On May 17th
of this year the township held an information meeting and provided documents as
an overview for the Midhurst Secondary Plan titled Midhurst 20/20. There was
also a public open house on the Midhurst Secondary Plan EA process on May 29th.
In
September the township published its response to the questions posed and held a
special council meeting on September 17th with a hired lawyer to
outline the township’s position. This is the third installment of articles on
this complex issue. I encourage you to read the document yourself and form your
own opinion. Certain questions and answers are truncated for space consideration.
Question 23 Where will wastewater be discharged
to?
Township Answer: Willow Creek by Golf Club
Road.
Question 24 What happens to pharmaceuticals
cleansers etc. that pass through the sewage plant and is discharged?
Township Answer: The WWTP will use state of the
art technologies and will be designed in accordance with Ministry of
Environment (MOE) regulations.
Questions 26 and 27 also speak to the issue and
the township provides reference to 2008 studies of EA 1 and 2.
My Opinion:
I am surprised that this is not the biggest issue with the township. This week
there are news stories outlining the concern of the health of the Nottawasaga River
watershed and in particular phosphorous runoff from development and farming. Developers
will point to farmers but the modern farmer is better at chemistry in their
crop growth than the scientists trying to justify unneeded growth in rural
areas such as Midhurst. The developer’s engineer at the open house on Oct 23
stated that at low flow the Midhurst development wastewater discharge would
increase flow by 30%. With the Nottawasaga watershed already stressed, how does
adding 10,000 homes to the situation improve things? There is already evidence
from the Steelheaders Group that many fish species are being negatively
affected because of urban sprawl and the Midhurst Mega development may just
push it over the edge in my opinion. Nancy Chong from Midhurst recently
included an excellent article on other species negatively impacted.
Question 25: Can the township provide the
specific study which changed the growth from 2004 Growth Study to that of the
2008 Midhurst Secondary Plan?
Township Answer: A report regarding density for
the new development was received by the Planning Committee on April 28, 2007
under resolution PC-2008-119. The density changed to 40 people/jobs per
hectare.
My Opinion:
This is one of the first errors of the Springwater council. Overnight they
changed from an anticipated growth of 6,500 to 28,000 without digesting the
impact they were putting in motion. The point missed is that in 2005 and 2006
the Province released its Provincial Policy Statement and its Places to Grow to
stop sprawl. The township ignored it and under the enthusiasm and thirst for
growth the council which included the current Collins and Clement unleashed
this hideous situation we are now faced with. Instead of growth being
controlled and farmland saved they just multiplied the number of homes they
could put on the land instead of reducing the area for the 6,500 specified in
the 2004 plan. The council of the day and then this council had a great number
of opportunities to rescind the MSP, reduce the settlement area boundaries and
take back control of planning in Springwater. We should not be surprised as
Collins has stated many times that we should leave development to the
developers as they know how best to use the land. She is right in one way, they
will stuff as many houses on a piece of dirt as possible.
Question 28: If high density housing means low
income families, will the township or school board be implementing after school
programs for children?
Township answer: Mentions that high density is
not just geared to low income families. Also mentions School Board is responsible
for programs and some are currently offered at Forest Hill Public School.
Question 29: Will transit be available to take
children to sports activities in Barrie in the evenings?
Township answer: A transit plan is part of the
EA 3 and 4 studies and transit will be considered once an adequate population
and demand are present.
My Opinion:
These answers confirm the naivety of the last two councils. They are acting
like we are adding a few more homes in the area. The current school cannot
handle the influx as planned and a whole new approach will be needed costing us
all more money. I agree that there will not be a lot of low income families as
there is no transportation or local services. My guess would be that once the
ball starts rolling and a few large homes are built and its too far down the
road to turn back that you will see the developer propose new plans with lower
density bigger houses and the township will simply comply or the developer will
take the case to the OMB and get their way anyway. This all contradicts the
concept of having affordable housing as part of the mix. The plans of today
that were seen last week will be quite different as this mega venture
progresses. As far as transit let’s face it a basic system of a couple of buses
in Midhurst would be in excess of a $1M
a year which will not be self-sufficient through a rider pay system increasing
taxes again. This whole mega development is so ill conceived it is almost
inconceivable. Even the developer will not commit to a timetable for transit
because it is not their problem. It will be our problem in the end to deal
with.
In the next
installment I will spend a lot of time dissecting questions 34 to 37 which is
quite complicated. Please read the document from the Sept 17th
meeting and you will better understand my comments in the next article.
It is still
not too late to slow down and modify this terrible plan for Midhurst. It will affect
all of us especially where it hurts, in our pocket books with increased taxes.
I am pleased that many more people are coming to Council and Planning meetings
in recent months as residents realize that regardless of where they live they
will pay the price of the bad decisions and direction of the Midhurst Secondary
Plan.
Talk to the
Mayor, Deputy and Mayor and Council and tell them to stop the greatest calamity
that Springwater has ever experienced. The Midhurst Plan as planned is a
disaster waiting to happen and you and I cannot afford it!
