Vote…

Nancy Henry
10 Twigg Drive,Ajax, ON L1Z 1G4E
-mail: nancy.henry@rogers.com
Nominated: 28-July-10 at 3:45 p.m.Ward 2 is now a 3 person race, never heard of this person either.I can’t wait till the debate!

I read in the Friday edition of the Advertiser that Nancy Henry is part of a residents group opposing a Condo building development on Rossland and Harwood. I wish the residents well. I usually advocate for higher density , especially on arterial routes, Rossland is a cross Regional road and therefore has higher order transit planned for it. This plot of land sat for too long in my opinion and everything around it is houses. In this case I don’t think it would work.

My comments about this issue can be found here– not the main post but I wrote a comment and mentioned it. I asked to be emailed in regards to information on this project and I received nothing to date.

Low rise maybe but not a highrise this location.

I had sent an email asking Nancy what brought her to the election and have not heard back yet , then I read the paper when I got home. I look forward to following this issue and hearing from her. The developer is going straight to the OMB also. The Town claims it is waiting for more documentation and the developer blames the election. Not a good working relationship from the sounds of it and that will not be good for residents.

This is where I am going to stop into tonight , just out of curiosity. http://www.townofajax.com/AssetFactory.aspx?did=9479

The land at the corner of Salem and Mandrake across from an existing neighbourhood will be developed.

Hopefully they can have a right out shortcut to the lane close to the 401 westbound onramp bypassing the corner of Angus and Mandrake.

It becomes easy in this Town to just go about your habits and your regular routes and never notice other neighbourhoods because if you have no friends living there you may have no reason to drive in it.

Today my son wanted to go to a certain place we go for hot chocolate and it is not the one that starts with “T” , there is only one location in Ajax. I said ok but the next time we go I want to walk. This was the only reason I noticed the configuration of this neighbourdhood in progress. I can only hope it does not stay that way.

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Unlike a municipality that has an actual downtown where you park the car along the road and walk up and down on a sidewalk , we have large spread out plazas that have parking lots and spaces for our cars.

I am so fed up with people sitting idling their cars in fire routes , “just for a minute” . (more…)

That is what it appears to be. The Town of Ajax is going to expropriate land because the owners plans do not fit with the plans of the Town.

I am not sure on this yet. I know we have purchased land by the lake for parkland etc.

What do you think about this? Should Ajax again be spending tax dollars buying more land ? Should we work with the owners to come to a compromise on their site-plan?

“The value of the land was appraised at $5.5 million by the Town in June 2009″.

The current site plan for the land, submitted by Hi-Rise Structures Inc., Fineway Properties Limited and Giomardi Holdings Inc., is inconsistent with the Town’s vision for the downtown and this key gateway property, and falls significantly short of fulfilling the planning objectives for the area. It includes minimal density, which is not in keeping with Ontario’s Growth Plan, various low rise buildings, and no landmark structures, front facades or pedestrian entranceways.

Why does the Town always do these things in the middle of the summer ? What do other Municipalities do when in this scenario ? Is it cheaper to expropriate the land then fight out development issues with the owners at the OMB ?

The current site plan pretty well describes most of Ajax that even this current council has approved .

I was reading this piece in my favourite paper I was wondering why it was focusing on Durham so much at the halfway point through the article, then I continued reading it and was agreeing with much of what I read, after I completed reading the piece, I looked to see who wrote it.

I would like to see the area around the GO train station redeveloped to include condos, we have empty industrial land in that area and it just requires zoning changes and political will.

Whoever owns the empty, for quite sometime, Avery label place needs to look into this, it is just down the street from the GO station, it is a walkable distance.

It would be great to put a seniors residence right on top of the downtown plaza.

Ajax built from the centre of town outward and north, the centre needs serious attention and it is in the works slowly over time but radical shift in thoughts and ideas has to come to the surface.

We are not a small town anymore and we need to do what an Urban centre would do in terms of intensification.

We need employment in Ajax but are we going to get heavy duty manufacturing in downtown Ajax? I don’t think so. The employment lands will be home to business parks.

My grandmother moved out of her small house into a condo when I was a kid due to a Federal program that stated she could not sell her unit for 3 years, this was to keep speculators from buying them up and driving up the price, they were kept affordable that way.

I emailed the Mayor of Sarnia yesterday and had a response today! , on a holiday even I will add. Sarnia is a City of about 71,149 (2006 Census) people but the Mayor has been in place for 20 years and before that he was involved in Provincial Government, here is his Bio. Here is the final excerpt from lower down on the page. I want to be sure people understand that this Mayor has an extensive background and I don’t even live in his City but he found the time to provide me a response to my question that I was seeking the perspective from someone leading a Council. When I want to know something from a Mayor’s perspective, He seems to be the one I go to! (more…)

When I read the story in the Toronto Star , I immedialtly knew I recognized the University Professor’s name. I link to that study perhaps in another form but I don’t think it has changed somewhat. Here is a link to the original post I wrote about it.

I stand by my comments and feelings about it. (more…)

The skyline of Ajax has not seen any change in the entire time I have lived here I think. We have the buildings on Harwood , a building at the corner of Westney and Kingston Road, the condos down by the lake and low rise buildings around a few places in town. Nothing new you can see from the north and from the east and west coming along the highway.

On the links to the left you can check all public meetings. There is one on November 3rd at 7pm (more…)

I may not have been very clear on my issue with the 20 year old approved housing subdivision in Deer Creek and made it out like I wanted every single rural house on full city services.

Not really, if you flee the urban area for the country and it is a long way to your neighbours house then no I would not expect you to be hooked up to city services , you chose to live in the boonies and that is your price for it. Well water and a septic tank. (more…)