HawthorneVillager.com

This.

Milton is slowly losing everything that was so great about it and what interested most people about living here in the first place. Small town feel, safe neighbourhoods, low traffic/pollution...etc

You want it to become a big city, move back to Mississauga or Toronto.

See someone else gets it!!

Mike

That is if the report doesn't put her to sleep!!!!

Martin

_________________
Martin Capper

HVRA member

www.cappercares.ca
www.MartinCapper.com

When was Childs Drive a dead end road? You could always turn either onto Thompson or Ontario...in fact that's still all you can do off Childs.

True that. It ain't all newbies voting for him.

Milton is slowly losing everything that was so great about it and what interested most people about living here in the first place. Small town feel, safe neighbourhoods, low traffic/pollution...etc




See someone else gets it!![/quote]

Actually neither of you get it.

There was an election in Milton where the big pipe was an issue. Gord Krantz ran in favour of the big pipe. Someone very prominent and electable ran against him against the pipe. Big pipe won. People in (old) Milton voted for it to grow.

As a councillor I meet a lot of people who've been established in Milton for decades. They don't remember Milton as romantically as some of you do (and correct me if I am wrong MJD, but you're in your 20s? So you were a teen when Milton started growing?) Milton at that time was dead enough that young people would leave. Look up census numbers, before growth started the population of Milton actually went down every year (pop. in 1991 - 32,075, Pop. in 2001 - 31,471). That's including all the new babies that were born. No community can survive by losing its people. Not to mention old homeowners are mostly pretty pleased with how their property values have gone up because the pipe put Milton on the map. Not everyone's upset that they have a Home Depot or Super Store or Best Buy or a movie theatre in town.


Population of Milton will double in the next 10 years or so whether the town builds facilities or not. Milton's already among the top 50 municipalities in Canada and in not that long it'll be one of the largest 25 municipalities in Canada. It's absurd to think that you can live in GTA and not grow (the flip side is that you can move just a little out of the GTA and it'll stay small).

We can shut down all libraries, sell buses, close the arts centre and privatize the Sport Centre, and people will still move here (and I am not even joking, there are people in the council and on this forum who'd do this in a heartbeat). The only difference is the type of people you'll attract. People want to live in communities with quality of life features. That's a proven fact. More desirable communities have higher property values. Less desirable communities have lower. That's why there's no exodus from Oakville or Burlington even though taxes are much higher, because people feel that they get the value of their tax dollars in those communities.

Now you can accept that people will move to Milton and try to turn it into a community that'll attract more established people who'll pay a premium to live here, or let it go down the drain and only attract people who move here because they can't afford to live anywhere else.

Some of you honestly want to turn Milton into Wal-Mart of GTA, a cheap place people move to because they can't afford anything else when Milton is blessed with enough that it can command a serious premium over Mississaugas and Bramptons of the world. (Ironically, following your advice means Milton would wish it was Mississauga or Brampton).

I dont know if the velodrome does that or not, but your comments were in general that somehow Milton wanting to be "attractive" and focusing on qualify of life issues is a bad thing. Quite the contrary actually.

Zeeshan Hamid[/quote]

Actually I do get it councilor. I've lived here my entire life and my wife's family have been here for four generations. I'm sure there are some people that were happy the town was projected to grow to a ridiculous size. Just because Gord Kranz voted in favour of the pipe doesn't mean the entire town agreed. Hell I'd bet 3/4 of those voted had no idea of the issues at the time as no one seems all that interested in municipal politics.

I love that Milton has a beautiful downtown, green areas (for now) for hiking and decent people. You allude to the fact that small town hick towns don't attract the "right" people. Have you been anywhere else in this province? There are a town of small towns that are very attractive and don't need a Arts centre or velodrome.

I understand that the province is dictating this growth but that doesn't mean I have to be pleased with it. I also understand that I can move which again I don't have to be happy with.

