Almost a year ago, former councillors Maddie Di Muccio and Chris Emanuel called for a meeting to consider the lessons to be learned from the Glenway disaster.

When, if ever, is this issue going to be addressed?

We were told in January 2015 that a report would go to councillors by the end of March setting out the “process”.  Councillors discussed some of the modalities on 2 February 2015 but no decisions were taken and everything was left up in the air.

We are still none the wiser on what the process will be or what the format will look like.

Tucked away, yet again, in the list of outstanding items on the Agenda for the Committee of the Whole on Monday 23 March 2015 is item 5 (Marianneville Developments) reminding everyone that Council on 5 May 2014 directed staff to organise a public meeting.

Item 5 tells us that a “facilitated public meeting is to be arranged” and that the matter will come back to the Committee of the Whole sometime before the end of June.

It is all far too leisurely.

Why can’t our councillors press for details – and give staff notice that they are going to do this? 

A little bit of urgency may help our neighbours in Aurora who are facing their own Glenway – the redevelopment of the former golf course at Highland Gate.

The Planning Opinion prepared for Highland Gate Developments Inc and submitted to the Town of Aurora cites the Glenway precedent:

The subject site presents a unique opportunity adjacent to an existing stable residential neighbourhood. As provided for by the OMB decision for the Glenway Golf Club site in Newmarket, there is no test of need to support intensification within the built boundary in the PPS and Growth Plan and therefore the policies contained in Section 3.3 should be interpreted as a directive of where growth ought to go, and not be restrictive in terms of the location and amount of intensification.

Although the subject site has not been identified as an area for intensification in the Official Plan, it represents a viable option for general intensification due to its location within both the built-boundary (utilizing existing municipal services) and settlement area, adjacent to the Yonge Street Regional Corridor. This is in keeping with the general policy intent of the Growth Plan and the YROP that intensification is to occur generally within the built-up areas of municipalities; while there are areas specifically identified and recognized by the Region and Town for intensification, this does not limit intensification to those areas.

History, it seems, is about to repeat itself. Chris Ballard MPP, take note.

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