Maintaining Pelham’s Small-Town Feel

Council and I continue to work at maintaining Pelham’s neighbour-helping-neighbour, small-town feel as our community grows.

Focus on Downtowns:Since many people associate community with downtowns and since more than 50% of people surveyed in Pelham in 2007 said “fix up our downtowns”, Council and I revitalized Downtown Fonthill and Downtown Fenwick (currently being completed). We achieved this because of the deep involvement of community volunteers in finalizing the plans and design; we also received significant funding from the Federal and Provincial government to revitalize Downtown Fonthill.

Council also established design guidelines and incentive programs to encourage Downtown businesses to improve their façades to a common “look and feel.” So far, seven properties have used these programs to improve – and a few more applications are imminent.

Community Celebrations:
Maintaining a small-town feel also includes encouraging friends and neighbours to come together to celebrate, interact, and remember. That’s why the Town has increased the focus on developing and expanding community events like Pelham Summerfest, the Supper Market, Christmas in Pelham and Winterfest, while also assisting service clubs and community groups to host significant events like Fonthill Bandshell Concerts, Pelham Farmer’s Market, Biketoberfest, and various parades.

East Fonthill Development Area:
Council and I also worked diligently so that all parties approved the East Fonthill Secondary Plan. The Plan contains important features to help maintain our small-town feel as we grow, by:

• Ensuring a well-designed and attractive development with a mixture of housing types;
• Encouraging commercial and mixed-use development – medical centre, retirement home, Wellspring Niagara cancer support services, and potential recreational facility 
• Imposing maximum and minimum square-footage size requirements that the Pelham Business Association asked for that will help protect existing Downtown Fonthill businesses;
• Providing a “Greenlands System” that protects and enhances existing environmental features; and,
• Developing a pedestrian / cyclist-friendly and transit-ready road network that fully integrates and complements existing roads and trails.

We are currently designing a new “public square” so that the community can better gather for special events while also working on improvements to Peace Park – like permanent washrooms, and smoothing the “bowl” in front of the Bandshell. We have also working on mandating design guidelines in the East Fonthill area to ensure that all new developments match a common look and feel for our community. Of course, we will work together with the community to finalize these plans.

Other Measures:
Finally, we are taking other measures to help maintain our small-town feel:

• Providing welcome packages for new residents and businesses;
• Continuing to celebrate dedicated volunteers at our Annual Volunteer Appreciation reception;
• Continuing to provide community parks / parkettes instead of building a mega-park;
• Continuing to add sidewalks and trails throughout the Town;
• Continuing to engage members of the community in Council committees in design sessions to improve future development.

Council and I will continue to focus on building lively and viable downtowns, on promoting cultural and artistic activities, and on integrated and well-designed planning to help maintain Pelham’s distinctive, small-town feel.

Complete Picture of Fiscal Responsibility

As you know, through my regular columns, I keep you involved in and informed about property taxes and about how Council and I act responsibly with your money. Some have recently asked me to give another summary and to give a more complete picture of fiscal responsibility.

This Year and Last Four Years:
As I reported in April and June, both Pelham Town Council and Regional Council approved only slight tax increases for 2014. The combined property tax increase for an average property in Pelham for 2014 is 0.9% above the 2013 amount. Since I report this as a “out-of-pocket” value, that translates into an approximate $36 change from last year for the average residential property owner (2014 value of $298,000). This increase was the lowest or second lowest in Niagara Region again this year.

But, what about over a longer period of time? Let’s compare this term of Council with the last term of Council, and with inflation.

The average increase of property taxes on your combined residential property tax bill for the last four years was 1.5%; the cumulative increase was 6.0%. For the previous four years – from 2007 to 2010 – it was 1.8%; the cumulative increase was 7.3%.

Lower than Inflation:
How do we measure whether that is “good” or not? Another important comparator would be inflation. Inflation for the last four-year period was 7.4% or an average of 1.8% per year.

I hope you too are pleased that our residential tax increases have been 1.4% below inflation for the last four years. (Please see the chart for more information.)

Debt Reduction & Capital Improvements:
After writing about it in September, some folks have asked me for more information about the Town’s long-term debt.

