This is a follow-up to Permanent Link to Derry Scott Asking for Variances.  I spent some time going over the proposed site plan. I also spoke with the developer and the consultant, and went to see the site.  Finally, I drove back n’ forth on Derry and Scott to try to envision the plaza all built.

At this point I am satisfied provided that the developer adds some additional landscaping (especially trees).  I will work with the site approver to push for that. 

Breakdown:
It’ll still have enough parking spots.  Though the setback is reduced, it has pond at the back (I know, it seems like pond is on the side but apparently that’s the back).  Loading bay door is partially screened by the TD Bank building.  It has an acoustic fence next to it that should screen it from Derry.

Personally I would’ve preferred no loading dock at all since they are not planning for a restaurant, but apparently it’s required. 

I appreciate all the time several folks spent on the phone and e-mail with me. 

Back in the 17th century the French economy was at the brick of bankruptcy.  Instead of following convention, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, the French minister of finance, came up with the idea of focusing on ultra-luxury goods to balance the trade.  That is the reason why so many ultra-luxury products are from France.

The lesson is that he came up with a unique solution to a problem most economies have gone through.  In the process, he gave his economy a unique character, distinct from all other economies around his. 

Milton today faces its own challenges of extreme growth and a quickly eroding identity.  Do we need our own Colbert to help Milton maintain and further enhance its unique identity even as it turns into a midsize city of 200,000+ people? 

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/785470–town-hall-revamp-reinvents-past-for-milton-s-future

He ends by saying (emphasis mine): “The town hall is an important reminder that the future of Ontario’s small towns does not require the destruction of the past. Indeed, history gives so many of these communities their appeal as well as their identity. When everything looks and feels the same, it makes no difference where you are. But as Milton reminds us, not all towns are born equal. And not all die equal”.

And that is the reason why I’ve been a broken record on the need of have stricter urban design requirements and site controls. 

The Council meeting last night had an issue with stop signs.  Some residents on an intersection wanted a stop-sign there. The staff did a study and realized that the traffic volume did not warrant a stop sign (a confusion around stop sign is that stop signs are used to determine ‘right-of-way’. They cannot be used to control speed. In fact, studies show that poorly placed stop signs actually cause people to drive faster between them to make up for lost time).

The council sided with traffic engineers and voted against putting stop signs.  This brings up an interesting dilemma.  Some people felt it was wrong and undemocratic for the council to go against residents’ wishes who wanted stop signs. 

I actually agree with what the council did.  Residents raised an issue (“we want a stop sign here”).  Staff researched it and made a recommendation (“this street is not suitable for a stop sign”).  Council debated it for at least half an hour. They voted in a public and recorded vote.  That’s democracy. 

Imagine if Apple just let smart and capable developers write different parts of iPhone independently. It’d have a horrible collection of well designed software applications.  iPhone is popular because it’s good. It’s good because Apple controlled the experience (and still does). 

Old Quebec is one of my favourite places to visit in Canada.  It’s nearly perfect.  It was also no fluke. At the end of the 19th century people wanted to demolish the fortifications.  Governor Dufferin, showing foresight, successfully managed to preserve the character of the walled city.  He actually went further and made sure that expansions enhanced Quebec City’s charm.  I’ve written about it before. 

Leavenworth, Washington nearly died out until the 1960s when they decided to convert themselves into a (mock) Bavarian village.  I’ve visited it a number of times and you really do feel like you’ve entered a historic Bavarian village even though buildings merely have facades on them.  Solvang, California turned itself into a traditional Danish town and Winthrop, Washington (impressed with Leavenworth) adopted the American Old West theme. 

18th century development in Europe was specifically designed to appear attractive with aesthetics in mind. Just look at Beth, England.

Each of these stories has a theme.  In each case it was planners who started with a vision of what they wanted to see in their product or town. I’ve given my uncensored random thoughts on Milton’s urban planning.

What’s Milton’s vision? Where is Milton headed?  What would you like to see Milton transform into?  Milton only has two options: accept that its residents will enjoy a lower property value than people in Mississauga and Oakville; or give itself a unique character. 

Should Milton leave it to chance? 

I am afraid Milton is slowly turning into a carbon copy of the sprawl to our East.  Is that what we want?

In order for Milton to be unique, we really need to come up with a vision and then implement it. Councillor Mowbray keeps bringing it up, calling it “urban design regulations”. 

Call it what you like, but a collection of perfectly laid out subdivisions can still turn into an ugly sprawl.  I would like to see Milton turn itself into a sought-after community people pay a premium to move to.  That requires planning. 

