Britannia Farm & Development Parcels (Peel School Board, various)

[Tuscani01]

Vague is an understatement. I have no idea what is being proposed here. Trails to and from where? And why? And what is a "field centre"? Terms like "experiential learning" also set off red flags. My BS detector is going off big time.

Go back through the thread for some history on the project. The land was donated to the school board under the condition that it was used for educational purposes. It serves as a working farm for school trips.

What's so vague about the plan? The trails will go throughout the site. It's a massive plot of land with a creek flowing through it.

A field centre already exists on site, the plan is to simply build a new one to accommodate larger groups.
http://www.peelschools.org/schools/fieldcentres/Pages/default.aspx

Experiential learning has to do with the idea of the farm being active, allowing kids to learn about farming through participation.

There's no bs to detect.

 

[Student99]

No BS. The Peel Board made their plans quite public, actually. Very well-explained, here; http://www.peelschools.org/Document...an Refresh_Final Report_Dec 7_reducedsize.pdf

 

[Johnny Au]

When 'Sauga fi-i-irst, at heaven's command,
Aro-o-o-ose from out the a-a-a-zure main,
Arose, arose from ou-ou-ou-out the a-zure main,
This was the charter, the charter of the land,
And guardian a-a-angels sang this strain:

Rule Britannia!
Britannia rule the farm.
'Saugans never, never, never shall have harm.
Rule Britannia!
Britannia rule the farm.
'Saugans never, never, never shall have harm.

Yes, I know that it is modified.

 

[TrickyRicky]

I have no particular personal interest in Mississauga development but I personally object to the idea of funding open-space plans by developing portions of said lands. Within an urban context parcels of undeveloped open-space are priceless. Stewardship of these lands should think in terms of 100 year time-lines not the next fiscal quarter. With a significantly long time-horizon it becomes clear that it is irrelevant if open-space lands get developed today or 10 years from now or 25 years from now. What is singularly important is maintaining the integrity of the land. Think if High Park landscaping or pavilions were funded by carving out cul-de-sac subdivision tracts out of its land.

 

[interchange42]

Fundamentally I agree with you @TrickyRicky. And even if one buys the argument put forward by the Peel Board for the development of 32 acres here, the math does not add up: they will be taking many millions more out of this land than they will be spending on the remaining 168 acres to spruce it up.

What has not happened regarding this property, however, is any real integration into the public realm the way that High Park has become everyone's fantasy back yard in West Toronto. As a farm for educational purposes, and not a park, it's not knit the same way into the local fabric. The plans to make it more accessible are good, and as school board property and not city park property, they can argue pretty successfully that they need funds beyond the annual budget that they must spend on schools to improve the land. The morality of selling off so much of it, though, is hugely debatable.

42

 

[turini2]

Wow, scrolling across Google Maps today led me to find this plot of land close to the route of Hurontario LRT - and down a rabbit hole of "why hasn't this patch of farmland been turned into cookie cutter suburban housing?!"

The most recent information I could find was in an November 2021 article in the Pointer - plans put on hold due to Covid-19.
What were the plans - developing an area and turning the rest into publically accessible parkland/field centre for kids?

Given the last post was 5 years ago, I take it that the developers millions haven't been enough to get the Peel School Board moving this along?

 

[Northern Light]

Wow, scrolling across Google Maps today led me to find this plot of land close to the route of Hurontario LRT - and down a rabbit hole of "why hasn't this patch of farmland been turned into cookie cutter suburban housing?!"

The most recent information I could find was in an November 2021 article in the Pointer - plans put on hold due to Covid-19.
What were the plans - developing an area and turning the rest into publically accessible parkland/field centre for kids?

Given the last post was 5 years ago, I take it that the developers millions haven't been enough to get the Peel School Board moving this along?

There were issues additional to COVID. (preceding it)

From the article:

"Parrish says PDSB had narrowed the search to two bids, but the process was halted shortly after because of sweeping internal problems with the troubled board. It was stripped of its autonomy
by the Province, due to widespread discrimination..........."

***

Cushman had this out in 2019? By the looks of it.

 

[Lake Ontario]

The Conover Barn caught on fire today:

Crews battle large barn fire in Mississauga

Crews battled a large fire that broke out at a barn in Mississauga Wednesday evening.

toronto.ctvnews.ca

https://twitter.com/x/status/1709699732178665693

 

[Student99]

I read it's completely destroyed. What a shame.

 

[Dan416]

My first thought in these situations is arson.