You will be pleased to know that since the end of 2006 to the end of 2013 (the most up-to-date, audited data), we reduced our long-term debt by 20% – from $6.3M to $5.0M. Over the same period, our “debt to revenue ratio” – a private sector measure – reduced by 30% (from 53% for 2006 to 33% for 2013). (Please see the chart for more information.)

Taking Advantage of 66¢ Stimulus Dollars:
You will note from that chart that we did drop our long-term debt to a low of $4.2M in 2010 from a all-time high of $6.3M in 2006 (before I began serving as Mayor).

Why did it increase slightly since 2010? The main reason we increased our debt slightly was to take advantage of two-thirds funding dollars – what some call 66¢ dollars – from the Federal and Provincial governments. You will recall that we applied for and received unprecedented stimulus funding – $8.4M of investments which supported $13.6 M in projects and improvements in 2009 and 2010.

But, since we didn’t have all of our one-third share – our 33¢ share – on hand, we added some strategic debt in 2011 and 2012. The Town added this debt after completing the projects and to also take advantage of some of the lowest interest rates in generations. For example, instead of saying “no” to $3.7M of Federal and Provincial funding for Haist Street, we accepted the funds and added our $1.84M share.

Property Sale Soon:
Further, I anticipate that we can significantly reduce our debt levels when we complete the sale of property for public benefit. You will recall that the Allen Group agreed to purchase 7.7 acres of Town-owned lands in the East Fonthill area for $375,000 per acre to facilitate the construction of a Medical Centre (5-10 Family Doctors and Allied Professionals) and a Retirement Home (135 apartment-style units with 12 town-house units). Part of that $2.9M can be used to help reduce some of our debt over the next few months.

Development Charges – One-Quarter of Total Debt:
Finally, some of this long term debt is to help support new development and is, therefore, not funded by existing residents and businesses.

You may know that Development Charges are applied on new developments – from new homes to new commercial buildings – to help pay for the facilities and capital projects that are required to support that new development. For example, if a road needs to be widened, a new water line installed (like on Rice Road), new Fire Trucks purchased, or a new park needs to be built to serve specific new development, that new development needs to pay for those new items. Development Charges allows “growth to pay for growth.” And, that’s good news for current residents and businesses.

But, sometimes those facilities or improvements need to be built or installed ahead of the growth – like that new water or sewer line – to help serve and stimulate the growth. In those cases, the Town might build the project but add the debt to the Development Charges account; in this case both interest and principal are paid by Development Charges and the new developments occur.

In Pelham’s case, $1.2M (or nearly one-quarter) of our $5.0M total long term debt at the end of 2013 was actually for these Development-Charge-funded projects. To be clear: one-quarter of our long-term debt will not be paid back by existing residents and tax-payers, but, rather, by new development.

Improvements and Fiscal Responsibility:
During the same period that we reduced our long term debt and kept our property tax increase at a rate lower than inflation, we dramatically improved the Town’s infrastructure. These improvements included better roads and more sidewalks and trails, new playgrounds and new and improved parks, and renewed Downtowns.

As this complete picture shows, Pelham Council and I continue to ensure that we only minimally impact you and other property tax-payers while we continue to improve our infrastructure and increase the quality of services in the Town.

Lemonade from Town’s Lands

One of the prepared questions at the 2010 Mayoral debate asked about our greatest achievement and our biggest disappointment or failure.

Four years ago, I answered then that my greatest disappointment was “…that we couldn’t move ahead faster on issues with the Town property” that a previous Council had purchased in 2005 at the corner of Rice Road and Regional Road 20.

I said then that the 2006-2010 Council’s “…hands were tied because the developers were in control of the process.” You see, that previous Council also gave control of the East Fonthill Secondary Plan to a group of developers.

The Current Council:
So, what did this Council and I do to address this disappointment?

At the start of this term (January 2011), I called a meeting with the Town’s Staff / consulting team and representatives of the group of developers. We clarified what log jams existed and why the process failed to move forward. What became clear was that Staff thought that the developers were doing some things (and they were not), and the development group thought that Staff were doing other things (and they were not).

