Saturday, September 8, 2018

Creating year round tourism.

One of the things that is mentioned over and over in the many years of reports on Wasaga Tourism is the need for a roofed structure,
 for inclement weather. Someplace were we can also host a
 few functions.

 www.sprung.com


I have researched a lot of them. The one I personal favour is the multi function style, Sprung did for the Shakespeare by the Lake in Toronto. I see it being used for shows, music concerts,weddings,trade shows like spring RV or boat,winter
off road and snow mobile, our classic dinner & a movie, BMX competitions, horse shows, farmers markets and even covered ice skating in the winter off months.
 The other nice thing about them is they go up very fast. They can be moved to a new location, they are low cost and last for 50 years. After that they can be rehabbed to last another 50.  If we could get one of these up at the main beach or in the Main St area by spring, we will be able to attract a lot of new events and stretch our tourist season by 6 months. 
Action gets action, once investors see what we are doing they will be a lot more excited about doing business in Wasaga Beach.

I did have concern about openness and integrity, so before I promoted this idea I reached out to Sprung. Here is my email exchange with them. The last one gives you some numbers (dollars)  Total cost completed would be far less than what we just approved for hiring an architect to create plans for our proposed arena and hub.   




Collingwood/Wasaga

Inbox
x

Robert Bortlisz r.bortlisz@gmail.com

Thu, Jun 21, 7:07 PM
to karen.hughes
Hello Karen. I am the person that referred Robert Venton to you for a concert venue in Wasaga.
 I am running for council in Wasaga. FB Building a Better Wasaga. I have been advocating for 
a superstructure like yours on the beach as a multi function facility for a couple of years.
 I am concerned about the scandal in Collingwood, re commissions to the Mayors Brother.
 Can you shed any light on this? I want to rest assured as I continue to promote Sprung. Thank You
Robert 

Tom Lloyd tlloyd@sprung.com

Fri, Jun 22, 5:55 AM
to meKaren
Hi Robert,

Thank you very much for the referral, and best of luck with your campaign!
 The Sprung Performance Event Facility would be a great addition to Wasaga.
 Regarding the Collingwood purchase of the two Sprung Structures, please rest
 assured out team had no involvement in any wrongdoing and was long ago
 cleared of such by the OPP investigation team.
 As a 131 year old company we take matters such as anti-corruption 
very seriously. Please let me know if you require any further information.
 Kindest regards,
 Tom

Tom Lloyd | Regional Business Development Manager |  
SPRUNG STRUCTURES  12 Upjohn Road, Unit 4, Toronto Ontario M3B 2V9
1-800-528-9899 ext. 222 Toll Free | 1-905-829-1600 ext. 222 Office |  | www.sprung.com

letter head banner 2017 (2)


From: Robert Bortlisz  r.bortlisz@gmail.com
Date: June 21, 2018 at 7:07:11 PM EDT
To: <karenhughes@sprung.com
Subject: Collingwood/Wasaga

Robert Bortlisz r.bortlisz@gmail.com

AttachmentsJun 22, 2018, 9:32 AM
to TomKaren
Thank you for your response. If the issue comes up, can I share your response? 
Attachments area

Tom Lloyd tlloyd@sprung.com

Jun 22, 2018, 9:55 AM
to meKaren
Hi Robert,

Yes please do. Have a great weekend!

Kindest regards,

Tom

Tom Lloyd
Sprung Structures
Regional Business Development Manager -
12 Upjohn Road, Unit 4
Toronto, ON M3B 1Y2
W 905.829.1600

T 1.800.528.9899

Max Leone max.leone@sprung.com

Mon, Jul 23, 10:07 AM
to meTom
Good morning Robert,
 I hope all is well.
Thanks for reaching out to Sprung regarding your project- I just left you a phone
 message. I was hoping we could chat so that I could get a better understanding 
of your project? Would there be a good time to reach out to you.

Regards,

Max Leone | Business Development Manager
Good morning Robert,

I hope all is well.

Below you can find some order of magnitude pricing for the structures that we discussed.
  These are high level numbers and we factored in  three Double Personnel Doors. 
This quote includes a technical consultant and the structure will be delivered to site. 
These estimates are conservative and will be adjusted upon obtaining
 more information. If you have any questions please feel free to reach 
out to me. I’ve attached some marketing collateral for your review.

Sprung 50’ x 105’ (5,250 sqft) Flat Ended Structure– Event Facility: 

3 Double Personnel Doors (3’ W x7’ H)
50 year guarantee for the aluminum sub structure
15 year membrane guarantee
Independent Engineered Stamped Drawings
Sprung Technical Consultant
Delivered to site

Total: $163,000.00 plus tax

Erection is estimated at $15/sqft subject to site/ location review

Sprung 70’ x 70’ (4,900 ft) Round Ended Structure– Event Facility: 

3 Double Personnel Doors (3’ W x7’ H)
50 year guarantee for the aluminum sub structure
15 year membrane guarantee
Independent Engineered Stamped Drawings
Sprung Technical Consultant
Delivered to site

