Bike Routes in Milton: Bronte and Beyond

Thanks to the efforts of Regional Councillor Colin Best, Bronte Street will have real, on-road bike lanes by the end of the year, all the way from Main to Derry.

Anyone who has ever tried to ride a bike on Bronte knows how terrifying it can be. The speed limit may be 50 for most of that stretch, but the road is so wide that people (and trucks) frequently drive much faster. So these bike lanes are going to be a welcome change - especially since they are going to connect up with future bike lanes on Derry Road going west.

Also welcome is the (re)installation of a pedestrian crossing over Bronte at Barton St, even though it's not quite what it was. The original crosswalk at that location - leading from two large apartment buildings and a townhouse complex on the west side of Bronte - was idiotically removed during the Great Crosswalk Purge of '07. Now it's been replaced with a "school crossing", complete with a crossing guard and zebra markings, but not the more expensive (and far safer) type of pedestrian-actuated crossing with the real traffic lights that they installed on Ontario St. But since that little enclave is really the only residential area on that side of Bronte, the numbers apparently didn't warrant the expense. I guess rental units don't generate enough property taxes.

I took a ride out there to check it out and... wow. I sure as hell wouldn't want to cross there - not even with a crossing guard. I wouldn't even want to BE a crossing guard there. They said the regular crosswalks were too dangerous, but at least they had overhead lights. And if you're just a regular pedestrian, it seems you're out of luck.





I won't even start on the idiot in zoning who decided to allow someone to build apartment buildings on the west side of Bronte in the first place.

But back to the bike lanes. A subsequent editorial points out that Bronte is just about the easiest and cheapest place in town to put bike lanes because it is so excessively wide. Extending the network to other existing roads, on the other hand, is going to take a bit more money and political will, but is necessary if we are going to have a truly usable network of bike routes.

For example, Ontario St. could really use some bike lanes, and is plenty wide enough to do it with some re-jigging. Although apparently the south end of Ontario St. already has what they call "multi-use trails" for bicyclists. Too bad I've never once seen anyone ride a bike on them. Can't imagine why.





Actually, I'm not sure if this sad, narrow strip of bumpy paving is supposed to be the 'multi-use trail', or if they are actually referring to the sidewalk. Which looks exactly like... a sidewalk.

(UPDATE: Confirmation from Colin - yes, those are what they are calling 'multi-use trails'. Sigh.)

Even more useful would be bicycle access to the GO station and the Supercentre at Main and Thompson. This particular corner of Milton is completely cut of from side street access to the south and west due to the train tracks, leaving only the major arteries. And Main in particular is considerably more terrifying that Bronte - so much so that I don't remember ever seeing a cyclist between Ontario and Thompson who wasn't riding on the sidewalk. Myself included. And yet, that section of Main is designated as a "suggested on-road cycling route" in the town's 'Trails and Bikeways Guide'.

Go ahead. Try it. I dare you.

Now that the town is getting serious about developing and 'intensifying' that area, it shouldn't be too hard to get the road widened enough to put bike lanes in. Why they didn't do that when they were reconstructing Thompson is beyond me.

Life isn't all dismal for Milton cyclists, however. One recent project extended a beautiful wide paved trail down the whole length of my favourite secret park-with-no-name (ok, apparently it's David Thompson Park). This park runs parallel to Commercial St. and will take you from Parkway in behind Milton District High School all the way down to Tonelli Arena on Laurier. It runs along a swale with two pretty little bridges over it, and is my favourite shortcut to La Rose and long-cut to work.


View David Thompson Park in a larger map






And now it appears there is another trail going in right across he street from me, along the west side of Sixteen Mile Creek from Sydney maybe right down to the footbridge. This particular stretch of woods has always been one of the favoured 'party spots' for local teenagers (I know, I have one), so they may just end up having to find somewhere else to go.


So there you have it. A quick tour of Milton's bike trails - the good, the bad, and the unfinished.

