work in progress.

Kerwin’s eavestroughs

Now we are on to the proposed stormwater management rate, a new levy the Town is considering imposing on residents to cover the cost of controlling and treating storm water run-off. At the moment, the costs come out of our property taxes. The Town will shortly be consulting the public on various options.

A curmudgeonly Kerwin tells us he collects his rainwater which goes from his eavestroughs straight into a rain barrel. The water then goes onto his garden. Our green fingered model citizen says he deserves to pay less than people whose run-off goes straight into the Town’s waste water system. We learn he doesn’t generate much garbage yet he pays the same as those who throw out mountains of trash. He is outraged by the unfairness of it all!

Now we skip past agenda item 14 with no debate. This is all about a big development in Kerwin’s ward. Staff want to go out to public consultation on a proposal by the developer, Newmarket Cemetery Corporation/ 2394237 Ontario Inc (Forest Green Homes) to re-zone cemetery and other land, west of Leslie Street and north of Mulock Drive, to accommodate 91 freehold townhouses, 27 stack townhouses, 78 condominium townhouses and two mid rise apartments. By any measure, this is a big development. The Mayor is silent. No talk of defending the Official Plan.

The developer’s eyes and ears, Brad Rogers of Groundswell, is sitting a few feet away from me. As soon as it is clear there will be no debate on his client’s proposal he gets up and leaves. Job done.

The oldest house in Newmarket

The proposed development is next door to the wooded Bogart Trail with its attractive private lake. John Bogart House, the oldest house in Newmarket, is inconveniently situated on land the developer wants for other uses. So it is to be moved to a new location a short distance away.

The clapperboard house was constructed in 1811 and has been designated for its historical and architectural significance. John Bogart was a Quaker pioneer from Pennsylvania, who had a saw mill on the nearby creek. It is one of the first two storey residential buildings constructed north of Toronto. To me, this is quite a big deal.

Dave Kerwin might have told us the old house is open to the elements at the back with a non existent window letting in rain, snow and goodness knows what else. This bit of Newmarket history needs a quick repair job asap.

Silken Laumann and Town-owned land

Now we are on to Silken Laumann. The ward councillor, Tom Vegh, sounds as if he is reading from a prepared script. But that doesn’t bother me providing he is saying the right thing. And he is. He says he does not support the proposed development to build on meadowland, a stone’s throw from the railway. He says the developer needs Town owned land to proceed. The councillors decide to seek legal advice (which will be given at the end of the meeting today in closed session) and return to the issue at the next Council meeting on 14 September. Fair enough.

Now things are moving along at a rapid clip.

Ward 7 councillor, Christina Bisanz, asks what the public can expect from the forthcoming review of the councillors’ code of conduct. Andrew Brouwer, the on-the-ball Town Clerk, tells us there will be public consultation at 7pm on Wednesday 16 September at the Town’s Operations Centre at 1275 Maple Hill Court, Newmarket. It will look at a zillion things including the use of social media. Then councillors will chew the cud in a workshop and consider how to take things forward.

Bisanz calls for a staff report on Glenway

Now Christina Bisanz is on to one of the big issues on the agenda – Glenway. It has been hanging over this council for years and the councillors have a hang-dog expression, weary at the thought of yet another discussion on Glenway.

Bisanz wants a plan of action drawn up by staff – based on Glenn Pothier’s lessons learned report – identifying priorities for action within the next 90 days. Her motion is seconded by John Taylor.

Bisanz is in good form. She wants staff to go back to the Pothier report and see what was recommended and bring forward ten of the most critical things that have to change –  she wants them to look at the process, the dialogue, the discussion, the engagement of the public and the timeframe.

Kerwin says no

Now it is open for debate. Pitifully, no councillor wants to engage in a discussion about what happened. Taylor’s remarks are perfunctory. I sense they all want to move on.

They vote to back Bisanz with only Kerwin against. His arm bolt upright.

Now the Mayor is moving seamlessly into waffle mode. I hear about the Smart Growth for Communities Bill. There’s the First Reading and the Second Reading coming up. And this. And that. He could win a Pan Am medal in waffling.

Forget about the Province. This is the man who refuses to give answers to even the simplest and most straightforward questions about his role in the Glenway fiasco.

When did he first know that Ruth Victor, hired by the Town at a cost of $129,000, was going to recommend that Glenway golf course be built over? What did he do about it? When did he first learn that the Town’s own planners were going to boycott the Glenway OMB Hearing? What did he do about it?

I suspect we are never going to get the answers to these and other questions from the former banker, Van Bynen. He is just not wired to be open and straightforward. It is not in his DNA.

Nevertheless, the book isn’t closed on Glenway. It is important as a case study when the Province, finally, gets around to reforming the Ontario Municipal Board.

In this context, the Mayor’s continuing silence speaks volumes.

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