Small organizations eyeing development decisions welcome political changes

By Cheryl Browne, Barrie Examiner

Small home-grown organizations that have sprung up in response to town councils’ development decisions are organizing their efforts to affect the winds of change in municipal politics.

“We’re not against development, we’re just for better planning,” said Carl Cosack of Peace Valley Farms, 45 minutes west of Barrie.

Cosack was one of a dozen residents in Dufferin County who joined forces to co-ordinate their efforts into a group called North Dufferin Agricultural and Community Taskforce (NDACT) when the Highland Companies were threatening to build a large aggregate quarry on an almost 1,000-hectare site near Orangeville.

With fierce community opposition – orchestrated in part by the NDACT folks – the mega quarry, as it came to be known, was quashed.

Not satisfied to quietly ride off into the sunset, the NDACT group encouraged their members to push their farmland-first agenda further into the political rings in both the provincial and municipal elections, asking 1,500 candidates to take their Food & Water First pledge.

“We got about 380 responses and about 260 candidates, or two-thirds of respondents, took the pledge,” Cosack said a week after the election.

In Melancthon Township, where the mega-quarry would have been built, citizens voted in Food & Water First candidate Darren White to be their mayor, and closer to home, both Bradford West Gwillimbury and Springwater townships also chose farmland aficionados over land developers.

Kate Harries, of AWARE Simcoe, another grassroots organization stretching its political wings in an attempt to curb urban sprawl, shares NDACT’s thirst for a voice in council chambers.

“I think people need to take an interest in what’s going on in their community,” Harries said. “About one-third of our tax dollars is spent locally and people don’t pay as much attention as they should.”

Harries and AWARE Simcoe welcomed the news that a new mayor and deputy mayor have been elected for Springwater Township.

Springwater’s mayor-elect Bill French grew up on a 100-acre farm in Phelpston and said he signed the Food & Water First pledge a few years ago. He said he values the idea of leaving Class 1 & 2 agricultural lands for farming rather than the Midhurst Secondary Plan allowing for 5,000 homes slated for the Phase 1 development off Russell Road, north of Midhurst.

“My intent is to call the minister (Municipal Affairs and Housing, Ted McMeekin) and Premier Kathleen Wynne and set up a meeting,” French said.

“I think it would be interesting to say let’s go back to the drawing board and focus on development that’s complimentary to the community and (development) that protects the farmland the province wants protected,” he said.

During the election, French brought up the Special Rule that was put into place by the province to allow an addendum to its Places to Grow plan to allow subdivision expansion in Springwater.

French points to a letter sent by Wynne to Mayor Linda Collins that states, “I would like to confirm that we do not plan to review the Midhurst Secondary Plan or the Special Rule in Transition Regulation”.

“She (Wynne) said she has no plans to review it, she doesn’t say she won’t,” French said. “We feels there’s a latitude there for her to change her mind if Springwater council has changed, and it has.”

To the south, dairy farmer Rob Keffer of Bradford West Gwillimbury took out his political opponent incumbent mayor Doug White.

Keffer, who has been deputy mayor for the last four years, said while there are several developments he doesn’t plan to halt, he wants to ensure Class 1 & 2 agricultural lands are protected, while allowing for growth along the Highway 400 corridor.

“We’re further progressed than Springwater’s developments are, so we’re going ahead with them. The Holland Marsh is protected – it’s actually part of the Green Belt – but we’re expecting a population of 50,000 by 2031 which is 6,000 more houses in the next 16 years,” Keffer said.

“I think people were having the feeling that consultants were making the decisions for them,” he said. “We have to hold public meetings, and they have to be held in such a way that people’s voices are heard.”