Gordon Prentice at Large - Politics in Newmarket
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- Written by: Gordon Prentice
Whilst Norm Stapley is busy chopping down mature trees at 181 Beechwood Crescent the rest of us are thinking how best we can preserve and protect our forests and woodlands.
This is how the property looked before Norm got to work with his chainsaw.
Chris Howie - who is taking a deputation to Newmarket's Committee of the Whole tomorrow - has launched a petition on change.org to save the trees, or what's left of them, from the predations of Mr Stapley. There is an arresting photograph of the felled trees.
Quite by coincidence, this coming Thursday (2 March 2017) York Regional Council will be considering a thought-provoking report on the state of the Region's forests - which includes woodlands, trees and shrubs in all urban and rural areas. It will be sent to Newmarket Council and to the other eight municipalities in due course. 
The report reminds us of the crucial contribution trees make to the wellbeing of the planet and to our immediate surroundings:
"The size and health of a tree greatly affects the benefits it provides. Large trees deliver greater household energy savings, air and water quality improvements, runoff reduction, visual impact, property value enhancements and carbon sequestration capacity.
In fact, one large healthy tree can store approximately 65 times more carbon and remove 15 times more air pollution annually than one small tree. Unlike most built infrastructure,trees are a great investment because as they grow their value and benefits increase."
It comes as no surprise, then, that the Region wants to increase the canopy cover from 31% at present to 35% by 2031 and 40% by 2051. Good for it.
Newmarket - a growing urban centre though relatively compact - has the second smallest percentage tree cover in York Region, after Markham so we've got to be a very good steward of what we have.
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- Written by: Gordon Prentice
The future of Newmarket's historic Main Street is now in play. 
The OMB has set Wednesday 3 May 2017 as the provisional date for the Prehearing on the Clock Tower. It will be open to the public.
The venue has not as yet been decided.
The OMB tells us a prehearing is the meeting of Parties and Participants before a full hearing. Prehearings help to:
* identify issues, parties and participants
* organise complicated matters
* determine what documents need to be exchanged
* determine procedures before and during the hearing
* set future hearing dates
The Clock Tower developer, Bob "the Barbarian" Forrest, has appealed to the OMB on his original application - the one that was comprehensively rejected by councillors on 28 November 2016 with the decision confirmed by full Council on 5 December 2016. 
Forrest has hired the silver-tongued lawyer Ira Kagan to make the case for the Clock Tower development. I do not yet know who the Town will have in its corner - but he or she had better be good and totally up to speed.
Kagan is working from some pretty dodgy material but we know he is skilled in turning a sow's ear into a silk purse. He should not be underestimated.
He acted for the developer at the Slessor Square OMB Hearing. He appeared for Marianneville at the Glenway OMB Hearing and for Highland Gate Developments who are planning to build over the golf course in Aurora. From time to time he appears before committees at Queen's Park, arguing for changes to the Province's planning regime.
In June 2015 I sat next to him at the Glenway "lessons learned" meeting. Although he chose not to tell the meeting what he had learned he was open enough with me.
In those early days of innocence, I recall telling him how shocked I was that there was no transcript of the Glenway OMB Hearing. He casually remarked it was open to any of the Parties to commission one.
Seems to me the forthcoming Clock Tower Hearing deserves a transcript. It is a perfect case study on Heritage Conservation Districts and the threats they face.
Apart from the Town and the Developer we can expect other parties and participants to be involved in the OMB Hearing.
Update on 3 March 2017: the prehearing will be held at 10am on Wednesday 3 May 2017 in the Council Chamber, Municipal Offices, 395 Mulock Drive, Newmarket.
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- Written by: Gordon Prentice
Markham's mayor, Frank Scarpitti, has wisely decided that discretion is the better part of valour. 
He passed on the chance to represent Markham-Thornhill in the House of Commons where a by-election is to be held on April 3. The vacancy was created when the previous MP, John McCallum, was appointed Canada's ambassador to China.
The Liberal standard bearer, Mary Ng, has taken leave of absence from her job as the Prime Minister's head of appointments.
Scarpitti may run for Chair of York Region in 2018 - the first time the position will be up for election involving the voters at large - but who knows? It could be another dance of the seven veils.
Wayne Emmerson, the incumbent who was appointed by his Regional Council colleagues in a 16-4 vote in December 2014, has already declared he will run next year.
Update on 28 February 2017: Liberal candidates complain of dirty tricks.
Update on 2 March 2017: And Tamil Canadians are, apparently, upset.
Update on 3 March 2017: Candidate withdraws from Liberal nomination race, crying foul.
Update on 7 March 2017: The Liberal Party centrally has the final say on candidates.