Greetings and welcome to my March 2024 Edition eNewsletter. I would like to take a moment and introduce you all to our newest adopted fury family member

Otis - the black lab! We are enjoying this time together and getting him well acquainted in his new home. He has been getting along quite nicely with his fellow siblings Baye (the basset hound pup), Fluffy (the munchkin ragdoll cat), Shadow (the tuxedo cat) and Blue (the Scottish fold cat).

With the March break wrapping up, we are getting ready for an exciting year ahead. Despite some of the economic challenges Bill 23 has provoked, residents will see some significant capital projects gaining momentum with the implementation of the City of Pickering’s approved 2024 Mayor’s Budget and the pending Durham Regional Budget (to be decided at the March 27th Regional Council meeting). Watch for the highlights in my April edition eNewsletter.

Join myself on Thursday, March 21 at

7:00 pm as I host a Special Town Hall meeting in the Arena O'Brien Rooms

A & B, located in the back of the Chestnut Hill Developments Recreation Complex (1867 Valley Farm Road). Durham Region Transit staff will be joining to discuss their recent service level changes.

Please join us - all are welcome!

For future Town Hall Meeting information, including dates & locations, please contact the Council Office by email at [email protected] or by telephone at 905.420.4605.

As 2024 rolled in, Durham Region Transit (DRT) riders experienced significant impacts across all municipalities as a result of changes to a number of local routes.

Why was this happening?

DRT like all Regional departments set a service plan projecting a 5% increase over 2023, to meet Budget guidelines set by Regional Council. With growing competition of priorities, such as the modernization of Durham Regional Police Services, along with increasing pressures on Social Services and Housing caused by a lack of funding and affordability; DRT was required to reduce the 5% target to 2%, and subsequently to 1.6%.

What was the "route" cause of the funding shortfall? 

All municipalities along with the Association of Municipalities for Ontario (AMO) felt the impact of the Province of Ontario’s Bill 23 (More Homes Built Faster Act). Growth was no longer paying for growth, and municipalities were faced with two options, to either transfer the burden to existing tax payers - which would increase their economic hardships; or adjust service levels to minimize the economic impact.

What does the 2024 DRT Service Plan look like and how will it adhere to the DRT Executive Committee Recommendation: to provide costing to address the

January 2024 Changes?

• The proposed 2024 DRT Service Plan and Budget of $474.2 Million dollars supports continued service enhancements, investments in growth infrastructure and fleet electrification, maintaining core service requirements and assets, actively engaging customers and stakeholders, and building an organizational framework to sustain DRT during a period of unprecedented growth, service modernization, and innovation.

The proposed Budget also includes several key initiatives including restoring some of the lost services from the January 2024 changes.

The proposed Service Plan and Budget provides for up to 569,876 hours of annual Scheduled Revenue Service and 174,692 hours of On-Demand Revenue Service. As a result of the service model transition, this is the first year that DRT is reporting separate Revenue Service hours for Scheduled and On-Demand.

The 2024 service plan includes an increase of 59,665 hours above the adjusted 2023 base service hours at an estimated net cost of $5.9 million and will provide for:

• Select resumption of service suspended in January within Ajax, Whitby, and Clarington that was reallocated in January to address growth demands across the system. This will provide service to areas of furthest distance to a transit stop.
• New 7 day a week service in Pickering to meet the growth needs of Seaton and those requiring transit along Whites Road. 
• Approximately 7,000 additional hours to support service reliability for select routes most impacted by known construction projects.
• Approximately 5,000 additional service hours to improve reliability on select routes most impacted by increasing congestion.

While these proposed enhancements are a good start, there remains much more that DRT will need to do to restore a level of public confidence in Durham’s transit system through a more robust approach to community engagement. 

For those living in Pickering and impacted by recent changes in service levels, I will be hosting a DRT Town Hall, Thursday, March 21, at 7:00 pm in the Arena O’Brien Rooms A & B, in the back of the Chestnut Hill Developments Recreation Complex (located at 1867 Valley Farm Road).

THIS IS YOUR OPPORTUNITY TO HAVE A ONE-ON-ONE WITH DURHAM REGION TRANSIT MANAGEMENT STAFF!

As part of our commitment to open, transparent, and accessible municipal government, we continue to post online recaps of the decisions made at our Council Meetings to help residents better understand municipal affairs and directions set by Council. 

A breakdown of our Council Meeting Highlights are available on the City's website here.

The official meeting minutes are also publicly available through the City's website calendar and Corporate Records webpages.

The next public Council Meeting is being held on March 25, 2024 at 7:00 pm in the Council Chambers of Pickering City Hall.

Each month the City of Pickering Building Services division generates an activity report which includes statistics of new applications received within the month, permit fees received to date, estimated construction valuations, projected building permit revenues, and comparisons to the previous year.

You may view the Building Permit Activity Report for February 2024 here.

For more information, visit the Building Services web page here.

Each month the Planning & Development Committee hosts a public meeting to discuss planning matters in the City of Pickering. The following is a list of items that will be heard on Tuesday, April 2, 2024 at 7:00 pm at Pickering City Hall. This meeting will be livestreamed on the City's YouTube channel, should you wish to attend and are not able to do so in-person. Residents that wish to participate, register as a delegate, or have any additional questions about the meeting, are encouraged to contact the Clerk's Office at [email protected] or 905.420.4611.

Visit LetsTalkPickering.ca/Development to learn more about the planning process.

The Region of Durham Council continues to be a champion for our community, and leverages it's voice through memberships with the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO), and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM). It advocates for change on current Provincial legislation that negatively impacts our residents.

The Region plays a significant role in providing essential services and resources to all of their corresponding municipalities. Check out the February 28,

Durham Region CAO Briefing Note summary to learn more. 

Durham Region is preparing for the release of it's 2025 Strategic Plan. They are currently in the engagement phase of this project and want to hear from you. Your opinions and thoughts matter! They are hosting events all month long at various locations across Durham. Feel free to join the community engagement event on Friday, March 22 from 4:30 pm - 7:30 pm, in the front foyer of the City of Pickering Central Library Branch. Follow the link to view the webpage and see how you can participate. Residents are encouraged to complete the short survey and enter the contest to win 1 of 20

$100 gift cards.

The waterfront trail will be closed from Bruce Handscomb Memorial Park to Elvira Court to permit the reconstruction of that section of the trail. This temporary Trail closure is anticipated to Summer 2024.

For more information, visit the City's website Notice here and see attached.

Community Safety and Well-Being is a top priority of Pickering. The Ajax-Pickering Road Watch group is an integral and established part of safety within our city. In an effort to provide you with sound information about our community, I would like to share the following West Division Road Watch Report for February 2024.

I would also like to remind everyone that addressing safety on our roads is a shared responsibility, and we rely on your eyes on the street. If you see a vehicle driving in a manner that poses a risk to safety, please report it to: AJAX PICKERING ROAD WATCH

The Lobbyist Registry is up and running, and it is now mandatory for those that lobby Public Officer Holders. The team from the Clerks Department has played a lead role in not only preparing the Lobbyist Registry By-law, but also the tools that will assist Public Office Holders and Lobbyists to understand the definition of a Public Officer Holder.