Your suggestion that people can move out of the GTA is bang on. Many of my friends and family are doing just that because of what has happened to this town.

What's wrong with people saying they like the way the town used to be. We are all constituents, not just those that share your vision of the towns future. It would do you well to remember that.

I think theres a stereotype that old milton are dumb hicks on rocking chairs on their porch with a piece of straw hanging out their mouth. And new milton are young university educated couples just moved in from mississauga and toronto. Since the velodrome is synonymous with speeding bikes around a track, it may be considered something 'new' milton residents want, and not something the 'old' miltonians are for.

This is the word on the street.

lol

Yes, I'm in my 20's which means I didn't get a chance to vote against the pipeline and since I've been of voting age I haven't voted for Krantz - I think that man needs to be put out to pasture.

Even though I had to drive out of town to go bowling, or to a movie theatre or to a decent mall it never really bothered me, there were enough of my friends in town that we didn't do that stuff all that often anyways.
I enjoyed the fact that I could walk to my friends houses because no matter where they lived in town they were never that far away.

I don't think Milton will ever be this picture perfect image of surburbia again - we had that - we ruined it (IMO)

Now we have thousands of houses crammed into the smallest land spaces, half of who can't even fit two lawn chairs in their backyards, or two cars in their driveway.
The traffic has gotten to the point that I don't even want to drive anywhere (I avoid Thompson at all costs), but it'll take me twice as long to walk or bike anywhere.

Things are more sprawled out then they were 20 years ago when Milton was 1/3 the size it is now. Back then you could walk across town and it would only take you 20-30 mins. Now if I need to travel from one end of town to the other it's almost a 20-30 min drive.

Milton's no longer one town, with one identity. It's essentially a city with a bunch of little subdivisions. I find people on the East end generally stay in the East end and vice versa for the West, and of course there's Old Milton vs New Milton.

My mind's pretty made about about it - I'm not a hick sitting on my porch with straw hanging out of my mouth. I'm a 27 year old professional, who just happened to grow up here.

My dream is no longer to stay in this town and raise my children - now I can't wait to make enough money to buy a house somewhere in the boonies, where I can get a larger house with more land for less money than my semi-detached sardine can is currently worth.

I agree that when your population grows - your services need to grow.
It's just that I'm against all the growth...

There will be a public meeting / information session on the proposed Velodrome on Thursday January 26, 2012 at the Milton Sports Centre Room number 3 from 7pm to 9pm. Thanks to Colin for booking the room.

Over the last few weeks we have received a lot of feedback from residents and a definate interest in a public session on this issue. The report will be made available that day online so interested people will be able to download and read it. We will have information available to answer any questions and take in any concerns you might have.

I think today was the last day you could submit comments online to be included for consideration in the business plan that is set to be presented to council officially on January 30th, but this will give people an opportunity to read the report and have any questions or concerns answered before council makes its final decision.

Let me know if you can attend by dropping me an email mike.cluett@milton.ca

We look forward to seeing everyone there.

_________________
Mike Cluett
Local/Regional Councillor
Wards 1,6,7 & 8

Website | Email mike@mikecluett.ca | Cell (647) 888-9032 | Facebook Page | | Twitter @Mike_Cluett

Governments at all levels are struggling to manage their finances? Pretty general statement that is essentially meaningless. Most of Milton's projects that have been budgeted for come in at or under budget.
The velodrome is not a poor decision of the past, the decision has not yet been made.
Toronto has a low residential tax rate and a high corporate tax rate. Corporations have moved to the burbs and declining revenues result in need to close pools. That does not mean the same thing will happen here if our Councillors use a balanced approach to taxation, spending, etc.
We are spending the $4 million and either getting a $4 million gym or a $4 million gym with a $36 million velodrome paid by private concerns and higher levels of goverment. Milton might as well benefit. The investment attracts tourism, hotel construction, etc. so it will benefit many people in town.

I say if the business case makes sense, we must expense!

