Archived Letter – 940

Elora, one of Canada’s 10 most beautiful villages, is in trouble!

A developer wants to introduce about 750 units to an area around South River Road that is currently woods and farmland.

We are standing at a crossroads. Awareness Road takes us towards measured development, a balance of homes and nature, and maintains the integrity of our beautiful village. Overdevelopment Road will take us to crowded subdivisions that remove the trees, cram in as many houses as possible, and overtax existing infrastructure.

The Ontario Government’s Places to Grow program brochure states that “growth has to be managed, so that uncoordinated development, as we have too often seen in the past, doesn’t continue”.

They go on to state that, “Without a plan, we will experience more of the adverse effects that are already occurring, such as … loss of farmland and dwindling natural areas.”

From the brochure, the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe is intended to:

Reduce development pressures on agricultural lands and natural areas by directing more growth to existing urban areas.

Complement the province’s Greenbelt Plan, which protects nearly two million acres of valuable farmland and natural areas at the heart of the Greater Golden Horseshoe.

Link planning for growth with planning for infrastructure, so that the roads, sewers, schools and other services are in place to meet the needs of growing communities.“

The proposed South River Road development appears to represent everything the Places to Grow program has been designed to avoid.

It doesn’t make sense that government would support a development that goes against their own growth plan.

If we take Overdevelopment Road, we are at risk of compromising our beautiful village and becoming Anytown, and that would be a tragedy. Taking Awareness Road recognizes that Elora is a unique place that is worthy of protection.

I beg our council to take Awareness Road. I beg the citizenry to give them directions to Awareness Road. One or two bad decisions about development can irreparably ruin Elora.

www.placestogrow.ca/images/pdfs/pir-brochure-eng2015.pdf

Shelley Carter

Shelley Carter