Residents extract promise township will reconsider Midhurst plan

By Kate Harries AWARE News Network May 20 2013

A meeting last week has resulted in a political shift that may affect the future of 300 hectares of farmland in Springwater Township, presently due to be paved over.

Under intense pressure at a three-hour public meeting on May 14, township officials agreed to take another look at the controversial Midhurst Secondary Plan.

The undertaking came from Mayor Linda Collins and Chief Administrative Officer Robert Brindley.

Midhurst resident Sandy Buxton made sure that what had been promised was made crystal clear, asking Collins whether a correct summary of the mayor’s position would be, “’I like this plan, I have voted for it, I will vote for it and I’m not changing my mind.’ That’s essentially what I heard you say, Mayor.”

“I said that,” Collins agreed.

“Okay, so we have cards on the table,” Buxton said, adding: “I see a number of people here who don’t agree with you.”

That was an understatement, with 150 people packing the council chambers, and every speaker expressing opposition to or fear of the proposed massive expansion of Midhurst.

Buxton noted that while many in Springwater “don’t give a damn” about Midhurst, “they do care about the taxes that they pay, they do care about their environment, they do care about the setting that they have chosen to live in. So I am hoping that you have actually agreed – not ‘will consider it’ – that you have agreed that in a timely manner at council you will revisit the wisdom of the Midhurst Secondary Plan.”

Collins replied that that undertaking had already been given.

“I didn’t hear it in that clear language,” said Buxton.

Collins referred the question to Brindley, who stated unequivocally, “this matter will come back before council.” That will happen within two months, Brindley said, when pressed further.

Collins chaired the meeting and took the brunt of questioning. Other members of council remained silent throughout, except for two, Sandy McConkey and Jack Hanna, who both expressed support for the residents.

Hanna said he was not confident council would change its position. He urged residents to get in touch with councillors and ask them to reconsider – and, if councillors are not prepared to do that, they at least commit to not making any final decisions until after the next municipal election.

“Then it can become an election issue and people who are for or against it can have their say and I think that would be the best way for the democratic process to continue out,” Hanna said.

The expansion of Midhurst from 3,500 to 30,000 people has never been an election issue.

It wasn’t back in 2006, when Tony Guergis was elected mayor. The expectation then was that the Midhurst Secondary Plans would provide for an orderly expansion without any fundamental change to the character of the village.

At some stage during Springwater’s public consultation in the summer of 2008 (consultation that was criticized at last week’s meeting for being poorly timed and poorly publicized) the scope of the project changed to a massive 10,000 housing units on 758 hectares of Class 1 and 2 farmland.

That was approved by Springwater Council in November, 2008.

But the MSP did not receive Simcoe County approval, leaving it in limbo – so it was not an issue in the 2010 municipal election.

In October 2011, without notice to Midhurst residents, the matter was quietly approved without debate by Simcoe County’s corporate services committee, which has delegated authority to act for Simcoe County Council in such decisions.

The provincial government immediately appealed the MSP to the Ontario Municipal Board, but withdrew a portion of its appeal a year later, in November, 2012, clearing the way for development of 5,000 housing units on 300 hectares.

The first most Midhurst residents learned of what was to befall their village was at a meeting called by Springwater Township in November, 2011 after the deadline for appeal to the OMB had expired.