Simcoe County’s growth plan – which county councillors approved overwhelmingly Tuesday morning – shortchanges Midland and Collingwood and fails to protect the environment, those mayors say.
Both Midland and Collingwood voted against the plan that puts a particular focus on Wasaga Beach in terms of residential development; the plan would see population there more than double from the 2006 population of 15,600 to 35,000 in 2031.
The county’s strategic growth plan also directs significant population growth to Innisfil (32,600 increase over the next 25 years), Bradford West Gwillimbury (24,7000) and New Tecumseth (20,200). Clearview would also see 11,400 in growth, almost as much as Collingwood’s 12,200.
Communities in the north are forecast to see marginal growth – such as 2,800 more people in Midland, 2,700 more in Tiny, 2,600 in Penetanguishene and 1,200 in Tay.
The plan also recommends focusing employment growth along the Highway 400 corridor in Innisfil and BWG.
“The north was shortchanged,” said Midland Mayor Jim Downer, who also stood up for Barrie, which criticized the plan for many of the same reasons. Barrie went further, saying the county plan does not encourage complete communities to develop – that is, communities that offer not only water and wastewater, but recreational and cultural services, health services and transit.
“We’re the largest community in the north and we were overlooked. I applaud Barrie for taking a stand on it. I applaud Collingwood as well – for not just sitting there and shaking their head yes because everyone else did. We were shortchanged,” said Downer.
Pressure was on to approve the plan, the culmination of more three years work that started with the Intergovernmental Action Plan and an environmental study and wrapped up with recent reports by five subcommittees that examined issues including health lifestyles, economic development, and seasonal housing.
Collingwood Mayor Chris Carrier said the plan isn’t ready for approval, because it fails to build on investments in Collingwood in transit, in protecting the environment and in attracting jobs. “Vote No, not yet. Continue with the hard work to find a more-sustainable growth plan for the greater good,” he urged his colleagues.
“It’s easy to find discord. I read in Barrie’s letter was No, not yet. Let’s work towards finding a better solution.”
New Tec Mayor Mike MacEachern urged his colleagues to support the plan, because it is a compromise that will work, but will contain growth to established settlements.
“It looks at how to give a little growth to each of our communities. It recognizes everyone can’t have all they want. It says we have to all give to get a bit. It’s a plan we need to move forward on,” he said.
He stressed development pressures are so intense and widespread, the area’s population could reach 920,000 people by 2031 – and the growth plan respects the provincially established limit of 667,000 people. He suggested the province will review that limit in five years – and that could be when more county communities become more satisfied.
“As I look at the plan it does a good job of managing a number of competing priorities,” he said.
Bradford West Gwillimbury Mayor Doug White said the focus has to be on creating a strong team; a successful hockey team, for instance, doesn’t focus on who scores but on who seizes the opportunities to work together and sets up the shot to score.
“We have to make sacrifices so the team wins,” he said. “By supporting this plan, we’re getting together when this matters the most.”
Warden Tony Guergis said the plan’s greatest attribute is that it not only controls growth, but allows each municipality to define how it will become a complete community.
“It gives small municipalities the opportunity to define themselves, their sustainability, their complete community vision,” he said.
