- 1. My Complaint against Newmarket's Director of Planning regarding the FSI of the proposed Clock Tower Developmen
- (Category)
- Created on 09 March 2018
- 2. Calandra abandons plans to dissolve Peel Region
- (Blog)
- Another screeching U-turn from the Ford Government as Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Paul Calandra abandons plans to dissolve Peel Region. In a news release earlier today Calandra talks about ...
- Created on 13 December 2023
- 3. Former Steve Clark aide, Luca Bucci, boasts that Ford’s planning and housing policies are now written by home builders association
- (Blog)
- ... opposition. (Applause) Thank you. (Prolonged applause) We achieved comprehensive changes to development charge regimes. We ended site plan requirements for sites at ten units or less which is a big ...
- Created on 15 July 2023
- 4. Taylor says Del Duca's attack on York Region's planners is unnecessary, derogatory and inaccura
- (Blog)
- Vaughan Mayor and former Leader of the Ontario Liberals, Steven del Duca, today accused York Regional planning staff of trying to create a role for themselves if a much touted municipal reorganisation ...
- Created on 29 June 2023
- 5. Doug Ford and Land Use Planning: Making it up as he goes along
- (Blog)
- On 6 April 2023 the Ford Government issued a consultation paper on land use planning designed to sweep away the impediments which prevent or restrict developers building in open countryside. A companion ...
- Created on 04 June 2023
- 6. Selling the Greenbelt: The New Southlake was planned to be built on Greenbelt land in King owned by developer Michael Rice and former hospital Board member John Dunlap
- (Blog)
- ... It was planned to straddle Greenbelt land owned by Rice and John Dunlap. The format of the meeting was agreed beforehand by King CAO Daniel Kostopolous and John McGovern, the Senior Vice President (Policy ...
- Created on 27 April 2023
- 7. Province re-writes York Region's Official Plan but without explaining wh
- (Blog)
- Why did the Provincial Government insert a new category of “special provisions” into the York Regional Plan to allow a high-density development in Aurora (at Leslie and Wellington Street East) that the ...
- Created on 12 November 2022
- 8. York Regional Transportation Master Plan: Just published but already out-of-date
- (Blog)
- York Region Transportation Master Plan (TMP). updated every 5 years, guides development across the region over the next 30 years. Although it has just been published and agreed “in principle” (with ...
- Created on 08 July 2022
- 9. Confusion Reigns as York Regional Council approves Official Plan in 14-7 vote
- (Blog)
- Yesterday, York Regional Council gave final approval to its Official Plan which guides development over the next 30 years. In a long debate punctuated by profound procedural confusion, pointed remarks ...
- Created on 01 July 2022
- 10. York Region's Transportation Master Plan: "Heavy on roads. What about rail
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- On Thursday (30 June) York Regional Council will formally approve “in principle” a Regional Transportation Master Plan (TMP) that is too timid for words. Markham's Regional Councillor Jim Jones told ...
- Created on 29 June 2022
- 11. Taylor votes against York Region’s Official Plan and slams colleagues for undermining the entire planning process
- (Blog)
- Last Thursday, Newmarket Mayor John Taylor, voted against endorsing York Region's Official Plan (ROP) which guides development over the next 30 years. An angry Taylor said he had never voted against a ...
- Created on 19 June 2022
- 12. Planners recommend “approval in principle” for new Clock Tower development
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- Newmarket’s planners are recommending “approval in principle” for the new Clock Tower development in the heart of the historic downtown. Councillors will be getting a presentation at 9.30am on Monday ...
- Created on 26 February 2022
- 13. Developers on Strike: what to do with developers who have planning approvals but won't build anythin
- (Blog)
- ... way to start increasing supply: force developers to act on the planning approvals they have. The Task Force report says this on page 22: Municipal leaders... shared their frustrations with situations ...
- Created on 10 February 2022
- 14. Whatever happened to… the plan to lay off 97 Registered Nurses at Southlake?
