Midhurst landowners group replies to MRA appeal to premier

 Letter to the Barrie Examiner 

(Re: ‘Midhurst residents seeking responsible growth’ in the May 1 edition of the Examiner – see below)

This letter from Sandy Buxton of the Midhurst Residents Association (MRA) contains so many errors of fact it has hard to know where to begin in refuting its many inaccurate allegations.

But this is not surprising. The MRA is running a campaign based on distortion and outrageous allegations about the future growth of Midhurst, years after that growth was planned and approved.

The MRA has never let the facts get in the way of its false and self-interested ‘Not In My Backyard’ crusade.

The MRA is very, very late to the party on the future of growth in Springwater in general, and Midhurst in particular. Like all local citizens, members of the association have had, literally, years to make their viewpoint known, but they have been missing in action until recently.

Here are some inconvenient truths for the MRA.

Since 1983, Midhurst has been designated as a growth area by the municipality and approved by the province. That growth area was reaffirmed and expanded in 1998, through a public Official Plan process.

There was a particularly intense period of public review and comment between 2004 and 2008, when the municipality was preparing the secondary plan. During this time and since then, there have been numerous opportunities for the public to comment and have direct input including design workshops, sessions with Springwater Township council, planning committee and staff.

Where was the MRA?

The population of the Greater Golden Horseshoe is expected to grow by 4.4 million over the 2011-2041 period and some of that growth will be in Midhurst. The MRA may not like reality, but the reality is that the population of Simcoe County, Springwater and Midhurst is going to grow in the years ahead, despite the ‘Not In My Backyard’ sentiments of the MRA. None of this growth will happen quickly. It will happen gradually, over the long term.

Growth will occur in carefully planned and controlled phases, and only after all government approvals are in place and only after the completion and satisfactory conclusion of the environmental assessment process. All wetlands and significant environmental features in the Nottawasaga Valley watershed will be protected. The sufficiency of this protection will be an objective standard, subject to rigorous scientific tests, not baseless fear-mongering.

As required by law, plans for growth submitted by the Midhurst Landowners Group have met all environmental requirements to date and will continue to conform to all environmental standards, regulations and laws in the future.

The MRA fails to understand that growth and development in Ontario is by law a public process, governed and controlled by federal, provincial and municipal legislation. As they should, developers must meet many benchmarks, conform with all laws, including environmental and planning standards, and follow an inclusive and intensive process that is clearly outlined in legislation.

The planned and approved development in Midhurst will help Springwater become a more complete community, as called for by the provincial Growth Plan. The secondary plan provides a blueprint for well-designed neighbourhoods that will accommodate people at all stages of life, with a mix of housing options, a range of job opportunities with convenient access to stores and services to meet daily needs, where transit, walking and cycling are realistic options and where main streets and commercial areas are attractive and where there are community and recreational facilities.

The benefits to Springwater of the Midhurst Secondary Plan have been thoroughly analyzed by the township, county and provincial government. A 2009 study by the Altus Group, which is public, shows that the initial phases of development alone will bring millions of dollars of investment, jobs and significant tax revenues to the municipality.

The economic health of a community is integral to its social health and well-being. The property tax revenues generated by the development will be available to expand and enhance municipal infrastructure and recreational and cultural facilities and services, which are important to community building, both physically and socially.

Springwater Township, the County of Simcoe and the province made decisions over many years about growth in Midhurst – democratically, transparently and in accordance with approved legislation and planning policy. It did so only after extensive study and public and agency consultation was completed. It did so considering good planning principles and the public interest. All that planning is now coming to fruition.

The unelected, self-appointed and self-interested MRA may not like the decisions that have been made by democratically-elected councils over the decades, but these decisions were taken after careful and thoughtful consideration, with public input and expert advice upholding the public interest.

The Midhurst Landowners Group has demonstrated again and again that it is committed to working with the community, including the MRA. We have reached out to the executive of the MRA on at least six separate occasions with offers to share information, to discuss development plans, to share the science that underpins our proposals, to answer questions.

We have made our technical reports and experts available to the MRA. Each and every time they refuse to meet with us to engage in any meaningful dialogue.

Yet, as award-winning community builders, committed to the highest standards of community design, environmental protection and economic prosperity, we remain ready to work with the MRA.

