Tillsonburg pool receives dollars from Trillium Foundation

SWA swim team granted new starting blocks

By Mark Schadenberg

TILLSONBURG – Good news for Oxford County athletics.

When I was sports editor of The Woodstock Sentinel-Review throughout most of the 1990’s there were two names synonymous with the Southside Aquatics Centre pool (pictured) – Piranhas of Woodstock (POW) and its coach Joni Marten-Sanders.

POW was an impact – winning Aqua-Seven league titles year after year, and many of those banners are still hanging inside the pool. Woodstock was developing high-calibre swimmers too, including Brad Vanderkam and Brad Sales.

Vanderkam would win gold medals representing a London club at the 2001 Canada Summer Games, would set an OUA record in the 100m butterfly while at Western, win CIS gold in 2004, and later compete at the NCAA level at UNLV (Las Vegas).

Sales is a member of the Woodstock Sports Wall of Fame for his accomplishments in the World Paralympics, winning gold in Australia in 2000. Sales, who was born without a left leg below his knee, also competed in Athens, Greece at the Paralympics in 2004, and has owned many Canadian records at the ability level of S9.

Somewhere between 1995 and 2013, the shift away from competitive swimming occurred in Woodstock somehow. Today, the top local swimmers train out of both Woodstock and Tillsonburg on a team called South Western Aquatics (SWA).

The Tillsonburg swim team (its pool) recently received $35,000 from an Ontario Trillium Foundation funding grant. The SWA would have had to apply for the dollars along with the Tillsonburg Kinsmen pool folks, but their solid proposal was a request for both new starting blocks and an accessible lift.

SWA president Liam McCreery is extremely pleased with the pool’s improvements, saying in a Tillsonburg News newspaper story: "This is the best facility in Oxford County, this investment upgrades it so we can have proper training and competitive meets."

"This is an excellent investment in swimming," he added, "but also our kids."

With Woodstock planning to possibly build a new pool to replace the outdoor Lions Pool at the proposed Woodall Farm multi-use recreation complex, maybe, just maybe, part of that concentration should be on an indoor pool with six lanes long enough for Woodstock to again host competitive meets. The facility would most certainly need large enough staging and viewing areas, and ample dressing rooms, plus quick access to concession stands, to attract significant regional meets.

As for Marten-Sanders, she is most certainly still coaching, but at the Wilmot complex near New Hamburg and a squad aptly named the Wilmot Aquatic Aces.

LINKS:

http://www.tillsonburgnews.com/2013/11/03/investment-in-youth-seniors

http://www.1047.ca/news/local-news/swim-boost/

http://www.newhamburgindependent.ca/sports/local-swimmers-ready-for-lake-ontario-crossing-this-weekend/

Mark Schadenberg, Sales Representative

Royal LePage Triland Realty

(519) 537-1553, cell or text

Email: mschadenberg@rogers.com

Twitter: markroyallepage

New subdivision and its sparkling new park

Playground equipment installed at David Lowes Memorial Park 

By Mark Schadenberg

Teamwork, progress, continuity and community.

It’s been almost 12 months in which I went to Woodstock city council as chair of the recreation advisory committee (WRAC) to formally suggest the new municipal park on Lakeview Drive (west off of Hwy 59) be named after the late David Lowes.

Now, thanks to a city budget line of over $100,000 for phase one work for 2013, which the city coffers refers to formally as Project 473 (See: budget link), the park is quickly appearing. 
With the temporary safety fencing still standing tall, I’m not sure the children of this Sally Creek family subdivision will enjoy the swings and slides (and the various climbing apparatus) before the snow falls. However, this is tremendous progress for a city which is somewhat growing faster than some divisions can keep up, such as the parks department.

How many play structures does a city need, and what should the suggested walking distance to an active park for children be? Just pondering ?