To move the issues forward, all parties agreed to recommend to Council that the Town take-back control of the planning process and complete the Secondary Plan; Council agreed.

Planning Approval:
Staff and our consulting team worked together with the Region to finalize the Secondary Plan and Town Council approved the Plan in April 2012. Then, I worked with Regional Staff to accelerate the process and Regional Council approved the Plan in October 2012.

While we did face delays because of some appeals to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB), we worked with all parties to settle the issues. The OMB finally approved the East Fonthill Secondary Plan on 30 January 2014.

Master Site Plan & Property Sale:
Following that OMB approval, we released a Draft Master Site Plan for the Town-owned lands and adjacent lands in February 2014. That Master Plan includes the Medical Centre, Retirement Home, retail development, Wellspring Niagara, and the potential of a multi-faceted community centre. It also shows extensive parks and natural areas and roads and trails linking the development with existing portions of the Town – especially with Downtown Fonthill via an extension of Pelham Town Square Blvd.

In April 2014, Council approved an agreement for 7.7 acres of Town-owned lands for the construction of the Medical Centre and the Retirement Home. Because we sold the lands with the planning approvals in place, we increased the property value more than threefold – from a $112,000 per acre purchase price to a $375,000 per acre plus the costs to service and develop.

Last month, Council approved the draft plan of subdivision for these lands; except for one condition (which was appealed to the OMB), we can proceed with development.

With hard work, vision, and determination we turned what once were “lemons” into “lemonade.”

Innovate or Stagnate: Why “Creative Problem Solving”?

Some folks have asked about the Town’s use of the “Creative Problem Solving” process. Where did it start? Why do we use it? Has it been successful?

Why CPS?
In the summer of 2012, Council directed our new CAO to recommend strategies to make Pelham more innovative in our provision of services. After researching several options, the Town’s Senior Staff introduced Council to a “creative problem solving” (CPS) process taught by McMaster University professor Dr. Min Basadur.

To see if the process worked Council tested it on our hardest community problem – the infamous questions about recreational and cultural services in Pelham and what to “do” with the 32 acres of land the Town purchased in East Fonthill in 2005. It worked extremely well because the process allowed us to not only clarify our main challenges, but also helped us to start solving these community problems.

Since it worked once, Council used the process on our next most difficult problem – to help resolve the request to develop a highly contentious “site alteration” bylaw. Instead of adopting that very restrictive bylaw, we used the process to develop an Environmental Protection Bylaw which helps protect agricultural lands and stops the importation of construction waste.

Council has also used the creative problem solving process with the Library Board and the Friends of Maple Acre Library to confirm a long-term commitment to library services in Fenwick.

We “flexed” the CPS process to help establish the Thursday night Supper Market, to help make Pelham Street more walkable, to update our Strategic Plan, to develop an economic development framework, and to determine the final location for the skatepark.

Staff has used the process extensively to do big things – like developing a performance management system or following through on actions to deliver on the Town’s strategic plan – but also on smaller, important things – like developing a better way of thawing frozen water pipes, or of clearing snow.

Finally, I have also used the process at Niagara Region to help advance inter-municipal transit discussions and planning, to reevaluate Regional development charges, and to discuss strategies to help single-parent families receiving the Ontario Works benefit.

Innovate or Stagnate:
Council and I believe in the importance of ongoing training and education; if we don’t train or innovate, we stagnate.

Over the last three years the Town budgeted $266,324 for all types of professional development ($70,512 in 2012, $111,222 in 2013, and $84,590 in 2014). This budget is for everything from mandated accreditation and health and safety training, to more forward-thinking professional development like sessions at the Ontario Good Roads Association or the Parks & Recreation Ontario conferences.

What about the “creative problem solving” process? From 2012 to March 2014 the Town invested 38% of this training and development budget – or $100,222 – on the CPS process; this included training, facilitation, and strategic planning for all Staff and Council.


Implementing the Innovation:
When it comes to training, a big challenge is how one implements the innovation or “learnings” from the classroom / conference into one’s work processes.

That is, how do you actually make best use of the training to deliver positive results? This becomes even more problematic if you are the only one who’s been trained and you have try to introduce the change to your co-workers.

