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NEWS 39 Funding boost will go a long way for Oakville Transit, says mayor • C ontinued from p age 5 thanks to the campaign he led to abolish the Ontario Municipal Board. He said economic growth must continue to be promoted be­ cause business needs it to sur­ vive. He touched on some of the new businesses and develop­ ments in town including the com­ pletion of the new Metrolinx fa­ cility at the Oakville GO station, Aviva welcoming 700 new em­ ployees, the new Melrose Busi­ ness Park Industrial Develop­ ment on the South Service Road near the Burloak plaza at the QEW, with an occupancy target­ ed for the fall, Virtual Logistics, Taiho Pharma, Loraxian Strate­ gic Infrastructure Solutions, ROMCO Corporation and PCL construction. The latter is the country's largest construction contractor and has been selected to build the new library at Neyagawa Boule­ vard and Dundas Street. He said they build modular slices off site, and the library will essentially be constructed in seven pieces that will be bolted together into one building. They moved another 500 jobs to town by relocating from To­ ronto, which Burton noted is also Oakville's biggest booster when it comes to enticing business to town. "I think of Toronto as one of our best salespeople," he said. "Lucky for us the City of Toronto charges businesses a tax rate 30 per cent higher than we charge our businesses." Burton, though sworn to se­ crecy, said Ford's Canadian pres­ ident Mark Buzzell told him that they have many exciting an­ nouncements coming this year, noting that the "assembly plant has a long and secure future ahead of it." Burton boasted about being one of three in the running for Amazon's second headquarters and said Oakville will win it. He said information the To­ ronto Amazon bid uses to make its decision notes that Oakville is highest for secondary school completion rates and higher edu­ cation degrees; it's among the lowest in terms of poverty; and it's highest among comparators for green space per 100,000 popu­ lation. In addition, the new Oakville Hospital has sparked the propos­ al for a Life Sciences High Tech District, a homegrown project by Oakville's Dr. Joseph Dableh. He showed a new two-minute video produced by Invest Oak­ ville, the town's economic devel­ opment department. It's de­ signed to promote all Oakville has to offer. Burton also touched on trans­ portation, noting Oakville Tran­ sit is getting an increase of $66 million over the next 10 years. "We could start having elec­ tric buses by 2019," he said. Some 30 kilometres of roads will be resurfaced on 70 of the town's roads thanks to the Road Resurfacing Program of $10 mil­ lion a year. Multi-year work on major roads will continue including Kerr Street, above the QEW, Cornwall, North Service, Speers, Dundas and Trafalgar. The underpass project for Kerr at the Metrolinx railway line will be going through a pub­ lic consultation process. Traffic lights will communi­ cate with each other on major ar­ terial roads to keep traffic flow­ ing more smoothly. They will ad­ just themselves to changing traf­ fic conditions to make transit and cars move better. Finally, he discussed the Oak­ ville streetscape that's to be in place by 2020. It will then have the best downtown community gathering place in the country he said, noting the old post office building will become an Innova­ tion Hub. "There will be no vacant store­ fronts in our community's new downtown. There will be a wait­ ing list," he promised. He also promised new afford­ able housing on surplus town lands on Trafalgar Road. "We need affordable housing to retain and attract back our young people and others as they form families, to keep the town's social fabric strong," he said. "Our seniors need affordable housing, too, when they down­ size." Burton also said he would like to create a relationship between the town and India, similar to the one they've had with China for the past six years. Don't be a L itte rB u g ! Please keep our community clean »An empowering curriculum that engages children > Individual focus to define your child's learning • Community atmosphere that makes students feel included and valued • Creative expression allows your child to explore their own interests and talents C A L L F O R I N F O R M A T I O N O R T O B O O K A T O U R C C M A GLENORCHY CONSERVATION AREA 2018 PRESCRIBED BURN NOTICE Conservation Halton Authentic Montessori at its Best - For Ages 18 mo.-12 yrs. C onservation H a lto n is p lann in g a prescribed burn w h ich w ill ta k e place in April or early May at Glenorchy Conservation Area in north Oakville . D uring th e n ext fe w w eeks , C onservation H a lto n s ta ff w ill m o n ito r G lenorchy C onservation A re a . W h e n conditions are suitable , 48 hours' notice w ill be given to th e local m edia an d agencies. A prescribed burn is a d e lib e ra te ly set, carefu lly p lanned an d contro lled lo w severity fire w h ich consum es gro u n d level v e g e ta tio n m ateria ls . T h e goal o f th e burn is to m an ag e th e restored native grassland w ith in th e N o rth O akville N atu ra l H eritag e System. T h e burn w ill rem ove invasive n o n -n ative p lants an d provide th e necessary d is turbance to native grassland species to p ro m o te g ro w th o f d e e p ro o ted p lants an d increase th e ra te o f g e rm in a tio n . W ith o u t a regu lar fire reg im e, non-desirable an d w o o d y v e g e ta tio n w ill d isplace grassland species. S m oke fro m th e burn is n o t exp ected to d isturb surroun d ing neigh b o u rh o o d s . It is possible how ever, th a t som e sm oke m ay reach areas n ear th e conservation area. This is Glenorchy Conservation Area's second prescribed burn, the last one was in spring of 2016. Glenorchy Conservation Area is managed by Conservation Halton and is owned by the Province of Ontario (Infrastructure Ontario). For more information about the prescribed burn, please call Conservation Halton at 905.336.1158 email restoration@hrca.on.ca or visit conservationhalton.ca/ glenorchy-prescribed-burn. FAIRVIEW GLEN MONTESSORI SCHOOL 905.634.0781 • fa irv iew glen .com | O akville Beaver | Thursday, April 12,2018 insidehalton.com mailto:restoration@hrca.on.ca