There were many reasons why the WRAC wanted to attach the name of David Lowes to this new park. He was one of the developers of the entire subdivision (along with Bill VanHaeren, Cliff Zaluski and others), was a long-time contributor and volunteer with the hospital board and its building committee, donated time and funds to many local charities including the Canadian Cancer Society’s Relay For Life (his widow Sherry was recognized at a recent Relay), and was a very distinguished and noteworthy local businessperson as owner of Kinsdale Carriers. Lowes was a member of Rotary and a past president of that service club. He was also a long-time cog in the wheel known as The United Way of Oxford. Sadly, Lowes died in 2009, which means he didn’t see the completion of the Woodstock hospital.    

The teamwork of the building of the park can now also be visioned in a significant contribution by a local Rotary Club to top off the budget.

As a parent of a 7- and 4-year-old, I’ve seen a lot of playgrounds around Woodstock, and I would say the David Lowes park might be the best play structure outside of Southside Park.

Congratulations to Brian Connors and Chris Kern from parks and recreation.

You should stop by and see the new park as it is more proof that Woodstock is growing.

LINK:

http://www.city.woodstock.on.ca/images/stories/pdfs/budgets/2013/2013_2017_capital_budget_final.pdf

Mark Schadenberg, Sales Representative

Royal LePage Triland Realty

757 Dundas St, Woodstock

(519) 537-1553, cell or text

Email: mschadenberg@rogers.com

Twitter: markroyallepage

Nova Scotia or Lakeview: Your choice for condominium lifestyle

Open Houses set for next two Saturdays on ranch local condos

By Mark Schadenberg

I know of two MLS-listed condominiums you should consider, if you’re looking to downsize this autumn and at the same time enjoy the condominium lifestyle.

The opportunity to purchase a bungalow/ranch condo with a 2-car garage is usually the minimum requirement for an empty-nester. I’ve never understood why so many townhouse condo complexes locally -- geared to the over-60 demographic -- were built with just a 1-car garage, but that’s a story for another day.

I know of two condominiums currently MLS listed by Royal LePage Triland, which also offer immediate possession.

OPEN HOUSE: Nov 2, 2-4. Host: Mark Schadenberg

450 Lakeview #16.

Woodstock

Asking Price: $267,900

MLS: 71463

Listed By: Joe Matika

With main-floor laundry inside the spacious 5pc ensuite, this condo built by Rembrandt on the north side of Pittock Lake also offers hardwood flooring, two gas fireplaces, and 5 appliances. The décor is bright – no dark colours – and the kitchen cabinetry is a honey oak look.

One unique feature is there is a covered back porch on main floor and under it (in basement) is a cold storage room. There is also an attractive lower recroom with a corner fireplace – great for inviting the neighbours over for bridge.

Condo fee is $240 per month, but once you factor in the amount of green space there, it truly adds to the overall value.

                     

                      ()()()()()()()()()()()()()

OPEN HOUSE: Saturday, Nov 9, 2-4

507 Nova Scotia Court

Woodstock

MLS: 72416

Asking: $244,500

Listed By: Mark Schadenberg

A condominium is a choice for lifestyle and location.

A one-floor plan townhouse condominium (with a basement too) featuring a 2-car garage certainly provides for anyone seeking convenience and lifestyle, but the location of your relocation is also paramount.

This end unit with 3 (2+1) bedrooms in Cabot Lane (Off Finkle Street just south of Parkinson) also completes the neighbourhood aspect as its found near Southside Park (pool, lawn bowling, seniors centre, etc), the community complex arenas, hospital (brand new in November of 2011), Cedar Creek golf course, plus box mall shopping and restaurants. The city development office refers to it as the 'regional commercial node', but with Wal-Mart, Canadian Tire, Staples and a couple dozen more stores there is lots of reasons to shop on Norwich Avenue.

From the entrance, what is apparent quickly is the modern move-in decor including hardwood floors.

As it’s an end unit, there is a window in the dining room, which may seem like a small point but otherwise the only window in the living-dining room would be at the front.

You will also enjoy the eat-in kitchen with its peninsula countertop and spacious dinette. Garden doors out to a private back deck.

The spacious master bedroom with an ensuite and walk-in closet is also a selling point as is the main-floor laundry.

The expansive lower family room with a corner gas fireplace is great for holidays and family visits, as it the third bedroom. The unit also has ample storage for holiday visits as you need a place to store the photo albums when your granddaughter visits with her boyfriend.

