In 2017, Mississauga will have to decide how it grows up

Mississauga’s recent booming growth will continue, but will growth be sustainable and will it be what residents want?

Thestar.com
Jan. 3, 2017
By San Grewal

Mississauga is on a roll. An unprecedented number of mega-projects are moving forward. The diverse city is finally addressing thorny issues related to inclusiveness. And multi-national corporations continue to eye the GTA’s second-largest city when considering where to set up their operations.

But 2017 could be the year that Mississauga also makes progress on some issues that have been neglected through the years: the city’s ballooning budget has become an unavoidable problem; many residents continue to feel left behind due to a lack of affordable housing, and the recent boom in increased density or “vertical” growth hasn’t always been accompanied with public transit planning, strategies to attract more than just condos and an approach to develop arts and culture in the country’s sixth largest city.

These are some of the major issues that Mississauga will have to deal with if it wants to keep benefiting from its status as one of the most desirable places to live and do business in Ontario.

They come with a price tag just as municipal costs are increasing.

“If you added the city’s increase (to its budget) from 2011 to 2016, it’s about 30 per cent,” said John Walmark, chair of the City of Mississauga’s citizen oversight committee.

He and his committee don’t think municipal labour costs are sustainable.

From 2011 to the recently approved property tax increase for the city’s portion of the 2017 bill, the average annual increase to the property tax bill in Mississauga for the city’s share over seven years has been just shy of 6 per cent, more than triple the rate of inflation in Ontario over the same period.

Walmark, along with other political watchdogs, puts the blame squarely on a bloated payroll at city hall.

And he wants to take the same approach as Mississauga’s neighbour to the north.

In 2015, an independent financial audit commissioned by the City of Brampton, concluded that its payroll was eating up way too much of that city’s budget and it could not be sustained by Brampton’s revenues.

Leaders listened and recently began addressing the report by dismissing more than 45 managers, including many of the city’s most senior staff. Brampton Mayor Linda Jeffrey has also called for salary freezes, since taking office.

With Mississauga facing a $1.5-billion infrastructure gap, Walmark says a financial audit, just like the one Brampton conducted, is badly needed.

“That’s what I want to see done in 2017. Some of the city departments need to be reduced, other staffing issues have to be looked at and if an independent auditor looks at the books and says we need to do some house cleaning, then let’s get that outside voice in here.

“Right now, our budget process is too much like a mutual admiration society.”

Mississauga faces a growing transit gap, as service struggles to keep up with growth in many of its fastest-growing communities.

A new east-west bus rapid transit corridor north of downtown has so far attracted low ridership.

The city’s new LRT, along its main thoroughfare, Hurontario St., is due to come into operation in 2022, and Dundas Connects, a plan for improved transit along a 17-km. east-west corridor, is now being studied.

Councillor Jim Tovey says transit needs to become a constant topic in the city. He says that must include what he describes as a lack of equitable funding from the province and Ottawa.

“With all the development that’s going to happen in my ward alone, good luck getting out of your driveway in the next 10 years.”

More than 20,000 residents are expected to move into the city’s eastern lakeshore area that Tovey looks after.

He cites data that he has collected, to illustrate the lack of funding for things such as transit and other development along the city’s lakeshore.

“Waterfront Toronto has received $1.6 billion of funding from the two higher levels of government. Mississauga has received $4.03 million of funding for our waterfront from the province and the feds.”

He says an LRT needs to be planned along the lakeshore, where at least three enormous developments are being planned for the coming decades.

“We all have to be far more aware of transit. In my mind, with all the growth happening, transit needs to be a much larger focus if we want to get people out of their cars.”

The growth needs to be approached in a dynamic way, he says.

“One of Mayor (Bonnie) Crombie’s big messages is that we need more office space, especially in our downtown core. The downtown is densifying like crazy, but we need to get more office space, even a designated financial district.

“We’re going to be working very hard on that in 2017.

“You can’t just have condos everywhere; that’s not going to create a dynamic downtown if there’s no one in it during the workday.”

Crombie has stressed that plans to address the lack of affordable housing in the city need to be put in place.

She and Councillor Carolyn Parrish have pushed aggressively for a coordinated strategy and want a minimum number of affordable housing units built in future developments, as building is expected to mushroom along the new LRT route and as other major projects become operational.

“We do not want any residents to be left behind,” said Crombie said. She added that those who need transit the most should not be pushed out because of the high rents and prices, which are driven up by demand along corridors with better transit.

Developers are already lining up to build along the LRT route and are scooping up land for other major projects. The city is expecting $40 billion to $45 billion in new construction investment over the next 15 years, which is more than double the recent annual rate of construction investment in Mississauga.

Tovey said he would like Mississauga to focus on arts and culture in 2017 because of the growth.

“Arts and culture ... that’s who you are.”

While Mississauga has a vibrant scene for local artists, there’s no denying it’s difficult for the city to establish many different types of cultural programming because of the draw Toronto exerts, he noted.

“One of the best examples of what I think we should be doing, is Winnipeg. It has an incredible, vibrant arts scene.”

Tovey says the Manitoba capital features talented artists and sophisticated cultural programming in almost every corner of the city.

“I can’t believe the arts scene there; it’s partly because Winnipeg is somewhat isolated and has to provide arts and cultural spaces for a large number of people who crave it.”

That’s the approach Mississauga needs to take, Tovey says. The city should carve out its own arts-and-culture scene, and plan it for places across the city that are soon to be built, as it continues to grow and mature beyond just being a large suburb next to Toronto.

“Mississauga has been the mouse next to the elephant.”

Tovey says 2017 will see this continue to change: “With all the growth, it’s our job to make sure we grow the way people want.”