Open house shows Newmarket set for busy year ahead

Newmarket’s new top bureaucratic boss Jag Sharma took the helm April 1 and that’s no joke, he says with a laugh.

The town’s chief administrative officer hit the ground running, and met with hundreds of staff in his first week, he said.

“My first week has been like drinking from a fire hose,” Sharma said during the town’s April 3 open house at the municipal offices. “Every day, I’ve been meeting on the order of hundreds of people and wanting to make sure we value our most valuable asset, our front-line staff. So, I’m making a conscious effort to get out there and meet as many of them as possible, and getting involved in the town as quickly as possible.”

Sharma, a father of four who lives with his family in Markham, served in a similar role at the City of Oshawa as city manager for three years, and as  community services commissioner for four years.

Now, he’s only about a 20-minute commute to the office, and his new role will allow him to be more involved in the York Region community.

Sharma said he was attracted to Newmarket because “it really screams that they’re a progressive community that’s truly invested in innovation”.

“When I look at the way that Newmarket has developed, the innovative approaches that they’ve designed from an open-space perspective, engagement opportunities, it’s clear how progressive they’ve been from a five-year perspective,” Sharma said. “Newmarket spoke to me very clearly in all the great things that’s been accomplished.”

As CAO, Sharma’s first order of business is to get a better understanding of where the town sits from a fiscal perspective.

“I will try to continue the momentum of all the great work that’s being done, and try to ensure we carry that momentum all the way through,” he said. “It’s that very delicate balance of getting involved with the team and not disrupting it, and then helping us move to the next level. I’m being very conscious about how I approach that.”

Perhaps what’s most promising about Newmarket’s future is its investment in the community-owned fibre optic network, Envi Network, Sharma said.

“I think the town’s investment, from a fibre perspective, is going to pay significant dividends in the very near future,” he added. “Some communities are continuing to talk about it, but Newmarket is doing it. And, as they do it, it’s going to create different streams of opportunity and I think we’re going to hear more about fibre and technology as Newmarket continues to progress.”

Sharma said Newmarket residents can expect a high level of customer service from his approach to the job.

“I’m all about customer service and saying our residents need the best service possible,” he said. “We need to make their lives easier and technology will help, but you need the infrastructure in place to make sure you can do it well.”

Residents had the opportunity to meet Sharma at the town’s April 3 open house, and many took advantage of that opportunity.

Parks, trails and recreation

The well-attended event featured staffed information booths on many of the town’s key priorities and projects, such as the future Mulock Estate park, Haskett Park, trail and urban-focused ‘breathing space’ development, as well as the chance for citizens to have their say on issues such as where cannabis use should be permitted and what they thought about the Ford government’s current review of regional government. You can take the cannabis survey here.

Councillor Bob Kwapis spoke excitedly about the Haskett Park development happening in his ward off Millard Avenue, that will eventually see the Haskett Park trail extended up to Davis Drive, a parking lot for visitors, and a unique parkette known as a ‘breathing space’, where residents can enjoy time outside in green space.

“We’ve already started by converting the culvert on Queen Street into a pedestrian island, with a specific focus on safety for cyclists, families and kids,” Kwapis said. “We’re doing the same thing on Millard, and you will see some construction this year as the culvert becomes a pedestrian island.”

Kwapis said the parkette known as the breathing space was designed with apartment and condo dwellers in mind to give them a break from the concrete that surrounds them, particularly with the 500-unit housing development that’s planned for nearby 175 Deerfield Ave.

Yonge Street rapidway to be completed end of 2019

Vivanext was also on hand at the open house to provide an update on the Yonge Street rapidway project in Newmarket.

The good news is that the rapidway is expected to open at the end of 2019, a spokesperson said. Residents should also start to see station platforms go up beginning in May starting at Mulock Drive, signalling a coming end to the construction that has slowed Yonge commuters for the past several years. Trees will be planted on the west side of Yonge later this year, giving residents one more visual that the rapidway is nearing completion.

Guests at the open house appeared interested to learn more about the York Durham sewage system forcemain twinning project, and the construction it will bring to town, scheduled to begin later this year at the Newmarket pumping station.

That project involves the installation of two new pressurized sewer forcemains and modifications to the Newmarket and Bogart Creek sewage pumping stations that will help increase system reliability during high-flow conditions and extreme wet weather events, as well as provide sewage spill protection for current and future residents.

Construction will occur at 10 key locations throughout Newmarket, generally running south along Bayview Parkway, Prospect Street, and Bayview Avenue, to near the Aurora border.

Two open houses are upcoming for residents to learn more: Wednesday, May 15 and Tuesday, May 21 from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Newmarket Community Centre, Hall 2.

For more information, call 1-800-667-4817 or email [email protected].