2012 Waste Management Guide & Collection Calendar delivered to homes next week

From the Region of Halton website.

The 2012 Waste Management Guide and Collection Calendar, which has everything you need to know about waste collection in Halton Region, will be delivered to homes starting January 13. The Calendar is effective February 1 and includes a schedule for Blue Box, GreenCart, garbage, bulk and yard waste collection, information on the Halton Waste Management Site and dates for 2012 special events such as Halton’s popular Compost Give Away.

“The 2012 Waste Management Guide and Collection Calendar is a quick reference tool for residents to locate important information about all of Halton’s Waste Management programs,” said Gary Carr, Halton’s Regional Chair. “I encourage everyone to review the calendar to learn more about all of the ways we can work together to reduce, reuse and recycle our waste and continue to extend the life of Halton’s landfill site.”

The 2012 Waste Management Guide and Collection Calendar once again features Halton’s talented young artists who were selected as the Calendar Cover Art Contest winners. This year marked the fourth annual art contest that ran in the fall of 2011 asking children from kindergarten to grade eight to create the 2012 calendar cover using the theme of “you are the difference – reduce, reuse, recycle.” One entry from each of the four Local Municipalities was selected to have their creative design featured on the 2012 calendar cover. Winners include Abril Rebollo from Burlington, Michelle Kozdras and Gabrielle Dimech from Halton Hills, Christine Kilfoil from Milton and Kate Jung (Haram Jung) from Oakville.

If you have not received your Collection Calendar by January 27, please contact Access Halton by dialling 311 or use the online Service Request Tool at www.halton.ca/wastetools. To learn more about waste diversion and receive regular waste collection tips follow us on Twitter @haltonrecycles and read our blog at www.haltonrecycles.ca.

For more information contact Halton Region by dialing 311 or 905-825-6000, toll free 1-866-442-5866, TTY 905-827-9833 or visit www.halton.ca.

The Regional Municipality of Halton serves more than 500,000 residents in the City of Burlington, the Town of Halton Hills, the Town of Milton, and the Town of Oakville. Halton Region is committed to meeting the needs of its residents through the delivery of cost-effective, quality programs and services, including water and wastewater; Regional roads and planning; emergency medical services; waste management; public health; Ontario Works (formerly social assistance); children’s and seniors’ services; social/non-profit housing; heritage programs; emergency management and business development. For more information, dial 311 or visit Halton Region’s website at www.halton.ca.

Last night was the third public information session held by the Region of Halton at the Boyne Community Centre. This is phase 3 of a phase plan that is working at finding out the best solution for Britannia Road to deal with the increased amount of traffic now and until 2021 and beyond.

http://www.halton.ca/cms/one.aspx?portalId=8310&pageId=49605

This is the link to follow for more information.  They said the details of the presentation, the information boards, comments forms etc will be online later today so keep checking.

From the comments I received last night from a very full house of concerned residents is that it was very informative and they were happy with the level of communication they are getting.  Councillor Best, Councillor Barkley and myself were in attendance for the presentation.  Councillor Rick Di Lorenzo was there earlier but had to leave and had an opportunity to ask about roundabouts given that we have been asked by many on the Hawthorne Villager about how they can be implemented.

Roundabouts are in the plans for mainly the intersection of Tremaine Road and Britannia and lights for a majority of the other major intersections.  This is not to say they will be ruled out entirely over the course of the next several years but given the fact Tremaine and Britannia will be a major intersection around the Milton Education Village, it was deemed necessary.

I can see the pros of roundabouts in certain intersections and I understand many think it will keep traffic flowing but given the information I have read, Im not quite convinced they would be a good choice at a lot of intersections.

If you have any questions once the reports go up or any detailed inquiries, please email me mike@mikecluett.ca and I’ll do my best to get the answers.

Thank you to everyone who attended last night and we will do our best to keep everyone in the loop as to whats happening with this very important project.

As reported on her Twitter account, Christina Commisso @C_Commisso (who is one of the reporters for the Milton Canadian Champion) sent out a message yesterday saying that the Minister of Infrastructure Bob Chiraelli responded to the article “Councillors Disappointed with Infrastructure Plan“

You can read my response to the article here in my post called “Hey Bob! Read OUR Lips“

Call me a cynic, but I’m not expecting a full time line report from the Minister but hopefully we will get a clearer idea of when any possible expansion of Milton District Hospital will happen.  Its not that it should happen, its that it HAS to happen.  Miltonians deserve an answer or at least a timeline of when things will begin to move forward.

