Bolton Area Councillor Rob Mezzapelli shares his thoughts and frustration concerning Bolton’s next round of growth….
The Town of Caledon has been planning for a number of years for where Bolton should grow up to the year 2031. We did a lot of work, consulted with the community and vested stakeholders to arrive at a recommendation that considered a vast array of criteria and is best for our community. We selected option 3 which you can see on the map above and presented this to Peel Council for their approval.
Never to my knowledge in the history of Peel has Regional Council collectively voted in a way which absolutely overturns and diametrically opposes the planning recommendation and wishes of a lower tier municipality by endorsing Option 6 and the adjacent triangle lands. THIS IS TROUBLING.
I cannot stress enough how categorically different Option 3 and Option 6 are in almost every way. Look at the map above – see where the existing community is (where existing facilities and retail are located), where green space is, where a potential 400 series highway (GTA West) is being proposed, where logically future Bolton employment should go and then look at Option 3 vs. Option 6. Option 3 stands head and shoulders above Option 6 as the best location for Bolton residential expansion. This is clearly validated when Caledon Council and staff, our consultant as well as Peel’s consultant all identified Option 3 as being a preferred choice. All the above as well as Peel staff found Option 6 to be the LEAST PREFERRED yet this is the option Regional Council chose. This begs one to ask “why?”.
I would be remiss not to acknowledge that some non-Caledon Regional Councilor’s supported our planning recommendation and I thank them for doing so. It is also noteworthy that although most Caledon Regional Councillor’s supported Option 3, not all did. While I absolutely support every Councillor’s right to decide for themselves , Councillor’s need to be accountable as to why they voted the way they did, contrary to so much professional advice especially on such a large and important matter as this.
I am proud to have supported Caledon’s appeal of the Region’s decision to the Ontario Municipal Board so as to defend the responsible, well thought out good community planning we have done.
