Province's ORM policies are unworkable in Caledon

Several years ago when I was Regional Councillor, we had a series of public meetings concerning the implementation of the Oak Ridges Moraine legislation and the effect that it would have on the thousands of rural property owners in the Town of Caledon.

Those of us who live here know how precious the moraine is and are prepared to be good environmental stewards of the land.

Many of the people attending those meetings had serious concerns about the direction that the process was taking in imposing unreasonable and unrealistic controls on the occupation and use of the lands. Many

of the proposals were counterproductive both to the protection of the Moraine and the ordinary rights of property ownership.

Recently, Town of Caledon planners tabled a document before council that laid out in clear, concise, detail how the negotiation between Caledon and the province had failed to resolve several of the outstanding issues. In fact, Town staff made it clear that they reached the end of the negotiation and now the issues could only be resolved at the political level.

These issues are serious and will have a substantial negative effect on land use, property values, and opportunities to find unique and better solutions for environmental protection and community living.

The ministry wants to eliminate all existing legal non-conforming uses and spot zoning in the high protection areas. This potentially puts many properties in a state of permanent "limbo." It also removes any chance that the municipality can control and encourage the orderly redevelopment of these properties even to benefit the environment.

The ministry also wants the Town to prevent farmers from replacing temporary houses (trailer homes) with permanent homes for farm help (can you believe this!). The ministry seems to think that the community, and the environment, benefits from house trailers littering the landscape.

The ministry also wants the Town to prevent second dwellings for property managers on large estates but doesn't seem to care how big the principle residence can be. The Town is also prevented from allowing severances, or, second dwellings on properties to save the limited number of important heritage buildings that are threatened with redevelopment of rural properties. Redevelopment is ok, apparently, but heritage preservation is unimportant to the provincial planners!

The Town is supposed to stop the building of Garden Suites (second residences for multi-generational families) in the big acreage rural areas and squeeze them into the settlements and the Palgrave Estate area where they were not intended. So, you can't have an estate manager's house on a big estate but it's ok to have a second dwelling in smaller estate subdivision. Make sense?

The Town planners' only suggestion is to have council ask the minister to make a "non decision" on these issues. In other words, to ask the minister to turn a blind eye and look away rather than impose these requirements. Boy, I wouldn't want to take this position to the bank at mortgage time!

I think that it is fair to say that the protection and enhancement of the

environmentally sensitive Oak Ridges Moraine has a very wide level of public support. However, these new directives from the ministry are quite unacceptable for those of us who already live here.

I think it's time for us to get John Tory and Dalton McGuinty involved in this issue. Council has told the Minister, bluntly, that it does not support the current ministry position.

Now it's our turn.

Richard Whitehead