ERIN — The intent behind a historical land donation continues to be at the centre of a property dispute between the Town of Erin and its local humane society.
Operating out of 5383 Trafalgar Rd. since 2002, the Upper Credit Humane Society (UCHS) was recently notified its lease will not be renewed past May 2028 as the property doesn’t currently comply with the town’s zoning bylaw and official plan policies.
The news has filled Guelph resident Jennifer Bingham with “overwhelming sadness,” considering, her grandmother, Annabelle Falconer, donated the land to the town with the intent that it would be used for animal rescue and shelter services.
“I’ve spent my whole life telling people that my grandmother donated that land for the animals because she really loved animals,” said Bingham.
“Just to hear that the town was re-purposing the land really made me sad. That’s absolutely not what my grandmother would’ve wanted.”
According to Bingham, her grandfather Albert purchased the land to be closer to his family in 1963. When Albert died, the lands were passed to Annabelle’s husband, Murray, and eventually Annabelle herself.
Approached about building on the land after Murray passed away, Bingham said her grandmother turned down several interested buyers until she heard the Humane Society’s proposal to construct an animal shelter in Erin in the early 2000s.
Founded in 1991, the UCHS website says the shelter was constructed in 2003 “on a piece of land donated to the Town of Erin to be used for the construction of an animal shelter.”
Before the shelter was built, UCHS volunteers provided foster homes with a dedicated “office” phone line in one volunteer’s home.
“Grandma loved animals. She always had some sort of creature running around her house, whether it was dogs, cats, ferrets, birds, it was something,” said Bingham.
“She always had to have an animal. She was always about animal conservation, preservation, and had a general love for anything furry or feathery, so that’s why she said yes, absolutely.”
While this story is backed by UCHS chair Susan Thomsen and a historic plaque hanging at the shelter, the property’s official historical documents are vague and only say the property should be used for municipal purposes.
Erin CAO Rob Adams said the town’s lawyer has also indicated the property was given to the town for “municipal purposes” with no specific conditions for animal protection.
This helped inform the town’s decision not to renew the UCHS’ lease past 2028 and is why the Falconer family wasn’t consulted about council’s decision.
“I don’t think there was a connection with the Falconer family donating it for the specific use and there were no conditions,” said Adams.
“They donated it (the land) to the community, and now council is just trying to find them a more suitable property and one where it makes sense.”
An ongoing discussion, Adams explained the town came across UCHS’ zoning issues when investigating its proposal for the gateway to Erin and the property would have to go through the proper planning processes to rectify the issues before any development could proceed.
Offering to support UCHS in its search for a new home, Adams said the township was unable to find town-owned land that is appropriately zoned and would allow for a shelter despite having spent the last year searching.
Adams did not answer questions about why public engagement wasn’t held, instead explaining that property matters are handled by council and they want the public to understand that the property’s current use isn’t zoned properly and the lease has been extended another three years.
Council is still determining what the property will be used for and what’s permitted within the zoning.
“The services around canine control, we actually have a company that we contract that provides these services for us but the other services the humane society provides to Erin as well as Caledon and the Halton Region, we certainly want to try to keep it in our area,” said Adams.
“That’s why we’ve been working with them to try and find a suitable property.”
Bingham maintains it was always understood the lands were intended to be used for animal protection, whether it made it into the official documents or not.
Moving forward, Bingham said she’s working to gather all of Annabelle’s remaining living relatives and is encouraging residents to sign the UCHS’ recent petition and write to the town’s council to share why the UCHS matters to Erin and the region and asking them to reconsider its decision and how they define value.
The petition has 1,447 signatures to date.
“As far as everyone in my family is concerned, it was always supposed to be for the animals,” said Bingham.