Cabot Lane was built by Z-Group, which is based in London and has built several condo projects there.

Mark Schadenberg, Sales Representative

Royal LePage Triland Realty

757 Dundas St, Woodstock

(519) 537-1553, cell or text

www.markroyallepage.blogspot.com

Email: mschadenberg@rogers.com

Twitter: markroyallepage

Discussion . . . Direction . . . Determination . . . Destination

Woodstock hopes to accumulate land from Norwich Township

I think Woodstock needs Pattullo farm for commercial/industrial, plus two more land parcels from the township of Norwich

By Mark Schadenberg

In the future sometime . . . I likely do plan on putting my name forward in some capacity to vie for a chair at Woodstock city council.

With that in mind, and fully realizing material posted to the internet can reside here ‘for a long long time’, I do want to publicly state that (in my opinion) the time has arrived for Woodstock to assimilate more lands from Norwich Township.

The process is underway, but if you read the media’s interpretations of how Norwich is replying, the township, which could lose over 100 acres in taxation revenues, wants to receive compensation ‘for a long long time’.

Successful Commercial Park Needs To Expand

The City of Woodstock recently put a conditional offer on a large piece of property abutting the Pattullo Ridge commercial park on the south side of the 401 (Harvan, Nova Steel, Execulink, Pow Labs, Kerry, Hino, Brant Form Teck, Canada Mold Technology, Contrans, Rentquip, North American Stamping Group, Lely Canada, Armtec, Trigon, and Rogers Communications are all located in Pattullo currently).

The lands in question are in Norwich Township, so the Woodstock powers-that-be have opened up negotiations for a boundary adjustment, which would logically require some compensation.

In a previous blog here I noted that the City of Brantford is offering Brant County 10 years of taxation compensation on a sliding scale – eventually evaporating to zero in a proposed boundary change.

A story in The Woodstock Sentinel-Review back in August states that Norwich has been offered $75,000 for its possible tax losses.

The problem with Norwich (and you can't blame them I guess) is that the township still sees the dollar signs offered Blandford-Blenheim during the assembly of land back in 2005 to attract Toyota to The Friendly City.

The S-R story states that the City’s offer to purchase is conditional until Jan 2, 2014 upon this land’s accumulation to within Woodstock borders.

While little has been resolved in Brantford versus Brant yet, the 10-year suggestion would seem ample to me as costs for attracting new business and servicing the property would all be accumulated and accounted by the City’s taxpayers.

More Boundary Change Suggestions

With the Pattullo large land chunk eventually added to Woodstock, I also believe the time has arrived for Woodstock to assume the rights (jurisdiction) over two more land parcels from Norwich. The first, I will describe as the old OPP detachment on Highway 2 at the east end of Woodstock and all dirt southward to the 401, which is not Woodstock already (triangle shaped). I'm convinced with its location near to the 401 and Toyota that this land would have already been redeveloped if it was part of Woodstock and thereby promoted by our economic development office.
Also, since Woodstock now continues into Eastwood, but only on the north side of Highway 2 to Blandford Road, I firmly believe the terra firma on the south side of Highway 2 (also Eastwood) should also be reeled into Woodstock, but only up-to-and-including the CN train tracks and east to County Rd 55 (Old Highway 53).

With the Eastwood boundary change, I think it’s necessary simply for common sense as the north side of Highway 2 is already Woodstock.

The expansion of Woodstock for future industrial / commercial property should be done now as the City does have a large inventory of land owned currently, but only about 200 acres. You never know when the next multi-national corporation arrives seeking 100 acres of shovel-ready land to build and create more employment.