Tough decisions are hard to make and even harder to explain.  The tendency is to just leave it, especially in politics. 

Alan Webber in his blog quoted a NYT reporter: “…a closer look at the school board’s history reveals a chaotic, almost non-functioning body that put off making tough choices and even routine improvements for generations. Experts said that in the board’s years of inaction is a cautionary tale for school districts everywhere."

I agree with Webber, the lesson isn’t limited to school districts.  GM got into the mess by putting off decisions until it was too late.  I am proud of Canada for tackling its budget deficits in the 90’s, even as our southern neighbour pretended theirs did not exist. 

This goes for municipalities too, especially fast growing ones.  Are new developments sustainable?  Do they enhance the desirability of the town or are they contributing to a sprawl-related grid-lock?  Is your municipality looking through each year in the context of the larger 20-year plan to make sure all pieces fit? 

Though status-quo is always easy to maintain in the short-run, it isn’t always the best option in the long run.

People speed on Scott and Savoline, that’s no news to residents living on these streets. What we, residents, cannot figure out is why traffic calming devices were not built on these roads.  Afterall, if you design a wide road like Scott (or Savoline) then (some) people will drive on them like they’re on Autobahn. 

These ideas are strictly for residential streets (like Scott and Savoline).  I don’t know which ones of these I support, but here are some ideas I have seen in cities I’ve lived in (I lived in 8 different cities in a 7 year period after my wife & I first got married):

• Bends that are safe at speed limit  (image from Seattle)
  
  
• Median with trees. Southern MD and Washington, DC (affluent areas) does this really well. I lived in a community of small townhomes in Gaithersburg, MD and even there the median had three rows of trees. This also prevents people from passing from beyond the solid yellow line.
  This shot is from Maryland (this was done on an old road, so the trees in the median aren’t grown yet):
  

• Create a physical barrier after a few parking spots. For Scott & Savoline that means people won’t be able to pass from the right.  Yet another from MD:
   
• Traffic circle (again, I am told by people that it works. I hated them in DC and Maryland and VA did not have them. Seattle neighbourhoods do have these though and there they were okay. This picture is from Seattle:
   
  
• Lonnnngg speed bumps (not conventional ones). Here’s a picture from Bellevue, WA of a speed bump that does nothing at reasonable speed but does hurt at a higher speed:
  

• Raised intersection that work as the bullet above. This is a raised intersection from Gaithersburg, MD. It also works fine at normal speed (costs < $15K to build):
  

• Finally, do not create long parallel neighbourhood roads that become bypasses for real streets (eg. people taking Scott Blvd to avoid driving on Bronte / Tremaine and Derry). These streets should be for people living in the community, not for people going from one major street to another.

These are some ideas.  Not all will work here. But they should be considered and implemented so builders like Mattamy or Fieldgate builds them when they first construct residential roads (so the Town doesn’t have to build them later). 

I recently watched a documentary on ancient civilizations.  One conclusion I walked away with is this: take a community’s people away, and its buildings and infrastructure will turn into ruins.  Leave its people and they will build another town, often better. 

Municipalities spend a lot of time talking about infrastructure.  But what about its people?  Economic growth (and resulting property values) is directly tied with a community`s ability to retain its residents.

Are people paying a premium to move into your community or are they there because they cannot afford a home anywhere else?

One of my main goal is to make Ward 8 (West Milton) the most desirable part of Milton.  People should not move here for cheap houses, they should be willing to a premium to be here.

Am I the only one who is annoyed at the lack of right-turn-lanes in Milton?

I often have to go south towards Derry.  It doesn’t matter whether I take Thompson or Ontario, neither has a dedicated right-turn lane. 

The image above shows that there is more than enough clearance for a right turn lane.  Why, oh planners, do you insist on not putting them?  I often find myself stuck on red lights behind just one car waiting to turn right.  Major arterial roads should be optimized for traffic flow. 

I can’t imagine how much time and gas is wasted because of this in Milton.  

Annise Parker, the newly elected Mayor of Houston, said the local office was the highest office.  She is right.  The paradox is that people vote in federal and provincial elections but they ignore local offices. But if your shower doesn’t have water in the morning and you are stuck in a traffic jam because the traffic light isn’t working then who the heck cares about anything federal and provincial politicians do. 

Look around, most things you are impacted by is decided by your municipality (from the transit service to the roads you drive on to local of sidewalks, traffic lights and stop signs to police & fire service to … well, you got the idea). 

