News and Updates in King Township
I use this blog to inform you of issues within the Township which are being assessed at the Council table as well as tell you about events happening in the Township which are of interest.
Re-vitalizing King City: ideas from others
How can we revitalize King City? Can we learn from other places who have found themselves “in the dark, before the sun comes up?” Newcastle, Australia has a very innovative solution: empty spaces are considered as “wasted opportunities” and they have established a...
Development Woes: serving constituents
With the exception of Spring Hill (the condominium for seniors on King Road in King City), the reality of development has not hit Ward 5 yet….but it’s coming. And in the last few weeks, the importance of communication with current residents has been hi-lighted. As...
Opportunity for King Museum
A creative idea has been presented to the Township: to utilize the eastern portion of our Museum for Genview’s sales office. (Genview is the developer for the subdivision east of the Museum.) The upside potential is sensitive renovation of parts of our Museum. ...
Council Votes: 5.66% tax increase on King portion
At 3/28 special King Council, Council voted 4/2 for a 5.66% increase on King portion of property tax. 2011 blended rate will be 2.62%; on residents with $514,000 assessment, increase is $139.90/year. I was one of the two not supporting this plan. The cost savings...
Development on Kettleby Road
At April 4th Council meeting Staff will be presenting a zoning bylaw and development agreement in response to an application for 6 residential lots on the Kettleby Road. In addition a site plan control bylaw is being prepared that would apply to the subject lands...
Safety Buffers For Gas-fired Generators!
A letter initiated by Oakville citizens and signed by residents from several other municipalities, including me, has been sent to the leadership of all the provincial parties, asking for appropriate and reasonable buffer zones between generators and residences and...
Does Ontario really need that generator?
The prospect of a gas fired generator in the Holland Marsh continues to really bother me. My anger about the “faulty process” was re-ignited recently when I read the John Spears’ article. (Toronto Star Business Reporter). You can read the whole article here. To give...
Heritage in trees and buildings
Thanks to two excellent presentations during the past two weeks I have had my eyes & ears opened to some new concepts & issues about heritage—the valuing of it, the respecting of it, the learning from it. On 3/20 the Historical Society hosted a presentation...
No Change to Gas Pipeline Route
March 21 Ontario Energy Board rendered its decision to not re-open a review of the gas pipeline to supply the York Energy Centre. From my reading of their decision their critical decision factor is that King Township had not registered as an intervener in the...
Sustainability
Sustainability……. Everyone is doing it. Today in my “traditional” mailbox (i.e. the one covered in wet snow) I received a mailing from a well known global consumer products company with an update on their sustainability plan. And sure, as happens, once everyone is...
Is 13.9% tax increase really necessary?
The prospect of an increase of 15% on King Township’s portion of the property tax is eliciting a range of responses from residents: “….any increase greater than inflation (i.e. 2-3%) is unacceptable;” “…is 15% enough?” As a variation, some argue that 15-20% is...
Tax Rate Proposal
A 13.9% increase on King portion of property taxes is recommended in the 2nd draft budget and business plan for King. Below are the 3 tax scenarios I presented in an earlier posting. To the right I have added the increase proposed in the 2nd draft budget. King...
Recent Comments
What I would like to see is the actual recycling of most of the items in the blue boxes. We…
Good overview and assessment of current situation, and the situation that got us to this point . King Twp has…
thank you for your feedback and acknowledgement of the effort required to understand the budget.
Hi Nancy, Working sessions are really education type meeting for Council members. There isa Council report in the agenda and…
This has got to be the strangest working session. “Overview of King’s Citizen Experience Plan” does not allow for citizens…
Hi Deb, as always your blast/posts are SO helpful! You are a marvel. Your summaries are succinct, informative, opinionated with…
Hi Bruce, just yesterday somebody was telling me about Simcoe and the choices they had.
Hi Debbie, Of interest, Simcoe County has had the carts on wheels for recycling, organics and garbage for some time…
Hello John, good question. I cannot answer at this point; you can be sure I’m going to be finding out.
Since the township is saving on the recycling expense, will this savings be passed on to us the tax payers…