By Pepper Parr

March 1st, 2024

BURLINGTON, ON

Part 1 of a series

Burlington has had a seven-member council since 1997, when Burlington had a population of 139,000. Since the last review, the population of Burlington has increased from approximately 160,000 in 2005, to approximately 186,948 in 2021, according to Census population data.

The Municipal Act, 2001, provides the legislative framework for municipalities to change its composition of council and review ward boundaries. A municipality is authorized to “divide or re-divide the municipality into wards or to dissolve the existing wards.”

The Act requires that a municipality provides public notice that a ward boundary by-law has been passed within 15 days after the by-law is passed. The notice must specify the last date for filing a notice of appeal. The Act states that within 45 days of the ward boundary by-law being passed, it may be appealed to the Ontario Land Tribunal (Formerly the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal, and the Ontario Municipal Board before that).

For any changes to be in effect for the 2026 Municipal Election, the by-law establishing new ward boundaries must be in force before January 1, 2026. This means if the by-law establishing new boundaries is appealed to the OLT, the notices of appeal must be withdrawn, or the Tribunal must have issued an order to affirm or amend the by-law before that date.

The Act also provides a mechanism where electors of a municipality can present a petition to Council asking them to pass a by-law dividing or re-dividing a municipality into wards or dissolving the existing wards. The petition requires the signatures of 1% of the electors in the municipality or 500 electors in the municipality, whichever is less.

If council does not pass a by-law in accordance with the submitted petition within 90 days of receiving the petition, any of the electors who signed the petition may appeal to the OLT to have the municipality divided or re-divided into wards or have the existing wards dissolved. The Tribunal is required hear the application and may make an order dividing or re-dividing or dissolving the existing wards. It is important to point out that in this scenario the Tribunal becomes the decision maker for establishing ward boundaries with little input from the municipality.

By Staff

February 29th, 2024

BURLINGTON, ON

 

Climate change as viewed from a high rise.

Later in the day:

By Pepper Parr

February 28th, 2024

BURLINGTON, ON

Part 3 of a three part series on engagement about Robert Bateman Community Centre

Denise Beard, Senior Manager of Community Development at Parks, Recreation and Culture spoke to Council recently asking: “We would like to hear if there’s anything you do not want to see in this facility because our next steps are really to start to work with the community to prioritize those indoor uses.”

Beard was talking to Council about the meetings she had with people who were interested in using space at the Robert Bateman Community Centre (RBCC).

“The reason we’re doing this right now is because the design of phase two really needs to be determined now; it will be us working with the partners and the business owners in the not for profit sector on how they’d like to see the space used as we start negotiations. So it’s important for us to know this now so we can be ready for the official opening.

Beard said she needed to have those discussions now and prioritize now to help us design for phase two. We like the idea of trying to run a social anchor pilot at Tansley Woods. We are intrigued with the idea of watching what can happen and “eager to see how that takes off and in hopes that we meet community demand in the in the future at Bateman.”

Beard added: “We will be also be launching the engagement on outdoor uses of the site in the next quarter, to talk to community about their visioning of the outdoor spaces. What does that look like? Where do they have influence, where do they not have influence? We will be doing a few things this spring with the community prioritizing the indoor uses and then also talking about the visioning of the outdoor spaces all to help influence the next round of phase two design for (RBCC)

At that point Beard began to listen to what Council members thought.  It was surprising to learn just how little Council Members knew about what was being done in terms of engaging with community groups and how the space will be used. The mood was that it was going to be great – everyone would love it.

For those who felt nothing was happening in terms of community engagement – a re-think is needed. There is work being done by the Parks and Recreation people – it just isn’t as public as some people might like it to be. What did people want in terms of engagement?  Loads of people meeting in a huge space listening to others talk at them?– or going the route Denise Beard and her colleagues have taken;listening carefully and picking up on the good ideas..

Explaining to Councillor Sharman what the space was going to mean for people  Beard said: “We want the space to be flexible and accommodating so that they’re not specifically built for something in particular; that you have opportunities to adapt and flex as a community’s needs and interests change. So we don’t want to be too specific on the purpose built pieces.

“There were some themes that council or committee may consider – that they want us to look at that are specific , but overall I’d say we like flexible, adaptable spaces. That’s really what we’re hearing in the Live and Play plan and that’s what we’re hearing also in community through the community engagement on this project.”

