Details

Written by Gordon Prentice

Published: 16 November 2016

It is now official. Newmarket's historic Main Street is one of the great places in Canada according to the Canadian Institute of Planners.

I have a strange love/hate relationship with professional planners who, too often, are the handmaidens for brutal and inappropriate development. But this time, they have come up smelling of roses. 

The big question in my mind is whether this prestigious accolade will change the mindset of Newmarket's Mayor, Tony Van Bynen, who wants to see the demolition of historic commercial properties and the construction of a seven storey apartment building in the heart of the old Main Street.

In the CTV news clip aired last night Van Bynen waxes lyrical about the attractions of Main Street.

I listened carefully to His Worship but didn't hear him say he was planning to make it even greater by knocking down some fusty old historic buildings and replacing them with a gleaming giant out-of-place seven storey block!

All across Ontario the character of many fragile historic Main Streets is being transformed out of all recognition. In Meaford, for example, a new five storey 52 unit condo is going to change the look and feel of this historic row of buildings even though some facades are to be preserved. 

But we shouldn't have to be grateful for small mercies. If something is worth saving we should say so, loud and clear, and face down the developers and those who help them destroy irreplaceable historic buildings and unmatched views and panoramas.

The Town's Committee of the Whole will consider Bob Forrest's Clock Tower application on Monday 28 November 2016 at 7pm at 395 Mulock Drive.

The planners' report with their recommendations will be available on the Town website this Friday (18 November 2016).

I shall be posting a critique here on ShrinkSlessorSquare.ca

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Town of Newmarket planner Adrian Cammaert nominated Main Street for the award. Good on him.

Details of the Great Places in Canada awards can be found here.  The CTV video can be accessed via:

CityNews Toronto (@CityNews) tweeted at 11:03 PM on Tue, Nov 15, 2016:
Newmarket wins people’s choice award for greatest main street in Canada https://t.co/qd8cYEGr5O
(https://twitter.com/CityNews/status/798738292489547776?s=02)

Details

Written by Gordon Prentice

Published: 14 November 2016

In April 2015 the City of Vaughan decided to dock Regional Councillor Michael Di Biase's pay for 90 days on the grounds that he had improperly interfered in the Council's tendering processes. The decision followed a report from the City of Vaughan's Integrity Commissioner who is independent.   

Di Biase cried foul and protested his innocence.

He said he would challenge the decision in Court.

The matter came before the Assistant Chief Justice of the Superior Court of Ontario, Frank Marrocco, and two of his fellow judges, Carolyn Horkins and Michael Varpio.

Judgement was handed down on 19 September 2016 with the Court dismissing Di Biase's arguments saying

 "There is no merit in any of the applicant's (Di Biase) submissions."

The Court observed:

"The maximum penalty that may be imposed by the Council is a suspension of pay for 90 days. The applicant cannot lose his elected position, and the Integrity Commissioner cannot make the applicant civilly liable.

The decision is important to the applicant because it affects his reputation."

Di Biase serves on two municipalities; his home City of Vaughan and York Regional Council.

While Di Biase forfeited his City of Vaughan salary for 90 days he continued to claim his full salary from York Region. In 2015 he received $54,071 in salary plus $8,949 in benefits and $2,104 in expenses from the Region.

The report from the Integrity Commissioner which triggered 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 on the grounds that his integrity and impartiality had been totally compromised.

Blind eye

Biase's colleagues on the Regional Council turned a blind eye to his transgressions.

They felt able to do this because, astonishingly, the Regional Council has no Code of Conduct for its members. And without a Code of Conduct there is no need for an Integrity Commissioner.

At their meeting in October 2015, members decided that a Regional Code of Conduct wasn't needed.

Michael Di Biase is clearly the wrong person to be chairing Committee of the Whole meetings when far-reaching planning and development issues are considered.

But will anyone on York Regional Council do something about it?

Don't hold your breath.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Note. This blog was amended today (14 November 2016) to make it clear that York Region has a Committee of the Whole structure in which Planning and Economic Development matters are put forward by the Chair, Michael Di Biase, to the Committee for its consideration and decision.

Details

Written by Gordon Prentice

Published: 13 November 2016

There is something surreal about watching a debate in York Regional Council about affordable housing.

It is a very clubby atmosphere and disagreements, where these exist, are expressed gently.

The members of the club are comfortably housed yet all around there is an unfolding housing crisis. The report before them describes the scale of the challenge.

New housing is unaffordable for many. New rental housing scarcely exists.