Milton Council needs to have answers.  There are a lot of issues financially that we are facing with our 2012 budget about hospital expansion reserve accounts and other projects that need help from the province that we need to address and we at the town and the Region of Halton have done our work…we just need the province to take some action.

Regional Councillor Colin Best has also expressed his frustration about the plan.  The Region has been working on getting ROPA 39 approved (something the province requires) so we can continue with the long range planning and with the province and if its not approved it can put the town and the region in a difficult position at the provincial level.  At our last council meeting the measure passed…just barely.  Again, we are doing what we can to send a message to the province that we need them to step up to the plate.

I’ll update the blog later on today when we get a chance to read his response.  Cross your fingers folks.

Many thanks to Regional Councillor Colin Best for sending this information to the local councillors in Milton.  He has been in discussions with the Halton Region Police Services and one of his reports included a map of all areas and where the most motor vehicle collisions (MCA’s) have occured in town.

As you can see by this list, the top 10 intersections in the region (minus Oakville/Burlington) for MCA’s are located in Milton.

The following is a map of ward 6 specifically.  As you can see the intersection of Derry and Thompson Road is an intersection that has a high number of MCA’s.  There are also a number of other areas in our ward that have a low number of collisions but they are still quite serious.

This coming Monday May 9th will be our Community Services Standing Committee meeting at Town Hall.  This Committee consists of five Councillors and the Mayor. Committee members review all reports, formulate policy and make recommendations to Council on matters over which Council has authority under the Municipal Act.  These matters are related to Community Services, Fire, Library, Transit and other operational programs.

The agenda can be found here at this link.  Some of the highlights will be discussion on whether or not the Canadian Road Cycling Championships should be re-routed due to some issues Springridge Farms have with road closures.  The race is slated for Saturday June 25th and this would mean the road in front of Springridge would have to be closed, meaning customers wouldn’t be able to get there.  There are also other issues about the road in general and there is one delegation slated to speak.

Another presentation to be given is the Transportation Projects update which gives updates on Ministry of Transportation’s projects, GO Transit, Halton Region, and the Britannia Road Environmental Assessment process.

If you would like to speak on any of the items listed you can email the Town Clerk before 10AM on Monday and get listed as a delegation.  You can also drop me an email mike@mikecluett.ca if you have any questions. 

As always the meetings are now streamed live and click here watch council in action.

The town of Milton received a notice from Hydro One about some upcoming constrcution to the transmission corridor along James Snow Parkway from Steeles to Main Street.  As you will read the construction will take a number of weeks with the goal of being finished by mid-May.

Reisdents will see helicoptors flying around and there will be some loud bangs from the use of implosive devices to fuse wires together…so dont be alarmed.  The notice I’m posting here will be sent to area residents and businesses, sent to the local papers, and local police & fire services.

Here is a link to the notice & a copy of the letter to residents/businesses.

Dear Residents,

Hydro One would like to inform you about some upcoming construction activities in the Town of Milton associated with our Bruce to Milton Transmission Reinforcement Project. 

Over the next several weeks our contractor, Valard Construction, will be installing conductor (wire) on the Hydro One right-of-way east of James Snow Parkway, between Main Street and north of Steeles Ave (see map on reverse). In order to string conductor onto the new towers, helicopters will be used and will be required to make short stops at each tower.

In order to fuse the conductor together, our contractor will be using implosive devices. This process makes a loud banging sound similar to that of a firearm discharging, so please do not be alarmed when you hear it.

These activities are scheduled to begin on Saturday, April 30, and will continue periodically, throughout the area until mid May, 2011. Crews will be working seven days a week, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. We expect several implosive connections will be made each day.

Hydro One will be notifying residents and businesses within one kilometre of the work sites.  In addition, we will be notifying nearby schools, local police, ambulance and fire departments to ensure they are aware of the work.

We apologize in advance for the noise and any inconvenience this work may cause.  We thank you for your patience while Hydro One and its contractor complete this critical 500 kilovolt transmission line that will add 3000 megawatts of transmission capability to Ontario’s grid.

If you have questions or concerns, please feel free to contact Marty Dendekker, Construction

Contact Officer at (519)873-0331, or our Community Relations Line toll-free at

1-877-345-6799, or by email at Community.Relations@HydroOne.com.

****

Dear Mayor Krantz,

This weekend, Hydro One’s contractor Valard Construction will begin stringing the conductor (wire) along the new Bruce to Milton transmission towers in the Town of Milton.  The area affected is along the transmission corridor, east of James Snow Parkway and between Main Street and north of Steeles Avenue (see attached notice and map). We expect this work will be completed by mid May.