WOODSTOCK SENTINEL-REVIEW and NORWICH GAZETTE links:

http://www.woodstocksentinelreview.com/2013/08/16/woodstock-optimistic-about-land-deal-for-phase-two-of-patullo-ridge-business-park

http://www.woodstocksentinelreview.com/2013/07/09/norwich-township-balks-at-woodstock-land-sale

http://www.norwichgazette.com/2013/08/19/township-puts-citys-land-acquisition-aside

Another link:

www.cometothecrossroads.com

Mark Schadenberg, Sales Representative

Royal LePage Triland Realty

757 Dundas St, Woodstock

(519) 537-1553, cell or text

Email: mschadenberg@rogers.com

Twitter: markroyallepage

Discussion . . . Direction . . . Determination . . . Destination

Brantford wants to expand its boundaries

A community near Woodstock wants  to (in essence) grow closer to Woodstock

By Mark Schadenberg

The Rankin Family has a terrific song called Borders And Time (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBDugTbHNww). As we know, over time borders and boundaries move, and certainly time never stands still.

Brantford currently has boundary issues.

When reporter Hugo Rodrigues pulled up stakes at The Woodstock Sentinel-Review it was not a great day for Oxford media circles, but the shift is working well for Sun Media as Hugo is now penning for the Sun’s Brantford Expositor.

Local politics can always be an intricate and spiderweb-like bailiwick for a reporter as two parties often have their own agenda and lager heads prevail. What? A controversial impasse would be the actual result.

This is occurring currently down the 403 from Woodstock as a boundary battle has Brant versus Brantford with a provincial mediator (facilitator) owning the gavel, named Paula Dill.

In Oxford, Woodstock owns three seats at county council, while the other seven are swivelled by mayors of Tillsonburg, Ingersoll and the five townships. The warden (Don McKay is mayor of East-Zorra Tavistock) is the chairperson.

The tale is much different in the Brantford area as Brant County, which includes Paris and Burford, has one mayor (Ron Eddy) and Brantford has its own mayor (Chris Friel). Two different elected governments. If Friel wants to attend the county meetings, he is an observer and vice versa for Eddy in Brantford.

Those with ribbons of red (tape) are also in two different factions as Brant County has a CAO (Paul Emerson) and so does Brantford (Ted Salisbury).

The problem? Brantford is busting at the seams and for the city to add a notch in its belt to in fact grow its britches, it will require a boundary adjustment.

The trembling volcano called Brantford wants to expand both south and west as its lava gobbles toward Burford and Paris.    

Rodrigues, and fellow scribe Michael-Allen Marion of the Expositor, are privileged to be the authors of this chess match where landowners – farmers mostly I’m guessing – are the pawns. Up for grabs is almost 5,000 acres. If it eventually becomes part of Brantford – a master plan adjustment would quickly flip many land uses to either residential or commercial (factories for employment), except those portions protected as ponds and bogs.

Brantford has two different preferred areas to expand – southwest toward Paris and the Governor’s Road, and west toward Burford (but not that far) up to the Rest Acres Road (see the map).

None of this would happen overnight, as a link below written by Marion indicates there is a 21-year timetable. However, at the same time, Brantford – it would appear – desires at least some expansion now as the city wants to grow beyond its current borders and 90,000 (plus) population.

“A full agreement could be prepared within the next month or so,” Brantford city solicitor Christopher Cooper said in one Expositor piece. “We will try and advance it as quickly as possible… so an agreement can be signed and presented to council.”

Some of the land transfers could begin as early as 2014 if Brantford wins the tug-of-war. It would appear from perusing the press that Brantford already has a suggested plan to share taxes with Brant County for a 10-year period, with the number (amount divided up to the county folks) eventually dwindling to zero.

The framework for any formal re-drawing of the borders must be done by referring to the Ontario Municipal Act.

Naturally, there are many other factors in the Brant area in general, including consulting Six Nations.

At the end of the analysis it is an intricate set of negotiations involving many parties with many important topics of debate to include the current landowners and land usuage, scheduled public meetings (with many easels, topographical maps and charts), money changing hands (taxes), timetable, the environment (Grand River conservation folks), and then if all sides agree, obtaining the thumbs-up from the provincial government.

Note: According to the Expositor, the map here was based on discussions in late 2012. This blog is by no means an attempt to accumulate information from various Expositor stories, it simply is a quick glimpse at the lengthy process facing the Brantford area over the next few years as it attempts to expand from its current size. This is an outside observation only.

