In Ward 1, a need for vision and representation
The choice to run in this election was a difficult one. First, I know all of the residents of Ward 1 would rather have Mr. Ciolfi on council continuing to be our voice. This weighs on me still, and will continue to. Second, the rest of this council session will necessarily be focused on pandemic response and recovery, so the opportunity to deliver solutions for some of our overriding issues will be limited. While a challenge, this really means that we all will have to work harder and find ways to be efficient and effective.
Ultimately the decision to run came down to this: We in Ward 1 need stronger representation, and Pelham as a whole needs a new vision to carry us through the next 20, 40, 60 years. I believe I have the skills and experience to deliver these things for Ward 1, and I believe that if you can help, you should help.
As I have campaigned through Ward 1, several issues have come up:
Representation: From the Welland River to the edge of St. Catharines, Victoria Avenue to the Welland border, residents in Ward 1 feel that their issues are not heard.
The pressures created by cannabis production and other heavy industries.
Piecemeal development: Developers seem to be able to skirt zoning bylaws, whereas residents have to jump through hoops to get additions or garages built.
Housing mix: As our property values rise, young families are priced out of the market, and seniors looking to downsize are forced to move out of town.
For me, these issues are all related, and come down to two foundational items: representation and vision. And the more I hear from residents, the more important this election becomes, as does the choice we make on September 15.
Representation
"James, nothing gets built north of Highway 20."
"The roads are so poor up here I don't even like driving my tractor on them."
"This intersection is completely blind, and has been for years. I can't understand why we don't have a stop sign."
Poth Street, Sulphur Springs, Maple Acre Library. When there is a "hard decision" to be made and something needs to be cut or delayed, you can count on it happening in Ward 1. This comes down to representation. Despite being one-third of the residents, we do not seem to be entitled to one-third of the service. Ward 1 is ripe with items that need tweaking: low impact, low cost changes that will improve life for residents immediately.
I have an ever-growing list of these items, from parking signage and demarcation, to stop signs and guard rails. Residents are asking for small changes, and those requests are not being heard. It is time to get moving and start implementing these changes, or at least explaining to residents why they can't be done.
One example is our level railway crossings: on a quiet night you can hear every train whistle from River Road to Boyle. There is a process, which starts at Town Council, to evaluate level crossings to see if they can become no-whistle crossings. I have discussed this issue with councillors who served as far back as the '90s. To their recollection, it has never been brought to council. This is the kind of small, low cost tweak that can be implemented almost immediately, and have a dramatic effect on our quality of life. All it takes is a vision, and a representative willing to explore it.
Cannabis and other heavy industries
In the last few months, the Cannabis Control Committee has put strong bylaws and changes to the Official Plan in place to deal with the smells from the current producers, and limit where new producers can locate. The work of the committee is admirable, but it is reactionary. We are reacting to issues that came up after cannabis producers started operating. There was no forethought as permits were granted and greenhouses were constructed. It was only after operations started that the consequences were considered.
And this whack-a-mole approach will continue as we "discover" the longer term impacts of cannabis producers, commercial greenhouses, and other heavy industries located in Ward 1. These businesses put more strain on our road networks, increasing traffic and deteriorating the asphalt. Residents are frustrated with increased noise and interaction with heavy trucks. We are barely talking about impacts on groundwater and the electrical grid.
We want our businesses to be successful, but Ward 1 residents are being asked to pay for these successes with a reduced quality of life, and a reduced level of service. We need a vision that shares these burdens proportionally, and we need representation for both residents and businesses to make sure that happens.
I will work to create a plan for industrial development in Ward 1, one that identifies transportation corridors to keep heavy trucks away from our residential areas as much as possible, a plan that shares the costs of road repairs and improvements with businesses, a plan that looks ahead to identify and consider longer term impacts, instead of reacting to problems as they appear.
Piecemeal development
I spent four years as chair of the Committee of Adjustment for the Town of Pelham. In that role I heard a consistent frustration from residents that I didn't really understand until I started campaigning.
As I meet with residents, their frustrations have become clear: when a developer buys a property, they seem to be able to skirt our zoning bylaws and build whatever they want. When a homeowner wants an addition, or a garage that looks like all their neighbours’ garages, they have to wait three or six months, pay additional fees, and endure some uncomfortable meetings before they can even apply for a permit.
