Greenbelt lands moved back into massive sprawl plan pushed through by Caledon Mayor Annette Groves

The final piece of a controversial sprawl plan, written by a development lawyer and championed by Caledon Mayor Annette Groves has received rezoning approval by town council, opening the door for development to proceed on and around significant Greenbelt lands. 

Last week’s rezoning approval comes less than a month after 11 other parcels of land included in a package of zoning amendments were approved despite significant public backlash. The parcel approved June 23rd was held for council to get more information about the impacts any development would have on the surrounding lands, including the degradation to nearby Greenbelt that is inevitable with urban development, and how residential growth will mesh with the nearby industrial operations. Caledon staff confirmed nothing has changed in the bylaw. 

Collectively, the 12 parcels unlock land for as much as 35,000 homes, making it the largest development plan in Caledon’s history. It was approved by council without studies to inform them about environmental or hydrogeological impacts, or the cost to service this growth—which the Region of Peel has said will cost billions of dollars. No fiscal analysis has been completed to determine who will pay for this infrastructure or the impact it could have on Caledon taxpayers who may be forced to pay for the maligned plan which has been compared to the PC government’s Greenbelt scandal that is now under investigation by the RCMP.

“A significant concern of the Region’s is that there is insufficient capacity in the Region water and wastewater systems…to accommodate this proposed community at this time,” the region states in the report on one of the 12 amendments. The Region of Peel labelled the rezoning of these lands as “premature”. The myriad of concerns raised by the upper tier municipality and outlined in a series of reports—which the Town of Caledon refused to release publicly, but obtained by The Pointer—were not addressed ahead of final approval. “Significant upgrades and additional watermains and sanitary sewers are required to service this community both in the local vicinity of this developer and within the entire water and wastewater system.”

This will require “multi-year” design and construction efforts, the Region states, estimating a cost of $6.2 billion for water and $6.7 billion for wastewater to service just the 13,000 units mandated by the PC government for Caledon to address housing needs.

The PC government also took issue with the plan, pointing out that several of the parcels set to be rezoned were part of the GTA West Corridor, a stretch of land protected for the proposed Highway 413. 

Sources have told The Pointer that despite council’s approval of the plan, it could be quashed by other levels of government for violating numerous existing policies surrounding land use and the environment. 

“I would like to object in the strongest possible way to the rezoning on these lands,” resident Cheryl Connors told councillors on June 23rd. “Out of the 12 parcels, this is the one that is most inappropriate to rezone.”

The lands available on the parcel surround the Mayfield Golf Club and include sections of the Greenbelt and its “fingerlings”— protected corridors along creeks and rivers that connect vital ecosystems to the broader Greenbelt.

“This parcel would be firing a bullet right into the heart of the Greenbelt. It’s not consistent with the spirit of the Greenbelt plan,” Connors told council. “These are forever damaging decisions.”

Quinto Annibale, the development lawyer with Loopstra Nixon who played a key role in authoring the amendments on behalf of Groves, previously succeeded in getting these lands rezoned through an appeal directly to the PC government. At the time, he was working on behalf of the consortium of developers who own the golf course and surrounding lands, including Michael Rice and members of the De Gasperis family. However, following the Greenbelt scandal that rocked the PC government, the rezoning was reversed.

But where the previous plan failed, it has succeeded with the help of Mayor Groves. 

Despite repeated complaints from members of the public, Groves repeatedly denied that Annibale has a conflict of interest by representing both the town and developers who stand to gain from these rezonings.

“He’s already said there’s no conflict there,” Groves said last week. 

There has been no explanation provided by the Town or Groves detailing how the arrangement is not a conflict. It is a basic practice that if a firm is representing a private entity seeking to earn a profit from a land development, that firm would not be used by the municipality to seek guidance on its decision making. It is unclear why Caledon officials did not make their own determination on a potential conflict before hiring Loopstra Nixon, as the onus was on the municipality to avoid any potential conflict of interest.

Caledon Mayor Annette Groves has steadfastly defended a development plan that has created unprecedented citizen backlash and been criticized by upper tier governments and urban planning experts.

(Joel Wittnebel/The Pointer Files)

Mayor Groves continued her aggressive push of this development plan last week, which has included consistently misleading residents and getting frustrated with any opposition. After unprecedented public backlash in April when the rezoning applications first came forward, Groves backpedaled and promised the community a final vote would not happen until the Fall of 2024. She then broke that promise and the applications appeared on a council agenda in June. She attempted to swat away criticism of her broken promise by claiming it was a staff decision. Fellow councillors and the community were not convinced. 

Since the bylaws appeared as a communication item on the March 26 Planning and Development Committee agenda they have had three strong opponents among the town’s local elected officials. Councillors Lynn Kiernan, Christina Early and Dave Sheen have repeatedly expressed disapproval of the rushed process; lack of community consultation and the financial risk to taxpayers. On Tuesday, Groves stated that any development and infrastructure built across these Greenbelt lands must prove the need for it, and show how any environmental damage will be mitigated. She also said the surrounding Greenbelt lands will be given to the Town to ensure they remain in public ownership. 

“We want to make sure that none of those Greenbelt lands will ever be built on.”

This is blatantly misleading as if development proceeds on these lands, not only will infrastructure be built through the Greenbelt, but the future housing growth will have devastating impacts on the sensitive natural spaces nearby. 

An analysis by The Pointer has found numerous species at risk that rely on these area—as well as the other 11 that have been rezoned—who will be impacted by contamination from construction and future urban uses, as well as noise and light pollution, which can be devastating to many animals' feeding and breeding habits. 

The bylaw was approved Tuesday with councillors Early, Kiernan and Sheen voting against it. 

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