Total: $135,000.00 plus tax

Erection is estimated at $15/sqft subject to site/ location review


Thursday, September 6, 2018

2018 Voters' Guide for Ontario municipal council and school board elections

This guide provides information to voters for the 2018 municipal council and school board elections. The information also applies to any by-elections that may be held during the 2018-2022 council and school board term.
This guide is not meant to replace provincial legislation. It provides general information about the rules contained in the Municipal Elections Act, 1996 and other legislation and regulations, such as:

In this guide


General information

Every 4 years, voters across Ontario decide who will represent their interests and lead their communities by electing the members of their municipal councils and school boards.
The Province of Ontario sets out common rules that all voters and candidates must follow. However, municipalities are responsible for conducting elections to their council and for conducting the election of school trustees to Ontario’s school boards. This guide contains information about the rules that are the same for all municipal elections, such as who is eligible to vote.

Eligibility to vote

Municipal council election

You are eligible to vote in the election for municipal council if you meet all of the following requirements:
  • you are a Canadian citizen
  • you are aged 18 or older
  • you qualify to vote in the municipality
There are 3 ways that you can qualify to vote in a municipality:
  1. As a resident elector if you live in the municipality. You may own, rent, live in shared accommodation where you do not pay rent or live in the municipality but do not have a fixed address. Being a resident elector is the most common type of eligibility.
  2. As a non-resident elector if you own or rent property in a municipality, but it’s not the one where you live. You can only be a resident elector in 1 municipality. However, you can be a non-resident elector in any other municipality (or municipalities) where you own or rent property.
  3. As the spouse of a non-resident elector if your spouse owns or rents property in the municipality or municipalities other than the one where you live.
    Neither you nor your spouse qualify as a non-resident elector if you do not personally own or rent the property in the municipality. For example, if the property is owned by your business or your cottage is owned by a trust, you would not qualify as a non-resident elector.

Municipal clerk

Every municipality has a municipal clerk who is in charge of running the election. Contact your municipal clerk or municipal website if you have questions about the election, such as:
  • how or where to vote
  • how to apply for election jobs
  • whether or not you are eligible to vote in the municipality
If your municipality does not have a website you could visit or contact your town hall for more information.  https://www.wasagavotes.ca/

Accessibility

Municipal clerks must keep in mind the needs of all voters when they are planning and running the election. The clerk must also ensure that voting places are accessible.
The municipal clerk must prepare a plan for identifying, removing and preventing barriers that affect persons with disabilities. This plan must be available to the public before voting day.
The municipal clerk must also issue a public report on their accessibility plan within 90 days after voting day.
For Full information visit:

Wednesday, September 5, 2018

Neighbourhood Urbanization

There has been keen interest
in Sidewalks and Curbs

around the residential neigbourhoods in Wasaga Beach. This includes replacing ditches with buried storm sewers.

There are a lot of pros and cons on the subject. The biggest of course is "cost". That comes with the inevitable "who's gonna pay for it!
I inquired about a number of different projects around town. Long string of communiques, but I'll just show one quick one to highlight a few things....:
  Hi Mr. Bortlisz.

The short answer is no, the owners fronting the work zone will not be assessed / have to pay anything for the improvements.

As a longer answer, we only assess / issue a local improvement charge to the “benefitting owners” when there is a direct benefit to that lot, such as installation of new sanitary sewer and water services to their property line providing them with municipal servicing, and/or for example a brand new road being constructed to provide them access to a lot where access was not previously available.  In the case of River Road West, it is just a widening / urbanization project that benefits the entire Town, not just those fronting the work zone.

This project of approximately $6M was funded largely by Development Charges for “growth related projects” (about $4M) with the difference being funding by Provincial CWWF grant (about $2M) that we were successful in receiving.

Regards,

Mike Pincivero, P.Eng.

It does often become a little more complicated when it's just one small area that is requesting the improvements....if it is not of benefit to the whole town owners may get charged back for their portion.  Regardless of where the money comes from, it can get very expensive.

So there are a lot of Pros and Cons you need to consider very carefully.  Most of the pros are fairly obvious, neat, clean, add to your  property values, can be cleared of snow with big machines etc. 
But then there are a lot of cons many people never consider. The environment, use of concrete mean more mega quarries. Injuries, the harder the surface the more likely a fall causes breaks and concussions. Many areas are now looking at soft surface alternatives.

Cars become airborne if they hit a curb to fast.....
Ditches on the other hand stop cars.....and of course in the winter are a good place to push all our snow to....
In our winters concrete takes a beating, and can get very icy. Tree roots must be cut for installation, and as new trees grow they heave the slabs. And again are usually right were our winter pows push our snow.....
All of these thing can become very expensive to maintain and repair.........
I tried to find out from some of our neighbouring communities if they have ever done a "cost / benefit analysis" on this type of infrastructure. I was unsuccessful. I did not find anything on Google either, except this following article that makes you realize there are many other considerations. It's an interesting read.(not long)   https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/sidewalk-experiments-drive-new-ideas-about-urban-public-space/article1314518/?utm_source=Shared+Article+Sent+to+User&utm_medium=E-mail:+Newsletters+/+E-Blasts+/+etc.&utm_campaign=Shared+Web+Article+Links