School board drops farmland plan
Milton family’s 200-acre farm safe after board changes building plan
David McCann, part of a long line of farmers to ply his family’s 200 acres near Milton, had a very different experience at the local farmers’ market this weekend than he’s had in recent months.
“People were coming up to our stand to congratulate us, or give us high fives,” said the elated farmer, whose family has been working the same land here since 1827. “It was sure a lot nicer than the last few months of condolences and regrets.”
McCann and family had plenty of reason to celebrate. On Friday, the Halton Catholic District School Board withdrew a plan to expropriate 20 acres of the McCann family’s farm to build a high school.
It ended nearly five months of anxious waiting: The McCanns had been informed in April that the board, which under the Ontario Expropriations Act had the power to force a sale of the land from the family, was seeking a portion of the farm on which to build.
An outcry in the community quickly produced an online petition of more than 37,000 signatures, and caught the attention of the school board’s trustees.
“We were really just looking at lines on a map,” said board trustee Anthony Quinn. “As far as we were concerned, this was the best site — it had the best drainage, the best access to roads. When we discussed this process around the table, I don’t think any of us understood that this was a family farm.”
Quinn became aware of the petition and suggested that the board consider their options. “We asked staff to come up with some alternatives and I think we’ve come up with something that should satisfy everyone.”
Quinn couldn’t say where the new site would be, but he believed it would be acquired in a development already undergoing site preparation.
Colin Best, a Milton city council member, said the school board’s expropriation caught the town off guard.
“We were completely floored,” he said, noting that building a high school beside a cattle farm would carry with it unique challenges. “What happens when you’re sitting in math class and they’re spreading fertilizer next door?” he said. “I just don’t think it was thought through. But I’m glad they smartened up and withdrew the plan.”
Quinn said the school board is straining to accommodate significant growth in its student population in the region. All its current schools in the Milton area are at capacity, he said. By 2020, “there will be 3,000 students expecting to be in this school.”
As to the decision to expropriate the McCann farm, he explained: “We were pressed for time and it was what appeared, on paper, to be the best solution. We didn’t fully understand the family situation. Had there been no other option, our clear duty was to the students. Happily, we were able to find one.”
As for McCann, he gives credit to the community for turning the tide.
“I’d heard, when (a school board) wants to expropriate, you pretty much have no hope,” he said. “With the petition, I think they realized we were actual human beings down here, and we wanted to stay and farm.”
On Friday, the family thanked the community as well as the school board on their petition page: “This makes our family immensely proud that right here we have an indisputable example of a community that really does care and that together we can and did make great things happen.”