Ward 1 candidates prioritize preserving East Gwillimbury’s ‘quality of life’

East Gwillimbury residents fear the town’s services are no longer coping with the increased population growth

Yorkregion.com
October 4, 2018
Dina Ibrahim

As its projected population is expected to boom from 24,000 to 86,500 by 2031, maintaining East Gwillimbury’s “quality of life” is a top priority for the six candidates running to win the Ward 1 seat in the Oct. 22 municipal election.

“We love the quality of life here. We need to make sure this stays, by keeping our taxes low,” Loralea Carruthers said.

What makes East Gwillimbury special is that it's "pretty much country in a small town, with all the benefits of Newmarket ... and it is not that far from the city."

There is “fear,” however, that there won’t be “any emergency services, libraries or recreational facilities” as construction is already underway with “trucks going back and forth on the roads to make sure the infrastructure is keeping up,” Carruthers said.

“Everywhere you go, you see construction guys,” she said. “We need to make sure that we are keeping our traffic moving and we keep our roads clean.”

Jeremy Smith, whose motto is to bring “new leadership to protect the past, and to plan for the future,” said the “biggest issue” is about “residential growth.”

“The growth is taking place around (the downtown core of) Holland Landing; it is an issue that drives everything,” said Smith, who recently retired after 20 years as an elementary school teacher and 10 years as vice-president of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, York Region.

This growth has an “impact on the roads, sewers ... talk about commute times are much longer, congestion on Green Lane.”

Echoing Smith's sentiment is Calum MacMillan, who worked in the past 11 years at city hall in Toronto.

“Our transportation network is at capacity, creating gridlock on main corridors and adding significant time to people's daily commute,” he said.

MacMillan, also a professional in the graphics communication sector, added: “Residents would like to see the 404 highway widened from Aurora to Green Lane, and for the interchange at Doane Road and 404 opened sooner than planned.”

“The No. 1 issue I am hearing about from residents concerns the extensive development that is occurring in East Gwillimbury.”

Joel Kearney, another candidate, who has been with the Canadian National Railway for the past 28 years, said “after talking with residents, the issue that most people are concerned with is growth -- the size and speed of the coming growth.”

Kearney also said “next is keeping taxes low.”

One of the candidates is Terry E. Foster, a lifelong resident of Holland Landing, who has worked more than 35 years with East Gwillimbury Emergency Services, both as a volunteer and a career firefighter.

Like others, Foster is also prioritizing transportation and wants to add more value for each tax dollar collected.

Affordable housing

At the East Gwillimbury Sports Complex on Sep. 19, affordable housing and the importance of “not losing identity” of the town were discussed during a candidates debate, with Kearney and Leen (Dutch) Spiering apologizing for not being able to attend.

“Affordable housing is an issue throughout the GTA,” MacMillan told York Region Media. “There needs to be a broader approach from the regional and provincial levels of government, working with local municipalities to find a solution.”

Smith, meanwhile, lamented that he met “a lot of young teachers, coming from the faculty of education, who can’t even dream of paying a deposit” to own a home. “Most of them are living with their parents.”

He advised that the lack of affordable housing, as an issue, could be mitigated by “invoking” a “co-ordinated strategy” tied with job creation, covering all tiers of governments: federal, provincial and local.

Meanwhile, Carruthers argued that “development charges” add a “huge portion” to the price of new homes.

“We have the ability to say what the development charges are going to be and the type of houses,” she said, adding that the municipal government also needs to “work with the builders and developers to make sure that we are giving them every break we can, and encourage them to build more houses that are more affordable.”

As East Gwillimbury expands, “beautifying” Holland Landing is on the agenda, mainly to attract more new businesses and shoppers, to further bolster the town's ongoing growth.