Loss of farmland for houses has reader ‘disturbed’
Letters
I am writing with regards to the drone photography shown in your November 2023 issue, showing where building will take place by Flato Developments. I was so disturbed by the thought of all those gorgeous green fields of production being stripped away to build a community of houses that will be unaffordable to most people.
You know that once it’s gone you can’t get it back. I think if overpriced houses are going to eat up beautiful fertile agricultural land, then where is all the food going to come from to feed people?
And what about other concerns, like doctors, nurses, veterinarians, schools, hospitals, PSWs, palliative care workers, and more. Our hospitals are at the brink now. Wait times at the Ross Memorial Hospital emergency room can be up to nine hours, no fault of the doctors and nurses.
They are run off their feet.
And they want to build all these homes for more people? It just doesn’t make sense.
And if Wally Nugent thinks for one minute that these inhabitants will add to the community, well I beg to differ. The next thing you know they’ll be shouting “Costco, Costco” and your small quaint town of Lindsay will have a new name of “Flatoville” and its charm will be lost forever, just like the lush green fields.
Rhonda Watson, Fenelon Falls
I keep hearing/reading this same opinion, here in Lindsay. So tell us, where are people supposed to live ? I guess you’re allowed to have a house but no one else is ? There’s lots of land for farming. All you have to do is drive to Windsor, Sarnia, Niagara Falls, Sudbury (and further north) or Ottawa/Quebec and you will see the millions of acres of land in Ontario that can be farmed . You can buy it up and start farming, if you wish.
Ms. Wallace has written a masterful account of what most intelligent people are thinking (and worrying about).
The loss of arable land seems to be ignored in favour of ” quick bucks”.
I see a bleak future.
Jim Baldwin should start farming. No one else wants to do it. There are lots of farms up for sale in southern Ontario. Good luck.
It is not just about farming being taken away! Lindsay cannot support any more people here since there are not enough services provided (or planned). The hospital is overwhelmed, the schools do not have enough capacity; there is no transportation or very little shopping. Lindsay, 50 years ago, had a bus service to Toronto which is non existent now. There continue to be an increase in taxes but little planning being done to accommodate all the additional residents. It is great to build houses but there are no doctors, no transportation to other cities (none planned) for seniors or residents of any kind. Shopping is limited and the one shopping mall has been decimated in the last 15 years. The original 40 shops advertised do not exist anymore. We do not even have a coffee shop in the mall (none planned). The only development is in the downtown area and it has taken 3 years to even get the streets up to par with the brickwork which still is shoddy. Seniors who go downtown risk falling in the holes and cracks on the sidewalk and streets. There are no washrooms down there and restaurants have really detoriated through the years.
We need a council who can quickly move to accommodate the number of people coming by facilitating and improving our poor services which have been allowed to fall short for 15 to 20 years.
After reading about the latest windfall of $1.6 million for housing and related infrastructure it leaves me with many questions. The article mentions housing and affordability! Tell me what is an affordable home? How do you build a home that’s less expensive? Will the developer cut his profit, will trades work for less or will corners be cut in quality? For those that have driven around Lindsay are you not shocked at the size of the homes being built? How many families are movie into these large homes and how many are by the bylaw illegally renting part of the house which the CKL is turning a blind eye to. People have brought up other impou facts such as an overcrowded hospital, shortage of doctors, no big box shopping which has been promised for years, farmland being used for housing and even as our mayor mentioned to me we don’t have the numbers of police that can monitor the speeding and traffic violations.