Cheryl Shindruk

Midhurst Landowners Group

Midhurst residents seeking responsible growth

Letter to the Barrie Examiner Wednesday, April 30, 2014

An open letter to Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne

We are appealing to you today to do something about a very serious issue affecting hard-working, responsible, community-minded people all over Ontario.

We are constantly behind the eight ball when trying to do right by our communities. It is time for all levels of government to recognize that local residents have the right to shape their communities – how they grow, what they provide, etc. – because we are the ones that live in it, make it thrive and pay for it.

Despite this immense responsibility, we are unfortunately, and sometimes inadvertently, left out. The amount of money, time and expertise required to succeed at the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) is just too much for most people.

As a result, we are at an extreme disadvantage when we fight to be taken seriously and consulted properly in planning matters that affect our everyday lives. This unequal situation results in what David Donnelly calls “bake sale justice.”.

Concerned residents scrape together funds to make their voices heard, only to find they receive the justice they can afford, which isn’t much.

As you may know, the Midhurst Ratepayers’ Association has been working with various levels of government for the past three years to stop a massive mega-development in our village of 3,500.

The Midhurst Secondary Plan (OPA 38) will not only manufacture a city on 1,900 acres of prime farmland, but will also discharge its treated wastewater a mere kilometer upstream from an internationally significant, Ramsar-identified and provincially significant Class 1 wetland – the Minesing Wetlands.

This plan will create a small city of 30,000 in an area that has no industry or infrastructure, beyond a handful of stop signs and two traffic lights.

Your Liberal government allowed this plan to proceed, despite its failure to comply with 16 key components of your much-prized Growth Plan. It did this by creating a special rule just for Midhurst.

We stand against this plan, and are supported by many allies – including the Simcoe County Federation of Agriculture, Brereton Field Naturalists, Council of Canadians, STORM Coalition and AWARE Simcoe, as well as influential Canadians Maude Barlow, Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaajte, MPP Jim Wilson, MP Patrick Brown and GPO Leader Mike Schreiner.

Our cause is true and just.

Although our requests for meetings with you or your ministers have elicited no replies to date, we still hold out hope that your government will recognize the very dangerous precedent the Midhurst Secondary Plan (MSP) sets for the rest of central Ontario, and that you will work with us to find a better growth solution for our community.

The MSP developers have now taken our local township (Springwater) to the OMB to force the municipality to rezone all the disputed farmland (1,900 acres) for residential use.

This is being done before the environmental assessment has been completed or Springwater Township has had a chance to conduct a thorough financial impact analysis of this mega-development.

We want to support our local township’s right to follow due process at the OMB by being a party to the case. Sadly, the high cost of retaining a lawyer and planner in order to stand a chance against the well-paid, well-resourced developer lawyers, leaves us out in the cold.

We must settle for participant status: we can see and hear everything in open session, but can’t call experts, cross-examine witnesses or participate in closed-door meetings.

Basically, Midhurst residents are forced to watch from the sidelines as the future of their village, its farms and water and its way of life are decided by people who don’t even live there.

Is this how we define real community engagement – only available to those who can afford it? Is it reasonable to expect a village of 3,500 people to spend every waking minute fund-raising to accumulate the $20,000-plus we’ve been quoted to even start preparing our case for the OMB – the ‘cheaper’ option for ordinary citizens?

Even our own township is wondering how it will be able to afford to defend itself. How long will it be before our township caves in, in order to save money? This is how democracy is stifled. This is how a community’s voice is silenced.

The government has created a mechanism for property justice that is touted as accessible to everyone. But that very process is so technical, so time-consuming and so expensive that it excludes the little people it is supposed to serve, all while expecting them to pay for it through their taxes.

We can’t believe this is the intent of the OMB. We have faith that government truly serves the people and we want to send you the message that the people aren’t being served. We are not looking for a scapegoat.

We are looking for a partner, so that, together, we can find solutions that respect our community’s desire to grow responsibly while protecting our farms, water and wetlands.

These resources belong to Midhurst and all of Ontario – they must be preserved for future generations. Our children and grandchildren deserve no less.

Again, we formally request a meeting with you and relevant ministers to discuss how government can work with its citizens, rather than against them, in matters that affect how and where they live.

Sandy Buxton

President, Midhurst Ratepayers’ Association