Two posts. Hmmmm. Are you Rick Malboeuf?

So based on you vast knowledge of this plan for the facility I am sure you you must have attended the meeting at the Sports Centre that was held on the 10th of this month?

If you think a velodrome is an elitist activity you must think golf and hockey are too.

Ignorance is bliss.

No he/she is not. Just a concerned tax payer who is saying what the majority of people have been saying to me.

Tourist activity and new hotels built if we get the velodrome?? It has been stated that if we had this velodrome it would host between 10-15 cycling events a year. Does anyone really believe that a hotel chain, let alone 3 or 4 would invest and build a hotel to accommodate a few hundred people 10-15 week-ends a year. I don't think so, so the people coming to these events will have to stay at hotels in Miss., Oakville and Burlington, thereby benefitting the restaurants in those communities. They will see the tourist activity while we foot the bill. Just another concern I have that the economic benefits being promoted by the supporters of this project may be a little exaggerated.

The real
Rick Malboeuf

maybe it can be a potential site for the Casino Toronto down the road if it ever gets the green light.

Thanks Mike for posting the information on the meeting. The business plan should be posted along with the agenda for the Council meeting on the Town website http://www.milton.ca about 3 pm of Thursday January 26th so residents can view the proposal at the same time as the councillors see it for the first time.

As noted on the Town website staff are taking comments right up to the time of the council meeting on Monday January 30th starting at 7 pm. Check out the link for more details regarding the business plan that staff are preparing.

http://www.milton.ca/en/townhall/velodrome.asp

If you want to get an idea of the scale of the proposed building at 112,000 square feet it is similar in size to the first phase of the Milton Sports Centre with the two rinks and meetings rooms on the west side of the main hallway that the Town built in 2005 mostly from development charges and without the $22 million that the province and federal governments will be funding for this Pan-am facility.

The proposed track is 250 metres in length. The existing walking track above the new rink C at the sports centre is 190 metres in length and has a ice rink below it which could be another possible other use for the infield of the building along with the cycling track.

The Town staff in the 2012 capital budget are also proposing the construction of a $ 39.4 million Sherwood Community centre in 2014/15 (see page 385 of the budget book on the attached link) and would be funded by development charges from those new areas which could include a number of facilities similar to the Milton Sports Centre including ice rinks, pools, gyms and library to serve not only the existing 30,000+ residents in the Ward 8 area west of Bronte St. and the 30,000+ new residents moving into the west side of Milton over the next 5 years. I will have regional and local maps at the meeting on the 26th to show interested residents what is happening in the area around the proposed velodrome and Milton Education Village.

http://www.milton.ca/en/townhall/resour ... recast.pdf

As noted by other councillors previously the Town is growing at between 5000 to 6000 people a year (see the attached building report for December with the population numbers at the bottom of the page).

http://www.milton.ca/en/build/resources/Dec2011.pdf

The projections for the Boyne Survey south of Louis St. Laurent between Tremaine and James Snow Parkway are between 6000-8000 people a year totally 50,000 new residents by 2021. Also the Town and Region are beging to work on the plans for the Sustainable Halton residential areas which are expected to start after 2021 for another 75,000 new residents in Milton up to the year 2031 and thats only covering 1/3rd of the Provincial Places to Grow Act future urban areas which you can see more of on this link.

http://www.moi.gov.on.ca/pdf/en/GrowthP ... ftPlan.pdf

Check Schedule 2 for the urban areas planned by the Province and now approved in the Region of Halton official plan. Milton and Halton Hills have the largest growth areas in all the GTA.

I will be looking forward to hearing everyones comments, concerns and ideas on this facility proposal and on the growth of our community before Council debates and decides on this proposal.

Colin Best
Local & regional Councillor
Wards 2,3,4,5 North of Derry road.
Milton/Halton

_________________
Become a Fan! Visit my website! Email: colin.best@milton.ca Twitter Follow! 905-878-3623