My View - Part 6 Final Part- Springwater Township’s Response to Questions regarding the Mega Developments of the Midhurst Secondary Plan

On May 17^th of this year the township held an information meeting and provided documents as an overview for the Midhurst Secondary Plan titled Midhurst 20/20. There was also a public open house on the Midhurst Secondary Plan EA process on May 29^th.

In September the township published its response to the questions posed and held a special council meeting on September 17^th with a hired lawyer to outline the township’s position. This is the sixth installment of articles on this complex issue. I encourage you to read the document yourself (found on the township website under Governance/Public Consultation/Midhurst Secondary Plan) and form your own opinion. Certain questions and answers are truncated for space consideration.

This is the last in a six part series that dissected the answers provided.

Question 57: Is the Township Council going to cancel the MSP since the current residents of Midhurst are opposed to it?

Township Answer: The matter will be discussed by the Township Solicitor at the Special Meeting of Council to be held on September 17^th.

My Opinion: Since Collins, McLean, Webster, Clement and regrettably my councilor McConkey think this development is good for the township, they in fact passed a motion at the meeting to “not revisit, discuss or revise” the MSP. Only Hanna and Ritchie to their credit opposed the motion. Everyone was caught off guard and expected them to only receive the report as the Council typically does. I believe the constant visits by the landowners and developers to the mayors office preceding this meeting pushed them to table and approve the ill conceived resolution.

Question 64: Is Midhurst being developed to encourage annexation to the City of Barrie

Township Answer: No.

My Opinion: I agree. The reason Barrie will never be interested in Midhurst will be the legacy costs of the infrastructure. Barrie is already in a huge infrastructure replacement deficit and the expensive infrastructure required to service Midhurst will be much more expensive as the pipes run approximately 5 kilometres in either direction for water and sewer. Unfortunately since council says the Midhurst current residents do not have to connect, half the distance will have no connections making it very inefficient. Barrie’s growth direction from the province and their own official plans puts most of the development to the south into the approved annexed lands in Innisfil. They also built their state of the art “surface water” facility in the south end. Ironically if the MSP goes, within a few years the residents would want to be part of Barrie as the Springwater tax assessment increase, caused by the MSP infrastructure, will make Barrie’s taxes look like a bargain.

Question 65: Will there be a cost to the current taxpayers if Council rescinds the Midhurst Secondary Plan?

Township Answer: It is likely that legal action would be taken against the township if the secondary plan was cancelled.

My Opinion: I don’t agree. It is clear in the municipal act and the planning act that the Council has a right to approve or reject plans. There are also sections that specifically make the council and township immune to lawsuits if they conduct business in a rightful manner. This council has caved to the intimidation and threats of a few and has put all of us up for ransom because they lack the fundamental guts to make good decisions. Again only Hanna and Ritchie have illustrated through their votes that the MSP in its present form is flawed. The rest of council followed the enchanting tunes of the pied pipers; the landowners and the developers.

Question 66: How can future Township Councils be bound to the current Council’s contention that the Township will not force current residents to connect to the new water and sewer systems?

Township Answer: The current Council cannot bind a future Council.

My Opinion: I agree. Once all the costs are in, the township will quickly realize they need revenue from the existing 1400 homes in Midhurst and you will pay to hook up. Calculations range anywhere from $50,000 to $75,000 a lot to hook up. The township will of course give you a low rate loan that you can pay off over 20 years on your tax assessment bill. That’s a mere $3,000 to $4,000 a year added to your tax bill. These are just some of the legacy costs of this ill-conceived MSP.

Question 67: Did the Province mandate that the village of Midhurst Grow?

Township Answer: No. The 1998 Official Plan established development rights within the Midhurst Settlement Area.

My Opinion: The “No” answer is correct. The second part is not factual. In 1998 there was a “study area” established to research and find where best it would be to add the projected 3,500 people to the village, not 25,000 people. Don’t take my word for it, review the signed affidavits of Harold Parker, Paul Fleming and Ian Bender that were all in the loop at the time. The last two councils have danced to the tune of some well connected landowners and their representatives. The mega growth in Midhurst is not mandated, not included in any study up to 2008 and is an example of council not doing their job to protect the best interests of its constituents.

This is my final submission on this matter and you should be concerned and do your own homework as you will pay the price of the creation of the City of Midhurst. I will repeat, it is still not too late to slow down and modify this terrible plan for Midhurst. In January I encourage as many people as possible to file nomination papers and run for an elected office and bring about the change we need. It was refreshing to see 12 people attend the recent election information session hosted by the Township Clerk. It is obvious that more people than I are not happy with the direction of this council.

Talk to the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Council and tell them to stop the greatest calamity that Springwater has ever experienced. The Midhurst Plan as planned is a disaster waiting to happen and you and I cannot afford it!