- (Blog)
- ... new master plan for a new build. It sounds like business as usual after the recent turmoil. Southlake has had a troubled relationship with the Ontario Nurses Association who condemned the plan to lay ...
- Created on 10 March 2021
- 15. Federal Government has no contingency plans for catastrophic environmental pollution in the Far North
- (Blog)
- The Federal Government has no contingency plans to deal with the rupture of a tailings pond dam which would release deadly toxins into the Arctic environment. Tailings ponds hold the contaminated water, ...
- Created on 04 March 2021
- 16. What's Wrong with Canada's 2020 Climate Plan? Quite a lot actuall
- (Blog)
- ... Bauer (photo right) critiques Canada's 2020 Climate Plan. Walter has discussed his review of the 79 page document with local MP Tony Van Bynen who has promised to pass it on to the Minister of Environment ...
- Created on 19 January 2021
- 17. Use it or lose it. Planning approvals should be time-limited.
- (Blog)
- ... by buying land and doing nothing with it, simply waiting for its value to increase. This happens in Newmarket and all across Ontario. Property speculators secure planning approval for major schemes and ...
- Created on 26 July 2020
- 18. Conrad Black defends Trump's plan to block export of masks to Canad
- (Blog)
- ... enable this plan. The plan will also enable 3M to continue sending U.S. produced respirators to Canada and Latin America, where 3M is the primary source of supply.” Black couldn't give a toss about Canada. ...
- Created on 10 April 2020
- 19. Mayor abandons plans for new height limits in Main Street Heritage Conservation District
- (Blog)
- Newmarket Mayor John Taylor has abandoned plans to allow a fourth storey on buildings in the Town’s downtown Heritage Conservation District. He planned to allow these so long as the additions were ...
- Created on 05 February 2020
- 20. Wannabe Liberal MP Tony Van Bynen shifted second shadowy $67,068 severance payment from 2018 to 2019 “for tax planning purposes”
- (Blog)
- Tony Van Bynen, the wannabe Liberal MP for Newmarket-Aurora, arranged for his severance payment of $67,068.33 from York Region - which he claimed in 2018 - to be paid in 2019 “for tax planning purposes”. ...
- Created on 13 September 2019
- 21. Tom Vegh's dance of the seven veils: when will he reveal his plans for a new library and seniors' centre
- (Blog)
- ... centre at Hollingsworth Arena. A report from the Town’s planners and approved by senior staff is designed to spike Timid Tom’s plan for a library and seniors’ centre on the site. We are told: “… the ...
- Created on 30 April 2019
- 22. Time for Tom Vegh to open up on his Plans for a new Library and Seniors' Centre
- (Blog)
- ... am keen to follow their progress through the coming Council term. Can you let me know what initiatives you are planning and when? Tom tells me he is diligently working on it. Characteristically, ...
- Created on 05 March 2019
- 23. Newmarket’s Director of Planning, Rick Nethery, breaks silence on how he was "misled" by Clock Tower developer Bob Forres
- (Blog)
- ... Director of Planning “misled” For the first time – outside the Town’s inner circle – Newmarket’s Director of Planning, Rick Nethery, has let it be known he was misled by figures in a key document ...
- Created on 27 May 2018
- 24. Affordable Housing and the Green Lane Secondary Plan
- (Blog)
- The lack of affordable housing in Newmarket and elsewhere in York Region is a big issue that is not going to disappear any time soon. Newmarket’s planners say the 35% affordable target set by the Region ...
- Created on 26 February 2018
- 25. $250,000 earmarked for the Mulock GO Rail Station Secondary Plan
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- Tomorrow (5 February) Newmarket councillors will agree the process for engaging an outside consultant to craft a secondary plan for the area around the proposed new GO Rail station at Mulock Drive. The ...