61 new private sector rental units were built in the whole of York Region in the last four years. Of these, 4 were completed last year and 7 in 2014.

The situation is dire.

The average resale price of a house in the Region rose by 103% between 2005 and 2015. Yet, over the same period, average hourly wages only rose by 18%. 

Going through the roof

The average price of a new single detached home is going through the roof. In 2015 it was a staggering $988,638. It is anyone's guess what the figure is today.

Last year, the maximum affordable ownership price (using the provincial definition) was $459,170 region-wide. Only 40% of all new housing was affordable and one bedroom condos made up over half of these "affordable" units.

Mayor Justin Altman, the self confessed quiet man from Whitchurch-Stouffville and a relatively new member of the club, laments that new houses are selling for $1.1-$1.3m in his patch. He can be nervous talking to the older and more experienced members. Now he is gabbling, firing a million questions at the bemused Chief Planner, Valerie Shuttleworth. Now Altman plaintively asks: what is to be done?

Do developers need incentives?

Newmarket's John Taylor switches the focus to rental where the numbers are "abysmally low". But, apparently, we are in a fortunate moment in time where we can nudge the market and the development industry into action. He says they are very close to doing it themselves - without incentives. But now he is warning us we have got to make sure we are not "over-incentivising".

Now he is wandering into the weeds, talking about rental related development charges (DCs). Why not consider a different rate for rental housing? We have one for hotels.

Valerie Shuttleworth, talking slowly and deliberately so as not to leave anyone behind, is not sure DCs can be structured by tenure. But perhaps they can do it by apartment size? This is a rare admission of ignorance and is all the sweeter for it. Ms Shuttleworth has perfected the art of talking down to people, perhaps without realising she is doing so. Earlier she apologises for using the word "decile" as if we would all be left bewildered.

Now she looks to Bruce Macgregor, the Chief Administrator, who agrees the Council should be able to incentivise rental.

Land Prices and Land Supply

Richmond Hill's Vito Spatafora wonders aloud how it is possible to get more affordable housing when land prices are rising in the corridors.

Yes. Perhaps land supply is the problem. Mayor Steve Pellegrini from the rural fastness of King certainly thinks so. He tells us whole swathes of land in the Greenbelt and in the Oak Ridges Moraine are out of bounds, putting pressure on what's left.  

Gino Rosati from Vaughan says where demand is high and supply is low the number of people who fall into the "can't afford" category will grow. I see people nodding their heads as if they've heard something new and profound.

Tippy-toe

Shuttleworth senses controversy lies ahead and says she will "tippy toe" into the land supply issue. She tells her audience the Region is required to have a 10 year supply of land designated for residential use and a three year supply serviced for residential development. Land supply, she says, may be a factor. We may not have an "over supply". And homes are bigger now. (True. But who are the people buying these gigantic mansions?)

Up on the screen we see a list of potential incentives to get developers building what is needed rather than what they can sell for the biggest profit. There are grants and loans and deferrals and exemptions from taxes and charges and fees of one kind or another.

But do the developers need these inducements?

In a telling intervention, the Region's treasurer Bill Hughes reminds us that development charges represent less than 5% of the cost of new residential build in York Region. In 2012 when development charges were raised, developers predicted this would lead to a slump in new building. Hughes says it doubled.

A little less conversation, a little more action

Vaughan's Mayor, Maurizio Bevilacqua, ruffles feathers when he says the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer and he fears for the future. He asks Shuttleworth to "bring the future to the present". What will 2026 look like in terms of housing options?

Shuttleworth says future housing trends are the hardest of all to predict. We rely on the market. The developers build our communities.

The Region's Director of Strategies and Partnerships, Lisa Gonzales, says the development industry is building what people are buying. The fact is many people can't afford to buy what is being built now. Shuttleworth says people like teachers and nurses and even urban planners are being shut out of the market. To gentle amusement she excludes herself from the list.

Bevilacqua says a big bang is needed - not endless incrementalism. The development community, who are doing very well thank you, is absent. They are not coming up with ideas. They've got to be creative and put things on the table.

"There are too many conversations on process."

Naturally lit product

Markham's well paid Mayor, Frank Scarpitti, calls for more "ground level naturally lit product". This is the weird language senior club members use to describe what the rest of us call houses. Secondary suites (or basement apartments) are not the solution. He says businesses need people to live close to where they work.

In an astonishing break with the Club's unwritten code of conduct, Taylor directly challenges Scarpitti, dismissing his comments about basement apartments, saying they are "absolutely crucial" in Newmarket and have been for many years. He tells us they represent a big piece of affordable housing in the Town.

