Your GMRA representatives attended the second Public Information Meeting for the West Thornhill Stormwater Flood Remediation Study on October 14th, 2009.

Clarification

Before the meeting started we were able to speak with our Local Councillor Erin Shapero about the stormwater protection level in German Mills and she was able to confirm to us that our area does indeed have only a 2 year level of stormwater protection with only 2 year pipes in the minor system and no major system whatsoever, as we had reported to you at the AGM, and that the information, she had been given by staff and which she had relayed at the AGM meeting, had been incorrect.

Background

The concerns over inadequate stormwater protection causing flooding in Thornhill culminated in the August 19, 2005 storm, a storm with rainfall amounts greater than a 150 year storm, and which caused serious flooding of homes and businesses in an area with only a 2 year level of stormwater protection. A study was initiated early in 2008 to find the problems causing the flooding and it was determined that the stormwater system would have to be upgraded to either the 5 year, 25 year or 100 year level of protection to prevent repeated frequent flooding.

The October 14th Meeting

The October 14th meeting was very well attended. The purpose of the meeting was to present to residents of West Thornhill the preferred option of stormwater protection selected by Markham Councillors in June, which was the 100 year level of protection. This is the level of protection legislated in 1978 and which has been the standard for the last 31 years in newly built areas.

One planning change noticed on the display map but not mentioned at the meeting was the absence of the three stormwater holding ponds from the three parks. Stormwater ponds in neighbourhood ponds are unpopular and a safety concern especially when schools are located closeby.

There was some information presented by Markham staff on the 5 year level of protection, but when Mayor Scarpitti asked who was in favour of the 100 year level of protection there was an overwhelming show of hands in favour and only one hand went up for the 5 year level of protection. Mayor Scarpitti did say it looked promising that Council's final decision would be the 100 year level of protection. There were some references to how long it would take to complete the work and it could take as long as 20 years.

There was some discussion of funding and Mayor Scarpitti mentioned the possibility of a combination of funding options as well as the fact that the Town might get more government grant money. However Section 391 of the Municipal Act whereby all homeowners pay an equal share of the $ 40 million is still one of the options and could still end up, in a reduced form, on a possible combination list as well.

Remaining Concerns

If the preferred option of the 100 year level of protection becomes the final decision of Council later this fall, then the two remaining concerns are funding (whether local residents will have to pay all or some of the costs)and how long the Town will take to complete all the work. Undoubtedly, the more money the Town makes available for stormwater protection, the faster the work can proceed and the faster the risk of flooding will diminish. The less money the Town makes available, the longer it will take to reach completion and the greater the risk of repeated flooding.

Implications For German Mills

For other older areas of Markham with only a 2 year level of stormwater protection such as German Mills the implications are as follows:

1. If the 100 year level of protection is the final decision of Council for West Thornhill,
that will set a precedent for other older areas of Town, including German Mills.

2. If homeowners in West Thornhill have to pay all or part of the costs, that will also set a
precedent for other older areas of the Town, including German Mills.

3. The less money the Town makes available each year, the longer the work will take and
the longer the older areas, including German Mills, will have to wait for their turn which
increases the chances of serious flooding occurring in the meantime, as climates
change and rainfall events become more intense.

Proposed Town Budget 2010

It looks as if we are heading for another year with a zero percent property tax increase.* While this sounds like great news, how responsible this is, with areas waiting years for adequate flood protection is questionable. Should the Town's budget be based on fiscal responsibility alone or should the safety and health of residents come first? There is a Public Meeting on the proposed budget on November 4, 2009 in the Council Chamber from 5:30 to 7pm. The information on the budget can be found on the Town website in this week's General Committee agenda Item 5B. Click on Presentation.

* The Town's zero % tax increase applies to only one quarter of your property tax bill, that part which goes to the Town of Markham. Another 25% or so goes to support education and 49% goes to the Region of York.

Last week the GMRA held its Annual General Meeting (AGM). In what could be considered a pretty good turn out, it looked like we had more than 100 residents as well as Erin Shapero (our Councillor), Frank Scarpetti (our Mayor), and Jack Heath (Deputy Mayor). It was great to see the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Local Councillor turn up at our AGM to speak to the LRT issue. It did make up, to a certain extent, for the total absence of Markham Council members at the public meeting June 10, 2009.

We discussed options for rapid transit along Don Mills Rd. Options to the Don Mills route were discussed and Mayor Scarpitti did mention the idea of a split route, with one leg along Don Mills and the other leg along Woodbine, which would reduce noise, vibration and reduce the road width by one lane, from six to five, which reduces the likelihood of expropriating parts of people's backyards and could reduce the loss of trees. The idea of Viva Bus Rapid Transit (BRT),with limited stops, up and down Don Mills came up again.

 This would require road widening to six lanes to provide HOV lanes for the buses. However Toronto will not widen Don Mills Road south of Steeles for road traffic, so there will be an even worse bottleneck southbound at Steeles with this plan, more cut-though traffic along Waggoners Wells and the R for Rapid will disappear from BRT south of Steeles as those buses get caught up in regular traffic.

 Another point that came up again was best practices. That means getting state of the art LRT technology such as being catenary-free and being as quiet and vibration-free as possible. We protested the widening of Don Mills Road and the Environmental Assessments for regional road widening were stopped as a result. Now we are protesting LRT and the politicians are noticing the NIMBY-ism and commenting on it. How long we can avoid rapid transit through our community is questionable.

 There is no doubt it will be a difficult struggle and we will have to turn out for the meetings en mass with some pretty good arguments. Feel free to send your opinions to the GMRA, so we can best represent the feelings and needs of the community.

We also discussed the Don Mills and Steeles development, with the news being that after more than a year of working together, (the GMRA, our Willowdale neighbours, councillors, town planners and the developers), the developers are supposed to be submitting an entirely new plan, with our hopes that they got the message that low rise would be somewhat acceptable and high rise out of the question. Also we had some contention vis-à-vis the stormwater sewers in regards to whether the area has 5 year or 2 year storm sewers.

 It seems we have only 2 year storm sewers which means that their capacity can handle only the smaller rainfall amounts up to the size of a storm that occurs on average once every 2 years. Now many areas have 100 year systems and it’s obvious our system needs to be upgraded.

We also talked about the legality of basement apartments and it is official, two unit homes are not allowed in German Mills and across most of Markham. Council voted in May 2009 not to legalize basement apartments established since 1995 so we remain zoned single residential which means that homes must operate as one unit (not two). However, those basement apartments established before November 1995 and which were grandfathered at that time, are allowed to continue as long as they comply when inspected with fire and electrical codes and applicable property standards.

Councillor Shapero confirmed at the meeting that enforcement is taking place with regard to units established since 1995.

We encourage you to contact us with concerns or questions and any new information/articles on the issues facing our community..