By Mike Renzella
The Haldimand Press
Final report coming before vote
HALDIMAND—The second of two planned public consultation meetings on Haldimand’s controversial Minister’s Zoning Order (MZO) request related to a proposed Nanticoke development took place in front of a packed house at the County Administration Building on April 27, 2023.
Similar to the previous virtual meeting, this meeting provided a chance for residents and stakeholders to share their concerns and thoughts for or against the MZO request. However, this meeting also shone a light on a growing divide between Mayor Shelley Ann Bentley and Haldimand’s current five elected councillors, with Bentley and Ward 5 Councillor Rob Shirton verbally sparring during the meeting.
Shirton also made several assertions throughout the meeting that the public was uneducated or misinformed on the matter, citing a flyer distributed by the group Citizens of Haldimand for Responsible Development (CHRD) as false information and propaganda. The flyer was submitted to The Press as an April 20 letter to the editor.
“How many people have read what is on the Haldimand County website about the MZO?” asked Shirton, referring to the list of requirements attached to the MZO request that aim to maintain the County’s control of the project, which elicited boos from the assembled crowd.
Shirton later added, “The average person doesn’t have a clue what’s going on…. You might think there’s a lot here tonight. You look at the numbers – there’s 45,000 people in the county and there’s probably 150 here max.”
Ward 6 Councillor Patrick O’Neill questioned every speaker who spoke against the MZO on whether they are aware of or are an active member of the citizen’s group.
O’Neill explained, “There was plenty of pamphlets dispersed all throughout our county which were not correct, which echoed information throughout the campaign, which echoed information from the last year of our lives that has totally taken this issue and made it such a hard thing for anyone to get their heads wrapped around.”
He continued, “When I have to make my vote, if I believe this MZO should go forward, I have to determine whether I’m voting for the best of the County, or am voting on something that … awards a win to a group of people that created so many lies and so much distrust.”
The night’s first public speaker was Bentley’s brother Thomas Peacock, who said the development would be a “complete disaster.”
He was followed by Stephen Armstrong of Armstrong Planning & Project Management, speaking on behalf of Empire Communities. He said Empire envisions Nanticoke as “an incredible community comprised of trails, recreation, parks, schools, amenities that aren’t there today, commercial use, and houses, and take(s) an area that is stagnant and make(s) something of it. That was the onus of bringing the MZO.”
Bentley, holding up a Nanticoke advertisement for the proposal showing an idyllic beachfront scene, asked, “On your flyer there’s no Stelco towers. The sky looks beautiful; you have a nice, beautiful swimming pool there. It looks like you’re looking from the lake, southwest…. I don’t see towers there, I don’t see bake furnaces making lots of noise – did you forget to put it in there?”
CAYUGA—At the Thursday, April 27 meeting, Mayor Shelley Ann Bentley holds up a flyer that was distributed by Empire Homes, questioning the lack of Stelco towers in the photo.
—Photo from the Haldimand County video of the meeting.
Bentley’s remarks caused a ruckus in the crowd, with many cheering loudly before Bentley smacked her gavel down and warned them to quiet down.
Armstrong said that while the full rollout of the project would take 40-50 years, in the short term Haldimand would see benefits like increased employment opportunities.
“Should the MZO be carried, and the Minister approves it, it’s the beginning of the process, not the end,” said Armstrong. “Public consultation will happen in terms of design, infrastructure planning, roads, schools – all of which we know are important for the area.”
He also iterated that no housing would be built directly beside industrial facilities.
Other notable speakers of the evening included resident Kelly McGillis, who said, “That land, once developed, is irreplaceable. To hear something like ‘it’s stagnant’ just because there aren’t houses on it, to me, is ignorance. It also takes away from the essential nature of the work our agricultural sector does.”
She continued, “Developers don’t build houses for altruistic reasons; developers build houses to make money. They’re not coming in out of the goodness of their heart or they want to make life better for everybody. It’s because they want to make money.”
After Shirton questioned McGinnis and the crowd got louder, Bentley brought her gavel down again, reminded the crowd to remain quiet, and added, “It’s okay for the councillors to berate you, but you can’t berate the councillors.”
Shirton replied directly to Bentley, “I’m just about ready to call a point of order. You’re supposed to be conducting this unbiased as the mayor, and you’re trying to rally the gallery and I’m getting more frustrated by the minute over here.”
Former mayoral candidate Dick Passmore fielded a question from Bentley about his experiences on the campaign trail last fall in relation to the MZO, to which he said, “I heard a lot of voices speaking against, and I’ve had one person I’ve spoken to speak in favour of this development going forward as we’re looking at it now.”
Passmore urged Council to consider withdrawing the MZO and refocusing on existing opportunities or issues of concern within Haldimand’s urban centres, adding, “We have a lot of taxpayers in our community who would benefit from improvements to their communities and more affordable housing in their communities that already exist.”
Caledonia resident Rob Duncan raised concerns over how the development might impact taxes, stating, “Empire is not building a better future for Haldimand County or its taxpayers. It is reducing our future industrial tax base, while committing future Council to tax increases to provide services for a city that was not planned or conceived in Haldimand County but was created in an office in Toronto.”
Bentley’s husband, Rick Beaudet, spoke against the MZO and Ward 1 Councillor Stewart Patterson asked if he had personally handed out the CHRD flyers previously mentioned, to which he said, “Absolutely.”
Former Haldimand Mayor and current Ward 4 by-election candidate Marie Trainer warned of future problems from such a development: “The complaints from the new 40,000 people who buy those houses will be too much, and those industries will be forced out and take their tax dollars with them…. This is a disaster waiting to happen.”
Trainer submitted a letter to the editor this week, available on Page 5.
Local farmer and proclaimed consultant with the Ministry of Environment James Kaspersetz suggested there are issues facing Stelco beyond just the MZO, adding, “Maybe we need to first come to some realization that Stelco Lake Erie Works’ end may be near, even without the threat of a proposed housing development.”
Kaspersetz brought up the newly enacted Inflation Reduction Act, an American bill that will ban all steel imports that are not carbon neutral: “Maybe the threat of a proposed housing development will convince Stelco to adopt green technology.”
Stelco VP of Corporate Affairs Trevor Harris echoed points he made last year, calling the proposal a “fundamental threat to the viability of our business and the proposal is in clear violation of guidelines respecting industrial lands in your County’s Official Plan.”
He added, “How did the appropriate buffer zone around the County’s industrial businesses start at 3km in the 2021 Official Plan and shrink by more than 90%, to a mere 300m in the housing development that is currently being proposed?”
He said that forward momentum on the proposal would jeopardize plans for a conversion to green technology, as Stelco embarks on “aggressive” de-carbonization plans in the coming years.
Shirton took Harris to task, saying, “Quit preaching the propaganda that this is all bad.”
By the end of the meeting, several people had the chance to speak, but it remains unclear how Council will ultimately vote.
County staff will assemble the data collected from the numerous virtual commentors, in-person speakers, and written submissions they have received, and present that information as a report at a future Council in Committee meeting.