My View - Part 5- Springwater Township’s Response to Questions regarding the Mega Developments of the Midhurst Secondary Plan

On May 17^th of this year the township held an information meeting and provided documents as an overview for the Midhurst Secondary Plan titled Midhurst 20/20. There was also a public open house on the Midhurst Secondary Plan EA process on May 29^th.

In September the township published its response to the questions posed and held a special council meeting on September 17^th with a hired lawyer to outline the township’s position. This is the fifth installment of articles on this complex issue. I encourage you to read the document yourself (found on the township website under Governance/Public Consultation/Midhurst Secondary Plan) and form your own opinion. Certain questions and answers are truncated for space consideration.

Question 38: Will the new municipal wells impact existing private wells?

Township Answer: No. Extensive testing in accordance with Provincial regulations was completed. The testing did not identify any areas where existing wells will be impacted. They then refer to the Phase 1 and 2 EA.

My Opinion: In theory there may not be an impact as I understand there is high rate of flow in this particular aquifer. However any shallow wells that exist today may be impacted in a drought period because of the significant amount of water that will be withdrawn from the lower aquifer. Typically one aquifer is not significantly impacted by another but until the operation commences we are dealing with modelling scenarios which may or may not be accurate.

Question 39: What will the increase in flow attributable to the MSP be in Willow Creek?

Township Answer: The township provided some flow rates. In the EA 1 and 2 the average flow rate of 270L/s is noted. A further 3 years analysis estimates it at 400L/s. They state the flow from the wastewater treatment plant at buildout will be 140L/s. They also include a peak flow rate of 7,000L/s

My Opinion: All the data is interesting. Unfortunately no one seems to note that the Minesing Wetlands are being negatively effected in the last 25 years because of additional flows and build-up. The Steelheaders conservation group has great data as does Nancy Chong that was provided to the township. None of this has been considered nor has it been mentioned that both the NVCA and MOE have expressed concerns about dumping this much effluent into that small stream of Willow Creek. By the township’s own numbers the average flow based on the 270 L/s would be a 60% increase in per second flow and even using the higher numbers of 400 L/s it means a 30% increase. What happens if we find that we are already at 120% of the Willows capacity for flow? None of these questions have been addressed and the potential for ecological disaster cannot be overstated.

Question 52: What efforts will be made to mitigate the impact on local agricultural operations as mandated in the Provincial Policy Statement?

Township Answer: The PPS does not apply to Midhurst as it is not an expansion of the existing settlement boundary.

My Opinion: We are not all stupid or idiots, is the short answer, if you think we will swallow that answer. Think about it. (Sorry to reuse these two sentences from the last article.) First of all the PPS applies to all development from 2005 onwards. The MSP was not approved by council until 2008 and after 3 letters of expressing non-compliance the County approved the plan in 2011. The council has totally ignored the serious impact that the MSP will have on the Ag industry and has specifically ignored concerns expressed by the OFA and local farmers such as Rob Wright.

Question 55: Shouldn’t the MSP development plan be delayed until a major employer such as a Honda settles in the community?

Township Answer: The MSP has been approved by the Township, County and Province. Therefore it is permitted to proceed.

My Opinion: Not exactly an answer from the township. Part of the answer is also wrong as only the first 300 hectares have been approved to proceed in the MSP. Barrie for example require developers, in certain areas of development, to illustrate that there are actual jobs not just land for future jobs before development will be approved. Of course we should include in all our development plans that jobs come first before building shoe boxes for people to hibernate. Currently 90% of our non-farm workers leave everyday for work. I understand that no significant job creation has occurred even though we have allocated many dollars to the effort in the last two years. Attaching actual job creation to approving residential development is not unique unless you are in a township like Springwater where most of the council thinks the developers know what’s best for all of us.

I will repeat, it is still not too late to slow down and modify this terrible plan for Midhurst. It will affect all of us especially where it hurts, in our pocket books with increased taxes. I am pleased that many more people are coming to Council and Planning meetings in recent months as residents realize that regardless of where they live they will pay the price of the bad decisions and direction of the Midhurst Secondary Plan. In January I encourage as many people as possible to file nomination papers and run for an elected office and bring about the change we need. I will write one more article on the Township’s response to the concerns of the Springwater Residents about the MSP and ask you to become informed by reading the information on the Springwater website.

Talk to the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Council and tell them to stop the greatest calamity that Springwater has ever experienced. The Midhurst Plan as planned is a disaster waiting to happen and you and I cannot afford it!

My View - Part 3- Springwater Township’s Response to Questions regarding the Mega Developments of the Midhurst Secondary Plan

On May 17^th of this year the township held an information meeting and provided documents as an overview for the Midhurst Secondary Plan titled Midhurst 20/20. There was also a public open house on the Midhurst Secondary Plan EA process on May 29^th.