 

THE LINKS:

http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/2013/10/28/boundary-talks-county-councillors-mull-letter-of-intent

http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/2013/10/26/boundary-change-deal-worries-brant-farmers

http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/2013/10/25/letter-of-intent-on-brantford-brant-boundary-adjustment

http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/2013/10/11/progress-reported-on-phased-approach-to-boundary-changes

http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/2013/10/15/spotlight-on-economic-development-communications

http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/2013/10/14/unshackle-us-eddy-urges-province

www.brantford.ca

www.brant.ca

Mark Schadenberg, Sales Representative

Royal LePage Triland Realty

757 Dundas St, Woodstock

(519) 537-1553, cell or text

www.markroyallepage.blogspot.com

Email: mschadenberg@rogers.com

Twitter: markroyallepage

Discussion . . . Direction . . . Determination . . . Destination

Kitchener to host Canada's top curling teams, Nov 5 - 10

Triple knockout format for final qualifier for Canadian Olympic trials

Six-day bonspiel to feature 24 of the country's best curling teams

By Mark Schadenberg

Steve Yzerman is busy right now. He works for the Lightning, but he’s storming around North America attempting to determine who should be on Team Canada for men’s hockey at the Sochi Russia Winter Olympics.

Yzerman was handed the reins from Hockey Canada.

All sports and their respective sanctioning bodies are currently ranking and rating all their athletes to determine who is bound for the Olympics.

In figure skating, Patrick Chan would be an obvious choice, and so would Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir. Previous results at The Games and world championships will determine how many Canucks can compete in the four different divisions.

Some sports are in the midst of qualifications and playdowns to determine who is best to represent the maple leaf in Russia.

Look at curling, for example, and their intricate invitation system as teams earn their way to the final Olympic Trials bonspiel slated for Winnipeg, December 1-8.

Over the past 2+ years 12 quartets have earned their way to Winnipeg, so starting in about one week, the final field for the Trials – road to Sochi – will be rounded out with two more men’s rinks and two more women’s teams.

Road To The Roar

Those last-chance qualifiers will be determined at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium Complex, Nov 5 – 10. The six-day event is called the Road To The Roar and daily action starts at 9 a.m. and continues with three draws until about 10:30 p.m.

I’ve always been a curling student-of-the-game – watch a lot, have done some play-by-play (in the past for Rogers TV), and follow the stats and teams.

The Kitchener event will be a triple knockout format, which means a team’s trail to try to compete at the Olympic Trials, ends after three losses. It’s certainly a more than fair format as each team is permitted a bad game, a horrible end, a lousy break, or simply getting beat by a team that is better than them at that moment (in one draw). A loss is not elimination from contention, but three losses certainly is.

So far – as mentioned – just six teams have a firm invitation to the Olympic Trials. On the men’s side the rinks are Glenn Howard, Kevin Martin, Jeff Stoughton, Mike McEwen, Kevin Koe and Jon Epping. Two of the half dozen are from Ontario – Howard and Epping.

Men’s Field

The 12 teams in Kitchener looking to grab the last two positions include skip Mark Kean of Innerkip and his foursome of Travis Fanset, Patrick Janssen and Tim March (pictured)

The other 11 teams draw into a field which appears much stronger than any provincial-level tankard bonspiel, including Brad Gushue from the last Olympics, plus Brad Jacobs, Jean-Michel Menard, Rob Fowler, Greg Balsdon, Bryan Cochrane, Rob Rumfeldt, Joe Frans, Jake Higgs, Steve Laycock and Jim Cotter.

Women’s Field

In the women’s playdowns, the teams already secured for Winnipeg are Jennifer Jones, Heather Nedohin, Stefanie Lawton, Sherry Middaugh, Rachel Homan and Chelsea Carey.

Anyone following the curling stones closely will know these names ‘rings’ the bell for the Kitchener event: Amber Holland, Cheryl Bernard, Shannon Kleibrink, Kelly Scott, Cathy Auld, Tracy Horgan, Krista McCarville, Crystal Webster, Barb Spencer, Val Sweeting, Laura Crocker and Renee Sonnenberg.