Mayor Meed Ward asked: “I’m wondering about diversity, equity, inclusion being part of all of this. I’m sure you’ve heard it. I’ve heard from groups that are new to Burlington or even the country; in some cases people who’ve lived here a long time like our indigenous residents who are looking for possibly dedicated space but none of the groups that I’m aware of have the capacity to be able to do an RFP or fund or rental or do any of that. So the way arts and culture in the report are described seems to be very much on sort of performance culture or, creative arts as opposed to more generally culture which is how I understand diversity, equity inclusion; I think that’s a missing piece. I’d be interested to hear your thoughts around how that would be included in this space.

Beard: I agree with you 100%. It wasn’t really captured; we need to figure out that balance, as you said, some of these emerging groups are just coming to a more formal arrangement. I would agree with you that maybe we ensure that there’s certain spaces available, flexible, accommodating to drive that kind of desire and need into this community center because we didn’t hear it through the engagement. But I think there’s definitely an interest. When I’m out in community talking I need to make sure we’re open enough to include that as we move forward because it is an emerging area. We are open to having those conversations as groups approach us.”

Renting space to commercial interests were heard during the engagement with the private sector. A dentist wanting to open an office was one example. Mayor Meed Ward made her feelings known. “That would be a hard no for me.”

Counsellor Bentivegna: There’s things on the website that has Mums groups that meet just because they want to meet and talk about common interests; things to do with their one or two year old that can’t go to school. Can’t go to babysitters. They can sort of make their own little program.

Councillor Kearns who was Chairing the meeting, mentioned a “memo we got back in 2022 looked like it allocated about 42,000 square feet. I think it is for lobby area corridor space. These are supposed to be passive/interactive/community building spaces. And yet we’re being asked in this report, I believe, to comment on phase two, which is quite simply just 11,000 square feet.

“That entails the westerly part of the floor plan, which is the old shops, that are a kind of an icky area to be honest, and then maybe some additional passive use when we can have it which is the gymnasiums..  I didn’t know we gave up all three, but those represent 11,000 square feet as well. So if I don’t know what’s been determined for phase 1 how might I comment appropriately for what should be prioritized in phase 2 ?”

Beard: “The gyms are not part of the 11,000 square feet. Those were those are outside of the 11,000. The three shops are not included in the 11,000 either, so you have fairly significant spaces within the building right now. You’ve got the three shops which could be shops or not shops moving forward. You have the gyms that are not included in the open space.”

What was never made clear was:  How much gym space has been allocated to Brock and how will whatever balance there might be get shared?

Beard continued: “There is this vast open space that you’re referring to as a communal courtyard area or lobby area, it is a significant footprint that we have the opportunity to shape and style up however we choose to –  if we wanted to have a black box or if we wanted to have a gallery – there’s lots of space still available to have those discussions in addition to that lobby space.

Executive Director Alan Magi added: “There is considerable lobby space and that’s meant to be more of a social interacting space that is non exclusive. In general terms there could be an event or something like that, that takes up some of that space, but it’s meant to be sort of a mixing area between the different uses that are there between Brock students, library users, people that are coming to use the gym, maybe mom and dad  jumping on the food theme. That space is intended to be a flexible area. That is gives us a lot of potential for programming in the future.”

Kearns: “Can we have a map at some point to identify the progress in terms of programming?  This report is putting in scope the three shop areas which are on the westerly side of the of the property, and kind of icky and then the 11,000 of the potential 42,000 square feet of community space which is that open flex space. I don’t know if that means? Can use 500 of that for a community pantry?  If we’re building in any sort of space that’s just going to be open space with programming.  I just feel like I need to see two maps or two floor plans with where these potential pieces are. And I’m especially concerned about the gym space because we’ve encouraged the community to talk a lot about what gym facilities and gym activities they want to see without the benefit of technically having jurisdiction over deploying the use of that. I don’t know when and how much we’ve given to Brock. I don’t know if we’ve seen that – I don’t know that. So I feel like the expectations are high from the community and I’m not able to appropriately scope the first phase nor can I determine much about the second phase. I don’t have the the information I need –  Why?”

Allan Magi  – Yes, certainly. We can come back with plans that that show that you know the different space areas and as you get a better appreciation spatially where these are,

Councillor Stolte wanted to be sure she fully understood what they were being asked to decide. “Are you asking us as to decide whether or not we want to proceed with no exclusive use. Is that what you need some clarity on? And do you need clarification on restricted space with the gyms?  There are already some promises made to Brock based on that space.

