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Just thinking

Newmarket has been thinking about licensing Boarding or Lodging Houses for years but has never quite got round to doing anything about it. (Graphic right: Minutes of Committee of the Whole meeting on 3 May 2011). 

Many of our near neighbours such as Barrie have been licensing boarding houses for ages. 

Barrie licences Boarding, Lodging and Rooming Houses (BLR) to make sure they are safe:

“Building Code requirements respecting fire and life safety for BLR houses are much more stringent than the requirements for single detached dwellings. Upgrading a single detached dwelling to a BLR house requires significant construction and has significant costs associated with that construction.” 

Statistics Canada defines lodging and rooming houses this way:

“This category includes commercial establishments (which may originally have been a private dwelling) that have furnished rooms for rent. Residents receive no type of care. They generally have access to common facilities such as the kitchen and/or bathroom. Generally, the clientele are transitioning between housing tenures or locations, and have no other place of residence.”

I have no idea how many boarding houses there are in Newmarket but the 2021 census tells us 2,470 people in Newmarket were living only with non-relatives – which excludes Common Law relationships. So maybe that gives us a clue. I don't know.

In any event, it is as plain as a pikestaff there are boarding houses out there, totally unregulated by the municipality. 

Zoning for People 

Newmarket’s Mayor, John Taylor, says the municipality doesn’t zone for people – they zone for uses. Quite right too.

That said, a boarding house is a use classification in its own right which should be licensed and regulated. 

Paradoxically, the Town does license “Additional Residential Units” using the same health and safety arguments that come into play with boarding houses. These ARU's are often converted basements with kitchen, living space and bathroom and, crucially, a separate entrance.

“But if you rent a room in a house or a flat with a shared entrance, kitchen and/ or bathroom facilities, the ARU By-law does not apply to you.”

So it is quite possible for five, six, seven or more unrelated people to live in a boarding house using a shared front door and other facilities and stay under the radar, invisible to the municipality.

Regulated boarding houses – almost by definition – don’t cause problems. But the unregulated ones can cause major headaches in neighbourhoods. Garbage is just one but there are loads of others. I could write a book about it.

The Town also regulates short-term rentals but only if the owner doesn't live on the premises.

If the owner has more than one property the Town must determine which is his or her "primary residence".

Rents going through the roof

Later this year the Town will be completing its Official Plan Review and I cannot believe it will say nothing about Boarding Houses. 

As everyone knows, rental housing in Newmarket is scarce and expensive with people taking what's on offer at a rent they can afford. Rents are way out of reach for increasing numbers of people.

The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board tells us that in Newmarket in the fourth quarter of 2024 there were, in total, three 1 bedroom apartments rented out at an average rent of $2,267 and three 2 bedroom apartments at an average rent of $2,733. In addition, 29 townhouses were rented out at an average rent of $2,217 (1 bed); $2,655 (2 beds) and $3,045 (3 beds). These are eye-watering sums of money for many Newmarket people.

Out of sight. Out of mind

For its part, York Region has a boarding house by-law but, astonishingly, does not license boarding or lodging houses other than those it helps finance.

The Town's Mayor, John Taylor, who has been living and breathing housing policy for decades, knows the extent of the problem. In fact, he has just been elected to Chair York Region's Housing and Homelessness Committee.

So maybe he can tell us why boarding houses here in Town are not licensed.

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Clip from a discussion on housing matters as part of the Official Plan Review on 18 September 2023. Boarding houses are fleetingly mentioned.

Update on 20 May 2025: I use "boarding houses" here as a catch-all term. Definitions vary. Boarding houses may offer meals. Lodging houses don't. 

Details

In 2021 the Glernway West developer, Marianneville, made a charitable donation of 16 acres of land to the Town of Newmarket. In return, the Town gave the developer a tax receipt (or tax certificate) which could be used to offset tax otherwise owing to the Canada Revenue Agency.

The valuation by Bottero & Associates made the "extraordinary assumption" that the two stormwater ponds on the donated land could be filled in and the land used for a town house development. I cannot believe this assumption was ever presented to the Town's engineers or planners for their comments. They would have immediately raised objections.

