Development plan to add 72,000 residents to northeast Pickering approved at 5-hour meeting

With seven delegates wanting to get a word in on Pickering’s 25-year plan to pave over much of 16,000 acres of farmland to find homes for 72,000 people, it was no surprise a special council meeting with just one item on the agenda lasted five hours.

It was also not a surprise that the motion to approve the Northeast Pickering Secondary Plan passed, with the 5-2 vote arriving after “lots of excellent debate,” said Pickering Regional Councillor Maurice Brenner, one of the dissenting votes.

Brenner, who is on record saying development in northeast Pickering is inevitable because of the provincial government’s insatiable need for more housing – “It’s like a speeding train and we don’t have the power to stop it” – said his position on the issue has remained consistent.

“While the decision regarding the urban boundary has already been made, it’s not a question of if but how,” he said.

The ‘how’ goes beyond a policy, he added, citing the need to develop a memorandum of understanding with the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation, which despite a meeting last month between Chief Kelly LaRocca and Pickering Mayor Kevin Ashe, has not yet been achieved.

“I believe that achieving an MOU with MSIFN opens the door to arriving at something that has never been done, a protocol for how Pickering conducts meaningful discussions,” Brenner said. “I felt that while these discussions are ongoing, it was important to respect that process and support what I felt was being asked by MSIFN, leaving me no option but to vote no.”

Pickering Councillor Maurice Brenner

“Regardless of last night’s final vote, I still remain optimistic that an MOU can be achieved and look forward to its ratification by council.”

LaRocca said earlier this week the First Nation has “consistently expressed opposition” to the plan to develop the lands and a meeting with Ashe on April 20 to establish a protocol for future discussions resolved little.

LaRocca said her issue with the proposal start with “unresolved concerns” about meaningful discussions, inconsistency with provincial planning, unaddressed “cumulative impact concerns” and the potential for “adverse impacts” to Aboriginal and treaty rights.

“Discussions are continuing with the City of Pickering but no agreement has been finalized at this time,” she said in a statement. “MSIFN’s position with respect to the secondary plan remains the same.”

For Abdullah Mir, the co-chair of Stop Sprawl Durham and one of the delegates Wednesday evening, the approval of the plan “with no fiscal impact study and no price tag” is premature.

“We’ve already exceeded our housing target. Seaton is sitting 60 to 70 percent unbuilt. Why are we paving farmland and hiking property taxes to start over?”

Environmental organizations like Stop Sprawl Durham are calling for an “immediate pause” on the plan based on fiscal, environmental and “social irresponsibility” and wanted he proposal – initiated by the developer-led Northeast Pickering Landowners Group – deferred until all necessary studies have been completed.

The lands are roughly bounded by Sixth Concession on the south, Eighth Concession on the north, Westney Road on the west and Lakeridge Road on the east.