Councillor Karen Rea - Ward 4 May update

Dear Residents,

I hope everyone enjoyed April and is looking forward to the warm weather and sunshine that has been treating us well recently!

Thank you to all the residents who filled out last month's Windrow Survey and left comments with your thoughts. They were quite informative. We had 44% of respondents support city wide windrow clearing regardless of age and 52% opposed. However, over 60% did not support a tax increase to pay for the service.

The city held its first public meeting regarding the Comprehensive Zoning By-Law (CZB) on May 9th. I want to thank all the residents who gave a deputation and were patient enough to stay until midnight to ensure their voices were heard! All comments except 2-3 were based on changes being made to recreational vehicle parking and implementing a limit of 14 days per year. Staff will review the comments made by residents and make recommendations with consideration of all residents. I would encourage you to review the changes being made and be part of the discussion. Substantial changes are being made to a number of different policies: soft and hard landscaping provisions, uses allowed on both main streets in the heritage areas, development standards on new in-fill housing and updated definitions. For additional information on changes and what has already been approved, you can click here

Another hot topic is the tree preservation bylaw, we will be hosting an open house May 30th, and a recommendation report with changes will be presented to council in June.

Some exciting news, we will be approving 8 pop-up dog parks for this year and they should be opened up by the summer 2023. Mint Leaf park will be the location for the park in Ward 4.

We are replacing the playground structure at the Edith M. Mairs Park located at 17 Forest Manor Place. The project should have recently started and will be completed in 3 weeks. The sand will be removed from the playground pit and replaced with engineered wood fibre.

We had a full house for the update to the Markville Secondary Plan, and many attendees were unaware of the project. Further details can be found at YourVoiceMarkham.

Just a reminder, with each of the topics in my newsletters, I try to include links for additional information or backup reports/documentation, so when you see a different colour word in the body of the newsletter a link is attached.

Lastly, we have a few important dates coming up on topics that that may be of interest to you. Please see below for further details.

Regards,

Karen Rea

Ontario Stewards

Recycling will be changing in the coming years and Ontario Stewards will be picking up blue bin material from all municipalities. In the new framework, blue box producers will become financially responsible for collecting and recycling their blue box materials when consumers discard the items. Not all regulations have been decided yet but we may be able to put more items in the bin however, we are unsure at this time if we will still be receiving weekly pick-up. Please find below the Presentation for your review: A further updated will be provided June 20th.

Ontario Stewards - Presentation

Dates to mark on your calendar for topics of interest:

May 30th - 6pm - 9pm open house on Tree Preservation By-Law

June 6th - By-law Enforcement Review -Winter Maintenance & Regional Sidewalk review

June 12th - Special DSC meeting for the Comprehensive Zoning By-law

June 19th - Winter maintenance workshop

June 20th - Blue Box Transition Process update - Tree By--Law update

June 27th - Mount Joy Secondary Plan draft

Dates are subject to change, please confirm on the council calendar for agenda items

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR RECREATION REGISTRATION

The city is excited about rolling out a new system for residents to register for recreation programs. Starting June 19th you can "create an account" and then be ready to sign up for recreation programs and book community facility rooms. You MUST create an account in order to register for programming. The new software will provide additional capacity and a more self-service option that covers all city's rental and registration offerings. Drop in programs will be re-instated in the fall. For more details from the presentation at general committee click here

Provincial Changes/Updates

Bill 23 " More Homes Built Faster Act" The city is still waiting on the Province to provide regulations to the changes that may affect the city budget. As of writing no changes have been made to ensure that growth pays for growth.

The Narwhal - What is wrong with the Provincial changes

Fed willing to delay greenbelt development

Official Plan Changes

We had a public statutory meeting May 9th where city staff advised that the Province had made changes to York Region's Official Plan to allow two 25 story towers in the Elgin Mills and Warden area. Once again, the province is making decisions without consultation with the municipality. High rise buildings in the future urban area with no transit does not meet the definition of good planning. Application

Changes made to Guelph Official Plan with no consultation

The Province has announced that Peel Region will be dissolved and the next question is what happens to York Region, Durham and Niagara Regions?

Markham is slated to grow to a population of 500,000 plus and as such I believe that Markham is well positioned to be its own single tier municipality.

