A Message from Midhurst Ratepayers Association

Midhurst Community Newsletter March 2012 

Probably everyone knows by now that over 1,000 Midhurst residents have already signed the petition to voice their opposition to the Midhurst Secondary Plan… Maybe if our elected officials had been more in tune with Midhurst’s opinions they might have been a little less ambitious about adding 28,600 new residents to Midhurst and making it into another Orillia or Stratford. 

So here we are in 2012, still faced with the daunting possibility of adding thousands more people to our village of 3,500. And when might construction begin? We can’t be sure, but the fact that several  200 year old maple trees have recently been cut down along Doran road, right in the development area, seems suspicious, even though the council have informed us that they were removed because they were unsafe. But, the first task would be to dig up the roads to build a new sewer system. (The Township has assured us that the residents won’t be required to pay for this, or for any future hook up to it).

The big question is, how did things get so crazy? We believe that some of the answers can be found in the following paragraphs.

Back in 1996, Springwater Township councillors completed a Growth Management study which laid out an area to be studied for the future growth of Midhurst. It also established population growth expectations for the whole of Springwater of 6,500 people over a 20 year planning horizon. Bear in mind that housing for nearly 4,000 new residents had already been approved and they were spread around the township. As a result, it is unlikely that housing for  more than 1,500 new residents would actually be placed in Midhurst. In 2004 another Springwater Growth Management study re-iterated these expectations. 

In the spring of 2008, Hemson Consulting carried out a study for the County of Simcoe which indicated that Springwater should plan for a population growth of 8,400 people over a 20 year planning horizon. (The report also warned Simcoe county residents that “new development does not fully pay for the initial capital cost associated with expanding infrastructure to meet the servicing needs of new development”).

And so, in 2008, the Springwater Township council ignored the expectation that they should limit their plans for new housing to numbers that would happen in a twenty year period. Instead they based their planning on a “long term planning horizon” (page 33, Springwater OPA-38) which would accommodate huge new growth. As well, they ignored the previous population expectations as generated by their own Growth Management studies and the population expectations of Simcoe County. 

Another significant change that the Council of 2008 made was to convert the Midhurst catchment area, identified as an area of study, to that of a settlement area. A settlement area is one which can be filled to the brim with people; whereas, an area of study sketches out areas of potential growth. The Growth Management study of 2004 makes this a little clearer: “An urban expansion area analysis must determine the most suitable location to accommodate growth within the large Midhurst settlement area.” Springwater Growth Management strategy, 2004,  page v.

We hope that these observations of the changes in the Council’s thinking about the planning process explains how they were able to generate a plan to add 28,638 people to Midhurst alone, not including the addition of hundreds more people in other parts of Springwater. 

Now here’s some more intriguing observations. The council of the day also ignored many of the requirements contained in the province’s award-winning Places to Grow – Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe, 2006, which was prepared and approved under the Places to Grow Act, 2005. For example, the Provincial planning principles indicated that when a municipality plans to add more residential growth that:

? the heaviest growth of populations should occur in the most densely populated areas of the county, e.g. seven areas in the county which the Province had selected for major population expansions. (None of these are in Springwater). 

? new development should be directed away from prime agricultural lands, indeed, Springwater Township’s own planning principles echoed this requirement. 

? new housing developments should be near employment so that there would be fewer cars on the road creating greenhouse gases. As well, this would encourage people to either walk or bike to work.

If you know anything about Midhurst, you know that it is a rural village and pretty far removed from being a major urban centre. As well, if you have seen any agricultural maps of the area you will know that the new developments are mainly on class 1 farmland in the eastern development and class 3 on the western development.  Furthermore, about 90% of non-farm workers leave Midhurst to work elsewhere and, of course, the Barrie area’s unemployment level is higher than the national average. As a result it is hard to see how a development of 28,600 new residents would find local employment and reduce greenhouse gases by driving only short distances to work. 

So is it any wonder that the Province is appealing the Midhurst Secondary Plan to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB), right? The Midhurst Ratepayers plan to join the Province at the OMB to present the petition with 1,000+ of your signatures to show support to the province and give a demonstration of the local feelings. We hope that the OMB will acknowledge the feelings of those most affected by the new development and rule against the Midhurst Secondary Plan. 

Please check our website for more information. www.friendsofmidhurst.ca  At the present time the OMB has not scheduled hearings on the Midhurst Secondary Plan. However, when we receive information about OMB activity it will be posted on the website. As well, our website has a place where you can leave your comments for us. We would appreciate comments on our article or about any aspect of the Midhurst Secondary plan.

David Strachan and Paul Fleming

Midhurst Ratepayers Association