The Town of Newmarket's Comprehensive Stormwater Management Master Plan (2017) gives figures for the original design protection levels for the two storm water ponds on the donated land together with the catchment area and pond storage capacities. The ponds are being reconfigured and I do not immediately know the capacity of the new ponds and how they will compare with the old ones. But the plain fact is they are staying and not being filled in. They have a continuing practical function, going beyond the aesthetic of having a nice water feature on your doorstep.

"Definitely required"

Last night (6 May 2025) the Town consulted residents on its early thinking on how the donated land could be enhanced and turned into an attractive open space, designed to benefit the neighbourhood and the local environment. Residents who tuned into the Zoom presentation were told the storm water ponds were "definitely required" to prevent flooding downstream.

The cost of this project will, I suppose, fall on Town residents and on the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority. We wait for further details. Years ago, as part of the original deal, the wily developer, Marianneville, offered to pay for the trails provided signs were posted at intervals along the paths reminding the public of the developer's generosity.

Clearly, we need to revisit the Bottero valuation. If its central premise - filling in the storm water ponds and using the land for a town house development - is invalid then we should say so.

It was inaccurate in 2021 and it is proved to be inaccurate today.

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Update on 7 May 2025: The YouTube clip was shot on 25 April 2025 and sets out the position on that date as I understood it to be. The information from the Zoom meeting on 6 May 2025 has moved things on.

Update on 9 May 2025: This morning I received this from the Town’s engineers concerning the storm water ponds:

"The two ponds provide stormwater storage and some quality treatment for the neighbouring subdivision. Filling in these ponds would increase damage and the risk of floods downstream during storms and snow melts events by removing upstream stormwater storage capacity.”

 

Details

The former Glenway golf course lands in Newmarket were purchased by the developer Marianneville in 2010 for less than $10M. Since then, the old fairways are being progressively replaced by housing.  It was the deal of the century which generated a huge profit for the developer who (successfully) gambled on being able to change the land use designation from open space to housing. The Town passed over the chance to buy in 2008 when the then Chief Executive, Bob Shelton, advised councillors that the Town was not in the business of running a golf course. (It should be in the business of preserving and protecting open space.)

Phoney valuation

A phoney valuation allowed the developer to claim a “tax receipt” from the Town of Newmarket, allowing it to offset the donation against tax otherwise owing to the Canada Revenue Agency. The developer would get a proportion of the purported value of the donated land, assessed at $14.2M. This is how charitable donations work in the tax system. Charitable donations of land which are claimed against tax, as described, require a valuation.

Marianneville said it would only donate the land to the Town if it got a tax receipt in return. The gift was conditional. The Town was happy to oblige:

“In consideration of the conveyance of the Lands and Stormwater Management Lands to the Town, (i.e. the donated lands) The Town agrees to provide a tax receipt to the Owner, as permitted under guidelines by the Canada Revenue Agency, reflecting the fair market value (FMV) of the (donated lands) and to place a recognition plaque within the (donated lands) acknowledging the donation of these lands to the Town.”

“The FMV will be determined by an appraisal of the Lands jointly commissioned by the Town and the Owner…”

Extraordinary assumptions 

In arriving at their April 2021 valuation, Bottero & Associates, make a series of “extraordinary assumptions” based on an analysis which

“relies upon written and verbal information obtained from primary and hearsay sources. Client supplied information was assumed to be correct and was verified where possible.”

It was all smoke and mirrors. 

Bottero assumed that if the donated land was 

“not to be required for park related purposes it would… support medium density residential development similar to that for the remainder of the Parent Property” (ie the Town House block at Bathurst and Sykes).

One third of the donated land on the western side next to Bathurst would be preserved as open space. There really wasn’t an alternative as this land in the Oak Ridges Moraine is a significant water recharge area.