“Are you looking for feedback from us as to what proportion you would like some direction on as far as 50% exclusive use and 50% open flexible space, or 70/30?  What is it that you’re looking for at this point? Some direction on the proportion that council thinks the community is looking for?

Beard: “Great question. I’m not looking for a percentage but I would like your instincts on that.  We don’t want it 100% exclusive or licensed out – we do want some guidance  but we’re not looking for hard and fast numbers. What is your gut  saying? No, we’d like this open flexible space idea that’s accommodating can meet, evolve with the community. I would like that kind of direction moving forward?

Recreation, Community and Culture Director Emily Cote added:  “It is a bit of a shell game right now,as you know.  I don’t have to explain to council you’re quite smart. The balance between exclusive use which is guaranteed revenue, and then the balance between ad hoc rentals, which is not as guaranteed. Finding the balance between the two in terms of the social enterprise with a certain percentage of guaranteed revenue which you get from an exclusive use.

Councillor Stolte: ” I would hate to see it exclusively designated for exclusive use. I think that would be a shame based on what we’ve heard from the community. There  could be a little bit more exclusive use; if we were to use that flexible space and create some really interesting spaces – maybe do what some churches and our faith communities do – have family rooms that have couches and coffee tables that could be used for kids games nights, it could be for community groups that want to use it. It could be rented out by a family who wants to hold a baby shower or a family reunion. It would be a different kind of space than what we have at a Tansley Woods where it’s more of a just a big empty room with some chairs.”

Mayor Meed Ward: “I think where we are hung up is on this use of the words exclusive use. When I think about arts and culture exclusive use, I think about a blackbox studio that anybody could rent.  It’s exclusively for people that want to record stuff. So exclusive use in that way. But anybody who wanted to go and record a Christmas album “and I won’t be doing that”  could rent that space – it’s more than just an empty classroom with with chairs and a table it actually is a purpose built space.

“If what you are intending is a single theatre group would be given the arts and culture space to run their programs – I don’t want their programs.  I’m a little less comfortable now with this set of categories because I thought you were asking us about what would you like the space to be used for.  Anybody, should they choose, could participate in that activity.  I love social services stuff. I love the skills trades. People coming in using those workshops, you know booking arts and theatre for  whatever they want. So I need to understand what it is you’re asking of us right now because that will change my feedback as well.

Meed Ward added: “I’m not looking for more revenue here. We’ve got tons of capital and revenue already coming in from the other parts.”

Beard: “That’s exactly the questions we need from you. We have had theatre groups say they want the space for themselves. I will just use the black box as the example because it just keeps coming up. They want the black box for themselves. But if Council and other theatre groups coming forward saying  – I don’t want exclusive use of the black box, but I want one available to use it for rehearsals or try something in a sound booth to do recordings.

“If if council or committee doesn’t want exclusive renters that’s one thing and that’s one question that we have here around these expressions of interest because that’s those are people saying to us, I want exclusive space dedicated to me. I will pay you a lease to run it so I can run my program versus we want to see a black box in this area and anybody but we want it to be available and open for anybody to use it. You don’t have to be affiliated with a certain organization to be able to permit that black box.”

Mayor Meed Ward: Okay, and so I’m leaning towards the latter part there. We would just rent it out on an allocation basis the way we do to various groups that use our current community centers.  I feel a lot more egalitarian about that part.

Councillor Kearns asked: “At what point can we see if any commitments have been made thus far for the phase one versus the phase two, so that we can get a better and stronger sense of what we can fit where and the types of overlays?

“I wish we could have seen something and maybe this is available or not that you can give to counsel to say, here are 10 styles, can you rank what is most important to you? And that would be things like is it revenue generating?

“Is it more play for more people or more access for more people? The pickleball folks, please do not freak out, you know, a whole gym for an hour with four people if it were only be for pickleball players versus a whole gym for two basketball teams playing each other. As an example. Is the guiding principle more play for more? Looking back at the financial matters, nowhere in here does it talk about how we’re looking to stream out cost cost offsets for operational costs and or potential capital. And if that’s something you’re asking Council to take into consideration I need to know more about that.

“If we had another overlay again on the particular areas that have already been committed  and what that flex space could look like; how we’re actually planning to program with partners, so you know, the whole piece about the childcare I mean, that is a big conversation to even see in a report like this. That’s a whole strategy and financing plan and operational plan with the region. If that’s the case. I can give you one very easy hard no and that’s quite simply not to any commercial folks. Work with our business development people and we’ll find you something and no, you won’t get a cheaper rate just to work for profit. So I mean, if that’s something we can agree on –  great.

