Newmarket Mayor John Taylor welcomes your questions, to which he will personally write the responses in this candid monthly column. Send your questions to [email protected], with the subject line Up Front Question.
Q: Why did the town spend $24 millon of taxpayers' dollars to purchase the Mulock Farm when the money could have been spent elsewhere, improving parks and community centre trails etc.? It's a total waste of my money. — Irate Taxpayer (Franco Colucci)
A: Thanks for the question about our purchase of the Mulock Farm. I am convinced this investment on behalf of our residents is one of the most important decisions we have ever made. The town is continuing to grow and more people in the future will live in rental or condo buildings. On top of that, we know that Newmarket has very little available land left and we know that purchasing green space 10 or 20 or 50 years from now will be shockingly expensive. If we hesitated on this purchase, one of many developers would have stepped up and paid more, and they would have built high rises on this pristine green space, negatively impacting the impressive heritage home. In the next few years, we will build a park that everyone in Newmarket can use and everyone will be proud of and it will serve us well for hundreds of years to come. I believe that, over time, this land purchase will be seen as the best investment the town has ever made.
NOTE: For anyone who is interested in seeing this spectacular property and house, please join us for the Harvest Picnic this Sunday. Come to the Ray Twinney Centre from 1 to 4 p.m. (weather permitting) and we will shuttle you over to the Mulock property for a visit. There will be refreshments and games so bring the whole family.
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Q: How does the town decide which roads get paved? Hill Street needs to be paved! — Diane Warner
A: The town has a very detailed program for assessing the condition of every street in town and updating the assessment every two years. Using that information, we build a 10-year roads plan that includes refurbishment, replacement and repair. While our 10-year plan can vary a little bit, Hill Street is scheduled for new sanitary sewer installation and road reconstruction for 2022.
