Oakville veteran realtor, Ben Palmer joined the municipal race for the position of councillor for Ward 3 on July 31, 2014. Ward 3 is bounded by the QEW to the North, Winston Churchill to the East, 16 Mile Creek to the West, and Lake Ontario to the South. Ben lives with his wife and young daughter just south of Lakeshore Road East and a little east of Downtown Oakville. This Hamilton boy choose Oakville to raise his family in 2002.
Mr. Palmer, an East-Hamilton Ontario native, is first generation Canadian. He received his Bachelor of Science & Arts from McMaster University. He moved to Oakville in 2002;. He quick to say that Oakville is an excellent place, but he is concerned that we need to find solutions to Downtown vacancies, as well as finding constructive solutions for owner's of heritage properties.
"The current status quo for Heritage Building owners is not working," says Palmer. "Owners don't want their properties designated as heritage. We need to find an approach that provides solid solutions for those owners. If not, we will see demolition by neglect."
One solution for heritage property owners, he suggests is to provide a substantial heritage grant to those owners to cover the additional restrictions created by the Heritage designation. He is open to various ideas to solve this problem, but feels we need to start the discussion.
Regarding downtown revitalization, Palmer feels that the current changes expected to happen need to be well thought out, and consider some of the amazing European solutions. As a boy growing up in the East End of Hamilton he watched his neighbourhood go from a thriving community to one that died. He doesn't want that to happen to Oakville.
"Oakville is a great place to live, I just want to make it even better."
Contact Ben Palmer
Position: Regional Councillor
Location: Ward 3
T: (905) 844-5000