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Meeting on Merton Lands results in adoption of the Mayor's Motion

Allan Elgar
Running Stream
Running Stream

Results of April 14 Meeting on Merton Study Lands

Two important outcomes came out of the April 14 meeting:


  1. MPP Kevin Flynn called the mayor right before the meeting to inform him that Infrastructure Ontario has agreed not to sell any of its Merton Lands.  This is especially good news for Deerfield Golf Course. More details were not available.

  2. Council unanimously supported a motion from the Mayor to stop any further planning of Merton. More studies will be done of the area, and staff will explore the natural heritage functions of the golf courses, in hopes of finding ways to preserve the land. (The full motion adopted by council follows.)


Staff will report back to council in June with timelines for these further studies.

You can watch the meeting on Town TV.http://www.towntv.ca/currentpdcouncil.htm

I would like to thank all the people who wrote letters, made phone calls, attended meetings and helped spread the word. This issue is not resolved yet, but, in my opinion, it is clearly on a different path than it was a couple of weeks ago.

I am proud to serve in a community that is engaged in the political process and values our precious green-spaces.

Merton Resolution


WHEREAS:  Council committed to comprehensively studying the Merton Planning Area;

WHEREAS:  The technical studies, which are not yet complete, have identified the need for further work in respect of protection of the water balance in key environmental features, the need to preserve recharge to the Fourteen Mile Creek, the requirement for further field work and analysis of certain species and their critical habitats;

WHEREAS: On February 26, 2014, after the Merton Planning Study was commenced and after the Town's Peer Reviewers provided comments, the Province adopted a new Provincial Policy Statement (2014 PPS) which governs all planning decisions made after April 30, 2014 and which contains key new policies which have significant bearing on the Merton Planning Area and elevate the importance of the matters requiring further work as identified through the technical studies;

AND WHEREAS: the 2014 PPS specifically includes provision for the protection of "working landscapes" which may apply to golf course uses;

THEREFORE, be it resolved that:

A Staff be directed to:

1.            incorporate analysis of the 2014 PPS into the ongoing Merton Planning Study;

2.            direct the Town's Peer Reviewers to undertake further analysis of water balance, recharge, critical habitats and other issues identified in their peer review comments;

3.            explore the natural heritage functions of the golf courses;

4.            report back to Planning and Development Council on June 9, 2014 on a revised schedule incorporating this work; and

5.            make no further advancement on the draft plan and policies prior reporting to the June 9, 2014 Planning and Development Council.

B.   Upon completion of the additional required work, a further public meeting will be scheduled, with appropriate notice, to consider the results of such work.
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