In September the township published its response to the questions posed and held a special council meeting on September 17^th with a hired lawyer to outline the township’s position. This is the third installment of articles on this complex issue. I encourage you to read the document yourself and form your own opinion. Certain questions and answers are truncated for space consideration.

Question 23 Where will wastewater be discharged to?

Township Answer: Willow Creek by Golf Club Road.

Question 24 What happens to pharmaceuticals cleansers etc. that pass through the sewage plant and is discharged?

Township Answer: The WWTP will use state of the art technologies and will be designed in accordance with Ministry of Environment (MOE) regulations.

Questions 26 and 27 also speak to the issue and the township provides reference to 2008 studies of EA 1 and 2.

My Opinion: I am surprised that this is not the biggest issue with the township. This week there are news stories outlining the concern of the health of the Nottawasaga River watershed and in particular phosphorous runoff from development and farming. Developers will point to farmers but the modern farmer is better at chemistry in their crop growth than the scientists trying to justify unneeded growth in rural areas such as Midhurst. The developer’s engineer at the open house on Oct 23 stated that at low flow the Midhurst development wastewater discharge would increase flow by 30%. With the Nottawasaga watershed already stressed, how does adding 10,000 homes to the situation improve things? There is already evidence from the Steelheaders Group that many fish species are being negatively affected because of urban sprawl and the Midhurst Mega development may just push it over the edge in my opinion. Nancy Chong from Midhurst recently included an excellent article on other species negatively impacted.

Question 25: Can the township provide the specific study which changed the growth from 2004 Growth Study to that of the 2008 Midhurst Secondary Plan?

Township Answer: A report regarding density for the new development was received by the Planning Committee on April 28, 2007 under resolution PC-2008-119. The density changed to 40 people/jobs per hectare.

My Opinion: This is one of the first errors of the Springwater council. Overnight they changed from an anticipated growth of 6,500 to 28,000 without digesting the impact they were putting in motion. The point missed is that in 2005 and 2006 the Province released its Provincial Policy Statement and its Places to Grow to stop sprawl. The township ignored it and under the enthusiasm and thirst for growth the council which included the current Collins and Clement unleashed this hideous situation we are now faced with. Instead of growth being controlled and farmland saved they just multiplied the number of homes they could put on the land instead of reducing the area for the 6,500 specified in the 2004 plan. The council of the day and then this council had a great number of opportunities to rescind the MSP, reduce the settlement area boundaries and take back control of planning in Springwater. We should not be surprised as Collins has stated many times that we should leave development to the developers as they know how best to use the land. She is right in one way, they will stuff as many houses on a piece of dirt as possible.

Question 28: If high density housing means low income families, will the township or school board be implementing after school programs for children?

Township answer: Mentions that high density is not just geared to low income families. Also mentions School Board is responsible for programs and some are currently offered at Forest Hill Public School.

Question 29: Will transit be available to take children to sports activities in Barrie in the evenings?

Township answer: A transit plan is part of the EA 3 and 4 studies and transit will be considered once an adequate population and demand are present.

My Opinion: These answers confirm the naivety of the last two councils. They are acting like we are adding a few more homes in the area. The current school cannot handle the influx as planned and a whole new approach will be needed costing us all more money. I agree that there will not be a lot of low income families as there is no transportation or local services. My guess would be that once the ball starts rolling and a few large homes are built and its too far down the road to turn back that you will see the developer propose new plans with lower density bigger houses and the township will simply comply or the developer will take the case to the OMB and get their way anyway. This all contradicts the concept of having affordable housing as part of the mix. The plans of today that were seen last week will be quite different as this mega venture progresses. As far as transit let’s face it a basic system of a couple of buses in  Midhurst would be in excess of a $1M a year which will not be self-sufficient through a rider pay system increasing taxes again. This whole mega development is so ill conceived it is almost inconceivable. Even the developer will not commit to a timetable for transit because it is not their problem. It will be our problem in the end to deal with.

In the next installment I will spend a lot of time dissecting questions 34 to 37 which is quite complicated. Please read the document from the Sept 17^th meeting and you will better understand my comments in the next article.

It is still not too late to slow down and modify this terrible plan for Midhurst. It will affect all of us especially where it hurts, in our pocket books with increased taxes. I am pleased that many more people are coming to Council and Planning meetings in recent months as residents realize that regardless of where they live they will pay the price of the bad decisions and direction of the Midhurst Secondary Plan.

Talk to the Mayor, Deputy and Mayor and Council and tell them to stop the greatest calamity that Springwater has ever experienced. The Midhurst Plan as planned is a disaster waiting to happen and you and I cannot afford it!

My View - Part 4- Springwater Township’s Response to Questions regarding the Mega Developments of the Midhurst Secondary Plan

On May 17^th of this year the township held an information meeting and provided documents as an overview for the Midhurst Secondary Plan titled Midhurst 20/20. There was also a public open house on the Midhurst Secondary Plan EA process on May 29^th.

