AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
From the Star:
Caledon turf war about urban sprawl
Developers go to war with council over efforts to limit boundaries, curb urban sprawl
Jun 15, 2008 04:30 AM
Phinjo Gombu
Urban Affairs Reporter
Benny Marotta is a developer with a big problem.
In recent years, the Vaughan-based Marotta has speculated on 740 hectares of agricultural land southwest of Bolton, part of a vision he says will add 21,000 people and 11,000 jobs to the mostly rural Town of Caledon municipality.
The Town of Caledon is the northern wedge of Peel Region, and includes the communities of Bolton, Caledon and Caledon East.
The affable Marotta has sunk more than $50 million into an adjacent 60-hectare business park in Bolton that's barely occupied.
He has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on studies justifying his plan to build homes on land zoned for agricultural use – not to mention millions more optioning or buying those same lands.
In the high-stakes game of development, there are always winners and losers. And this time, it looks like Marotta will be a loser.
That's because he's a man in a hurry. He wants to build now, and Caledon council is telling him no, he has to wait.
He's furious, and he's not the only one.
Caledon is experiencing what may be the inevitable consequence of moves made, both provincially and locally, to get serious about curbing urban sprawl: a bitter fight that is pitting residents, politicians and developers against each other.
Battle lines have been drawn; lawsuits and countersuits filed. There have been petition drives, demonstrations and council chambers flooded with delegations.
Caledon Perspectives, a local newspaper Marotta recently helped launch – edited by a freelance writer who also happens to have marketed his Solmar Development properties – pitches a vigorous pro-growth line.
It all turned nasty two weeks ago when John Morrison, husband of the Town of Caledon mayor, was ambushed and struck in the face as he arrived at their empty home – an attack Mayor Marolyn Morrison linked to previous threats made to her family over Caledon development issues. (A 28-year-old Woodbridge man has since been charged with uttering threats, but there is still no arrest in the attack.)
Caledon town council has essentially told Marotta that Bolton won't be allowed to expand into adjacent farmland for at least 13 years. Whatever growth happens must be through redevelopment and infill within existing urban boundaries.
This position has thrust the mostly rural municipality into the centre of an urban debate about intensification. Some locals fear that freezing the community boundaries is unrealistic and will hurt business. Others say it's a great way to manage growth.
Mayor Morrison insists the fight is the consequence of the provincial Places to Grow Act that has given cities and towns very specific population targets, with the requirement that 40 per cent of future growth occur within built up areas. But it also has to do with a local vision to check uncontrolled growth. It's an abstract numbers game with phantom people but real consequences: municipalities need to make tough choices among competing developers to settle when and where new housing happens.
His timetable thwarted, an angry and frustrated Marotta is directing his blame at Caledon's council, and Morrison in particular.
"I was told by some developers not to touch Caledon and do any business in Caledon, because you go there with good intentions and make good investments, and the problem they have over there ... they don't like no one to succeed properly," Marotta told the Star a few days ago.
"You go with good health and you come out with broken legs in the town ... I don't mean physically but business wise," he said.
Marotta claims not to care whether he'll be allowed to build his residential dream, but in the same breath he slams the municipality for outlawing growth in Bolton, which he says will hurt his business park and future investment there.
Morrison says Marotta walked into the situation with eyes wide open and got caught because he chose to speculate on an area not designated for growth or settlement.
"That's why (his company) Solmar is caught, and it's unfortunate that he's caught, but that is the reason," Morrison said.
Many of the problems now confronting Caledon date to June 2005, around the time the Places To Grow strategy was being formulated. That month, Caledon council voted to approve a development plan for the so-called Mayfield West area, just north of Brampton, for about 9,000 residents. The area was slated for housing as far back as 1991, and current plans would see it expanded by 13,000 people.
That decision left a bitter aftertaste. During the municipal election, the husband of regional councillor Annette Groves accused Morrison of a conflict of interest in voting in favour of Mayfield West, because her campaign manager and friend, Anne Livingston, had considerable land interests there.
The accusation prompted Livingston to file a defamation lawsuit against the husband, Terry Groves, triggering a countersuit that dragged in the mayor – who denies conflict of interest because she had no "pecuniary interests" at stake.
Things heated up after a unanimous decision in November to keep Caledon's projected population to 84,444 people until the planning horizon of 2021 – a move bitterly opposed by the pro-growth local chamber of commerce.
This led to the remarkable decision to freeze the urban boundaries of Bolton, which council felt had grown too rapidly after a series of Ontario Municipal Board decisions over the years sided with the developers. As a result, Bolton hit its projected 26,500 population target almost 13 years early.
