In this David and Goliath story, David threw a dozen rocks, but couldn’t knock the giant down.
David Strachan, treasurer of the Midhurst Ratepayers Association, who fought against the Geranium company’s plans to build two large subdivisions in the small village north of Barrie, is still bitter.
“If we’d have thrown lots of money at it in the first place, we might have stood a chance,” Strachan said after news of the bulldozers arriving on-site at the Carson Road subdivision was released last week.
But after fighting the good fight and raising more than $250,000 for legal fees and professional planners to oppose 2,500 new homes in their neighbourhood, Strachan and company realized their 12-year battle was over.
In 2008, the initial plan for the Midhurst Carson Road development was approved by the township and later by the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB), the County of Simcoe, Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority, and several provincial agencies in 2014.
It took five more years for the environmental assessment (EA) to be approved by the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks in 2019. Water and storm-water management work was approved in 2020.
Last December, council gave the green light for Phase 1 of the subdivision of 342 homes to begin.
A bulldozer sits on the former farmland at the top of Anne Street North, where snowmobilers currently race through a small tract of trees that will remain standing.
Inside the cold work trailer, site supervisor Dominic Palombi hunches down inside his coat and pulls out the site drawings of the new subdivision that will be his work address for the foreseeable future.
Building starts Monday.
“We’ll start with the sewers for the subdivision and we’ll start building the sales office there,” said Palombi, pointing to the snow-covered field. “It’s going to be big.”
Stretching between Carson Road on the south, along Wilson Drive on the west and near Snow Valley Road on the north, Palombi’s not wrong.
There are expected to be more than 340 detached and semi-detached houses available to preview schematically at least this summer, said Geranium spokesperson Cheryl Shindruk.
“We expect 2,500 units approximately at full build,” she continued, explaining the Doran Road site will be built along Carson Road in the future.
Shindruk wouldn’t comment on the lengthy timeline it took to push the subdivisions through the roadblocks, other than to say “development approval takes the time it needs to take.”
Sandy Buxton, president of the Midhurst ratepayers group, said it wasn’t a case of NIMBY-ism (Not In My Backyard), but also to save Minesing Wetlands which border the property.
Also at stake are the Hine’s Emerald Dragonflies, which only nest in a few places in Canada, including the Springwater wetlands, she said.
“It’s a very fussy animal in terms of the habitat it requires,” said Buxton. “It’s a fragile beast… which is classed as an endangered animal, not just provincially but also federally.”
Nicole Audette, Springwater Township’s communications officer, said it was just one of many requirements that had to be satisfied before the work project could be approved.
“The completion of the environmental assessment was a significant condition that needed to be satisfied to ensure the Midhurst developments could be serviced with significant consideration for the environment,” said Audette.
It also included jumping through a slew of technical hoops, such as engineering design, species-at-risk assessments and environmental impact studies, in addition to requiring securities to ensure funding will be available to complete work in accordance with municipal regulations.
As soon as weather permits, tree clearing and the installation of services — including the watermains, sanitary sewers, storm sewers and a stormwater management pond — will begin.
For more information, visit www.springwater.ca.
Cheryl Browne, Local Journalism Initiative, Barrie Advance
