GuelphToday received the following letter from Paul Jarsky and Fred Gordon regarding the story about the proposed subdivision for Gerrie Road:
We addressed the township meeting on Jan. 27, as the development of the property directly envelops our heritage home located on Gerrie Road in Elora. That evening we asked to be included as part of a group “…in order to create positive change on the plan of subdivision, satisfying the requirements and needs of:
- The developer
- Us as surrounded property owners
- Heritage Centre Wellington
- The desires of the township and the county for sustainable, healthy growth
For the betterment of our entire community, and to protect the heritage landscape of Gerrie Road”
The building of this subdivision will emit over 16,888 tons of greenhouse gas emissions ... and that's just in the building. It doesn't account for the placement of infrastructure such as fire hydrants, sidewalks, etc. or the ongoing day to day running of a residential unit once complete.
Using the average Canadian family size and water consumption, this will take 66,237,645 litres of water from the water table every year.
It is questionable that our community is missing its provincially-mandated target of “jobs per-hectare,” but meeting (and possibly exceeding) density levels. This is unhealthy and unsustainable. Currently there is no plan provided that the required number jobs will be created within our community for the number of people who will be moving into it, which is what the legislation reads.
The proposal to include cluster townhomes and an apartment building in the extreme fringe of the Elora-Salem Urban boundaries - far away from shopping, services, the recreation centre - and off commuter roads (Tower Street, St. David N., County Road 7) to provide attainable housing, means that those people living in attainable housing will have to pay one way or another to commute to these services… and their jobs… negating the effect of attainable housing and contributing to the carbon footprint of our community.
In these days, it is important to think of the spread of future pandemics (and there WILL be them) in "cluster town houses and apartments." Higher density means higher transmission rates (just look at the spread of COVID in the GTA vs. our community).
The property in question hosts a myriad of sensitive wildlife including black bear, the protected pileated woodpecker, and is on the migratory path of the endangered monarch butterfly. Development will negatively impact these (and other) sensitive fauna of the area.
The proposal also will knowingly be placing residents adjacent to the Elora Transfer Station. While impact studies for noise and contaminants have been completed, human nature is what it is, and it won’t be long before serious conflict arises.
The land that this subdivision is proposed to sit on was the FIRST farm lot ever cleared north of the Grand River in Nichol Township (and possibly all of Wellington County), Upper Canada, C. 1832-1836... The Gerrie Homestead that it will envelop is considered to be the first stone house ever built in our community, one known for its unique stone structures. As the founders of neither Elora nor Fergus ever lived in the communities they established, this property could/should be recognized and celebrated as one of, if not “the,” founding homestead in our community, with a more subtle development proposal that reflects these sensibilities.
Virgin, class A heritage farmland destroyed. Negative impact on an international migratory path. Huge carbon outputs, millions of litres of water pumped from our water table, knowingly placing residents in potential conflict, the destruction of the rural heritage landscape of Gerrie Road.
We need to affect positive change on this proposal for our community and the planet. I am confident a better plan can be devised that addresses the issues presented here. As a matter of fact, I have devised a starting place for it myself. Since the meeting, however, I have not heard a word from the Developer, the Township, the County or Heritage Centre Wellington.
Think global, act local.
If you share these concerns, please write, phone or email your Township of Centre Wellington and Wellington County councillors (Elora and Fergus are Wellington County Wards 5 and 6). Tell them we need a Heritage Impact Assessment on the century property and the heritage farmer’s field. Tell them that we need an study on how this development is going to impact the wildlife that calls this edge of our community home.
Let’s work together to create a better proposal for our everyone in regards to the development of this land.
Paul Jarsky and Fred Gordon
Elora, Ont.
