The highlights of Monday night's meeting included the introduction of King's new Junior Hockey League (OJHL) Junior A team, information on possible winter road maintenance changes, the Doctors Lane and Old King Road Neighbourhood Plans, and Community Assistance Program policy update.
You can watch the video for the May 27th meeting here, but remember it will only be live for two weeks.
Quick Links
Mayor's Comment
The 174th Schomberg Agricultural Fair was a great success! Friday night's Demolition Derby was a sellout that featured 40 cars. King extends a huge thank you to the many volunteers who worked tirelessly to put on such an incredible event.
Summer camp registration is open
King's Public Library has partnered with King's Community Services department to introduce Story Walk. Children's books are laminated story boards and posted along a path, park out outdoor community space so families can enjoy reading a book while strolling through the community.
King's Chamber of Commerce has introduced the King Township Coupon Booklet offering over 45 exclusive coupons from businesses across King Township! From dining to retail to services, there's something for everyone to enjoy. Click here to see the digital version.
Food & Drink Fest is on June 8th at the King City Memorial Park from 12pm to 9pom. In celebration of the 10th anniversary, the menu expanded and this year's festival will feature some of the best food and beverage vendors in the area, non-stop music, kids zone, and much more! Tickets are now on sale now.
Splash pads are now open at Memorial Park in King City, Tasca Park in Nobleton, and Hickstead Park in Schomberg. They are open from 9am-9pm.
Repair Café is being held June 15 at the King City Seniors Centre. A Repair Café brings together people with items to repair and volunteer fixers willing to share their skills and tools. They inspire people to repair items as an alternative to just throwing them away. All attendees need to do is show up with their broken items and any replacement parts the repair might need. Suggested items for repair include small appliances, jewelry, toys, clothing, bicycles and electronics. The volunteer fixers will then do their magic. The event is free but click here to register.
Cold Creek Conservation Area has extended hours. Starting June 1st the site will open for extended summer hours from 8:30am to 8pm with township staff on site from 8:30 - 4:30pm daily.
Taste of Maine is on through June 2nd. Indulge in enticing flavours from Main Streets finest cuisine with seven participating restaurants! The event truly has something for everyone. Diners will be able to enjoy breakfast and lunch options at both cafes, and delicious lunches and dinners at the remaining restaurants. Dine in restaurants have also each created unique signature cocktails to commemorate the event. Learn more here.
King's website now features a new virtual assistant. "Kingsley" is powered by artificial intelligence and help answer your questions. There is always staff at King to help.
Heritage Nominations - Nominate your favourite heritage or historic building for a King Township Heritage award. A great way to celebrate our unique history and culture. Award recipients receive an ink portrait of their house. Submit your entry between June 3-28.
York Region Employment Survey is now open. Businesses in King can use this opportunity to share the landscape by sharing policy, programs, investments regionally and locally. Take the survey at York.ca.
Evening Highlights:
King Rebellion
• An Ontario Junior Hockey League (OJHL) Junior A team will call King Township home starting in the 2024-2025 season. The Brantford 99ers team is relocating to King and being renamed the 'King Rebellion,' a name chosen to align with the existing King Township Minor Hockey Association’s rep program team name. The team's name also pays homage to the Lloydtown Rebellion of 1837, which was part of the Upper Canada Rebellion.
Their home games will be at the new Township-Wide Recreation Centre, opening this fall. Mark Joslin, the 2023/24 OJHL Coach of the Year, will lead the team.
Winter Maintenance Strategy
• Public Works has reviewed King's Winter Maintenance Strategy and is considering switching from rock salt to treated salt (Thawrox). The treated salt is effective up to -15c and is treated with a corrosion inhibitor as well as liquid magnesium chloride to lower the freezing point of ice. The cost is about 30% higher but the town estimates that there will be a 29% reduction in overall salt usage. Staff did consider a number of other alternatives including beet juice, corn syrup, green ice and more, but based on cost and availability they concluded that Thawrox was the best option
Staff are also proposing a service level change on its roads as follows:
Rural Gravel - from 90/10 sand/salt to 97/3 sand/Thawrox
Rural Asphalt - from 50/50 sand/salt to 60/40 sand/Thawrox
Urban Asphalt - from 50/50 sand/salt to 100% Thawrox
The switch would be better for the environment, and staff also estimate a reduction in sweeping costs, catch basin cleaning, fuel and maintenance costs. Plus, the reduction of salt on gravel roads will help prevent muddy roads in the winter in the face of constant freeze/thaw cycles. To facilitate this conversion, however, the town would require more space to accommodate the three different piles of material. While the elimination of sand on urban asphalt will certainly please urban residents who complain about the sandy mess on their roads, the cost of the extra facility required to deliver this new standard may be prohibitive. Staff are going to review the associated costs and report back to council in the fall.