Ontario Dissolves Peel Region

Will York region be next

Contact information for our MPP and Premier:

Minister Steven Clark Logan Kanapathi

Premier Doug Ford Billy Pang

Paul Calandra

Markham's Tree Preservation By-law

Drop in to the Civic Centre between 6pm and 9pm for a public open house to hear about recommended changes to the City’s Tree Preservation By-Law. You can also submit questions and comments through:

https://yourvoicemarkham.ca/trees

Mount Joy Secondary Plan

The City has been working on the Mount Joy Secondary Plan and staff are aiming for the plan to be presented June 27th.

Mount Joy Secondary Plan

Despite the staffs' thoughts on recommended heights of around 30 stories outside of the Mount Joy Station, we have received an application for an Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendment on 77 Anderson Ave (car wash site) to increase the density and height to a 45-story building.

Application HERE

Participating in Public Meetings

All public meetings are now hybrid and livestreamed from the city website.

Residents can attend in person at the council chambers or you can attend virtually. Written submissions can be emailed to clerkspublic@markham.ca by 5pm the day before the meeting.

Residents who wish to speak on a topic can fill out an online request to speak form or email clerkspublic@markham.ca. If someone does not have access to email they can call the clerk's office at 905.479.7760 on the day of the meeting to make a deputation (speak).

For more details on the MVMF and programming check out their website here

The Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Consort took place earlier this month. The City of Markham has created a virtual book of congratulations, which you can access here. Feel free to leave messages for His Majesty as he embarks on this new era in the commonwealth.

By-Law and Regulatory Services Spring Newsletter

Aggressive driving continues to be a concern in the city, our own local ward and across the entire GTA. Moving violations are under the jurisdiction of York Regional Police (YRP) and reports can be filed through RoadWatch. For general concerns you can use the community concerns online reporting HERE.

A story from our community - Help is available (permission granted to share)

A resident recently contacted me to inform me how YRP helped her teenager during a difficult time. While the teenager discussed ending his life on line with friends, one of the friends called 911 and a YRP Officer arrived in the middle of the night at the resident's home to speak to the teenager and provide help. The 13-year-old girl who called 911 may have saved her sons life. The resident was grateful for the help and service and the compassion of the police officer that they wanted everyone to know that services and help are available to our youth experiencing difficult times. If you are aware of someone experiencing difficult and stressful times, please know that there is help out there.

Visit the Kids Help website here. Or share phone # 1-800-668-6868 or text 686868.

Frequently asked Questions

As the warmer weather is arriving, my office has been receiving a lot of questions about trees and the city's policy. Below is some information shared by the City's supervisor of the Forestry Department. For private trees remember you require a permit to remove or injure a tree that has a trunk diameter of about 8 inches before any work is done. Removing a tree without a permit could result in charges to the homeowner and the company who removed the tree.

The City plants trees both in the Spring and Fall of each year, generally in the months of June and October. The City plants approximately 1,150 street and/or park trees per year, as part of our Annual Tree Replacement capital project. Once a tree is inspected and deemed as ‘dead’ or ‘dangerous’, the City arborist or contractor will remove the tree and a stump remains. The stump grinding contractor will request utility locates and will generally remove the stump in the same year as the tree removal. The newly vacant site is inspected by City staff to determine if the site is suitable for a replacement tree. The planting contractor will request utility locates, and tree planting occurs in the next available planting season. Generally, this occurs in the year following the stump removal.

We appreciate your patience while staff continue to work through the backlog of tree planting.

The Friends of the Markham Museum welcome you to a Tea and Talk with Dr. William Finlayson and George Duncan on their new book!

Learn about their new discoveries regarding Markham’s oldest house and enjoy some light refreshments.

Register for this free event via MarkhamMuseum.ca

Lions Foundation of Canada Dog Guides

It was a pleasure to attend the Pet Value Walk for Dog guides this weekend. What a beautiful weekend to walk in the village for a good cause. Dog guides play a crucial role in the lives of Canadian's with disabilities and help navigate their world with confidence and independence, Dog guides are provided at no cost to an individual after a wait time of about 3-4 years.

Donations can be made until the end of June via the Lions website HERE

Visit YourVoiceMarkham.ca to learn about great projects our staff are working on! Consider joining the conversation by registering on the site or sign-up to follow specific projects that interest you. Share your ideas and opinions!

Markham Food Bank Needs our Help

The Markham Food Bank has seen a great increase in the number of families using the food bank during the pandemic. Help our community members in need during these challenging times.

For donations, visit Canada Helps - Markham Food Bank

If you have any municipal inquiry, please send an email to customerservice@markham.ca or call 905.477.5530. Our staff can investigate and address your concerns.

Contact me!