Commentary, Opinion

Town proposed massive growth

April 29, 2026   ·   0 Comments

After reading last week’s proposed growth plan from our elected officials, I was left shaking my head at the proposal’s lunacy. I understand “some” growth is necessary; however, the two-stage development plan of 1,874 homes and 3,700 homes is utterly unreasonable for concerns I will be outlining… to just name a few…

My concerns are especially for Tottenham, Colgen and Beeton.

My first concern is the lack of decent water in the Tottenham area; our water is still not free of high levels of trihalomethanes. This has not yet been completely taken care of. These levels have historically exceeded Health Canada guidelines, sparking significant long-term community concern over potential links to cancer and reproductive issues. Further, drilling in Colgen from the latest development has caused local wells to run dry.

Traffic is another major issue: roads are not designed to withstand the proposed traffic flow, both structurally and in terms of lane capacity. It is congested and dangerous enough already, with the apparent disregard for road signage and not  enough police presence to enforce. There would be just far too many people crammed into a small area, by far losing our town’s charm,’ creating another Barrie, and I’m sure most people do not want that congestion.

More concerns are all we have here in Tottenham. Anyhow, there are numerous vape/pot shops and hairdressers. We can’t even purchase a pair of underwear! Our stores are not set up to feed or clothe excess people, and basically nothing even stays open past 10 p.m., if open at all, with a few exceptions. We have no buses here in Tottenham, nor a taxi service. I understand there are some Uber users, but not enough to support this proposal. This leads to problems, as kids have no employment here in town or the ability to reach bordering towns due to this lack.

Our schools are another issue. There’s just not enough room for this potential development, from preschool to high school.

Sports is another huge issue. The ball diamonds are all spoken for and are pretty much at their total capacity. Some of our senior ball players are being forced to play past 11 p.m. in order to support the younger players. Nothing’s being done to help this, and 11 p.m. is pretty late to be playing ball. We only have one recreation centre, and from what I understand, it’s pretty much always in use.

This boils down to corporate greed – monster cookie-cutter homes that are far overpriced for the average family – how’s this helping the housing crisis if affordability is out of the question?

These are all things that should be thought out and considered before even fathoming such a proposal. This would encompass beautiful landscapes into congestion, of both people and cars, car dependency, and habitat loss (as is what happened in Beeton). This is a travesty. Noise, car, and light pollution would also increase, not making our beautiful, serene environment a healthy place to live.

Susan Conforti

Tottenham

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