That’s one of the main reasons we trained all staff in the same process; so that once we all knew the process, we could focus on the innovations and implementing the solutions.


Based on Pelham Council’s and Staff’s many successes, the creative problem solving process has helped the Town to not only clearly define important problems, but, more importantly, to develop and implement innovative solutions.

Clearing Pelham’s Recreational “Log Jam”

As you know, the provision of recreational and cultural services in Pelham was at a “log-jam” for many, many years. There were numerous reports suggesting the need of and expressing the desire for new recreational facilities. Previous Councils and special committees argued about the issues – we need / don’t need a twin pad, an indoor pool, fitness facilities, a walking track, a rock-climbing wall, etc. – but we couldn’t see the forest for the trees.

So, how did the current Council break the “log jam” and actually move forward? How do we now know what the community wants and needs, and what we can afford?

In the summer of 2012, Council directed our new CAO to recommend strategies to make Pelham more innovate in our provision of services. After researching several options, the Town’s Senior Staff introduced Council to a “creative problem solving” process taught by McMaster University professor Dr. Min Basadur.

To see if the process worked Council tested it on our hardest community problems – the questions about recreational and cultural services in Pelham and what to “do” with lands the Town purchased in 2005.

The process helped Council clarify our thinking and agree on the main, interconnected challenges:
1. How might we best develop the Town-owned-lands in East Fonthill (32 acres at Regional Road 20 and Rice Road) and in conjunction with other property-owner groups?
2. How might we define the recreational and cultural services the Town needs now and into the future?
3. How might we stay focused on deciding what to do with Town facilities and those Town-owned-lands?

Once we agreed upon our challenges and clearly defined them, the process helped us to start solving these community problems.

For example, after hiring a firm to develop a market analysis and business case study, we now know what the community needs, wants, and what folks are willing to pay for recreational services (#2). (For the results and more information, please click here.)

And, by specifically working together with other property-owner groups (#1), we laid the groundwork to sell Town-owned lands for the new Medical Centre, new retirement home, and to the development of the new Wellspring Niagara cancer support centre, and other potential developments.

That’s how the “creative problem solving” process allowed Council to break the “log jam” on our most important community challenge – the provision of recreational and cultural services in Pelham.

Improved Quality of Life

Signing Wellspring Niagara Memorandum of
Understanding, 2014. Photo Credit: Voice of Pelham

Council and I have worked hard to ensure that the Town improved its traditional infrastructure — like roads and underground pipes – while also improving the quality of life for all residents.

We understand that community is about a sense of place, about our joint heritage and shared histories, and about community events.

Just like a home is about more than four walls and a roof, community is also about people – people coming together, interacting, celebrating, and remembering.

That’s why I collaborated with Council and the community to improve Pelham’s traditional infrastructure and quality of life.

Since people associate communities with Downtowns, we revitalized Downtown Fonthill and Downtown Fenwick (currently being completed). We also improved significant roads – including Haist Street, Effingham Road, Church Street, Port Robinson Road, Hwy 20, and Rice Road – making many of them more walkable and cycle-able.

We replaced all 4,200 water meters in the Town to ensure accurate service and to find and resolve leaks; we also replaced more than 12 km of cast iron water mains to stop costly leaks.

In addition to this traditional infrastructure, we have renewed and restored Old Pelham Town Hall (to be completed by the end of November), the Pool House (reopened in June), and the historic Fenwick flagpole (designated a heritage structure in 2013).

We also renewed all Town playgrounds – making them totally accessible. We created the Isaac Riehl Memorial Skatepark and worked with the Region to develop a new Centre Street Dog Park. We also expanded Centennial Park – adding a soccer field and revitalizing two baseball diamond – and North Pelham Park – by adding a t-ball field.

Walking and being active are important to our community. That’s why we have added 13 km of sidewalks, 9 km of bike lanes, 3 km of trails, and 5 crosswalks. That’s also why we started clearing snow from sidewalks throughout entire Town. For our efforts on improving cycling, Pelham received the Silver Bike Friendly designation – making us the only small Town to receive this award in Ontario!