Arts Centre Funding Announcement

After failing to appear at two scheduled media events last weekend and indefinitely postponing a Chamber of Commerce luncheon in Oakville set for next Friday, Lisa Raitt has finally surfaced - just in time to sign a Really Big Cheque for $14.9 million in front of Milton's lovely new Town Hall.

The cheque is for joint Federal and Provincial funding for the oft-delayed Milton Arts and Entertainments Centre and Library. It's also for the expansion of the Milton Sports Centre, which is where I get confused. Originally, the Town had asked for 7.5 million dollars from each of the Provincial and Federal governments for just the Arts Centre / Library. They were also going to be asking for $13 million for an expansion of the Milton Sports Centre

So I'm looking at that giant cheque and thinking, "Shouldn't there be two of those?"

Raitt's speech didn't clarify things any. She referred to the $14.9 million as "federal funding", even though the Giant Cheque was signed by both herself and Oakville MPP Kevin Flynn. And she specifically stated that 6.7 million of this money was going to the sports centre expansion (which, BTW, she seemed considerably more enthused about).

So is there another Giant Cheque out there, or did Milton get screwed out of half the funding we asked for? Sprawlville TV is on the case - I'll let you know.



(Appearing in this video: MP Lisa Raitt, MPP Ted Chudleigh, MPP Kevin Flynn, Mayor Gordon Krantz, and Milton CAO Mario Belvedere.)

UPDATE: I spoke to Councillor Colin Best at the Farmer's Market this morning, and he says that the $14.9 million is just the first instalment.

That's a Little Better

Word in the Champion yesterday that our municipal leaders have awoken from their slumber and decided to accelerate the nascent Arts Centre project in order to qualify it for the next funding application opportunity.

The Town is pushing ahead to develop a concept plan for the proposed $40-million arts centre and new central library to make it “construction- ready” and eligible for a portion of the $12 billion in temporary infrastructure funding announced in the federal budget in late January.

Council voted Monday night to speed up detailed design of the facility after the Town received word two weeks ago that a previous application for $15 million in combined provincial and federal funding for the project had been rejected.

“Staff were advised by various government officials that, while the project ranked well in terms of qualifying under the “Cultural Infrastructure” category, the time- lines proposed weren’t advanced sufficiently to ensure the project was ‘construction ready,’” states a staff report submitted to Milton council.

Staff proposed and council approved several measures to move things along, including finding and hiring an architect and reducing the notification time required to terminate the lease with Milton Hydro (the current occupants of the proposed property). This is all excellent news, and I think they may actually be serious this time.

There is one item in the article that puzzles me, though.

Council hasn’t approved the construction of the arts and entertainment centre, though it did approve in principle a business plan for the facility in 2006. At that time, it also approved $100,000 in annual funding for five years to go toward the project from the Milton Community Fund, paid for by Mohawk Racetrack slot revenues.

That was two and a half years ago. What, if anything, has that $200,000 plus been spent on? Not on an architect, apparently, nor on any of the other parts of the process that would have moved the project forward from the vague concept they had in 2006. Now, suddenly, they are in a hurry.

That's what you get for procrastinating.

Funding Priorities: Milton-Style

Call it a tale of two headlines.

Yesterday's Champion has two stories about what Milton can expect to receive from the federal government's infrastructure stimulus funding package. First the good news:

Raitt, Krantz discuss funding program for centre repairs
By Tim Foran, Canadian Champion Staff

There will be no stickhandling necessary to play in this RInC.

That was the message from Milton Mayor Gord Krantz following a recent meeting with Halton MP Lisa Raitt at the Milton Sports Centre.

The two officials privately discussed the federal government’s two-year, $500 million Recreation Infrastructure in Canada (RInC) funding program announced in the recently passed federal budget.

Though the application process hasn’t been finalized, Krantz said he was confident there wouldn’t be bureaucratic red tape that might hold up the flow of funds.

“I don’t think there’ll be much stickhandling; it’s pretty straightforward,” said Krantz of the RInC program’s application process. “It’s a slapshot.”

