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York Region homeowners could face extra $24 tax to ease traffic gridlock

Additional tax is worth it for transit and HOV lanes: advocate

Yorkregion.com
Feb. 25, 2019
Lisa Queen

Jacking up York Region property taxes by an extra one per cent to speed up road projects is a good idea – but only if road widenings are dedicated to public transit buses and HOV lanes rather than accommodating vehicles carrying only drivers.

That’s the opinion of Peter Miasek, president of advocacy group Transport Action Ontario and co-founder of Keep York Moving, focused on extending the Yonge subway to Richmond Hill and integrating public transit fares among other transportation issues.

“I’m supportive if the widening (is) for transit and HOV (high occupancy vehicle lanes), which is the region’s plan," Miasek, a Unionville resident, said.

"Plans can change and if they suddenly decide No, this is just a general purpose lane, I would be opposed to it because there are definitely negative consequences to a road widening – more traffic and longer crossing time for pedestrians,” he said.

“It induces more traffic. If you build it, they will come. Not everyone can drive. That was the Los Angeles solution. I lived in L.A. for five years back in the ‘60s and ‘70s. That doesn’t work.”

The region, which is growing by more than 600,000 residents to a projected 1.8 million by 2041, can’t build enough roads to accommodate primarily single-occupancy vehicles, Miasek said.

Faced with residents’ and businesses’ growing frustration with increased gridlock, regional council is considering boosting the regional portion of the property tax bill by an additional one per cent in each of the next four years to advance 13 roads projects, primarily road widenings, that wouldn’t be built for at least a decade otherwise.

That would mean that instead of regional taxes increasing by a proposed 3.37 per cent this year, they would go up by 4.37 per cent in 2019.

That would see the average homeowner paying an extra $105 this year alone rather than an extra $81, a $24 difference,

Several York mayors and councillors appear to be leaning towards the additional 1 per cent tax hike, arguing residents are prepared to pay more to start addressing their commuting woes, routinely cited as their top local concern.

If the plan goes through, these road projects could be accelerated from their current status of beyond 10 years:

York Region has been left “scrambling” for money after Queen’s Park killed council’s hopes of introducing new taxes, leaving local politicians with few options to bankroll services, Miasek said.

“I am very sympathetic to municipalities that say ‘Gee whiz, we can’t keep funding all this just off the property tax base’,” he said.

Traffic congestion is becoming so bad, Vaughan Fire Chief Deryn Rizzi is worried about emergency response times, particularly on Teston Road from Keele to Bathurst streets and Major Mackenzie Drive from Hwy. 400 to Keele Street, including at Jane Street where the new Mackenzie Vaughan Hospital is being built.

“With a state-of-the-art emergency room and the location of the York Region Stroke Centre, a less obstructed route for emergency access to the Vaughan Mackenzie Hospital is of utmost importance,” she said in a letter to the region.

“Communities, workplaces and businesses all need to know that when they call the fire and rescue service, they will get a rapid response – whenever they need it. As we grow, the city becomes harder and harder to protect.”

Vaughan Coun. Marilyn Iafrate is urging the region to build a left-turn lane on Major Mackenzie to the new hospital, opening next year.

Meanwhile, council is considering making $1.5 million in transit cuts while boosting fares by 3 per cent a year.

Reducing late night VIVA service would save $800,000 and cutting six underused bus routes that are within walking distance of alternate routes would save $650,000.

That would mean discontinuing:

Newmarket would take the brunt of the cuts, Mayor John Taylor complained.