You have seen and heard plenty about our housing crisis, especially concerning the evils of urban sprawl and what it does to the environment. But you likely haven’t heard anything from the developers and their experiences. It’s about time an insight into some of the intricate workings of development gets unveiled.

To start with, I am a long-time resident of Caledon, Ont. I live, work and breathe this wonderful place. I coached hockey and sat on the bench as a coach and trainer for over 10 years, rejoiced and cried with victories and defeats hand-in-hand with players and parents. Watched as my boys attended schools and graduated with their friends, all the while saying to myself, “How can I preserve this for the next generation?”

I want everyone I meet to understand and know what it means to live and play here, but I don’t really want them to move here. I wish the doors would be closed and this secluded blissful life could stay in a bubble. Fat chance.

We love our five acres in a rural subdivision. I am a tree hugger and have planted more than five dozen trees, adding feeders and gardens. We cringed when the neighbour brought over 100 truck loads of fill and dumped it into his backyard (illegally) to make it bigger. Now the spring peepers are buried and gone. Thank God the phenomenon of the fire-flies continues for us each and every year. Tens of thousands greet us each June. Bats and birds, coyote and deer, hummingbirds and hawks. We get along with all of them, even the snapping turtle who resides at the edge of the seasonal stream.

Development is inevitable. We have a federal, provincial and a municipal plan guiding what we can do. Each have their own agenda. With all the rules and regulations in each plan come incredible restrictions. Rightly so, without them chaos would run amuck. Developers are only in it for one thing: maximizing returns and making money. That’s okay because we are a capitalistic society, but without some system in place disorder and confusion would reign supreme.

Once you muddle through the various levels of government and manage to figure out a plan to move forward, you run into the biggest obstacle of all, environmental authorities. In Caledon that means Oak Ridges Moraine, Green Belt, Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, Credit Valley Conservation Authority, Niagara Escarpment Commission, Ministry of Natural Resources (be careful with these guys, they are allowed to carry guns) and Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority. I apologize for missing any other EA, I’m sure there’s another one waiting to be created. Layer upon layer many times crossing over. A perfect storm of environmental concerns each and every time.

When can you call someone an expert in EAs? Certainly not after dealing with just one or two. How about five or six over a few years? How about all of them starting in the 1980s and still plugging away today. No less than half a dozen plans of subdivision and a few consent applications, a bunch of minor variances, building permits for houses, permits for servicing subdivisions and a litany of other things.

This is my take on the EA attitude: they are like a goalie from a hockey team whose sole purpose in life is to prevent you from scoring a goal. Take your best Hawks AA Bantam player (because they still believe along with their parents they are going to the NHL and have no inhibitions, they play like there’s no tomorrow and will do whatever they can to win for the team) and put him against a team with Martin Brodeur in net (backed up by Patrick Roy who is talking with Ken Dryden, both geared up and ready to step in), then put Bobby Orr and Kevin Stevens in front of him. Then have Crosby, McDavid and Mathews staring down at your son or daughter. If you think I am kidding give your head a shake. Oh and don’t forget, the refs and linesmen are stacked against you and they make the rules up as they go.

The role of EAs is to protect flood plains, provide erosion control and protect seriously sensitive wetlands and significant natural features. Their provincially delegated responsibility is to protect people, infrastructure and the environment. But their role has evolved to preventing development in any way, shape or form. Over 40 years they have been given far too much power and they need to be reigned in. I salute Premier Ford with his Bill 229. My concern is the pendulum will swing too far with the chaos I previously mentioned dropping in on us.

EAs have no desire whatsoever to work hand-in-hand with developers. They do not produce sensible plans or solutions to move forward on lands designated by federal, provincial and municipal governments as development lands. They use their power whenever they can to thwart the development process even when it may not be in the best interest of a community, village or town. They hold developers hostage, extort money and steal land as often as they possibly can. They make developers obtain and pay for reports, review them, then cry foul because they don’t believe a word they read. They are one of the biggest reasons we have a housing crisis and shortage.

Case 1

Campbell’s Cross, Caledon. Kennedy Road and King Road south-east corner.

Parcel of land in the Settlement Boundary – that means you can create a subdivision with the right criteria and follow all the rules and regulations. All levels of government agree this is where you can put in some houses. Yes, a creek runs through the property way down at the bottom away from everything. We know it’s sensitive, but will take it into consideration, build around it, keep it natural.

The Development Application Review Team (DART) meeting goes well, site visitation with councillors, the mayor, a couple of different departments all point to a great start. Then along comes the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority. They want to stake out the limits of development with a separate onsite meeting. The guy parks on the property at the edge of the barn and starts pulling stakes out of his car.

My question was pretty simple. “What are you doing?” Answer: “This is where I think the top of bank should be.” Zero scientific or empirical data. An opinion. I told him to shove the stakes back into his trunk and get off the property.

It’s not the Colorado River running through the canyon for God’s sake. His opinion would have yielded five lots. He wanted the entire forest, creek and buffer zone right up to his top of bank given over to the TRCA. Based on the size of yards, a storm water management pond, engineered drainage system and a slew of other considerations, we should have comfortably planned a community of 50 houses. That includes giving up the creek, sensitive lands, dedications, roads, a park. All of it. And they say five?