- Created on 04 February 2018
- 26. Metrolinx, Tony Van Trappist and the 2041 Draft Transportation Plan
- (Blog)
- Back Story: Metrolinx is in the middle of a big consultation on its 2041 Draft Transportation Plan. Newmarket is hosting a public meeting for the York Region area and last night I wander along to the Community ...
- Created on 09 November 2017
- 27. Huge new development planned at Deerfield Road, just off Davis Drive
- (Blog)
- The Rose Corporation - the people behind the King George School Lofts and Town Homes - are planning a huge new development off Davis Drive at 175 Deerfield Road, Newmarket. The 4.4 acre development ...
- Created on 10 May 2017
- 28. Forrest unveils new last minute plans for Clock Tower giving it the highest density in Newmarket
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- This morning (Wednesday 3 May) Bob Forrest presented to the OMB prehearing new plans for his Clock Tower development. The Town's counsel, Leo Longo, received them on Monday evening (1 May). The rest of ...
- Created on 03 May 2017
- 29. When Secret Plans Unravel
- (Blog)
- Just days before the OMB pre-hearing on the Clock Tower we know there has been deception on a grand scale. We have all been led up the garden path. Was it just a rogue planning department with its ...
- Created on 29 April 2017
- 30. Let's knock down Main Street but keep the facades - that's good heritage planning. ...
- (Blog)
- The casual demolition of irreplaceable historic commercial buildings - including one dating from the mid 1840s - represents "good heritage planning" according to Ira Kagan, the lawyer who will be presenting ...
- Created on 27 April 2017
- 31. Can the OMB - on an appeal by a developer - order the Town of Newmarket to make its own land available to that developer to facilitate a development that has been denied by the municipality in its role ...
- (Blog)
- ... In it, CIM Developments Inc are appealing the failure of the Town of Richmond Hill to amend the Official Plan to change the existing designation of the land CIM wants to develop from "Neighbourhood Commercial" ...
- Created on 24 April 2017
- 32. Newmarket's Planning Director, Rick Nethery, knew "comprehensive" staff report on the Clock Tower was misleadi
- (Blog)
- The report written by the Town's planning staff that went before councillors on 28 November 2016 contained key information which was known at the time by the Director of Planning to be bogus and misleading. ...
- Created on 10 April 2017
- 33. Looking for an interesting opportunity? York Regional Council is in the market for planning advisers.
- (Blog)
- York Region is to set up a Planning Advisory Committee (PAC) to consider and provide advice to Council on "key Regional planning matters". But where will its members come from? What kind of person would ...
- Created on 13 February 2017
- 34. Public Engagement in the Planning Process
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- The Town's Planning Department is reviewing the way it deals with development applications to encourage greater participation and engagement by the public. This initiative comes not a moment too soon. ...
- Created on 05 February 2017
- 35. Forrest launches appeal to OMB with his lawyer, Ira Kagan, claiming the seven storey apartment block "represents good heritage planning and good planning in general"
- (Blog)
- ... variation were rejected by councillors on 5 December 2016. "Good planning" Are you serious? There is nothing in Ira Kagan's letter that comes as a surprise. Even his contention that the proposed seven ...
- Created on 27 January 2017
- 36. The Clock Tower: a case study in a broken and deformed planning system
- (Blog)
- ... from councillors and the public. Where was the man in charge, the Director of Planning, Rick Nethery? The developer, Bob Forrest, who gamed the system. He believes he can make things happen "by leveraging ...
- Created on 06 December 2016
- 37. Colleen Forrest rejects planners' compromise on Clock Tower
- (Blog)
- Colleen Forrest, Bob's wife, will be asking councillors on Monday evening to reject the recommendations from the Town's own planners on the Clock Tower and "support our original application". Delicious! ...
- Created on 24 November 2016
- 38. Town's planners rely on legal loophole to get approval for Forrest's Clock Tow
- (Blog)
- ... say no. Emphatically. It they accept the recommendations of their planning staff they will be are relying on a lacuna in the law - and some fancy footwork - to subvert the intention of the Town' ...
