A number of Candidates in the Municipal Election support the Fraserville Secondary Plan, as it has been presented. One of them is quoted as saying Development in Fraserville is required to allow the Residents of the Township to “spend locally”.
Fraserville is not likely to have a “Main Street” of locally owned retail stores. A “Power Centre” consisting mainly of foreign-owned retailers, or large Canadian retailers, would probably be the type of retail store developed there. Not many of the products sold in that type of store are produced locally.
The same Candidate said that Residents are leaving the area to purchase goods and services not currently available here and, that by developing Fraserville, these goods and services would suddenly become available. If Cavan Monaghan had a market for any “missing” products, a business would have already started up to fill those needs. The proposal to eventually build 684 houses in Fraserville will not suddenly make it viable to open a new type of business. Creating another shopping area could actually decrease the Community’s choices as no shopping area would have a large enough customer base for the businesses to survive.
Cavan Monaghan needs jobs, but not necessarily low paying, part time retail jobs in Big Boxes. Although the economy is not ideal at the moment, the Township needs to aggressively pursue small Industries that require a variety of transportation options. Fraserville is an ideal site for this type of business, given it’s proximity to Air, Road and Rail. As a site for a retail and residential development, I’m not sure it’s ideal.
The Development Charges, necessary to pay the $10 Million++ Township share of the cost to provide water and sewer to Fraserville, will make the cost of residential development uncompetitive with other nearby Municipalities. Add to that the proximity of the Airport, the Slots and the Race Tracks and a widened highway through the Community and you have to question “if you build it, they will come”. It will be unique individuals who are willing to pay more to live in a community with heavy air and vehicle traffic and bright lights piercing the night sky.
Residential development around an airport is not compatible with the activities associated with an airport. Buttonville is a good example of what happens when residential development occurs. Not only does the airport close, but the industries that rely on the airport are forced to relocate. The Peterborough Airport is benefitting from the situation in Buttonville, but will that trend continue if residential development occurs in Fraserville?
Airportwatch is a group that complains on behalf of people living near airports. The noise and the pollution associated with Airports have been well documented by them. How can we complain about the setback distance for Industrial Wind Turbines on one hand and plan residential development next to an expanding airport on the other? How soon after people moved into new housing in Fraserville would the lobbying begin to shut down the Airport? What about the noise, traffic and lights from the races at Kawartha Downs and Kawartha Speedway?
The Fraserville Secondary Plan is already at odds with Places to Grow. A revised Plan compatible with the existing Airport, Kawartha Downs and the Slots might ruffle feathers at the County level and provincially, but it would make more sense in the long run. Sustainable growth, based on affordable infrastructure and compatible with what already exists, is proper planning. Development, at the expense of what already exists, does not make sense.
Before we proceed to spend $30 Million++ on water and sewer systems in Fraserville, let’s make sure we have a feasible plan and financially committed partners in the project. The Taxpayers of Cavan Monaghan cannot afford to bail out a failed attempt to develop Fraserville because the land speculators and developers decide it’s not profitable for them to develop the area after all.
I urge everyone to support Candidates who see the problems with the existing Fraserville Secondary Plan and have a Vision of how to fix it!
Above all, make your opinion known to the Candidates and vote according to their responses. Be sure to vote on October 25th. The future of your Community depends on it!
Respectfully,
Ian McQuarrie
Millbrook
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment
In order to submit comments to posts, you must login with your Google Account. If you don't have a Google account, you can easily create one by clicking here.