We also focused on events to bring the community together and to celebrate. We expand Pelham Summerfest to four-day festival with art, music, and local food. We initiated a Supper Market to complement the Farmer’s Market and Fonthill Bandshell Concerts. (Council will receive a glowing report from the participants regarding the Suppermarket tonight!) We also brought together various Christmas in Pelham events and initiated Winterfest.

No doubt you will recall how we worked together with EL Crossley, Pelham’s Service Clubs and businesses to welcome Canada AM and their millions of viewers to showcase Pelham’s vibrant, creative, and caring community in January 2013. We used the announcement of those Aviva funds to build the Isaac Riehl Memorial Skatepark.

Environmental features are important to our community. That’s why I am so proud to have worked for nearly five years to secure the Provincial protection of the Fonthill Kame-Delta. I am also pleased to have brokered the deal with Abitibi and the Ministry of the Environment that saw the removal of the “sludge berm” in Fenwick. Council also approved a new environmental protection bylaw to stop the importation of construction waste to agricultural lands.

And, since health care is so important to people’s quality of life, Council and I secured the development of a new Fonthill Medical Centre, and new retirement home on Town lands. We also donated use of two acres of land for new Wellspring Niagara Cancer Support Centre to serve all families in Niagara Region ravaged by cancer.

Finally, we began the design of a potential multi-faceted community centre in the East Fonthill area to serve our diverse community. While market analysis has shown that people will provide the sustaining demand (ie: cover the operating costs), we are seeking financial support from the Federal and Provincial governments to build the potential facility.

I look forward to working together with you and your friends and neighbours and with Council to continue to improve our infrastructure and the quality of life in Pelham for all.

Planned & Improved Community Facilities

Reopening of Renewed Pool House, June 2014

Facilities are important to communities. They are buildings and amenities where friends and neighbours come together to celebrate, to compete, to gather, to discuss, and to provide service.

That’s why Council and I continue to focus on improving community facilities or other public amenities.

For example, the Town recently built a new Fire Station #2 (in Fenwick) with the funding assistance of the Federal and Provincial Governments. We are currently completing the construction of a new Fire Station #3 (in North Pelham) to provide better service from an appropriately-sized facility; expect information about the Official Opening in mid-October.

But, we haven’t always built new. We recognize important heritage assets like Old Pelham Town Hall; its restoration should be complete by December 1 and I can’t wait for folks to use it again! We also improved and restored the Pelham Pool House in Marlene Stewart-Streit Park – keeping the original structure but improving the change rooms, adding outdoor showers and a public washroom for other park users.

Parks & Recreation Ontario Design Award for
Isaac Riehl Memorial Skatepark, 2014

Parks & Recreation Ontario (PRO) recognized Pelham’s design of recently constructed public amenities. In 2011 we received PRO’s design award for our nine, new and fully accessible playgrounds and last September the Lieutenant-Governor for Ontario, His Hon. David Onley, visited one of the playgrounds. Then, this spring, Pelham won the 2014 PRO design award for the new Isaac Riehl Memorial Skatepark; thanks again to the dedicated members of the design committee.

Council also recently committed to the continued service of the Maple Acre Library. A working group report should present their report to Council and the Library Board soon with recommendations on how best to achieve this.

Finally, I am very pleased that Council worked together with LeisurePlan International and the community to develop a market analysis, business case study, and facilities review regarding arena and community centre desires. Based on a resident survey, detailed analysis and a comparison to industry standards, Council:
• Confirmed demand for single-pad arena now, and potential for demand for twin-pad after 2023-24;
• Confirmed sustaining demand for fitness activities (working with YMCA), walking / running indoor track, multi-purpose space, gymnasium sports;
• Confirmed that the operating costs are affordable for new multi-faceted community center;
• Confirmed the dire condition of existing arena and determined an alternative location for a potential new community centre – as part of the other imminent East Fonthill developments (Medical Centre, Retirement Home, Wellspring Centre, retail);

In essence, Council agreed with the recommendations that the community would provide sustaining demand for a multi-faceted community centre; if we can afford to construct a new multi-faceted community centre, we could afford to operate it.