- Created on 20 November 2016
- 39. Town's Planners recommend approval for Forrest's condo ...
- (Blog)
- The Town's Planning staff are recommending approval for Bob Forrest's condo in the heart of the Heritage Conservation District in Main Street. (See agenda items 3 and 24) We are told Forrest's re-submitted ...
- Created on 17 November 2016
- 40. Why is Michael Di Biase still Chair of Planning and Economic Development at York Region?
- (Blog)
- ... this series of events makes jaw-dropping reading. At the time I called on Biase to volunteer to give up three month's pay from York Region and stand down as Chair of Planning and Economic Development ...
- Created on 14 November 2016
- 41. Clock Tower planning application stays at 7 storeys
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- Bob Forrest’s planning application for the Clock Tower which goes to the Town’s Committee of the Whole on 28 November 2016 will be in exactly the same form as the application that went before the second ...
- Created on 26 October 2016
- 42. New Secondary Plan means more people and more high density buildings on Mulock Drive
- (Blog)
- ... Express Rail. This means a new Secondary Plan for the Mulock area with work starting in 2017. I support the new GO Rail station at Mulock for a thousand reasons (which I needn’t go into here) but, ...
- Created on 06 October 2016
- 43. King George School plans and elevations
- (Blog)
- The drawings and elevations of the proposed development at the old school site are now available. You can check them out here. Comment will follow. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
- Created on 03 October 2016
- 44. Plans released for proposed King George School development
- (Blog)
- ... into 11 apartments. If the development goes ahead as planned it means the loss of open space and much more intensive land use – something which leading opinion formers such the Mayor, Tony Van Bynen, ...
- Created on 30 September 2016
- 45. Peter’s Plan gets the cold shoulder from the BIA
- (Blog)
- To the BIA* meeting at the Community Centre in Doug Duncan Drive to hear Ward 5 hopeful, Peter Geibel, tell the downtown’s business people why Bob Forrest should relocate his planned Clock Tower development ...
- Created on 21 September 2016
- 46. The role of Tim Hortons in the planning process in Newmarket
- (Blog)
- Tim Hortons has an important role in the planning process in Newmarket. It is a neutral location where developers can meet individual councillors and talk about their pet projects over a cup of coffee ...
- Created on 21 May 2016
- 47. Clock Tower: Plan for Town Parking under Market Square abandoned
- (Blog)
- Plans to extend the proposed underground garage at the Clock Tower to allow for municipal parking were explored by councillors last year before being abandoned. The Forrest proposal, currently before ...
- Created on 21 May 2016
- 48. Newmarket’s Secondary Plan. Seven years from start to finish.
- (Blog)
- The appeal against Newmarket’s Urban Centres Secondary Plan (OPA10) will not be settled at the OMB until January 23, 2017 – almost seven years after the whole tortuous and flawed process began. Newmarket’s ...
- Created on 19 May 2016
- 49. Deputations and Committee Clash over Clock Tower Plans
- (Blog)
- ... to the district’s historic character.” Newmarket Heritage Advisory Committee chair, Atholl Hart, whose Committee earlier this month also rejected the Forrest plans, spoke movingly and eloquently about ...
- Created on 18 April 2016
- 50. Forrest's Clock Tower plans blow a hole in Town's parking standar
- (Blog)
- The much anticipated report by the Town’s planners on Bob Forrest’s proposed Clock Tower development has now been published. The report goes to the Committee of the Whole on 18 April 2016. You can read ...
- Created on 09 April 2016
- 51. Heritage Committee throws out Forrest’s plan for 7 storey apartment block in heart of historic downtown
- (Blog)
- Newmarket’s Heritage Advisory Committee this evening unanimously rejected plans by developer Bob Forrest to build an out-of-place apartment block at the Clock Tower in the heart of the historic downtown. ...
- Created on 05 April 2016