Keep in mind, from either group of 10, just two teams will advance to Winnipeg and the final (actual) championship tournament to determine who will have plane tickets to Russia.

A lot is at stake in Kitchener and that’s why all sports fans should plan on attending a few draws. I always say curling at the rink is better than on TV because it’s like a four-ring circus – four games happening at once (until the playoffs, of course).

By looking at the qualification standards, the Canadian Curling Association appears to be rewarding teams from results over the past three winters and that’s a good idea.

For more details see:

www.curling.ca/2013roadtotheroar

www.olympic.ca

www.theaud.ca

www.tsn.ca

(519) 578-1570

One of the reasons I often write about sports is that I was sports editor at The Woodstock Sentinel-Review for seven years (1992-98). You can't take the pen away from a writer.

Today, I have 14 years full-time experience in real estate sales in Woodstock and Oxford County.

Mark Schadenberg, Sales Representative

Royal LePage Triland Realty

757 Dundas St, Woodstock

(519) 537-1553, cell or text

www.markroyallepage.blogspot.com

Email: mschadenberg@rogers.com

Twitter: markroyallepage

Discussion . . . Direction . . . Determination . . . Destination

Research results released rating Canada's communities

I pick Woodstock, but CFIB would disagree

By Mark Schadenberg

The top three (in order) are Calgary, Saskatoon and the GTA.

What is the next question? Top three in which Canadian category?

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (www.cfib.ca) ranks Canada’s cities for entrepreneurial spirit, attracting new business, maintaining or retaining current companies, and an area's overall business atmosphere.

I would like to know how, with all the new corporations arriving here in Woodstock – especially since 2005 – the CFIB places our community at 102 out of 107 on the poll?

Woodstock is a former Communities In Bloom champion

The list is released in the online story entitled Communities In Boom (Nice play on words) to assist in publicizing what is known as Canada’s Small Business Week.

The CFIB is Canada’s largest association of small and medium-sized businesses with 109,000 members across every sector and region. (Those are their words, by the way, from the press release.)

A chart or list of scores is tabulated from 14 different criteria as defined by the CFIB.

The top two is unchanged from the 2012 number crunching, while the Toronto area leaps from No 5, and Edmonton falls to No. 4 from 3. The entire chart is posted in the pdf link below.

The full list includes 107 centres.

Others On List

Where do southern Ontario places sit? 46 Brantford, 53 K-W & Cambridge, 62 Chatham-Kent, 72 Hamilton, 73 Windsor, 82 London, 91 Norfolk (Simcoe area), 93 Stratford, 102 Woodstock, and 103 Sarnia.

Scores are tabulated through three main categories: presence (score 0 to 25) perspective (up to 35) and policy (up to 40). The top score of 67.6 is in Calgary’s favour, whereas Woodstock’s total is just 45.5.

Permits To Build

The overall barometer considers many areas of good, bad or indifferent economic concerns for employment or companies overall satisfaction. The list includes: company retention, new start-ups, building permits, cost of local government, property tax rates, the large catch-all term of life satisfaction for residents, and certainly also self employment statistics.

By quickly glancing over the charts, I would say Woodstock’s poor showing in ‘cost of local government’ is the main reason our city was so low on the list. However, since our community carries such a low overall debt (We pay for our infrastructure and operating budgets, and not put it on credit), I would say Woodstock is a strong community. 

The CFIB, however, doesn’t agree.

I would pick Woodstock to reside in. It is my hometown. If you want to hear 102 reasons to live in Woodstock, contact me.

THE LINK:

http://www.cfib-fcei.ca/english/article/5543-communities-in-boom-canada-s-top-entrepreneurial-cities-2013.html

http://www.cfib-fcei.ca/cfib-documents/rr3307.pdf

Mark Schadenberg, Sales Representative

Royal LePage Triland Realty

757 Dundas St, Woodstock

www.wesellwoodstock.com

(519) 537-1553, cell or text

www.markroyallepage.blogspot.com

Email: mschadenberg@rogers.com

Twitter: markroyallepage

Discussion . . . Direction . . . Determination . . . Destination