Helicopters will be used to install the new wires.  Following this, implosive devices will be used to fuse the wires together. These implosive devises make a loud bang, similar to a firearm discharging.  The attached notice will be distributed to homes and businesses in the area through the Milton Canadian Champion and Georgetown Independent, so people are aware of the process and won’t be alarmed if they hear the occasional bang. We have also notified local Police and Fire Services.

In addition, to string this section of line,  helicopters will need to fly over Highway 401 at James Snow Parkway tentatively this weekend and next (May 7 and 8).  As a precautionary measure, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) will slow down traffic on Highway 401 in the vicinity of James Snow Parkway to ensure that this work can be completed safely.  We expect there will be eight slow-downs of traffic over the two weekends for about 5 minutes each time.  The exact timing will be determined by Valard Construction and the OPP on site.

If weather conditions allow, this work could be completed in less time, and traffic slow downs may not be required on both weekends.  

Please do not hesitate to call me or Marylena Stea, Community Relations Officer at 416-345-5706 if you have any questions.

Regards,

Enza Cancilla
Manager, Public Affairs
Corporate Communications
Hydro One Networks

UPDATE 3:15pm:  I did get a chance to speak with the Region of Halton regarding the reasoning behind the delay.  Mainly the delay is due to weather conditions being too wet with all the rain we’ve been having.  It makes it difficult to continue to dig along the road side, install the water pipes and pour concrete.  Their number one priority right now is to get that intersection open to help alleviate the congestion along Britannia during the rush hours.  More information to come and letters will be sent out tomorrow to area residents.  Of course, stay tuned here for more updates as construction progresses.

If you recall a couple of months ago, I reported on the road closure at Fourth Line and Britannia.  The approximate date of completion was set to be the end of April, but there have been a number of delays with weather being one of the factors. 

I recently received a notification from the Region of Halton that the intersection of 4th Line and Britannia Road will continue to be closed until May 31, 2011.

This is a one month extension of the previous deadline of April 30th.

“The road closure will be extended to the end of May 2011 from the original completion date of April 29, 2011.  There will be no access across Britannia Road at Fourth Line.  Access to Fourth Line, north of Britannia Road still remains Louis St Laurent Avenue and Fourth Line south of Britannia Road via Lower Base Line.”

As soon as I hear more about a possible completion date, I’ll update the blog.

Tonight is the first of our “non-council” meetings throughout the year.  As I’ve mentioned here before, Milton Town Council is divided up into two standing committees (Community Services Standing Committee & Administration and Planning Standing Committee)  Half of council is on one and the other half is on the second with the Mayor sitting on both.  The Community Services Standing Committee consists of Regional Councillor Tony Lambert ( Wards 1, 6, 7 8 ) Local Councillors Greg Nelson (Ward 2), Local Councillor Rick Malboeuf (Ward 4), Local Councillor Arnold Huffman (Ward 5), Local Councillor Rick DiLorenzo (Ward7) and Mayor Gord Krantz.

The Community Services Standing Committee consists of the five Councillors and Mayor. Committee members review all reports, formulate policy and make recommendations to Council on matters over which Council has authority under the Municipal Act. These matters are related to Community Services, Fire, Library, Transit and other operational programs.

Our first meeting of the Community Services Standing Committee is tonight at town hall (7pm) and while I don’t sit on that committee, we do attend these meetings without a vote.  Council members are not required to be there but the standing tradition is that they attend when possible to provide any additional information and feedback from the community that other councillors might not have.

The agenda for tonights meeting is here.

One of the items on tonight’s agenda is the by-law to be passed regarding the 4th Line / Britannia Road intersection closure slated for March to April of 2011.  You can find the report here.

Some of the questions Ive received over the past couple of weeks that I had my posting on the blog was to find out if the traffic lights set for Britannia Road (during the closure, Britannia Road will be reduced to one lane instead of two) and if the temporary lights will be unmanned and / or timers set to accommodate morning/afternoon rush hour traffic.

I received an email from Joe Proietti at the Region of Halton who assured me the lights will be unmanned but set up on timers and those timers will be set to recognize the increased amount of east / west traffic through the mornings and afternoons on Britannia Road.  This isn’t the most ideal situation and hopefully the Region of Halton will complete their work as soon as possible during this time.

Its imperative that the traffic flow along Britannia Road not be hindered during this time as it just adds to confusion and frustration of drivers looking to leave and enter Milton during the day.