Two years of impact studies, EA meetings, manipulations, permutations and combinations and we get 22 lots. The so-called top of bank was nowhere near his opinion. The whole project turned out to be five years from start to finish. The 200 days available for an MZO (Ministerial Zoning Order) nowadays is a complete blessing. In an area deprived of development potential, the 50 originally planned houses would have been beautiful. Now the costs are driven through the roof. You are 28 lots short. Guess who pays the price? The buyer of the house.

The developer needs his money, forcing the builder to raise prices, all because the EA clawed us back. They still got acres of land and the creek, and the town got their park dedication fees. Keep in mind that those 22 houses pay realty taxes forever. If there were 50, the tax base into Town of Caledon coffers would more than double just for this street.

The sheer stupidity of the EA heads who resigned last year shows just how much of a shakeup was and is necessary, both in the restrictive nature of their power and their lack of partnership with developers and teams of planning firms. Those who resigned had considerable experience, could have impacted the process moving forward, and should have at least got together to formulate a plan. No, they got their collective knickers in a knot and quit. Is that who you want heading up something as serious as an EA? A quitter? As intelligent as those people are, that was a seriously dumb move. Have their actions resolved anything? If anything they have caused further chaos (seems like a great adjective in this piece) and provided nothing for those filling their shoes to look forward to. Anybody notice a change since they left?

Case 2

Alton Village.

We purchased a piece of land five years ago, similar in nature to the above noted property: it is located in the village settlement boundary, zoned residential development land, had a previous draft plan back in the ’70s but due to the ghost town nature of Alton, and development at a stand-still, the plan lapsed. Originally slated for 32 houses. Federal, provincial, regional and municipal governments all agreed to it in the Official Plan. Should be easy to work with. Yeah, right. I’ll try to keep this as brief as possible, remember that your interpretation and assumptions will be based on a limited scope of the story, but you’ll get the gist of it.

After the preliminary meeting, we felt good and understood why we couldn’t just pick up the plan and bring it to life. Things have changed – engineering requirements, septic challenges. So we go from 32 down to 27. Present the plan, nope, we have to consider the forest, it’s sensitive. Okay, down to 25. Let’s try this. Keep in mind the planners, engineers, surveyors, numerous studies are all being created, then revised, then revised again. Costs pile up all too quickly. Mortgage, taxes, carrying costs all continue. Nope, it still does not work. Down to 22. Understand something…these are not small lots. Half acre. Well it’s been quite a while now (three+ years), we need to do another DART meeting, and this time let’s bring in the Credit Valley Conservation reps.

The first kick at the cat with CVCA was not good. At the first meeting I attended they said they really didn’t like proposals like ours so close to the forest and sensitive corridors leading up to the forest, and that limited development might be okay. New revision necessary. Down to 17 lots. Oops, there are potential migratory and breeding areas for deer. And you have to be 30 meters away from this and 30 from that, blah, blah,  blah. Now down to 15 lots.

Ford’s environmental chiefs all band together and quit, leaving the underlings to take over, COVID hits and we now have Zoom meetings. Time for another CVCA-inspired meeting.

In Caledon there are many subdivisions that have restrictions on the land. I helped develop many and live in one. You own the land but it has to remain natural. Believe me, it works. I suggested to the town and CVCA a plan that incorporated the forest and sensitive areas to each new plot we were trying to create. Now we are at one-acre lots, half for the house and stuff, half you own but can’t build on. Nope, we don’t like that.

Okay, how about we turn it into a community path and natural park and dedicate it to either the town or the CVCA. Nope, we don’t want it. Well what do you want? Doesn’t this make sense? The proposal is good. Their suggestion is turn it over to one of the 15 lots. One owner gets half of the entire subdivision instead of sharing it. CVCA said that there is potential for future development of the big piece. Good luck protecting your land, trespassing will run rampant. Including the breeding deer.

This gets better: two CVCA reps band together and decide that they don’t want any development whatsoever. They say it’s a “core” forest. Based on their own definition, a core forest must be 90+ years old. None of our site falls under the definition. It consists of hundreds of non-native trees planted 40 some odd years ago. CVCA says, “In our opinion all of it should be saved.” Oh, and the coup de grâce: “But we are just a commenting body, the town can do what it wants.” The town relies heavily on their input and CVCA says zero development. We are waiting to see what the town decides.

Case 3

Let’s get out of our backyard and take a prime example of an EA extortion.

Last year in Oro-Medonte, next door to the airport on the 7th line between Barrie and Orillia off Hwy. 11, a progressive minded entrepreneur, brilliant actually, brings forth a plan to create an automotive test track and facility, hopefully to gain an edge in the EV market. Hundreds of employees, a gazillion dollars in development fees, construction and spin offs. All on lands already zoned industrial employment land. Next door to the airport. Great idea, magnificent opportunity.

Hang on, the EA up there says no, there are sensitive lands on the site. Once again, lands designated in the Official Plan, how can they hold this up? Their solution: $2.6 million to their coffers and they will let it move forward. Someone got to do some explaining, Lucy. How do they figure that number out? Where does that money go? And the guys at the top of the EA, just how much money do they make to come up with these decisions?

With obstacles such as environmental agencies blocking every option, zoning issues, municipal red tape and an antiquated approach to development, there is no solution to the housing crisis in sight. Then at the very end, a single individual for whatever concocted reason can appeal and immediately hold up several year’s worth of work and expenses with a small administrative cost.

As Christopher Alexander put it in a recent REM article, NIMBYs (not in my backyard) and BANANAs (build absolutely nothing anywhere near anything) have and are causing the housing crisis. It took us over 25 years to get into this mess, it will take just as many to correct it.