So, to try to make the capital costs for a potential new community centre affordable for local, municipal tax-payers Council recognized that we need to attain financial support from the Federal and Provincial governments and to fundraise locally.

To do both of these steps, we will need more detailed plans (investment-ready plans), and tighter cost estimates.

That’s why Council appointed a community design committee members in July – with representatives from recreation user groups, youth, seniors, artists, service clubs and the community-at-large.

A couple of weeks ago, Council recently approved the Architectural Design Committee’s recommendation to retain Petroff Architects to develop construction-ready documents for a potential multi-purpose community centre.

Council agreed to fund the maximum $1,050,000 architectural costs – which is a lot of money but is actually less than the standard 5% architectural fee of the total potential project – from already budgeted funds and our facilities reserve.

Now, after clearly determining the recreational facility need and feasibility, Council and I are committed to working to secure Federal and Provincial funding and significant donations so that a potential new facility can be affordable to local tax-payers.


Facilities form an important part of our community. I will continue to work with Council and you to improve Pelham’s community facilities and other public amenities.

Fiscally Responsible Leadership

Since the final installment of 2014 Pelham Property Taxes are due next week (on September 30), I thought I would give you a recap of our 2014 Property Taxes and the results of this term of Council.

Property Tax Calculation:
You will recall that the amount of property tax you pay to the Town of Pelham, to the Region, and to the Province (for Education) is not only based on the Market Value Assessment of your property; we multiply your assessment (as assigned by the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation) by each of the tax rates and add them up for your total bill.

Despite your tax rate being set by each entity for their services, the Town collects the taxes and distributes it appropriately.

This Year and Four Years:
As I reported in April, both Pelham Town Council and Regional Council approved only slight tax increases this year. The combined property tax increase for an average property in Pelham for 2014 is 0.9% above the 2013 amount. I report this as a “out-of-pocket” value, so that translates into an approximate $36 change from last year for the average residential property owner (value of $298,000). This increase was the lowest or second lowest in Niagara Region again this year.

But, what about over a longer period of time? Let’s compare this term of Council with the last term of Council, and with inflation.

The average increase of property taxes on your combined residential property tax bill for the last four years was 1.5% (a cumulative increase of 6.0%); for the previous four years – from 2007 to 2010 – it was 1.8% (a cumulative increase of 7.3%).

Lower than Inflation:
How do we measure whether that is “good” or not? Another important comparator would be inflation. Inflation for the last four-year period was 7.4% or an average of 1.8% per year.

I hope you too are pleased that our residential tax increases have been 1.4% below inflation for the last four years. Please see the chart for more information.

Debt Reduction & Capital Improvements:
Some folks have asked me about the Town’s long-term debt and capital improvements.

You will be pleased to know that since the end of 2006 to the end of 2013 (the most up-to-date, audited data), we reduced our long-term debt by 20% – from $6.3M to $5.0M. Over the same period, our “debt to revenue ratio” – a private sector measure – reduced by 30% (from 53% for 2006 to 33% for 2013). (Source: Audited Financial Statements, Town Pelham, 2006-2013.)

Further, I anticipate that we can significantly reduce our debt levels over the next few months when we complete the sale of property for public benefit. You will recall that the Allen Group agreed to purchase 7.7 acres of Town-owned lands in the East Fonthill area for $375,000 per acre to facilitate the construction of a Medical Centre (5-10 Family Doctors and Allied Professionals) and a Retirement Home (135 apartment-style units with 12 town-house units).

Finally, at the same time that we reduced our term debt and increased property taxes at a rate lower than inflation, we dramatically improved the Town’s infrastructure. From better roads and more sidewalks and trails, to new playgrounds and new and improved parks, to renewed Downtowns, and thanks to our success in achieving significant investments by other levels of government, our four-year capital budget totaled $32.5M – an average of $8.1M per year.


Pelham Council and I continue to ensure that we only minimally impact you and other property tax-payers while we continue to improve our infrastructure and increase the quality of services in the Town.

Proven, Servant Leadership

A good friend and I grabbed a coffee last Saturday. It had been a while since we had seen each other and we needed to catch-up. Eventually, our conversation turned to this Fall’s Town election and leadership.

