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HB NEWS NEW MAYOR READY FOR CHALLENGES AHEAD PROTECTING TOWN'S CHARACTER AMID DEVELOPMENT PRESSURES A TOP PRIORITY, SAYS LAWLOR REETI ROHILLA rrohilla@metroland.com “Small town living at its best" is a Halton Hills real- ity new mayor-elect Ann Lawlor says she aims to uphold into the future. “People feel very strong connections to where they live and I think one of the ways we're able to do that in Halton Hills is because we have small neighbour- hoods that are very cohe- hoods and to recognize they are separate and dis- tinct and that's a lot of what makes them strong," she a wah ormer mayor Rick Bonnette's retire- ment and after serving as town councillor can a years, Lawlor — community volunteer and Halton Hills resident of four decades — stepped up to the mayoral race. Froma youngage, Law- lor said she developed a fascination with govern- ment and the impact i itcan have on people. As a stu- dent, she interned with different levels of govern- ment and wenton to earna master's degree in public \dministration. “Municipal ment is the that is ‘closest to the peo- ple. It touches every single person in the community, every single day," said Lawlor. Having now served as mayor for a few weeks, Lawlor said the switch from the part-time posi- fon | of a councillor to a ie responsibility lus Root her busier than expected and that there's plenty to look forward to. Looking to the future, Lawlor said several pieces of new provincial legisla- tion and regulations could threaten citizen participa- tion, years of planning processes, natural her tage protection, climat action and heritage pres- ervation, if not dealt with ca Bil 23 and Bill 109 ac- tually introduce huge fi- nancial chawenses fe for the municipality,” aor lor said. ments immediately fol. lowing the election set me back on my heels." The two bills combined aim at building more NI@ Payments Ne Interest Money Down ee 12 MONTHS TRADE-IN AND RECEIVE CIRREESIS ec) cle IRREER Cur moi old equipment CIEREES Cera Ann Lawlor photo New Mayor Ann Lawlor is ready to face the challenges ahead, including development. homes for everyone faster. “Potentially Bill 23 could lead to sprawl, which willerase those spe- cial characteristics and ‘inct communities that portant,” said Lawlor. "The province is also taking away develop- ment charges for some types of housing (Bill 109), which means a significant source of income that we have in order to finance that growth is being taken away," she added. Lawlor said further provincial action will take land out of the precious Greenbelt She added the province has significantly revised the Halton Region Official Plan and the Hal ton Hills urban boundary by 2051 and will shift sig- nificantly south to develop thousands more acres, which are currently farm- ds. E The ongoing project of Vision Georgetown offers 1,000 acres of development land in the south-west cor- ner of Georgetown, which aims to welcome approxi- mately 20K people into the ness — similar to Halton Hills' other smaller settle- ments such as Glen Wil- = liams, Stewarttown, and g Norval. = Hdl OUL | £ "A sense of this is very F much not sprawl. Those > central cores, the gather- Z ing places for people with 2 kinds of structures are re- § ally important for that," said Lawlor. 2 The aim is to add to the 8 unique character of Hal- 8 ton Hills, not take away from it, said Lawlor. She also shared appreciation for the town's volunteer sommunity and. non’ prof it grou mountains’ and are “ital to support, as she likes to id "We live in a beautiful e want le next decade — something Law- jor with opti- mism. Lawlor said through Vi- sion Georgetown, she aims to create another tightly-knit neighbour- hood supporting commu- nity spirit and connected- May the joys of this happy season be yours this holiday and into the New Year. GEORGETOWN 6M St and to make sure we maintain the natural and agricul- tural environment that is mixed with our urban cen- tres — that urban-rural mix is really important to us," she concluded. Mon-Fri 11am to 10pm Sun 3pm to 10pm