THE CHALLENGES SCARBOROUGH FACES...

Our community has grown at an incredible rate over the past 10 years.  Complaints of increased traffic and commuting times, additional burdens being place on our aging infrastructure, public safety services and our schools.  These cannot be left unaddressed or they will continue to compound.

It's well known that we have some major decisions to make regarding our schools going forward.  Current overcrowding coupled with an increase in housing in Scarborough will further strain our school system.  How do we best tackle all the upcoming needs and associated costs???

There's little doubt that Scarborough's continuing growth and need for additional services has added to the financial burden of its residents.  Many residents among us fear they will be priced out of their homes.  Can we keep our taxes reasonable and satisfy the overwhelming demands of our rapidly growing community?

• Limit high density growth to the already established zones (think Eastern Village, Dunstan Crossing & The Downs)

• Close the loopholes in the Growth Management Ordinance The council took good first steps in eliminating fractional permitting, we now need to remove the growth exemptions so we can really control the pace of growth in Scarborough

• Focus on Open Space Preservation - increase our commitment to land preservation to retain and preserve the natural beauty of Scarborough.

• The Approach:  Be creative, be thoughtful, be reasonable - the solutions for our furture and current facility needs may entail a combination of a new building coupled with refurbishments of the old - but there's got to be a happy middle ground on this - maybe one of the facilities becomes a community center - we need to carefully vet all the options before taking action.

• We can be fiscally responsible while providing for the community.

• I'm open to ideas on how to help alleviate the burden for those on fixed incomes.  Whether it's a combination of increased homestead exemptions, long-term resident deductions or some other mechanism - I think we can find a solution.

• Curtail the use of TIFs and CEAs.  This falls in the "never say never" category, however, Scarborough is a highly desirable community to be a part of.  Let's not sell ourselves short - giving tax breaks to developers cannot continue to be the strategy for our community.  Development will continue without giving away portions of our tax proceeds - proceeds that can help alleviate the financial burdens on everyone in town - especially as we head toward some incredibly expensive infrastructure improvements.