You see, I believe that this Mayoral election campaign is about proven leadership. But, it’s also about style of leadership.

As you know, under my proven leadership and service, and together with Council and the community, Pelham has improved considerably over the last eight years. From better roads and more sidewalks and trails, to new playgrounds and new and improved parks, to renewed Downtowns and improved community events, to huge investments by other levels of government, to better protections for agricultural lands and the Fonthill Kame, our Town has improved substantially.

But, I also view my role as Pelham's Mayor and Regional Councillor as one of a servant to the community.

That's why I am so accessible, continually listen to people and discuss issues, write a weekly column (270 times!) in local news media , attend as many community functions as possible, and work to keep residents and business owners informed about and involved in things that matter in Pelham.

My role is also to lead Council and the community through common processes of clearly defining problems, solving them, and implementing the agreed-upon and new solutions. Some recent examples of this include our environmental protection bylaw, the development of the Thursday night parking plan and a Supper Market, and confirming the business case for a new Multi-Faceted Community Centre (contingent on funding and tax-payer affordability).

I am both humbled and encouraged by the many residents who have asked me to continue my style of service and to build on my proven experience as Pelham’s Mayor & Regional Councillor.

So, what’s next? My vision for Pelham continues to include appropriate and affordable parks and recreational facilities, vibrant and livable downtowns, safe and walkable neighbourhoods, lively cultural and artistic activities, an environment for small- and medium-sized businesses to thrive, improvements to our quality of life, protecting our natural and rural character while supporting agricultural operations, and maintaining Pelham’s friendly, small-town feel as we continue to grow and prosper.

My record of proven, servant leadership shows that I have the vision, the commitment, and the experience to continue to work together with Council and the community to realize this vision.

Update on “Construction Season” in Pelham

Now that we are fully into “construction season” in Pelham, I thought I would give you an update on progress.

“Uptown Fonthill” Reconstruction:
You will recall that the Region leading the reconstruction of Regional Road 20 from Peachtree Park to Lookout Street, and of Haist Street from Canboro Road to Highway 20.

These works include adding bike lanes and sidewalks, upgrading the watermain, road reconstruction, and a new traffic signal. As part of our ongoing efforts to rid the Town of break-prone, cast-iron watermains, the Town asked the contractor to replace the watermain from just East of Pelham Street.

The contractor also completed the replacement of the watermain on Highway 20 between Pinecrest and Haist; now they will work on connecting individual properties. The watermain on Haist Street between Canboro and Highway 20 has been completed, with storm sewer construction underway.


Downtown Fenwick Revitalization:
You will recall that this important project includes reconstructing Canboro Road and parts of Maple and Church Streets and the Welland Road intersection. Since the contractor is replacing the storm sewers and tying them correctly into systems on adjoining streets, they have undertaken significant “dewatering” to reduce the high water table.

During this dewatering process, standard environments tests identified some hydrocarbons in the soil on Canboro Road; this contamination likely emanated from historic gasoline and oil service centres. While this may mean higher soil disposal and dewatering costs, work currently continues at the original tender price and on budget.

Since Hydro One continues to bury the electricity lines on Canboro Road and Maple Street, the excavation contractor has commenced storm sewer construction on Church Street. I understand that we may start to see some of the landscaping – like curbs – materializing soon.

Port Robinson Road – Station to Rice:
As you know, the Town is continuing to enhance walkability and cycle-ability by reconstructing Port Robinson from Station Street to Rice Road.

In addition to bike lanes, sidewalks on both sides, and road reconstruction, we are also installing sewers to support both existing and future potential development. Folks currently along Port Robinson will have the option to connect to these new sewers.

The contractor has completed more than half of the sanitary sewer and watermain construction. To help overcome chronic drainage issues in the area, the contractor has also begun storm sewer construction at the East-end of the project.


To review periodic updates on these and other significant Town projects, please see www.pelham.ca/current-construction-projects.

As construction “season” continues in Pelham, I sincerely appreciate your patience and understanding. I also look forward to the completion of these and many other improvements in 2014!