Taylor is more energised than I've seen him in a long time. He looks at Bevilacqua for support and tells him his insights are important. We learn from Taylor there were 5,500 people on the waiting list for social housing ten years ago. Now there are 13,600.

"We need rental housing and we can make progress on this file ourselves."

212 Davis Drive

Now he is bathing in the glow of the new rental apartment block going up at 212 Davis Drive. As we all know, he has been to the top. He chastises his colleagues for their neglect of rental housing and for their lack of vision. He wants to see buildings like 212 Davies Drive sprouting up every two years all over the place.

Newmarket's Tony Van Trappist, a club member for fourteen years, snoozes in his chair, saying nothing.

His thoughts are elsewhere.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Details

Written by Gordon Prentice

Published: 04 November 2016

To York Regional Council (3 November) where I hear tributes to Danny Wheeler, the veteran Regional Councillor from Georgina who, sadly, died earlier this week.

Outside the Regional HQ the flags are flying at half mast.

As I listen to the tributes I look at the framed photograph occupying Danny Wheeler’s usual place in the Council Chamber, sandwiched between the Regional Chair, Wayne Emmerson, and Markham’s Frank Scarpitti, the highest paid Mayor in Ontario.

In an eloquent tribute, Scarpitti tells us Wheeler would often lean across towards him and give his quick fire assessment of their colleagues’ contributions to the debate. We are left wondering what was said.

There are other tributes including one from Markham’s normally loquatious Jack Heath who tells us Wheeler’s death has affected him greatly. Very simple but moving.

Now we are on to the day’s ordinary business.

The Regional Council Chamber is like a giant seminar room where all manner of interesting things are discussed and debated and for free. The meetings should be streamed and televised and this, at long last, is coming. It would be an education for us all.

X Rated

I had no idea, for example, that last year’s slide presentation by a certain Ian Buchanan, on the innocent sounding subject of Forest Management was peppered with, I assume, pornographic images.

The jovial Regional Chair Wayne Emmerson introduces Mr Buchanan with a comment that is definitely below the belt:

“No X rated pictures this year? No bugs?”

Mr Buchanan wisely chooses to ignore this provocation.

This year’s presentation on the Region’s Forest Management Plan mercifully shows nothing but trees. Now I am listening to John Taylor telling us all about the vast tree canopy that blankets Newmarket. He sees it from the top of the 15 storey rental apartment building currently under construction at 212 Davis Drive. He loves telling people he has been to the top.

We have three other presentations.

First up is Anne-Marie Carroll, the General Manager for Transit and Transportation Services at VivaNext. The questions come thick and fast, mostly about fares.

Markham’s Jim Jones – who thinks outside the box – wants to know why transponders can clock drivers using the 407 and bill them but there seems to be no corresponding technology for bus travel. When people are paying $4 cash for journeys in York Region why can’t people jump on and off buses for 50c if they only want to travel a block or two? Why can’t they use transponders on their wrists or mobile phone? Terrific question.

John Taylor wants to know about the UPass (or university pass) and how it will increase revenue. There are 12,000 students at York University but only 3,000 purchase a monthly pass. What can be done to boost take up?

Water and Sewage again

Now it is the turn of Mike Rabeau who gives us an update on water and wastewater capital spending. His presentation gallops along, the delivery full of pace. Here is someone who evidently enjoys talking about pipes and pumps and effluent. I see Newmarket’s Deputy Chief Planner, Jason Unger, in the public gallery, soaking it all up. Nothing Rabeau says changes the cold reality that Newmarket’s water and wastewater capacity will be rationed until 2024.  There are no questions just an audible sigh of relief that the enthusiastic Mr Rabeau is supervising things.

Now we are on to the Regional “Seniors Strategy”. Packed full of arresting statistics. Seniors (65+) in York Region are living longer – to 84.1 years on average compared to 81.5 in Ontario and 81.1 in Canada.

Healthy and Wealthy

44% of York Seniors say their heath is excellent or very good.

Seniors in York Region are generally wealthy. The net worth of the Region’s boomers in 2014 was $790,000-$890,000 compared to Canada as a whole where the figure was $378,300-$533,600. There’s this and much more besides.

John Taylor tells us the number of seniors in York Region will soar from 150,000 to 300,000 in the next 15 years. He calls for more innovative housing options for them.

Sitting a few feet away from him is Newmarket’s most celebrated senior, Tony Van Trappist, who, for the moment, is comfortably housed at 395 Mulock Drive.

He remains silent throughout.

There is nothing to engage his interest or curiosity.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.