As a homeowner, it feels like the playing field is not level. This imbalance comes down to money and experience: a developer typically has deeper pockets, and therefore access to experts and lawyers that a typical homeowner does not. They've also been there before, so they know how to speak the language.
This comes back to representation and vision: our zoning bylaw was enacted in 1987, when I was splitting my time between mucking stalls and playing Super Mario Brothers. The world of 1987 does not exist anymore. The needs of homeowners have changed over time, as have the needs of business and industries. The province is asking municipalities to meet different requirements. We are trying to filter all of these competing needs through a set of rules that are outdated.
We need a vision for our future development. With East Fonthill more-or-less completed, the development eye will turn to Ward 1. We need to get ahead of the developers and enact a comprehensive zoning bylaw that makes it easy for homeowners to develop their properties to suit their needs, while ensuring developers have a clear set of rules and can invest in building the kind of town we want to live in.
This cannot be done without representation—a strong voice with experience in planning and development, who can interpret the desires of residents into clear, achievable directives. This is how I earn my living now, and one of the main reasons I am running: to understand the needs of Ward 1 residents and communicate them clearly to staff to ensure that we can build and develop our homes efficiently. And to put a clear, reasonable set of standards in place for future development, so residents can feel confident that the character of our town can be maintained and improved upon, without becoming another set of subdivisions and strip malls.
Housing mix
Of all of the concerns I have heard from residents, this is the one that is nearest to my heart. If I achieve nothing else with this campaign, I want to start a conversation about our housing mix.
We all have been fortunate to see our home values rise. However, this is a double-edged sword. I spoke recently with a resident of Fenwick who has lived on Canboro Road for more than 40 years. As her family grew, she was able to move up through the housing market. Now as a widow with mobility issues she is looking to downsize. There are no homes in Fenwick that she can downsize to. Under current zoning, she can't find a way to rent out a portion of her house to supplement her income, and she can't find a place to rent so she can unlock the value of her home to support her through the rest of her life. After 40 years in Fenwick, she is being forced to leave her home, her home town, and her social supports.
She has also been relying on her younger neighbours to look after her. Be it shopping or home maintenance needs, having younger families around her has allowed her to remain in her home as long as she has.
This shows why a mix of housing types and costs is vital to a functioning community. Without lower-cost housing in an area, we force our seniors to leave town at a time where they need community support the most, and we cut young people out of the market entirely.
Fenwick is ideally positioned to add lower-cost housing with almost no impact on the character of the community: we typically live on large lots with detached garages and barns. Allowing these outbuildings to become accessory dwellings will serve everyone's needs.
First, they will provide a stock of more affordable housing for young people and for seniors who can't maintain their current homes. Second, they offer a way to add value to the property, while increasing affordability for owners—the ability to rent a portion of the property certainly helps pay the mortgage. It also allows for multi-generational homes, making it easier for the sandwich generation to care for older parents, or for grandparents to help care for young children.
This type of development is "encouraged" by the province, in the same way paying your income tax is "encouraged" by the province: it's going to happen eventually. We can either start the conversation now and develop rules that work well for our community, or we can have the rules forced on us and try to whack down the problems that pop up after the fact.
We need a vision for the future of our urban areas. I have laid out an idea above, but as a councillor, it is not my job to force my vision on anyone. It is to represent the needs of the ward and ensure what comes forward offers the best compromise.
In conclusion
I stated at the beginning of this article that this election is incredibly important. In the race to define the future of Ward 1, we are behind. Development of downtown Fenwick has started without a clear vision, and without representation. We need to get ahead of the issues we can see, and those we can reasonably foresee. We need to ensure that the costs and benefits of development are fairly distributed. We do not have time to start from scratch on this issue. We need a representative with a broad knowledge base who can guide the conversation. On September 15, as one of the two candidates who live in the ward and are eligible to vote, I will be voting for the candidate with the most experience turning vision in to practical results, with the deepest roots in Ward 1, and with the most experience in municipal governance. And I hope that you will too. ◆
