In Milton the Town Council delegates site plan approvals to the chief planner.  In Oakville large developments adjacent to residential communities are automatically reviewed by a site plan committee that meets publically.

Milton Council last summer voted against forming such a committee. Should Milton rethink that approach and open site plan applications to a public review like Oakville?

To clarify, in Ontario the public does not really have the ability to oppose land use.  As I go through people’s concerns about the proposed No-Frills on Scott Blvd and Derry Rd, I can’t help but think that many of those concerns can be mitigated if people had an opportunity to raise their concerns about the site plan, instead of trusting town staff to understand their issues without having even an opportunity to present them. 

Specifically, No-Frills would still happen because that would not up for a public debate.  However, in Oakville this committee deals with road widening, access to a development, loading and parking facilities, accessibility for pedestrians and the disabled, lighting, grading and landscaping, and garbage facilities.  That level of input is still better than no input at all. 

There are things Oakville can learn from Milton. In this case, in my opinion, Oakville’s approach to transparency is better than Milton’s approach of shutting the public out.  I am not questioning the ability of town planners.  I do think that people who live adjacent to proposed developments should have some say in how their community develops.  Simple issues like loading, parking and garbage facilities, landscaping, lighting and accessibility makes a huge difference for people adjacent to large developments.

People speed on Scott and Savoline, that’s no news to residents living on these streets. What we, residents, cannot figure out is why traffic calming devices were not built on these roads.  Afterall, if you design a wide road like Scott (or Savoline) then (some) people will drive on them like they’re on Autobahn. 

These ideas are strictly for residential streets (like Scott and Savoline).  I don’t know which ones of these I support, but here are some ideas I have seen in cities I’ve lived in (I lived in 8 different cities in a 7 year period after my wife & I first got married):

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I recently watched a documentary on ancient civilizations.  One conclusion I walked away with is this: take a community’s people away, and its buildings and infrastructure will turn into ruins.  Leave its people and they will build another town, often better. 

Municipalities spend a lot of time talking about infrastructure.  But what about its people?  Economic growth (and resulting property values) is directly tied with a community`s ability to retain its residents.

Are people paying a premium to move into your community or are they there because they cannot afford a home anywhere else?

One of my main goal is to make Ward 8 (West Milton) the most desirable part of Milton.  People should not move here for cheap houses, they should be willing to a premium to be here.

Am I the only one who is annoyed at the lack of right-turn-lanes in Milton?

I often have to go south towards Derry.  It doesn’t matter whether I take Thompson or Ontario, neither have a dedicated right-turn lane. 

The image above shows that there is more than enough clearance for a right turn lane.  Why, oh planners, do you insist on not putting them in?  I often find myself stuck on red lights behind just one car waiting to turn right.

Annise Parker, the newly elected Mayor of Houston, said the local office was the highest office.  She is right.  The paradox is that people vote in federal and provincial elections but they ignore local offices. But if your shower doesn’t have water in the morning and you are stuck in a traffic jam because the traffic light isn’t working then who the heck cares about anything federal and provincial politicians do. 

Look around, most things you are impacted by is decided by your municipality (from the transit service to the roads you drive on to local of sidewalks, traffic lights and stop signs to police & fire service to … well, you got the idea). 

Organizations without vision lose focus and fail.  Vision is more important than strategy.  If you have a clear vision then you will eventually attract the right strategy.

Milton’s vision is “Engaging, Balance, Connected”.  What does that mean?  What does ‘connected’ mean?  Connected via roads?  Trails? Broadband?  Connected as a community?

It has five goals.  Lets analyze some of them:

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I can’t believe no one thought of it before: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2010/02/09/hot-tech-to-aid-the-hunt-for-a-parking-space/. 

Driving in circles looking for a parking spot wastes an enormous amount of energy (and time). 

When you ask for my opinion, you are asking for my opinion.  You are not asking for right answers.  I may not have them.  I do have views on things.  I am wrong from time to time.  Some of my blog posts state facts (Category:Information) while others are my opinions (Category:Opinion). 

There would be fewer disagreements in this world if people could differentiate between facts and opinions.  A person can be wrong about a fact, but not about his or her opinion. You can disagree with opinions, but not with facts. 

You already saw my post about the Big Belly, here’s another innovative concept: turbine powered street lights. And dang, they look good too!

Municipalities need to figure out how to reduce the operating cost of street lights.  1% of Milton’s property taxes go towards it.

How is it that a town that created the beautiful downtown Main Street let other parts of Main Street (and all of Steeles Ave) turn into such an eyesore?

Milton just went through an intensification study.  The final report will be available online here.  If executed well, this can do wonders for Milton.  But Milton has gone through other ambitious exercises (Eco Village) with no results.  The key is to make sure that this does not turn into one of those exercises.

My view is that turning Main Street from Bronte to James Snow into the following is potentially a good thing :-

However, I don’t want to see any more of these in Milton:

The study proposes respecting surrounding low-density neighbourhoods by staging heights :-

Another trick is to make sure that zoning is handled well and respected.  Only then can we create walk-able neighbourhoods:

You can see the core urban area map here:

I would personally continue intensification all the way to James Snow, if not further East.  There is a second GO station planned at Trafalgar.  Maintaining a higher population density along Main Street between these stations will help greatly with transit. 

The Thompson / Main GO station is one reason why I don’t think the central library should have gone at the Thompson / Derry intersection. That was an ideal spot for a residential area from where residents could walk to the GO station. 

Now that you have my thoughts on this, what do you think?

For those interested, you can find new transit routes here:

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Good news: Express bus service on Scott Expressway Blvd should start on March 8th (all-day will follow in September). 

The route should be Main Street –> Scott Blvd (going South) –> Dymott (going West) –> Savoline (going North) –> McDougall (going East) –> back up on Scott (North) and then Main. 

I am one step closer to selling my second car.

I got ready to go to the 7:30pm Council meeting today. At 7:10pm the babysitting deal fell through.  It’s the third Council meeting I had to miss because I could not find babysitters (my wife has classes on Monday nights this semester). 

How hard can it be to stream these meetings online?  Put a $500 camera connected to a computer and stream the video.  Heck I will go set it up for the town. 

It’s 2010!  I was video chatting with family ten years ago.  Talk about being antiquated!