“I’m not comfortable with this report. I think we’re getting portions of it. But from a holistic view, I think I need more to be comfortable to say. Yes. Let’s take the next steps. I’m not quite there yet. So I can’t refer it back to staff because we’re in committee. But I might think about doing something like that to get that next piece and bring those pieces closer together. So those are those are my thoughts at this point. Feeling very hesitant about it, but also extremely encouraged by how exciting the community is asking for new new opportunities to connect with each other. It just feels so huge  – is a referral to staff back to bring us back a part two.

“What do you actually want us to prioritize a possibility or would that be helpful?

Emily Cote: “We’ve employed the same process and allocating space and then and community engagement that we typically do when we create a new building. First we say who’s interested in exclusive use, then we kind of go okay, what kind of interest do we get? What do we get for the community and it is a bit of allocating of space also, while we’re figuring out that design, which is a huge component here. We can’t really build if we don’t know what the interest is. So it is a bit of a balance. We’re still in that balance stage. None of those things have been committed. They’re all for phase two. So when you know Councillor Kearns, you ask what does that 500 square feet get used for? Can it  be for the food pantry? We don’t know yet. We’re just starting to have those conversations. The expression of interest was literally an expression of interest. There’s no contacts, no financials, none. No business plans were submitted from any of those folks. It was just like, hey, do you have an idea? It is very so conceptual. So, you know, in the interest of wanting to move forward I will ask Denise to kind of jump in – perhaps agreeing that no offices, no, you know, professional services. Let staff carry on with that and then perhaps report back in the same timeline as the outdoor engagement. We can be a little bit more concrete on what is starting to shape out. I just want to table that and then see if Denise wants to jump in.

Beard: The point of this report was what was community’s vision we’re just sharing with you what we heard from community and what we heard from potential service providers. And if there are non starters, if there’s a non starter opportunity that’s been presented here that you would like us not to pursue.  That’s the start of the conversation if there’s something on the tables, we’re hearing commercial entered enterprise offices as a not, like an area we don’t want to explore we’ll make sure that when we talk to community about prioritization, because that’s our next step, that everyone understands. We’re asking council or committee right now. What don’t you want to see?

“And then we’ll take that off the table when we go out back out to community. That helps us to prioritize the space that’s remaining and asking the community  – what is the most important. You need to help us figure out what the most important exercise looks like? We will be reporting that back – community is going to help us prioritize what we can and cannot fit within the building and then start to design it from there. This is all very high level conceptual at this stage.  That’s that’s helpful feedback.

Sharman: “Thank you very much. For all of this: no offices, no businesses. No commandeering space for locked in usage forever. That said we’ll figure out the money in the budget and we’ll figure out fees and we’ll work all that out. I’m not stressed about that. At the moment. I’m thinking about how we build a community that is suitable for the human beings who will be coming here. And with 120,000 people, many of them will be immigrants and they’ll be from all over the world. So diversity in culture is going to be dramatically needed and we need to be on top of that and thinking about stimulating it.

“I think of the library doing more with respect to technology, you know, because books may be less of interest than perhaps the use of technology. And you know, we live in a world where the whole very, very world that we live in our intellectual capital and our knowledge and the way we communicate, you know, is changing.

“My point is we do need to have facilities in there for people to be able to do those kinds of things. We do need to have those facilities in there that people can cook if they wish to and have cooking lessons. So without taking over all the space but maybe we could have ideas of use by by by invent investing in some of the kinds of amenities that we need that to make it viable but yes, seniors and yes us. You know, we’ve got to have something flexible and usable and people can book it. By the way, I think he did a great job. This is the right way play. So well done.

Mayor Meed Ward:  “I’m wondering about the recommendation which directs you to explore and excute exclusive use space to a limited number of categories and I’m not there so I’m just wondering if we should either take that language out entirely or and just receive and file this.  The report is now a Receive and file – no action is being  taken.”

Meed Ward continues: “I think it’s really important to distinguish between uses and users. And that’s where I get hung up on uses.  I want to see a broad range and some of it can be very specific use.

“We don’t need to earn revenue from this.  I see this as a public service. It’s a community center. It’s a public service, we’ve already subsidized it, not looking to get more revenue. One of the biggest requests I get, and I’m sure you do too, is for free meeting space. I am completely cool with that. Maybe we have one or two rooms. Those are the rooms for if you’re if you got a group and you want to meet and get together, knock yourself out do it.