Whether the Town scores though won’t be known for a while.

Milton has already identified $1.6 million in repairs to the John Tonelli Sports Centre and the Milton Leisure Centre as possible projects eligible for federal funding, but the Town is waiting for application details before submitting its requests.

And then there's the bad news:

$15-million library, art centre funding application denied
But projects not dead: Krantz
By Tim Foran, Canadian Champion Staff

The Town of Milton’s application for $15 million in federal and provincial funding for an arts and entertainment centre and central library has been rejected.

The two upper levels of government announced Friday a combined $667 million in funding for 289 infrastructure projects in Ontario communities with less than 100,000 people, but Milton’s November funding application wasn’t included in the list of successful projects.

Milton had applied for $7.5 million in funding from each of the two upper governments, money that would have been used toward the construction of the $26 million arts and entertainment centre and the $14 million central library.

“It would go without saying that I’m a little disappointed,” said Milton Mayor Gord Krantz of the unsuccessful application.

Sure. Sure you are, Gord.

Just to give you some idea of what the priorities are in this town, we currently have three hockey arenas (including the giant, multi-rink Milton Sports Centre), a curling rink, a massive Leisure Centre, two public pools (one indoor, one outdoor), and multiple baseball diamonds, soccer pitches, tennis courts, etc. We even have a lawn bowling / croquet field.

Our town's many music and theatre groups, on the other hand, do not have a single dedicated venue to perform in. Instead, they have to make do with either the high school auditorium, the Senior's Centre, or one of the dozen or so churches in town - none of which have appropriate acoustics, lighting, or anything else needed to put on a proper, professional production.

When the Milton Choristers had their 35th anniversary gala a few years ago, they had to do it at the Mississauga Arts Centre.

One possible reason given for why funding was denied for the arts centre and library are that the stimulus is specifically geared towards the ubiquitous "shovel-ready" projects, and the arts centre in particular isn't slated to break ground for a least another two or three years. But why is that? The arts community has been screaming for this centre for at least a decade, and Town Council approved it.. three? four years ago? And yet it hasn't even reached the design stage.

But hey - at least the new Town Hall Expansion is going lickety-split. Complete with its million dollar imported British glass wall.



Isn't it lovely? I wonder what the acoustics are like in there...

(cross-posted from HaltonWatch.)

Milton Transit: Change is Coming!

I grew up in Toronto, which probably has the best transit system in the country. No matter where you are in Toronto, you are rarely more than a few blocks away from a bus, streetcar or subway stop. More importantly, even if you are unfamiliar with the specific TTC routes, you can generally find your way to where you're going because the routes are all on a grid system. So if you know you want to go southwest, you just get on a westbound bus and then onto a southbound.

It doesn't quite work that way in Milton.

Back when we had one car and my husband was commuting to Toronto, I got myself a short-lived job doing layout for a graphics company up on Steeles Avenue. It was too far to walk, so I used to take the bus. Back then they only ran once every hour, but I was fortunate in that there was a bus stop right across the street from me, and that bus went straight up Commercial and Martin Streets to Steeles and then back again.

Today, getting to that same location would involve a 15 minute walk, two different buses and a rather extensive scenic tour of Milton.



The current Milton Transit system is a classic case of "you can't get there from here" - unless, of course, "here" is one of the new housing developments and "there" is the GO Station. If, on the other hand, you live in 'olde Milton'* and want to get to the Wal-Mart or the movie theatre or the grocery store, you're better off taking a cab. And you really, really don't want to take a cab in this town.

Happily, a Strategic Plan Study has been underway for some time now, and proposals are now being made for an overhaul of Milton' beleaguered transit system. As reported in today's Champion, draft recommendations were presented at a public meeting on January 19th (which I missed because of work), and are now available online for public comment until Feb. 2nd.

The new routes proposed still aren't perfect, but they're a significant improvement.