The Bolton freeze outraged business owners like Greg Pannia, chair of the recently formed Coalition of Concerned Residents & Businesses of Bolton. His group has joined the chamber of commerce to launch a concerted campaign that has flooded council chambers with the message that stifling Bolton's expansion will mean fewer new residents and businesses and lead to the town's slow death.
Pannia, whose forklift business is in Marotta's struggling business park, pleaded with Peel politicians this past week to reverse Caledon's decision, saying Bolton was an integral part of the regional economy.
"No one will invest in a town that has no population growth," said Pannia. "All we are requesting is a little bit of population, and we are being told no."
He's among many in Bolton clearly opposed to the new mantra of intensification, or achieving growth through greater density in already built-up areas.
But several Peel Region councillors have joined Morrison and Caledon Councillor Richard Whitehead in stating intensification must and will happen, as an approach for achieving population growth.
They point to estimates that higher densities and redevelopment could make room for 1,500 to 7,500 new residents in Bolton without turning farmland into housing.
"It makes you ask the question why everybody is pushing (to build on) green field and no redevelopment," says Morrison.
The fight promises to get more heated with the arrival of Our Caledon Our Choice, a citizens' group that supports council's position.
Meanwhile, Marotta is pushing to win local hearts and minds in his quest for a pro-growth amendment to the official plan.
The newspaper he co-owns with a group of investors is simply "telling people what is happening at city hall," he says. "The expansion of the urban boundary is the voice of the people, not of Solmar."
Asked to comment on that, Morrison hesitates, then says: "I think most people in Caledon are intelligent enough to understand it is a developer's newspaper."
The one certain thing is that as Caledon's greenfield battles and population-numbers game continue, the issue will spill over to Peel Region's other two municipalities, Brampton and Mississauga.
Like many other seats of government along the Golden Horseshoe trying to figure out if their growth plans conform with the Places to Grow legislation, Peel is considering where to allocate the 1.6 million people it expects will call the region home 25 years from now.
All three of its municipalities have made their population wish-lists known, and the region still has to place about 33,000 new residents to meet provincial guidelines.
But even there, Marotta is out of luck, because those numbers won't be allocated until after 2021 and he wants to build now.
Besides, those 33,000 people will get divided between Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon, and there are other developers with plans that conflict with Marotta's dream.
http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/443683
Caledon turf war about urban sprawl
Developers go to war with council over efforts to limit boundaries, curb urban sprawl
Jun 15, 2008 04:30 AM
Phinjo Gombu
Urban Affairs Reporter
Benny Marotta is a developer with a big problem.
In recent years, the Vaughan-based Marotta has speculated on 740 hectares of agricultural land southwest of Bolton, part of a vision he says will add 21,000 people and 11,000 jobs to the mostly rural Town of Caledon municipality.
The Town of Caledon is the northern wedge of Peel Region, and includes the communities of Bolton, Caledon and Caledon East.
The affable Marotta has sunk more than $50 million into an adjacent 60-hectare business park in Bolton that's barely occupied.
He has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on studies justifying his plan to build homes on land zoned for agricultural use – not to mention millions more optioning or buying those same lands.
In the high-stakes game of development, there are always winners and losers. And this time, it looks like Marotta will be a loser.
That's because he's a man in a hurry. He wants to build now, and Caledon council is telling him no, he has to wait.
He's furious, and he's not the only one.
Caledon is experiencing what may be the inevitable consequence of moves made, both provincially and locally, to get serious about curbing urban sprawl: a bitter fight that is pitting residents, politicians and developers against each other.
Battle lines have been drawn; lawsuits and countersuits filed. There have been petition drives, demonstrations and council chambers flooded with delegations.
Caledon Perspectives, a local newspaper Marotta recently helped launch – edited by a freelance writer who also happens to have marketed his Solmar Development properties – pitches a vigorous pro-growth line.
It all turned nasty two weeks ago when John Morrison, husband of the Town of Caledon mayor, was ambushed and struck in the face as he arrived at their empty home – an attack Mayor Marolyn Morrison linked to previous threats made to her family over Caledon development issues. (A 28-year-old Woodbridge man has since been charged with uttering threats, but there is still no arrest in the attack.)
Caledon town council has essentially told Marotta that Bolton won't be allowed to expand into adjacent farmland for at least 13 years. Whatever growth happens must be through redevelopment and infill within existing urban boundaries.
This position has thrust the mostly rural municipality into the centre of an urban debate about intensification. Some locals fear that freezing the community boundaries is unrealistic and will hurt business. Others say it's a great way to manage growth.
