On June 25th of last week there were some special
meetings held by the Planning Committee of Springwater Township. As many people
know the committee is comprised of the elected officials.
The first meeting at 5:30 was a closed session to discuss
the issues and conditions for the zoning of the first 5,000 homes of phase 1 of
the Midhurst Secondary Plan.
The second session was an open house scheduled for 6:30
where the revised subdivision plans for the Midhurst Mega Development were
presented. There were some minor revisions that had been requested by the
township in April and the plans were revised accordingly. There was a minor reduction
in the number of homes of about 5%.
A Special Planning Committee Meeting was scheduled for 7:00
p.m. but it was delayed by about 35 minutes as it took longer in the closed
session than expected. I guess some councillors were not clicking their heels
in tune with the mayor’s wishes. This public meeting, which has put a further
spike in the coffin of Springwater’s enviable rural lifestyle, lasted about 20
minutes. There was no question period as is the normal case at Planning
Meetings and we all know why. Four members of this council want this project to
proceed and have ignored all pleas and reasoning by many in our community. The
motion to accept the report was unanimous. Put in a nutshell the report says
that the developers have satisfied the concerns of the Township and that they
will support the OMB approving the zoning of the lands as applied for. Few
people seemed to realize that this was more than receiving a report. It was a
final stamp of approval by this council for the Mega Development to proceed.
That in my estimation is a dark day for Springwater residents and will be one
of the dates we refer back to in years to come where this council approved the
destruction of the rural nature of Springwater.
Now for some reality checks. At the present time we have 5
ward councillors that, if evenly spread, represent about 3000 voters each. If
Midhurst proceeds, as this council has approved, that will mean there will be
about 4 more councillors representing the new population in Midhurst at the
completion of the first phase. It could mean another 4 if phase 2 proceeds.
Even if we keep the same number of councillors that would mean most councillors
will be representing the Midhurst population. How successful will be the pleas
be for improvements in the likes of Hillsdale, Elmvale, Minesing, Phelpston and
Anten Mills. If you think you are being ignored now, just wait until this Midhurst
development proceeds.
One of the last hopes for delaying or revisiting the entire
negative environmental impacts of the Midhurst Mega Development I think got
scuttled by the Board at a meeting on Friday at the Nottawasaga Valley Conservation
Authority. There was another long closed session meeting with some 26 items. A
number of councillors, prior to approving the agenda to go into “closed session”,
objected and said only 2 to 4 items would meet the requirements of the
Municipal Act. But again the Board of the NVCA are the elected officials from
the municipalities and many support these large plans. The NVCA had pleaded at
the OMB prehearing for the Midhurst zoning that the hearings were premature and
should be delayed. The outcome I expect after Friday’s NVCA will be a withdrawal
of the objection and “voila”, the OMB will approve the zoning request.
Our elected officials are pawns in the big business of land
development and speculators. As we have seen at the various OMB hearings on
development issues the landowners and developers spend millions to get approval
of “their” interpretation of the laws and policies. It is pretty easy when the
local County and municipalities within it lack the experience or wherewithal to
challenge these issues.
If you look around the County of Simcoe we see sprawl being
permitted, which is contrary to the policies that govern it. And that is simply
sad. What is sadder is that few of the elected officials have the courage to
take a stand. It is like the school yard bully. Until someone stands up to him,
everyone is in fear. But when one person says “enough is enough” the problem
quickly resolves itself. We succeeded by challenging the bully responsible for the
Site 41 mega-dump, so now we must do the same for Midhurst, Everett and Baxter.
We all need to decide what we want in our local
municipalities and elect people that will stand up for the majority rather than
the well-financed few.
It’s you choice!
705-718-7031