Solmar says it's the victim of media campaign
By MARK PAVILONS Editor

The head of a major developer says a negative media campaign aimed directly at them swayed councillors and the public to oppose any increased local development.

Caledon council last Tuesday night voted to maintain the status quo regarding population forecasts through 2031, amid a torrent of opposition to opening the door to development, particularly a multi-phase plan submitted by Solmar Development Corporation.

Solmar president Benny Marotta said it was a "complete media campaign initiated by the mayor for her own personal agenda."

Marotta has been negotiating with the Town for the past 18 months on his project and complained his phone calls to the mayor's office were never returned.

"If the Town had any intention to benefit the municipality, they would have had the courtesy to accept and return my phone calls," he said.

The whole issue became a campaign against Solmar and not about the real issue - the proper planning for the future of South Albion, Marotta contends.

He believes the council vote Nov. 6 "was a complete conspiracy against Solmar" and councillors (and the some members of the public) failed to understand the decision was not about Solmar's application at all, but strictly a plan for the future of Caledon.

Prior to the Nov. 6 council debate, there was a huge media campaign against Solmar's proposed Humber Station Villages, a multi-year residential project for an entire community located southwest of Bolton. That included letters to newspapers, e-mails to the Town and petitions.

Marotta said statements were made in the local press that developers should not plan Caledon's future, but that the municipality should take control.

"I fully agree," Marotta said.

Solmar did not undertake a public relations exercise because they expected council would make a decision in the best interests of the municipality and its residents.

Marotta said council's decision Nov. 6 was based on an estimated 340 pieces of correspondence from residents who opposed more development than the previously approved numbers. Marotta said that cannot be considered as an overwhelming majority of the opinion held by Caledon's 58,000 residents.

In any issue, he observed, you'll have a thousand different viewpoints and councillors are there to make decisions based on the facts.

Mayor Marolyn Morrison said the issue had nothing to do with Solmar. "It had to do with who's going to plan the Town of Caledon," she stressed and Solmar's application had nothing to do with the debates. It was more a matter of timing, since Solmar's application was the only one on the table.

The mayor also pointed out she received many emails from Bolton residents who objected to further growth, indicating the people were in favour of council's approach.