This page was exported from The Auroran [ http://www.newspapers-online.com/auroran ] Export date:Thu Jul 18 16:23:58 2024 / +0000 GMT ___________________________________________________ Title: Klees’ bill has important implications --------------------------------------------------- Recently, a Newmarket resident complained that too much programming at the Magna Centre over-filled the parking lots and resulted in parking fines. The April 9 edition of The Auroran displayed many other threads that weave a vibrant fabric in the region. Rosalyn Gonsalves advocated on behalf of drivers, not-yet condo-residents, in the N. E. Quadrant. The streets are still calm. Klaus Wehrenberg noted that a downtown business stakeholders meeting and a Library Square brainstorming session ran concurrently. Alison Collins-Mrakas wrote in support of the OMB bill by our MPP, Frank Klees. She asks us to “step back a bit” and review some background. She notes that acts like Places to Grow and Greenbelt sound good on paper, “but the devil is truly in the details.” Klees held a telephone town hall on the 11th to explain his bill to exempt some council decisions from a hearing at the Ontario Municipal Board. Klees stated a belief that developers “budget” for an OMB hearing. Therefore the individuals or municipalities are out-gunned by deep pockets. Perhaps a bigger step backward would help. The 1900 Town of Aurora, 12 year after incorporation, had a population just under 2,000 while the world population was about 1.6 billion. After a hundred years of immigration, biology and ducking the Y2K Millennium Bug, the Aurora population reached 40,000 while the world jumped to 6 billion. Provincial demographers noted that biology was not keeping pace making babies while the percentage of retired elders rapidly increased. This signalled an unsustainable financial situation. Ontario picked the universal solution - Grow a bigger pie. We have always done that with immigration. The legislation was drafted to protect green spaces while parcelling out population quotas to municipalities. The 2031 Aurora population target was 75,000, while the world is expected to hit about 8 billion. The alternative to the population increase for “Small Town Aurora” is to watch the percentage of income earners (major taxpayers) decline - an ever-shrinking pie. Now bring this increasing population back home to Klees, the Promenade study and the other threads in Aurora's democratic fabric. As noted around the world in the past decade, the central platform of a successful democracy is the rule of law. That platform is supported by elected officials who make the laws and rules, civil servants who are employed to carry out and enforce the laws and rules and a judiciary to interpret the laws and settle disputes. A town official plan, developed with public consultation, determines how and where the additional infrastructure and accommodations should go. These are co-ordinated and vetted by the region to ensure that the region satisfies the provincial targets. Therefore, a developer challenge to a serious council decision, is really a challenge against the town plan, adopted by the regional and provincial governments. All three levels of government are therefore, co-defendants. This not just shifting the cost. It recognizes serious responsibilities at each level. If a council should make frivolous rulings, the region and province will deliver appropriate adult supervision. Gordon Barnes Aurora --------------------------------------------------- Images: --------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------- Post date: 2013-04-16 13:06:53 Post date GMT: 2013-04-16 17:06:53 Post modified date: 2013-05-07 17:12:27 Post modified date GMT: 2013-05-07 21:12:27 ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Export of Post and Page as text file has been powered by [ Universal Post Manager ] plugin from www.gconverters.com