Doctors Lane and Old King Road Neighbourhood Plans Study
• Last year, council directed staff to initiate the Doctors Lane and Old King Road Neighbourhood Plans Study. This study is an exciting opportunity to imagine and help shape the future of these central locations so that they be even better community destinations.
Phase Two of the study is complete and included the draft Background and Directions Report which will be used to help inform the conceptual Neighbourhood Plans and to outline the existing conditions, current policy framework, key directions and next steps for the Study.
The town hosted two open houses in May and received the following feedback from the community on what should be included in these spaces.
To implement the changes recommended in the study, the proposal is to use a planning tool called a Community Planning Permit System (CPPS), which requires an Official Plan Amendment and Community Planning Permit By-law (CPP By-law). The CPPS consolidates a variety of steps in the planning process making the approval process more efficient.
Phase Three is now underway and will include more meetings and interviews. The results are expected in November when conceptual drawings will be presented.
Community Assistance Program
• Established in 2013, the Community Assistance Program (CAP) provides opportunities for citizens to participate in recreation by assisting in removing financial barriers while ensuring that access to subsidies is provided through clear and accessible process. Since 2018 CAP has provided fee assistance to 74 families and has provided approximately $133,000 in financial support.
To increase and enhance user access to the program, CAP applications will now be divided into three unique intake streams:
A. Municipal Program Stream – Provides funding of up to $300 per year per individual for programs delivered through the Community Services Department including fitness, aquatics, summer camps, recreation and cultural programming, etc.
B. The Community Program Stream – Provides funding of up to $300 per year/per individual for sport, recreation and/or cultural programming offered through a King Township or other York Regional community-based organization (e.g. King Township Minor Hockey, Arts Society King, York North Basketball Association etc.)
C. Inclusion Program Stream – Provides funding to cover the costs associated with 1:1 support for individuals with special needs to participate in municipal or community programming. Where and when applicable, the Township will provide, at no additional cost, a 1:1 support staff for an individual with a disability who may require additional care to take part in recreational programming. If a family wants to provide their own support worker, the Township will subsidize the cost associated with these support fees, up to a maximum of $17.20 per hour (up to a maximum of 35 hours per week).
New Business
Ward 2 - Request that staff look at traffic calming measures to prevent speeding on Bluff Trail
Ward 3 - From May 27th to July 12th, Toronto and Region Conservation Authority will be continuing with periodic targeted herbicide applications at Nashville Bobolink Meadow as part of an invasive species management strategy. Southlake is conducting community engagement sessions looking for feedback on how best to guide the organization into the future. After a session held in Schomberg, Southlake released the results of the community feedback - click here to read.
Ward 4 - The Schomberg Horticultural Society is hosting a garden tour on June 23 from 10am to 4pm. For more information email shsgardentour@gmail.com
Ward 5 - Attended a presentation at King City Seniors about Artificial Intelligence that had great engagement and discussion.
Ward 6 - The York Regional Agricultural Advisory Committee has been working on Emily911 which is a safety feature for farmers working vacant land with no green number. York Region is looking after the majority of the funding for the signage with King Township was the first municipality to sign on to help fund this initiative. We will hear more about this later this year. The Lake Simcoe Conservation Authority board heard about the province's changes to the Conservation Act which has resulted in an overall decrease in 7,559 hectares of regulated area. Part of the changes introduced by the government included changing wetland setbacks from 120m to 30m which resulted in a loss of 10,160 hectares of regulated area. For reference that is almost 19,000 football fields.
While the LSRCA has lost a significant amount of regulated area, King Township recorded an increase of 113 hectares as a result of the changes.
Re: Winter Maintence - I was happy when the Township switched to using sand. That is better for the environment. The sand does not dissolve into the water and contaminate the wells, or the lakes that the streams go into. I am not happy that the urban roads are being proposed to become no sand, but all Thawrox. Once again, we will be polluting the wells and streams. I think that rural and urban asphalt should be treated the same, mainly sand. The sand gets cleaned up in the spring. I have not heard my neighbours and friends complain about the sand.
A few typos.
Click here to see the digital coupon booklet, but there was no link to get…