In September the township published its response to the questions posed and held a special council meeting on September 17^th with a hired lawyer to outline the township’s position. This is the fourth installment of articles on this complex issue. I encourage you to read the document yourself (found on the township website under Governance/Public Consultation/Midhurst Secondary Plan) and form your own opinion. Certain questions and answers are truncated for space consideration.

Question 34: What studies have been done to satisfy the Provincial Policy Statement (PPS) (the guiding document for all development in Ontario)?

Township Answer: The Midhurst Settlement Area boundaries were originally established approximately 25 years ago……(they include a number of reference documents you should read.)

My Opinion: Township’s answer is extremely flawed and at the least misleading. There are affidavits on file from former councilors Fleming and Parker that state clearly that the boundaries were a “study area”. It only became a settlement area in 2008. Due to the lack of due diligence on the part of this council and the previous council, an unplanned area to develop a city was unleashed. The intent of the council that established the “study area” was to choose a part of it when the need was evident and then create an area to expand Midhurst. The “study area” presented a number of opportunities, but it was never conceived that the entire area would be developed as a city.

Question 35: The County wrote letters in Sept and Oct 2008 questioning the Midhurst Secondary Plan compliance with the PPS. Why did the County on Oct 2011accept that it was then in compliance with the PPS?

Township Answer: They do not provide a real answer. They refer to the letters that the County sent in Sept, Oct and Dec of 2008 whereby the County expressed concerns that the MSP offended the PPS, lacked servicing details, questioned the boundary (see above answer), questioned the population as it exceeded the County’s Growth Plan that had been signed off by the municipalities and so on. They then refer to the 2011 letter that approved the MSP but the letter does not say how the MSP was in compliance.

My Opinion: The first three letters from the County were spot on in 2008 which explains why there was not a lot of concern by Midhurst residents, as based on the County’s objections, the MSP was dead. That is also why there was very little discussion during the 2010 elections as it was felt that the MSP was a non-starter as it offended so many higher level policies. Unfortunately the developers and planners behind the scenes were pulling the strings at all levels, the township leaders unknown to the residents were lobbying to move the mega growth forward and we as taxpayers all got taken. At one council meeting prior to the 2011 County approval of the MSP, the Deputy Mayor (whom I hear is slated to make a run for mayor next year) stated they were working behind closed doors for the residents. No one imagined that they were working against the best interests of all Springwater ratepayers and specifically against the Midhurst people who asked the question.

Question 36: Why did the Province issue a transition regulation as part of Amendment #1 which permits a portion of the MSP to develop?

Township Answer: The Township was not involved in the development of Amendment #1(read the special rule).

My Opinion: We are not all stupid or idiots, is the short answer, if you think we will swallow that answer. Think about it. The province conducted both public and private meetings under the auspices of the Ontario Growth Secretariat which was established by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing and Ministry of Infrastructure prior to the passing of Amendment #1 and the Transition Rule. Without the Transition Rule the MSP would not be permitted as it still offends all the policies that were outlined by the County’s objection in 2008. Township representatives attended both types of meetings (I saw them at the public meeting in Barrie). The only answer I can give is that there answer is less than truthful. If they had objected to the MSP it would never have occurred. Our meeting with the Growth Secretariat revealed that only the citizens group AWARE objected to any of the growth plans for the entire Simcoe County area. All municipalities supported the growth as did the development community. You be the judge. We only have the MSP and a future City of Midhurst because of either incompetence or lack of care of our two senior elected officials who are also our County Councillors.

Question 37: Is the 300 Ha permitted for development within the MSP still held up by and/or under appeal before the OMB?

Township Answer: It is not held up and allowed to move forward through the Planning Process.

My Opinion: I agree but my disappointment with the lack of action and fear of developers by this council is almost unbelievable. Our current council has had numerous opportunities to stop this absurdity since they took office. They have failed to meet the responsibilities they promised to us in the last election. The MSP still can be undone as it is not financially viable. Take the time to read the excellent reports from Barrie about Development Charges (I attended the meeting) and their concern about debt. Our situation will be much worse than that on a relative basis if the MSP proceeds. You and I will pay for it in annual double digit tax rate increases because our elected officials simply “don’t know what they don’t know”.

It is still not too late to slow down and modify this terrible plan for Midhurst. It will affect all of us especially where it hurts, in our pocket books with increased taxes. I am pleased that many more people are coming to Council and Planning meetings in recent months as residents realize that regardless of where they live they will pay the price of the bad decisions and direction of the Midhurst Secondary Plan.

Talk to the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Council and tell them to stop the greatest calamity that Springwater has ever experienced. The Midhurst Plan as planned is a disaster waiting to happen and you and I cannot afford it!