OrilliaMatters welcomes letters to the editor ([email protected]). The following letter is in response to our story, titled 'Proposed subdivision, business park in Orillia 'worst of the worst,' says naturalist,' published Feb. 2.
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The recent article by Nathan Taylor exposed the City of Orillia’s abysmal record of ignoring science and their own Official Plan over decades.
The destruction of the Inch Farm wetland clearly demonstrates the lack of commitment to protecting the environment of those on Council whom the public had trusted to protect the future safety and quality of life for residents.
And it shows the complete capitulation to those forces only concerned with personal profit.
Sadly, the Inch Farm wetland is, as Bob Bowles put it, “the worst of the worst.”
And to add insult to injury Council wants to build a highway to nowhere to accommodate developers.
The fact that Orillia remains the only municipality in the Lake Simcoe watershed not to join the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority belies all the greenwashing attempts of a Climate Change Plan and talk about creating a sustainable Orillia.
To be sustainable Orillia must also be able to reliably feed its population. We have recently seen how vulnerable to disruption our food chain is. Orillia must work with its rural neighbours to protect local farmland as well as wetlands instead of annexing land to pave it over.
Council is betraying their own residents and blindly accepting the Provincial government’s outrageous population allocations.
It’s time for Orillia Council to stop the sprawl, stand up for the residents’ future and build a complete, walkable community.
Sandy Agnew
Oro-Medonte
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