PROPOSED CHANGES TO WOOLWICH SETTLEMENT BOUNDARIES

Two or three weeks ago I received a letter from Woolwich Township advising our household of a discussion to be held during a Committee of the Whole meeting in the Council Chambers. That discussion was why I attended this past Tuesday evening's Council (Comm. of the Whole) meeting. Settlement Boundary changes have been proposed for Elmira, St. Jacobs, Maryhill, Breslau and Heidelberg. Quite frankly while I read over what was mailed to me in regards to proposed boundary changes in Elmira, I simply didn't understand waht was going on or what the driving forces were.

I'm a little clearer now. I think what is occurring is that Woolwich Township have been advised that they can make changes to their settlement boundaries as long as they end up with the same quantities added as subtracted from their formal boundaries. Hence if Elmira wishes to extend their town limits easterly and captue say 10 more acres they can do that as long as they also remove ten acres from somewhere else within the Elmira boundaries or "settlement area". The one word reason that kept getting used was "rationalization" of boundaries. O.K. if you've got a little tiny piece of land surrounded on three sides by a settlement boundary maybe it makes sense to incorporate it. Otherwise what I think is happening is that communitys are always looking for development ie. building, whether residential, commercial or industrial. Therefore if a community has a parcel of land on their outskirts owned by a developer that has sat empty for fifteen or twenty years, bringing in minimal municipal taxes, the municipality would rather encourage development in a better area. By better that could mean better road access or better topography such as higher ground versus a low lying area etc..

By including land within a formal settlement area it means that the municipality must provide municipal services such as water, sewers and roads. These services obviously have a huge effect upon the value of land. Therefore Tuesday nite although this wasn't a formal public meeting, besides local residents there were lots of developers and their planning consultants present. Lots of folks have money invested in property and they wanted on the record either their happiness at being added into settlement boundaries or their displeasure at potentially being removed. This is all about money, development, construction, housing, jobs and ultimately the environment. This concerns the direction that growth will take and it's effect upon our natural environment. Like a game of musical chairs there will be winners and losers. It would be very nice if for a change the environment isn't always the loser.