“Same with some of our nonprofit sports organizations, our Hall of Fame group looking for for a home but but I don’t want dark space. That’s why you know if you do exclusive use and somebody only needs it two days a week it’s blocked and dark for the rest of the time. We don’t want that.

“Been really eye opening talking to you Emily recently and hearing just how much unused capacity we already have in facilities – the barrier is cost. People can’t or don’t want to you know pay when they’re just trying to get a group of friends together to talk about whatever they want to talk about. So anyway, I think you’ve heard us loud and clear – , there’s a lot of creative ways to use this space. And we shouldn’t limit ourselves to those that are able to sign a lease and give us revenue that that’s the least of our concerns.”

Councillor Stolte: “I’m glad that we’re distilling this down. It’s less about exclusive use. And it’s more about themed spaces that can be used, whether that be performance space, whether that be community kitchen space, it’s themed spaces that can be used by a variety of different organizations. The only one that I kind of still can’t wrap my head around is not giving a bit of exclusive use to, and maybe this is part of the workshops, is I was really keyed in when I was part of the community engagement sessions was about the Repair Cafe and the reuse Emporium because those really speak to our environmental goals that we’re trying to reach as far as having some exclusive use where people who have broken appliances rather than going to the dump, if they still want to use those appliances, they can come and have them repaired and take them home again. If they have no use for them. They can donate them they can be repaired and then put into this reuse Emporium for somebody else to use. So I do like the idea of a tiny bit of space that’s designated for certain other goals that we’re trying to reach like that.

Councillor Kearns:  “I think it’s really a huge demand that we’re trying to satisfy for trying to be everything to everybody. And I think that we can do that with very, very careful planning and proper sequencing, which is why it was first between phase one versus phase two. We heard a lot about this flex space and it’s sounding like we’re adding more empty space which is not what we want to do, to the Counsellor Stolte point  – you know, can we find little cabinets that can be you know, for Repair. Can we find that living wall atrium? Absolutely?  And then you have a drop in horticulture group that learns about it.

“Can we have the cooking areas one of the biggest challenges with the food banks is that once people get the food, they don’t know what to do with it. So if we want to actually tap into some of those systemic issues around community health and well being we need to teach people bring them along, as you said, break bread build culture. That’s how you do it. Seasonal cooking classes can help really maximize that.

“I don’t want to have a huge conversation around free, pure free, because I think you still have to add some value. I find that if people get something for free, they don’t value it. So very, very low accessible cost I think is as more the line that I want to see. Sometimes on Facebook marketplace, you can’t give something away for free you make it $2 And someone is banging down your door in 10 seconds. It doesn’t make any sense but that’s human nature. I like the ideas of the open gyms I really want to understand how much gym space we have. And if I were to be able to share my number one priorities it would be around you know, health and well being; mental health, physical health and community connections.

An indoor outdoor connection to a community garden, the Repair Cafe piece, super important.  Arts and culture, whether it’s passive art and again this is why I wanted to see the footprints because we can have passive art that people can engage with and then we need active art and understand how that interplays with our own arts and culture here and the art gallery, and then around that, that last piece of you know, where do we go from here?

I think we need a lot more discussion. And I’m glad that it’s a receiving file. This is not our final blessing on this yet. I think we need to do a little bit more to scope it and get the guiding principles set in place and then encourage those operators to fall in within those guiding principles. So that’s it. Thank you,

Counsellor Galbraith: “Lots of great ideas being thrown around. In Aldershot we have a community kitchen where chefs go and train once a day. I think it’s every Saturday you can go for a community breakfast for $2; knowing that you’re getting a chef and training cooking for you but it’s a community social space and they do lots of events that are that. I think something like that would be ideal just in hearing the conversation here.

“In a location like this, it brings the community together and they you know a lot of the food they make and training they donate to food banks and churches to hand out so something like that would be a great idea. I think we’re headed in the right direction and keep up the good work.”

Chair Kearns got them to voting to Receive and File – there is more work to be done – good progress was made – the public has been involved in getting to this point and Council has made it very clear what they want and don’t want.

It became clear that there is still a lot Council doesn’t know.  The use of the property at the rear of the site; a decent set of floor plans with detail – council members were not sure as to what was going to be possible and where.

