Recently the suggestion to annex more land from Cavan Monaghan to the City of Peterborough has been proposed.
This time the proposal comes from the Mayor of Cavan Monaghan. In the past it has been initiated by the city.
It seems ludicrous to me that the only option that is ever considered is annexation. How about cooperation? The township has the land and the city could provide the services and a revenue sharing formula could be developed that would be fair to all concerned. That way everybody wins.
It could also be that the township could simply buy services from the city and retain the tax base. That option would however need to be carefully considered and worded to protect each municipality.
Unless both parties are willing to sit down and discuss all possibilities there will never be a viable solution to the problem and simple annexation is detrimental to the township in the long run.
Once land is annexed to the city it is gone forever. There would be an initial payment and likely annual payments for a few years but in the end the land and the tax base is gone. No more revenue for the township. This is a never ending process and eventually the township would get so small that it would not be a viable municipality.
Past experience should be kept in mind when having such discussions with the city. The last time Peterborough annexed land from North Monaghan ward for industrial purposes they almost immediately rezoned it residential then complained they had no land for industrial development.
When they supposedly had a potential developer looking for suitable land they would not share any information about the proposal with the neighboring township. The track record is not good.
Perhaps even better would be the proposal from the owners of Kawartha Downs to further develop that property and provide their own services. They are even willing to discuss the possibility of servicing the airport. Perhaps they could also provide services to commercial and industrial lands along Whittington Drive.
This, in my opinion, would be most beneficial to the township and the city would also benefit because most of the jobs created would likely go to city residents at no cost to Peterborough.
Of course this will not happen overnight, nor would annexation, but it seems like a potential answer to the problem of serviced land for the creation of jobs in the area while retaining a much needed tax base for the municipality.
It would be necessary to scrutinize all aspects of the Kawartha Downs proposal in order to know what the municipality was getting itself into but on the surface it sounds like a good plan.
Perhaps the residential component of their plan is a bit aggressive but it would be worth investigating and making an attempt to work out details that could benefit the entire area.
One question would need to be answered definitively and that is; would the municipality eventually be required to assume responsibility for any water and sewage treatment facility that might be developed initially by a private corporation? There are a lot of unanswered questions but careful consideration of the proposal would be worth a look.
You can agree or disagree with my point of view; everyone is entitled to their own opinion but for what it’s worth that’s my view from the country.