Organizations without vision lose focus and fail.  Vision is more important than strategy.  If you have a clear vision then you will eventually attract the right strategy.

Milton’s vision is “Engaging, Balance, Connected”.  What does that mean?  What does ‘connected’ mean?  Connected via roads?  Trails? Broadband?  Connected as a community?

It has five goals.  Lets analyze some of them:

• A responsible, cost-effective and accountable local government. The explanation adds a direction: “Demonstrate leadership in matters that affect Milton“.
  • Has Milton demonstrated leadership?
  • In sustainability Milton is certainly not a leader (arguably Halton and Oakville are).
  • I can go to the City of Mississauga website and see their entire budget, financial statements from previous candidates and a lot of other data that the Town of Milton doesn’t publish online. That’s not leadership.
  • Halton streams all council meetings online, Milton has no such accountability.
• A safe, liveable and healthy community. The direction adds: “Protect and enhance our heritage, identity and character“.
  • What is Milton’s “character”? What does it mean to be “Milton”?
  • Is there a lens we can look through to make sure new land-use and development applications fit the character?
  • Are developers looking at enhancing it? Is Milton holding developers accountable?
  • The residents on Duncan Lane living next to the rail track do not even have the most basic sound barrier (they just have a small metal fence). Not safe, not livable and certainly not healthy.
  • Residents do not get biking / walking trails and neighbourhood parks until years after moving in to the community.
  • Heck even basic things like coordinating street lights is not done for years.
• A diverse and sustainable economy – Direction adds: “Attract and retain employers that provide a range of employment opportunities and assessment growth“.
  • The Town may disagree with me but Milton isn’t doing enough to attract high-quality employers. The assumption is, ‘if you build them, they’ll come’.
  • Check out mississauga’s online business section. There’s a ton of information there.  Milton has http://www.miltonthiswayup.ca/ (did you even know about it)?
• A thriving natural environment that is a valued community asset to be protected, maintained and enjoyed
  • Again, Halton has taken the leadership with Sustainable Halton and Oakville has initiatives, but there’s no “Sustainable Milton” plan.
  • Scott Blvd is getting a bus service only because the transit plan passed by just one vote (and that’s with two missing councillors).
  • Milton has no problem with excessive street lights in some areas but it does complain about having to maintain trees.
  • The long-term priorities are backward IMO. Development keeps moving further and further west, practically touching the escarpment.
  • Many parts of Milton (parts of Main Street, pretty much all of Steeles) are an eye sore.

On the day-to-day basis Milton is actually run fairly well.  In execution of its vision it isn’t.  I think part of the problem is how its vision is highly ambiguous.

Does your municipality have a clear vision? Is it concise and easy to understand?

More importantly, what is your vision (for your municipality)?

Sanford Florida was about the size of Milton in 2000 and then again in 2006.  I visited my cousin there.  One thing struck me: residential streets had half as many street lights as newer ones in Milton do.  More interestingly, major ones (similar to Derry Road) had almost no street lights other than on major intersections.  It did not make driving unsafe.  When there were no cars, you were okay with just your headlights. When there were a lot of cars, a lot of headlights lit up the road anyway. Instead they spent money on “cat’s eyes” that reflected beautifully in headlights and made lane markers more visible than they are in Milton. 

The Town of Milton spends 1% of property taxes on street lights.  It helps to think of ways to reduce that cost.  As an amateur astronomer, here’s what I have to say: “if a street light can be reduced without impacting safety then that streetlight should not be put up”.  Repeat that exercise until we are at the minimum number of street lights required.  And make sure new lights are solar powered LED lights so we have an even lower operating cost.

Ironically, the Town doesn’t want more trees planted because it is worried about maintaining them, but it has no issues bombarding roads with more street lights than are absolutely necessary.  I don’t need major roads that do not have homes fronting on them to light up like Christmas trees. 

When you ask for my opinion, you are asking for my opinion.  You are not asking for right answers.  I may not have them.  I do have views on things.  I am wrong from time to time.  Some of my blog posts state facts (Category:Information) while others are my opinions (Category:Opinion). 

There would be fewer disagreements in this world if people could differentiate between facts and opinions.  A person can be wrong about a fact, but not about his or her opinion. You can disagree with opinions, but not with facts. 

You already saw my post about the Big Belly, here’s another innovative concept: turbine powered street lights. And dang, they look good too!

Municipalities need to figure out how to reduce the operating cost of street lights.  1% of Milton’s property taxes go towards it.