Stormwater ponds to be filled in

They also assumed the two stormwater ponds in the remaining two thirds could be filled in and developed:

“These are being considered, consistent with the industry norm, on the basis of being otherwise developable.”

This "extraordinary assumption" is a complete fantasy. I have not seen a single document from the Town suggesting the donated land could be used for any other purpose than parkland and open space. But even if the Town were, at some point in the future, to change its use from open space to housing – as predicated by Bottero - then where would the water run-off go if the ponds were filled in? The valuers say they consulted the Town’s Planning Department. Was that question ever put to them or to the Town’s engineers? If not why not?

Ponds to be upgraded 

Next week the Town will be consulting Glenway West residents on plans to “upgrade and retrofit the ponds at 320 Alex Doner Drive”. (Pond 13 also known as 3 shown right).

The work is being done by the Town and the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority presumably in recognition that the ponds are still needed. Public money is being spent to enhance the ponds, not get rid of them. I am authoritatively told that at no stage has the Town ever considered filling them in. Successive reports from engineers and hydrologists never said the ponds were surplus to requirements.

The valuers say town houses could be built on the filled in ponds. But this would clash with the Town’s compatibility policies where new developments are supposed to fit in with adjacent housing forms. Concerns about compatibility were voiced by the Mayor and ward councillor, Christina Bisanz, when the Glenway West development was formally approved by the Town on 2 May 2022. 

Open Space purposes

As early as May 2017 the Town was celebrating the promised gift of 16 acres of land

“for park/open space purposes as well as land supporting the existing stormwater management facilities”.

Councillors welcomed the gift of open space. 

On 3 February 2020 - over a year before Bottero did their report - the Statutory Public Meeting on the Glenway West development was held.

Less suitable for houses

When the details were finalised in December 2021, Newmarket Today reported the views of Marianneville's Vice-President Joanne Barnett:

The donated lands are around the former 16th hole of the golf course. Barnett said that portion of the property was less suitable for development for houses, but worked for a trail system. 

“They supported two stormwater ponds and segued nicely into the woodlot there,” Barnett said. “It was a nice fit.”

Marianneville and the Town jointly commissioned Bottero & Associates to do the valuation but it was the developer’s recommendation and the Town went along with it.

The resulting valuation was completed on 14 April 2021 and the Town issued the tax receipt for $14.2M on 14 December 2021. The Town’s then Treasurer said the tax receipt didn’t cost the Town anything. Just the cost of a sheet of paper. The Town marked the official handover in a news release on 16 December 2021.

Later that month Newmarket Today reported that the Glenway West development was nearing the planning finish line after the land donation.

Deaf Ears

Over the years I’ve raised concerns about the extraordinary assumptions made by Bottero & Associates but these have largely fallen on deaf ears. So far as I know the valuers never asked the Town's planners and engineers if their extraordinary assumptions about filling in the stormwater ponds and building townhouses on the land were even remotely realistic. 

I gave detailed reasons for believing the whole valuation process was flawed in a letter to the Canada Revenue Agency but, other than an acknowledgement, it has disappeared into a big black hole in Ottawa.

I asked the Town’s (then) newly appointed Chief Executive, Ian McDougall, if he would commission a new valuation but he said he would only do so if directed by the CRA.

So there the matter stands.

The developer offloads undevelopable land to the municipality and is allowed to set its charitable donation against tax otherwise owed to the Canada Revenue Agency.

The Town gets much needed open space for free.

And we, the public, bear the cost of upgrading the stormwater ponds that, fancifully, could be filled-in and the land developed for housing if the Town decided in a moment of madness it no longer needed the park and open space..

What is to be done?

If I were a member of Newmarket Council I'd be pressing the Town get in touch with the Appraisal Institute of Canada asking them to look again at their “industry norms” which allow valuers to make “extraordinary assumptions” on matters such as storm water ponds without checking with the municipality first to see if their assumptions are credible and supportable.

So far as the CRA is concerned, I guess Marianneville has now cashed in its tax receipt and, for them, it’s all water under the bridge.

That's the way the system works.

Money for old rope.