A lot of open space and a willingness to try new ideas to learn what works and what doesn’t work.  It was a decent half days’ work.

Related news stories:

Part 1 Early engagement

Part 2 – The pilot project plans.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By Staff

February 27^th, 2024

BURLINGTON, ON

 

Kaitlyn Hou and Charlie Ochu were elected by their peers as Student Trustees for the next school year (2024-2025).

These students were the successful candidates elected to the role by their peers through an online election that took place on Thursday, Feb. 22. This year’s election included 24 candidates and a total of approximately 5,400 students casting votes – nearly doubling the number of votes cast last year.

Hou is a Grade 10 student at Abbey Park High School and Ochu is a Grade 10 student at Oakville Trafalgar High School in Oakville. The new term of office officially begins on Aug. 1, 2024. In recognizing the results of the Student Trustee election, Trustees of the Halton District School Board welcomed Hou and Ochu to their roles as Student Trustees for the 2024-2025 school year. Hou and Ochu shared the following thoughts about their upcoming terms as Student Trustee.

“What drew my heart into campaigning for the role of student trustee was not only the prospect of advocating for thousands of student voices, but the desire to empower more students to advocate for themselves,” says Hou. “In running for this position, I aimed to be a voice for my younger self – the girl who was unfamiliar with the concept of a trustee, harbouring many ideas without a platform to express them. By giving every HDSB student a platform to engage in decision-making regarding their education, I hope to increase engagement, embody the change I wished to see and ensure that every student has a say in their education.”

“When I first heard of the Student Trustee role, I was enthralled with the idea of being able to speak on behalf of 67,000 people and change schools for the better,” Ochu says. “Ever since I was elected, I’ve been on cloud nine. I’m waiting for someone to say “Gotcha!” and reveal that this was all an elaborate prank.

But until that happens, I will do my absolute best in this prestigious role. I’m excited to work with Kaitlyn, the board, and my fellow students to leave Halton in an even better state than our predecessors left it while fulfilling my promises to the students who put their trust in me.”

 

 

By Pepper Parr

February 25^th, 2024

BURLINGTON, ON

 

Joan Ford, the former Chief Financial Officer of the Corporation of the City of Burlington has gone on to a well-earned retirement.

Her last six months were not what she had hoped they would be – which is unfortunate for the city.  As the CFO – she was the best this city has had in more than a decade.

Her department was probably the best run in the city – they all knew what they were doing and did their jobs very well.

Asked who would serve as the interim – Communications said:

After Joan retired, all finance managers started rotating on a monthly basis as the Acting Executive Director & Chief Financial Officer. The job responsibilities have been divided up amongst the managers.

 

 

By Staff

February 26th, 2024

BURLINGTON, ON

 

That One Fare program Metrolinx has put in place starts today.

As announced earlier this month, the province – in collaboration with Metrolinx and local transit agencies – is working to connect communities across the region. Through Ontario’s One Fare Program, transferring from one transit system to another will be simpler, more convenient and more affordable.

Ontario’s One Fare Program allows transit users to only pay once when traveling between the TTC, GO Transit and participating transit systems like Brampton Transit, Durham Region Transit, MiWay and York Region Transit.  

When travelling between systems, the discount will be applied automatically when you tap a PRESTO card, credit or debit, or PRESTO in Google Wallet to connect between GO Transit, TTC and all participating transit systems.

What you need to know:

• Free transfers: For trips between the TTC and GO Transit, your TTC fare is free, regardless of travel direction and the cost of your TTC trip is discounted from your overall trip cost. For trips between the TTC and other local transit systems, the second fare of your trip is free.
• Transfer flexibility: Transfers are valid for two hours when trips start on local transit and three hours when you tap on a GO bus or train.
• Proof of payment: The payment method you use to tap is your proof of payment. Customers paying with PRESTO in Google Wallet, credit or debit card, must tap on and off with the same card.

For an adult who commutes five days a week, the One Fare Program could save them up to$1,600 per year.

You can learn more about Ontario’s One Fare Program here and watch a step by step video on our YouTube channel.

 

 

 

 

 

By Staff

February 25^th, 2024

BURLINGTON, ON

 

Expect this report that will be before Council next week to slip through as a Consent item.

Council seldom likes to talk about just where they tax money they collect goes.

Set out below is the surplus during the year – they used to call it the “positive variance” during the days when Joan Ford was the Chief Financial Officer.

