Region has treated Wilmot farmers poorly

Re: There’s a price to pay for staying rural — April 13

While I totally agree with letter writer Alan Murray, who noted that agricultural land provides less tax revenue than does industrial land, I take offence to the way the affected farmers and homeowners are reimbursed for their lifetime passion, investment and pride of ownership.

After a real estate agent offered them $58,000 an acre, the Region of Waterloo obviously realizes that there is somebody very interested in these properties.

The region then turned around and offered a much lower amount, $35,000 an acre, with a very short closing date, and said if their offer was not accepted the properties would be expropriated.

I am so disappointed in our regional government for having that kind of treatment of farmers that have invested a lifetime of hard work and investment. Shame on them.

If the development and future business of this land is so important, would it not be a better idea to reward these farmers with a much fairer offer of, say, $75,000 an acre and give them lots of time to auction their equipment and find a nice place to live?

As Murray suggested, it would sure help our tax base and save us all a lot of money — and everybody will be happy.

Jerry Van Dyke, Ayr