Dear Editor:
RE:” Developer greed, Sept. 23.
With reference to the letter from Eimear O’Neill and the subsequent attempt to defend his cause, from Aaron Ciancone (developer of the Cambridge Mill, and the Elora Mill and condominiums), on Sept. 30, I can certainly support O’Neill’s statements.
Having seen the manner in which the Cambridge Mill was changed, and hearing how distressed many locals are with these changes, I wanted to get some idea of what Landmark-Pearle was planning in Elora.
At this point the mill had been abandoned, almost four years after Landmark had purchased the building. Was the purpose of this delay to add to the “great disrepair” mentioned in his letter of defence? Two crude wire gates had been erected at the end of Mill Street, to prevent residents, from entering the mill car park when taking tourists to view our heritage river, the Grand, and the Tooth of Time.
I spoke to Ciancone for an hour or more: he proffered his plans, not listening to a request that it might be wise to get to know the village, and the people before making drastic changes. I spoke of the “fashionably shabby” look of well restored buildings, rather than glass and aluminium, as used in Cambridge, and questioned the proposed glass bridge, constructed for the sole purpose of permitting condominium owners to cross the river without using the public footbridge. It was of no avail.
Several years later, we have not only lost a pre-Confederation street, “given” to Landmark-Pearle by means of a strange trade-off, and a lop-sided vote by council, all without local consultation; we are forbidden by guards to even set foot in the mill car park to view the river and Tooth of Time; the old ruins of the Potter Factory and adjacent buildings have been yuppified, and once again not for use by the locals; the riverside footpath used by Elora residents on a daily basis for many years, has been deprived of a large number of healthy trees, and is closed to the public, and there is little parking available for residents and tourists.
The nightmare grows as time goes on with the noisy drilling into the Grand River bed, related to the Landmark-Pearle condominiums. These structures will shut out much of the light for streets behind them; the loss of the famous view downriver, from what was once Badley Bridge will also be marred by the questionable glass bridge.
The biggest insult of all is the “failure to consult” on the part of Landmark-Pearle, operating within the Haldemand Tract, and therefore bound to consult with the Haudenosaunee–Six Nations Lands and Resources Development Council, prior to any land development. This agreement is documented by the Supreme Court of Canada.
On two occasions during the last three years I have stated this in council chambers, only to be scoffed at by our mayor who said “we know nothing of this.”
Let us hope that justice will prevail.
Carol Williams,
Elora