With this I could get to my old workplace using only one bus and a considerably less circuitous route, although there'd still be a 15 minute walk involved. And although it's still a radial system, they do seem to have more two-way routes and fewer complex loops, making the whole thing easier to navigate.

All this will cost more money of course, but as luck would have it, Milton is about to get a big boost in the amount of gas tax revenue it receives from the federal government as a result of our growing population. Perfect timing!

Just as long as they don't blow it all on another million dollar imported glass wall.

* yes, the realtors actually call it 'Olde Milton'.

Milton Draws its 'Line in the Sand' with Region

From today's Milton Champion:

Town setting growth 'rules' with Region

The Town is laying out ground rules that it wants the Region to follow when it comes to local residential growth beyond 2021.

The proposed list of growth principles prepared by Town staff went before town council at an information workshop held Monday afternoon.

The item comes in response to the Region's Sustainable Halton plan, which is being developed to steer future growth while preserving and protecting things like greenspace and farmland.

As part of the process, Region staff has come up with five concepts that show how about 2,400 hectares of 'greenfields,' or undeveloped land, in Milton and Halton Hills could accommodate 120,000 people and the needed community infrastructure between 2021 and 2031.

(...) In response to the concepts, [Town] staff developed a list that tells the Region the Town will accept residential growth beyond 2021 only on the basis of the following principles, including:

- Balanced residential and employment growth based upon a minimum .5 employee-to-resident ratio

- Increased financial support from the Region relating to capital projects, with transportation/transit and water/wastewater systems as a priority

- Encouraged financial assistance from the Province for hospitals, schools and transit, including things like legislative changes to development charges

- Continued and respected input into the Region's evaluation of the proposed growth concepts, all the while respecting Milton's Strategic Plan goals and objectives

- That the cost of providing lake-based servicing to Halton Hills be borne by Halton Hills' landowners/developers, and that Halton Hills development doesn't impede Milton's ability to manage its growth

What I find most interesting about this list of "principles" is that every one of them is about money.

The sad thing is, the 'Sustainable Halton' plan is actually very good. Although it takes as a given that the population and urban area of Milton will expand significantly (which it already has), and although the suggested population density for new residential developments is shockingly low (50 people + jobs/hectare), it does take into account things like continuity and preservation of as much agricultural land as possible, recognition of the special needs of the greenhouse/market garden areas along Eighth Line, the integration of rail, transit and automobile transportation corridors and hubs, etc.

That's the big picture. The smaller picture - the actual implementation of this plan on a local level in terms of individual housing, retail and industrial developments, is the purview of the Town of Milton. But instead of going with the spirit and intent of the Region's plan and exploring innovative ways of creating sustainable new urban spaces (such as New Urbanist concepts, or, say, this development in Ottawa), the Town long ago chose to simply hand over the design of housing and retail developments to private corporations whose only purpose is to maximize profit per hectare.

The result, which may or may not adhere to the overall land use recommendations of 'Sustainable Halton', nevertheless makes 'New Milton' look like exactly the same barren wasteland of ticky-tacky houses and big box stores covering Brampton and Peel when viewed from street level.

Friends With Chickens, the Milton Street Festival... and a comment for Garth

I have a friend with chickens.

She doesn't have a farm, exactly. She just has chickens, and from those chickens, eggs. She sings with me in the Milton Choristers, and I found out last year that she was supplying one of the other sopranos.

This year, I got hooked up. Two bucks a dozen for the biggest, tastiest, most golden yolked eggs I have ever eaten. Behold and be amazed.



Ok, so the photo doesn't really do them justice. But trust me - store-bought eggs simply pale by comparison.

__________________________


After the Farmers' Market tomorrow is the Milton Street Festival. The event attracted over 15,000 people last year and may do even better this year. But more importantly, I will be wandering the streets all afternoon singing with Nero's Fiddle. You will recognize us by our dulcet tones, our Renaissance garb, and our sheen of sweat as we roast in bodices and full skirts.

C'mon down and say hi!