There was no formal announcement on when Joan decided someone else could do the job (not as well we might add) and the city appointed an Interim CFO – without saying who does the job on an interim basis.

The Operating budget performance report as at December 31, 2023 goes to Council as a Receive and File finance department report that instructs the Acting Chief Financial Officer to allocate the 2023 retained savings based on the strategy outlined in a finance department report.

The 2023 retained savings is $1,136,504 subject to the year-end audit.

As is usual practice, accounts payable, year-end accruals and year-end transfers to/from reserves funds have been made in 2023.

The following tables provide information regarding transfers to and from reserve funds for the City’s net zero operations:

Development Application Reserve Funds

In 2005, the Engineering Fee Stabilization Reserve Fund, the Building Permit Stabilization Reserve Fund and the Planning Fee Stabilization Reserve Fund were created to ease budget pressures should development revenues slow down due to economic and/or market conditions.

As of December 31, 2023, the following year-end transfers were made prior to the calculation of the year-end retained savings.

Engineering Fee Stabilization Reserve Fund

The increase in Subdivision Administration Fees has resulted in a provision of $83,156 to the reserve fund. The reserve fund will be used over the next five years to phase out our reliance on this funding source in the budget.

Building Permit Stabilization Reserve Fund

Building permit services are based on a “Fee for Service” model that is not supported by municipal taxes and is in full compliance with legislation. The intent behind establishing a Building Permit Stabilization Reserve fund is to provide municipalities with a sustainable tool for providing and maintaining building permit and inspection services throughout a fluctuating construction industry and overall economy. The Building Permit revenues for 2023 are $5,660,977. These revenues are offset by expenditures (both direct and indirect as per the Bill 124 model), resulting in a provision the reserve fund of $1,325,379. Building experienced higher than budgeted revenues as a result of record high permit activity for new townhouse blocks compared to previous years.

Planning Fee Stabilization
Planning fee revenues experienced an unfavourable variance of $1,373,444. High interest rates, market conditions and other external factors led to a significant reduction in application volume in 2023. In addition, instability in terms of the legislative and regulatory environment contributed to application reduction. Homeowners opted to re- invest in their homes through renovations, additions and creation of Additional Residential Units. The unfavourable variance in revenues was offset with a draw from the Planning Fee Reserve Fund.

Recommended Retained Savings Dispositions

The 2023 unaudited retained savings are $1,136,504. It is recommended that the funds be allocated as follows: (Note: Where reserve fund balances are provided, they reflect the balance prior to recommended disposition).

$1,000,000 Provision to Multi Year Community Investment Plan

 The Multi Year Community Investment Plan (MCIP) estimates capital infrastructure requirements related to master plans completed to date (Parks Provisioning Master Plan, Integrated Mobility Plan, Fire Master Plan, etc.) as well as land requirements that may facilitate some of these infrastructure developments. The preliminary MCIP was presented in April 2022 (CM-03-22). Phase 2 of the Plan was presented to Council in December of 2023 (F-26-23) and highlighted capital infrastructure needs of approximately $1.1 billion over the next 25 years. The 2024 Financial Needs and Multi-Year Forecast recommended a provision of $2,200,000 to a reserve fund to begin a funding plan towards these needs. Through budget deliberations, this provision was reduced to $975,871. The allocation of

$1,000,000 in retained savings towards the MCIP will assist the City in executing on its master plans.

$136,504 Provision to Tax Rate Stabilization Reserve Fund

 It is recommended that $136,504 be set aside to finance one-time expenditures. Over the last few years numerous spending commitments have been placed on the Tax Rate Stabilization Reserve Fund. This transfer amount will replenish prior one-time funding drawn from the reserve fund and serve as prudent planning to absorb any future potential unbudgeted expenses. The uncommitted balance in this reserve fund is $3,403,530.

The Tax Rate Stabilization Fund gets treated as a “piggy bank” that Council can dip into when there is a project they like.  The idea that it might be applied as a refund to tax payers has never been considered.

By Pepper Parr

February 25th, 2024

BURLINGTON, ON

 

It might turn out to be the most imaginative development City Hall has seen, something that could change the focal point of the city.

Today Ground Zero for Burlington is Spencer Smith Park and the intersection of Brant and Lakeshore Road.

That just might change.

Set out below are some of the renderings that will be presented at a Council Standing Committee next week on the development plans for the lands at 1200 King Road.

Much more to come – here is where it is all going to start.

 

Could the Sound of Music be located here?