I’ll keep you posted during the meeting via Twitter for any other updates.  Thanks to everyone who sent me emails about this.

UPDATE 4:50PM WHAT IS OPEN TOMORROW – From the Town of Milton

Facilities, Recreation and Rentals During Winter Storm: Feb 2nd

All Town of Milton facilities will be open for business as usual on February 2, 2011. For specific inquiries about the status of program cancellations or rentals due to the winter storm, please call the Milton Leisure Centre at 905-878-7946, Milton Sports Centre/Memorial Arena/John Tonelli Sports Centre at 905-878-7252, ext. 2601, Milton Seniors’ Activity Centre at 905-875-1681 or Town Hall at 905-878-7211. The Town of Milton’s Staff Inclement Weather Policy will take effect should the snow event limit municipal services at Town facilities. Please visit www.milton.ca again for further updates.

From the Region of Halton

UPDATE 4:17pm PARKING CONSIDERATIONS SUSPENDED DUE TO INCLEMENT WEATHER

From the Town of Milton website:  Due to inclement weather conditions forecasted for the next few days, parking considerations have been suspended until further notice. Please remember to Allow the Plow and keep streets clear of parked cars for snow clearing operations.

Who said winter was over eh?  You would have to be hidden under a rock, or on vacation in some exotic country NOT to know there is apparently a pretty big storm heading our way in the next 2 days.  From Environment Canada…15-30 cm of snow in the nexxt 48 hours.

This begs the obvious question…are my kids going to have a snow day (or am I going to have a snow day)

All indications show this will hit us pretty hard every precaution needs to be taken.  Stay tuned to the stations listed below on radio & TV to find out if the schools are closed for the day, if the school buses are running and any other emergency information you might need.  If you need to drive, please drive carefully and if you dont need to be on the roads, stay at home.

As for our area, a reminder to everyone that plows will be out as soon as possible and to drive with care.  If at all possible do not leave your vehicle parked on the road so the plows can get through as easily as possible.

From the Milton Canadian Champion

On the buses (or not?).

Due to the current weather forecast, the two Halton school boards are reminding parents and staff of the bus cancellations and school closure procedures relating to inclement weather.

In the event of inclement weather, the Halton District School Board Director of Education, in consultation with the Director of Education of the Halton Catholic District School Board, consult with the Halton Student Transportation Services to determine whether to cancel school transportation and/or close schools. This decision is made prior to 6 a.m. and communicated by 6:30 a.m.

The decision to cancel buses and/or close schools is communicated by the following methods: 

AM Radio Stations: CFRB (1010 AM), CJOY (1460 AM), CHML (900 AM), CKOC (ll50 AM), CHWO (740 AM), CFTR (680 AM).

FM Radio Stations: CHFI (98.1 FM), WAVE (94.7 FM), Y108 (l07.9 FM),~CING (95.3 FM), CKFM Virgin Radio (99.9), KLITE (102.9 FM), CBC (99.1 FM), CIMJ (106.1 FM), CHBM Boom (97.3 FM), Classical (96.3 FM).

Television Stations: CHCH TV Morning Show; CITY TV (Breakfast Television)

Websites: www.haltonbus.ca or www.hdsb.ca

Switchboard: A message will be provided through the Halton District School Board’s main telephone number- 905 335-3665. Please follow the prompts to access school bus information. A message is also recorded on the Catholic Board’s main telephone number: 905-632-6300.

Home Notification System: An automated email or telephone message will be sent to notify parents/guardians of school closures only (not transportation cancellations). Only parents who have opted for this service will receive the message.

In a letter that has been sent from the Region of Halton to area residents today, I wanted to post this information on my blog for people outside the affected zone.

It says that the intersection of 4th Line and Britannia Road is slated to be closed off to area residents for approximately 2 months starting March 1st, 2011 to April 29th, 2011 to complete the construction of the watermain and valve chamber.  This closure is for safety reasons.

The east / west traffic along Britannia Road at this intersection will be reduced to a SINGLE LANE and controlled by automated Traffic Control Signals on a 24 hour basis, 7 days a week while construction work is being done in the immediate area.

On February 7th, the Milton Community Services Standing Committee will give consideration for this by-law and if you would like to make a presentation to that committee please contact the clerks office in writing by no later than 10AM on February 7th.  You can contact the town clerk by going to www.milton.ca or send me an email mike.cluett@milton.ca and I can give you more details.

Click on the link to read the letter in full.