__________________________


I got a rather excited phone call this afternoon from a certain MP's office manager (who shall not be named to avoid further harassment). She had just attended an event entitled "BUILDING COMPLETE COMMUNITIES: A Summit to Explore New Ways to Afford Sustainable Growth", co-sponsored by the Canadian Urban Institute, and couldn't wait to tell me all about it as she knew it was right up my alley. It sounded fascinating. Garth Turner thought so too and mentioned it in his blog tonight.

Given that I'm well into reading 'The Transitions Handbook' right now, I gave the following response:

I wish I could have been at the meeting. It sounded really interesting. Unfortunately, nobody on Milton's Town Council or the Halton Regional Council appears to be paying attention.

Our municipal governments are our first line of defence against urban sprawl, and in Milton's case in particular they have failed us miserably. We knew there was going to big a big influx of people once the Big Pipe arrived, and all we asked of our elected representatives was this: don't let Milton turn into Brampton.

Instead, they succumbed to the siren song of development charges and property tax revenues, and rubber stamped every single agri-to-res re-zoning and big box retail proposal that crossed their desks.

They should all be run out of town on a rail.

But fear not, my friends. There is hope. There's a quiet but growing movement in England, Ireland and towns in several other countries called Transition Culture, aka 'Energy Descent Action Planning'. The idea is that the combined effects of climate change and peak oil have conspired to make it an absolute necessity for us to start adjusting to a life with much less power. And that, if we do it right, that can be a good thing.

It only took about a hundred years for cheap oil to become "essential" to our way of life. Using that same inginuity and drive, we can find our way back down again through initiatives like micro energy generation, diversification and re-localization of food sources and industry, and many more creative and pro-active ideas.

I'm excited! Are you excited?

Milton would make a perfect Transition Town. We still have enough remnants of what the town once was to re-localize and weather the coming storm. Hell, we still have a working blacksmith's shop!

Ok, so we might have to plow under some of those new developments. Something tells me they're going to have a hard time finding buyers pretty soon.

Farming Series in the Champion

There's a great series of articles in the Milton Champion this month on the changing world of farming as seen through the eyes of local farmers. Part one focused on corn and soybean farmer Peter Lambrick. Part two, in today's paper, talks about the Egger family and their dairy farm.

The articles cover all sorts of issues impacting local farmers including encroaching development, climate change, government regulation and red tape, and the lack of young people getting into farming. It's a fascinating look at the day to day reality of 21st century farming and well worth a read.

Town of Milton Pats Itself on the Back

From Friday's Champion:

Town doing 'outstanding job': CAO

While things may not be perfect when it comes to the timing of development and infrastructure in Milton, Town staff says that overall it's doing a good job in managing growth.

...CAO Mario Belvedere told council he feels that generally the Town has done an outstanding job in managing growth.

He acknowledged there might be "hiccups" when it comes to things like the timing of road construction.

"But other than that we've done a pretty darn good job," he said.

Town Director of Planning and Development Mel Iovio shared similar sentiments.

He said the planning, development phasing and financial agreements the Town has struck with developers have generally resulted in a controlled and logical growth pattern.

BTW, that would be this pattern:


But I digress...

Town Director of Engineering Services Paul Cripps pointed out that some roads projects are being fast-tracked through the Accelerated Transportation Capital Program, such as the widening of Derry Road from Tremaine Road to Bronte Street.

The `Accelerated Transportation Capital Program` was brought in after the Town clued into the fact that the development fees they were charging wouldn`t be enough to cover the required arterial road improvements to service the new developments, and that the fees they would be receiving wouldn`t reach the Town`s coffers until long after the work needed to be done. So they worked out a deal where Mattamy and other developers would supply the capital needed to fast-track the road improvements, and the Town would pay them back without interest at a future date.

In other words, our town is currently tens of millions of dollars in debt to the very same housing developers who are asking them to approve still more housing developments.

I`m no expert, but that seems to me to be the very definition of a conflict of interest. But hey, kudos to the Town of Milton for doing such an exceptional job of letting the developers do their job for them.