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My letter to CRA is here.

Work continues elsewhere in Glenway West:

Details

We are very fortunate to live in Canada. 

Our elections are free and fair. We all accept the results.

Candidates can sleep in their beds at night safe in the knowledge they are not going to disappear in the early hours. As happens in some countries.

If they lose, they pick themselves up, dust themselves down and live to fight another day.

Regular Maintenance

That said, our system is not perfect and it requires regular maintenance if it is to stay in tip-top condition, just like the car in the garage.

Churchill is often quoted as saying:

“Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.”

This is an an elliptical version of his statement in the House of Commons in 1947:

“It has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.…”

Either way, the meaning is clear.

Kept in the dark

Voters will never have perfect information when they cast their ballot. But sometimes they are kept completely in the dark or, worst still, deliberately misinformed.

When people in Newmarket-Aurora voted in the Federal Election on 28 April 2025, only a tiny handful (maybe not even that) knew that the Liberal candidate was carrying a mountain of debt arising from a failed business venture. If the voters had known about this would it have shifted a few votes? Probably.

In the 2016 referendum on Brexit, many voters were swayed by Boris Johnson’s bogus claim that

“We send the EU £350m a week: let’s fund our NHS instead”

Britain narrowly voted to leave the European Union committing the greatest self-inflicted economic harm to the country in a generation.

Many UK voters who voted to leave now have buyer’s remorse.

Deformed democracy

So, elections – and referendums – have consequences. We need look no further than the deformed democracy that is reshaping Trump’s America.

Not long after I posted my blog (on election day) about the Liberal candidate here in Newmarket-Aurora I got this email from one of my readers:

“Too bad you needed to release this today.”

To which I replied:

“Too bad she didn’t tell us before when she could have woven it into her story."

But, to reassure you, my post won’t make a blind bit of difference. Tiny readership.”

We are lucky to have Newmarket Today with its splendid young journalist Joseph Quigley reporting on the issues that matter.

And, thankfully, we have the CBC, authoritatively sifting the wheat from the chaff, allowing voters to make an informed decision. Imagine the furore if the CBC withheld information from the public because it had unearthed an inconvenient truth.

Unavailable

Sometimes the information voters need is simply unavailable.

Scandalously, all three Party Platforms were published after the start in voting in the advance polls.

And election debates involving local candidates are going the way of the Dodo.

When I ran for election as the Town’s Deputy Mayor in 2022 (and was comprehensively defeated) my opponent resolutely refused to debate with me. 

And now he says of Monday’s result:

“The people have spoken, and in a democracy, the people are never wrong. Congratulations to Sandra Cobena on her decisive win in Newmarket-Aurora.”

Next year, if he has the nerve to run again for Deputy Mayor I hope he will tell people he has historically been bankrolled by developers. He is their friend. 

Shallow pool

The people can be wrong if they are not given the information they need to make an informed choice. I don’t blame the voters. I blame the system.

Not enough people are engaged in our politics. They have other things to do with their time. So the candidate pool for the Federal and Provincial Parliaments is incredibly shallow.

On the Liberal side in Newmarket-Aurora, Jennifer McLachlan was acclaimed. Before her Tony Van Bynen was acclaimed. Before him Kyle Peterson was acclaimed. And this for a job with a base salary of $210,000.

On the Conservative side, Dawn Gallagher Murphy was appointed as candidate by the Party leader. Before her, Christine Elliott was shoehorned in to replace a candidate found cheating.

Soft underbelly

The report on Foreign Interference by the Honourable Marie-Josée Hogue, shows us that nominations – totally unregulated by Elections Canada – are the soft underbelly of Canadian democracy. The new Parliament has got to tighten things up.

Politics is a rough old trade and it is not for the faint-hearted. 

But it should be clean. 

Is that asking too much?

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Details

 Voter turnout in Newmarket-Aurora was 70.66% compared with 60.58% (2021); 67.3% (2019); 68.25% (2015) and 64.01% (2011). It was above the national turnout figure of 68.63%. Previous results are here.

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