Mayor Morrison insists the fight is the consequence of the provincial Places to Grow Act that has given cities and towns very specific population targets, with the requirement that 40 per cent of future growth occur within built up areas. But it also has to do with a local vision to check uncontrolled growth. It's an abstract numbers game with phantom people but real consequences: municipalities need to make tough choices among competing developers to settle when and where new housing happens.
His timetable thwarted, an angry and frustrated Marotta is directing his blame at Caledon's council, and Morrison in particular.
"I was told by some developers not to touch Caledon and do any business in Caledon, because you go there with good intentions and make good investments, and the problem they have over there ... they don't like no one to succeed properly," Marotta told the Star a few days ago.
"You go with good health and you come out with broken legs in the town ... I don't mean physically but business wise," he said.
Marotta claims not to care whether he'll be allowed to build his residential dream, but in the same breath he slams the municipality for outlawing growth in Bolton, which he says will hurt his business park and future investment there.
Morrison says Marotta walked into the situation with eyes wide open and got caught because he chose to speculate on an area not designated for growth or settlement.
"That's why (his company) Solmar is caught, and it's unfortunate that he's caught, but that is the reason," Morrison said.
Many of the problems now confronting Caledon date to June 2005, around the time the Places To Grow strategy was being formulated. That month, Caledon council voted to approve a development plan for the so-called Mayfield West area, just north of Brampton, for about 9,000 residents. The area was slated for housing as far back as 1991, and current plans would see it expanded by 13,000 people.
That decision left a bitter aftertaste. During the municipal election, the husband of regional councillor Annette Groves accused Morrison of a conflict of interest in voting in favour of Mayfield West, because her campaign manager and friend, Anne Livingston, had considerable land interests there.
The accusation prompted Livingston to file a defamation lawsuit against the husband, Terry Groves, triggering a countersuit that dragged in the mayor – who denies conflict of interest because she had no "pecuniary interests" at stake.
Things heated up after a unanimous decision in November to keep Caledon's projected population to 84,444 people until the planning horizon of 2021 – a move bitterly opposed by the pro-growth local chamber of commerce.
This led to the remarkable decision to freeze the urban boundaries of Bolton, which council felt had grown too rapidly after a series of Ontario Municipal Board decisions over the years sided with the developers. As a result, Bolton hit its projected 26,500 population target almost 13 years early.
The Bolton freeze outraged business owners like Greg Pannia, chair of the recently formed Coalition of Concerned Residents & Businesses of Bolton. His group has joined the chamber of commerce to launch a concerted campaign that has flooded council chambers with the message that stifling Bolton's expansion will mean fewer new residents and businesses and lead to the town's slow death.
Pannia, whose forklift business is in Marotta's struggling business park, pleaded with Peel politicians this past week to reverse Caledon's decision, saying Bolton was an integral part of the regional economy.
"No one will invest in a town that has no population growth," said Pannia. "All we are requesting is a little bit of population, and we are being told no."
He's among many in Bolton clearly opposed to the new mantra of intensification, or achieving growth through greater density in already built-up areas.
But several Peel Region councillors have joined Morrison and Caledon Councillor Richard Whitehead in stating intensification must and will happen, as an approach for achieving population growth.
They point to estimates that higher densities and redevelopment could make room for 1,500 to 7,500 new residents in Bolton without turning farmland into housing.
"It makes you ask the question why everybody is pushing (to build on) green field and no redevelopment," says Morrison.
The fight promises to get more heated with the arrival of Our Caledon Our Choice, a citizens' group that supports council's position.
Meanwhile, Marotta is pushing to win local hearts and minds in his quest for a pro-growth amendment to the official plan.
The newspaper he co-owns with a group of investors is simply "telling people what is happening at city hall," he says. "The expansion of the urban boundary is the voice of the people, not of Solmar."
Asked to comment on that, Morrison hesitates, then says: "I think most people in Caledon are intelligent enough to understand it is a developer's newspaper."
The one certain thing is that as Caledon's greenfield battles and population-numbers game continue, the issue will spill over to Peel Region's other two municipalities, Brampton and Mississauga.
Like many other seats of government along the Golden Horseshoe trying to figure out if their growth plans conform with the Places to Grow legislation, Peel is considering where to allocate the 1.6 million people it expects will call the region home 25 years from now.
All three of its municipalities have made their population wish-lists known, and the region still has to place about 33,000 new residents to meet provincial guidelines.
But even there, Marotta is out of luck, because those numbers won't be allocated until after 2021 and he wants to build now.
Besides, those 33,000 people will get divided between Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon, and there are other developers with plans that conflict with Marotta's dream.
http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/443683
