Dear Editor:
I represent a group of concerned citizens (Jones Baseline Community) who are currently working to stop a zoning change in Guelph/Eramosa Township.
Many of us have purchased our “forever home,” eyes wide open knowing that the surrounding areas are zoned agricultural and even environmentally protected land in Guelph/Eramosa Township. Many family homes already surround this parcel of land with kids playing and dogs barking and chickens clucking.
What many of us did not know was municipalities around Ontario use a process called the “County Official Plan” (COP) which designates the future zoning of the land around you. So imagine to our surprise when very good prime agricultural land is being requested to be turned into industrial land. The township has already designated this prime agricultural land for industrial applications!
Minus Forty, which specializes in manufacturing self-contained energy efficient freezer/refrigerator merchandise, presently located in Georgetown, has taken advantage of this future zoning plan (COP). Acquiring the land at dirt cheap cost and applying for the rezoning change to build a 15,234m2 manufacturing facility in phase one with 11 loading docks and 242 parking spots. Additional 90,000m2 for additional expansion on some 27 acres of land is also proposed. But what drives the issue is the land acquisition, then why do we have industrial parks?
Not so great for jobs either as the facility is relocating from Georgetown; add that to the loss of good productive farm land. If this can happen to us here it can happen anywhere. If not a building perhaps hydro towers or a quarry or even a highway. Speciality companies look to these COP’s for opportunities to grab land at low prices because the farmer was not able to sever his own land or sell it to a developer because it had already been designated (COP) as future industrial zone, as opposed to residential or commercial.
The impact is tremendous starting from increased traffic in the area, higher noise levels, potential loss to property owners in the area (evaluations), water management – which has been a big concern to all of us well owners that count on the aquifer to supply us with that all so important clean drinking water.
As big a concern is, why here? Looking at the threat level to the water table, the area is rated at the highest risk according to documents provided by the county. So how much “due diligence” goes into making future zoning choices when you pick an area with a high threat level to drinking water and environmentally protected land as per the Grand River Conversation Authority?
Help us get the word out and to stop the zoning change. Look us up on Facebook or Instagram: Search- Jones Baseline Community Group.
Dan Mallette,
Guelph/Eramosa